COUP D'ETAT GI Joe ARAH Vintage Cobra custom figure

This is Coup D'Etat, a custom I did about 5 or 6 years ago and just made pics lately. Coup D'Etat is a Range Viper that got stranded in a forgotten war in Central America, and guess what, he managed to get "elected" Presidente. His survival skills were so high, that he realised the only way to stay alive was to rise to the top and rule over all the country. Nobody knwos what happened with the rest of his squad, or which Range Viper he was, but he has now forsaken Cobra and he looks to create his own evil empire. His weapons are real gold plated, to have emergency fortune always at hand. In a lot came a damaged Range Viper head, that cried for something cool to do with him. And so it came about.

Amok Dreadnok Cobra custom figure GI Joe Hasbro 25th

This is Amok, a new Cobra dreadnok. I got the Roadblock 25th figure, which I thought was awful, and hence I customized him. I felt more Dreadnoks were needed, and at the same time I had a spare bike to repair, so was born Amok. 

"A Dreadnok with the urge of running around, recklessly, without objective nor reason, if you see him in your backmirror, run!"

Dino Hunter GI Joe custom figure

This is Dino Hunter, a figure heavily inspired by Chad and Matthew's Jurassic Park line of customs (if I remember well, this was about 5 years ago). I liked very much the concept hence I did it with a few spare parts I had. The whole dino idea, even if a bit absurd, I dig it quite a bit, and would have loved that all Jurassic Park figures would have had Joe size and articulation.

Miles Mayhem GI Joe Cobra version custom figure MASK Kenner Venom

And here is another in my line of MASK figures turned to 25th. Pity only Trakker managed it to make it officially. Was asked to do this, if for my collection probably I will do it on vintage o-ring bodies. I made a cast of the helmet so I would always be able to do this :) . Luckily there exists the Destro ROC base figure, which is just great for Miles Mayhem. The collector who wanted didn't want him fat, so it was easier this way. All the concentration went into the MASK, and sculpting, moulding, casting, then sanding to make it fit, was complex. Did a controller for him as he always seems to be controlling something at a distance :) .

Mirage Omar Shadow Strikers custom figure GI Joe ARAH style

Here is another custom figure I made some time ago :) . He is Mirage Omar, an interesting character that appeared in the very short lived "Shadow Strikers" series, a sort of MASK toyline with clear vehicles. I saw very much GI Joe potential in it, (the enemy is called "Dr Viper", and his organization, the "Evaders", you cannot get much more GI Joe than this). Sadly there was only a pilot episode. Some of the designs are very interesting.

So I chose Mirage Omar, the coolest and most different. He is an ex-terrorist that has turned to good hero ways. Like MASK, I think this would have been super cool in Joe version, hence customizing is the only way to turn :) .

If you are interested, you can see the only episode here;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhnhrCOVEjM&t=2s&ab_channel=VHSLegacy

             

 

Arumakan GI Joe ARAH custom figure

 

Here is Arumakan; a sort of south east asian Sumatran mercenary expert in gliders, having two gliders, one for silent attacks, and another jet one for powerful ground attacks. Sort of my hands went free on this one, but I am very happy with how he turned out. Name comes from the glider which was a paper plane.

Looter Cobra custom action figure gi joe arah vintage

 Looter; loosely inspired by Chad & Matthews customs of the possible "Jurassic Park" line in o-ring style. The design was cool, and I was looking for some inspiration, as sometimes is tiring to come up with new concepts :) . However, second versions of characters bores me, so I made him a brand new exciting character, Looter. Specialist in sacking old temples, tombs, any kind of valuable artifact, and also breaking in museums and private mansions. Knows everything there is to know about traps, curses and the like. He enlisted to Cobra to get access to more temples, to do more looting, as Cobra has the best database of lost temples and similar :) .

Mariner GI Joe vs Cobra Spy troops custom figure unproduced

Mariner; googling I found a image of possible, but unproduced comic book character that were considered for the GI Joe vs Cobra run. One of them, Mariner, struck me as one of the more interesting of the lot, and wanting another new Joe, I thought he was a good choice :) to enlarge my GI Joe vs Cobra collection.

Torinoko GI Joe ninja custom action figure unproduced 1995

Torinoko. A concept I've come up myself, considering what might have happened if GI JOe had continued in 1995. Coming from the Ninja fever of the nineties, more Ninjas were tremendously possible, and so I went a bit for colours like Budo unreleased, with a gimmick like chrome hand, and a bit of textile like Tjbang, etc. He is an outcast ninja, dishonoured by a previous deed, who roams having sworn revenge to all other ninja clans.

Thunder Ninja ARAH GI Joe custom figure

Thunder Ninja; canonic character, yes ;) . Browsing boredly through YoJoe, I stumbled upon the Micro force figures, and a design struck me as fresh, new, and basically, never seen before, Thunder Ninja. Tried to get more info about him but couldn't, I don't know if he appears on comics, but couldn't find anything. I thought it would be cool to make it into a ARAH figure. You can check his micro force figure here; https://www.yojoe.com/micro-force/13/thunderninja.shtml 

 

 

Carcass (G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary) Custom Action Figure

And the last to complete the trio :) . I used a Tygra Thundercats 3.75 to bring him to custom figure life. He needed sculpting everywhere, a complex custom to do, but I am very happy how he turned out. I followed the card illustration as close as possible.

Lobotomaxx (G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary) Custom Action Figure

Probably, the weirdest "GI Joe" figure to ever have been made. Yes yes, a GI Joe figure, you've read well. I was asked to bring the Lunartix aliens to the 25th style, and I followed the cardback, as I saw good potential in it, and there is no other source of media for the characters. I thought that as Star Wars aliens, they are quite good. Made using a Lizard figure with some sculpting here and there.

 

Predacon Lunartix Empire GI Joe Cobra 25th anniversary custom figure style

Here is a fun custom I did last year, this is Predacon, one of the aliens that was last introduced to GI Joe in about 1994 and left forgotten since. Not specially my cup of tea, but I must admit it is a cool character, although more in Star Wars if you ask me! the vintage figure is quite forgettable, for my custom I based on the blister art, which is quite menacing. Most complicated was engineering the arms articulations, so that all arms are fully poseable. I used a Venom body, which was curiously super articulated on arms, but nearly fixed legs, and combined it with a modern Thor.

 

Hydro Viper 25th anniversary Retro custom figure

Hydro Viper; I followed a recipe I saw online for a kind of beastly Hydro Viper. I casted the vintage accesories, and modified them to fit.