The Little Differences: Quick Kick and Serpentor G.I. JOE Custom Kitbashes

"It's the little differences. I mean, they got the same $#!t over there that we got here, but it's just – it's just there it's a little different."

*****

The Little Differences is back and today's entries are G.I. JOE Quick Kick and the Cobra Emperor Serpentor. Quick Kick features one very small improvement that may make some people a little nervous to do themselves, but the payoff is well worth it. Whereas, Serpentor requires a little less skill and a little more bashing.

When we finally got Quick Kick in the "Pyramid of Darkness" DVD Battle Pack, he looked just about perfect from his skin tone and muscled Bruce Lee like torso sculpt to his bare feet and accessories. But there was one "glaring" problem...his eyes. They were lidless and the pupils were so small he looked like he had just seen a ggggghost.

To remedy the situation, I used a very fine 2/0 brush, dipped just the tip in Reaper Pure Black paint, and carefully added an upper eye lid to each eye and dotted the center of each eye to create a larger pupil.

Now he'll never take his eyes off his opponent, even when he bows. (Bonus cool points if you can guess what movie I'm paraphrasing.)

Serpentor has never been a favorite of mine. Yes, Larry Hama somehow figured out how to make him cool in the comics, but that annoying "This I Command" crap the cartoon writers came up with grates on my ear drums to this day. So I almost didn't even bother with this bash but since I had all the parts, I figured, what the heck.

You'll need the helmet, staff, "bra," and "back piece" from the "Arise Serpentor Arise" DVD Battle Pack Serpentor and the body, cape, belt, sword, and shoulder snakes from the single carded version. Removing the "back piece" from the DVD figure is the trickiest part of  this bash and it took several attempts where I would let him sit in a cup of boiling water and then try to pull it free from the back hole. The glue was really strong so I eventually pulled it out enough and just cut it off with an exacto making sure to leave enough of a backpack stub so I could later glue it in place. I painted the "bra" Reaper Leaf Green which matches the other green areas on the figure very well.

He doesn't look exactly like the original vintage figure but he's a whole lot closer and much better looking than any standard released version.

Once again, I hope you see how the little things you can do to your figures can make all the difference in their appearance. Until next week this is eric@insidious1.com signing off.

Cover Girl G.I. JOE Resolute Style Custom Action Figure Art

I'm really excited about the G.I. JOE: Resolute box sets coming out later this month. Yes, Snake-Eyes should have been black instead of gray and Scarlett's head sculpt is a little weird but at least we're getting these figures that were originally canceled. One can only imagine if the movie deal didn't happen and this series wasn't sidelined. It certainly would have been cool to see all or at least more of the characters as they appeared in this media...especially this tank driving cutie who happens to appear in the background of quite a few scenes; Cover Girl.

She was commissioned by a really great returning client so these are the first pics of her on the net. She's actually a combination of parts from five different figures and features a lot of sculpted details including sleeves, waist, collar (which is a little hard to see in the photos with the long hair), hair, and even her belt buckle.

I think she fits in great with the other Joes in the box set. I better get to work on one for myself before it comes out later this month!

Hope you dig her. If you'd like to commission one of your own, as usual you can contact me at Eric@Insidious1.com.

The Little Differences: Beachhead & Outback G.I. JOE Custom Kitbashes

"It's the little differences. I mean, they got the same $#!t over there that we got here, but it's just – it's just there it's a little different."

*****

Friday means a new "Little Differences," and this week's entries are two fan faves that can be made with very little effort; Beachhead and Outback.

To make this grumpy, foul smelling ("I don't use deodorant") Ranger you'll need the comic pack version and the Hall of Heroes version. Both of these figures had some great parts but neither was definitive in my eyes. (What the heck was up with the yellow paint on the boots of the Hall of Heroes version anyway?) Take the body, weapons, and backpack from the HOH version and replace the lower legs/boots with those from the comic pack version. The legs easily unscrew and the colors are a perfect match. For some reason, the vest and ammo bag of the HOH version are gray instead of black and the comic pack version has the proper black but for some reason they painted the pouches that hold the clips. This is easily remedied by painting the pouches on the comic pack version black.

If you want to go all out, you can also paint the clips themselves gunmetal so they better match the injected metallic color of his machine gun as I did. (To avoid paint rub, be sure to seal the vest with a light varnish or sealant and let it dry thoroughly before placing it on the figure.)

Outback is one of the easiest bashes you can do. Take the vest and backpack from the Assault on Cobra Island Pack and place them on the figure that came with the FLAK Cannon vs. Cobra CLAW Vehicles.

The head naturally sits a little high on the neck post so I took a smooth dremel bit and drilled a little deeper into the neck hole. The head now sits a little lower and looks more natural. No more rubber necking for this survivalist!

Once again, you see how little modifications can turn your stock figures into something special.

And as always, if you have an idea for a custom that you don't think you can tackle yourself, drop me a line about a commission. eric@insidious1.com