I’ve always wanted some more TF X Joe crossover toys, but now that Joe has moved to the 6″ scale, I wasn’t happy to see a refocus on O-rings. Even when I was collecting 1:18th, I preferred the latest articulation and sculpting detail.
I decided to whip this up as a fun alternative take based on the existing molds. I shared this on fb earlier in the year, but am just now getting to do it here.
I understand that there are budgetary limits for a lower run exclusive item, that the new art and card add to the cost, so maybe I can understand the lack of a new headsculpt, but the retro Lady Jaye we are getting, is simply too close to the declassified version to me.
It’s fair to suggest that that the retro carded version should match the toy, not the toon, but that’s where I think the Classified team should have preplanned this as an option and had this release as the original.
While I typically prefer more realistic looks for the Joes themselves (not so much for Cobra) sometimes something crazy a line and becomes a different kind of cool. Outback is the best example of that. The European exclusive Tiger Force Outback, with his bright orange shirt, looks like old man Chuck Norris on Steroids.
After I did the regular outback look from the upcoming Marvel Legends old man Hawkeye, (Which you can see here) I had to go and do the Tiger Force version! 2 in fact!
The actual European tiger force version had brown camo, but that didn’t look right for some reason, neither did the gray boots, but that got me thinking and a great contrasting color to orange came to mind. I also used a blue camo head band when I cosplayed at Tiger Force Outback at a Joe con.
Next up I’ll be heading back to the world of Valaverse for another Steel Brigade recolor.
This one is simple. The moment I saw the upcoming Marvel Legends old man Hawkeye from the Old Man Logan story, I thought it was obvious he looked like a great base for Outback.
So here he is, and the original image I used after him.
Yes a Tiger Force is coming.
G.I.Joe’s Snake-Eyes hit the pegs in 1982. While the rest of the Joes, save Scarlet, were sporting some Olive Drab, Snake-Eyes wasn’t sporting deco at all. The mute, with the muted colors, sparked young imaginations both because of his fascinating file card that would go on to play out in comics, and his physical form which stuck out both among the Joes, and most typical good guys.
Snake-Eyes would undergo a lot of changes and interpretations over the years, and even rather quickly as the line grow. Before his famous knight visor v2 look, Sunbow turned him blueish purple.
The comics turned him into a ninja. In one particular famous story, “The Silent Interlude” it wasn’t just SE that was mute, but the entire issue was without word bubbles. That wasn’t the intent however, it was due to a lack of time to get the issue to press.
I entered into the online hobby around the year 2000, and there was a rumor that Snake-Eyes himself was impacted by a similar issue, but rather than time, it was cost. Numerous online users said, the real story with SE, was simply that they cut his deco to cut cost. As evidence the pointed to a 1983 sticker sheet. After hearing from the late G.I.Joe Historian Gary Goggles that originally many of the 013 (original 13 Joes) were going to be more unique, I had to track down a copy of that sticker sheet myself.
Looking at the sticker sheet we can see that the Polar Battle Bear was blue instead of white. So that might explain the blue/gray on Snake-Eyes. It’s worth noting he has bare hands, just like the cartoon. His shirt and harness was much more in line with the rest of the Joes.
I was so enamored with the design, that among my first ever digital recolors was The Loyal Subjects version of this design:
I wasn’t the only one. Matthew created a fairly famous custom based on the image named Mayor. You can check him out here. Matthew, and his twin brother Chad are among the rare Joe fans I have met in person outside of cons, and are pillars of the joecustoms community.
We do know that some 013 were intended to have some differences. Including some having unique heads. Although I need to find a new audio host, you can still see the images from our interview about “Baby Face” Breaker with my friend Jonathan Robinson here.
But what about SE? I’m aware what the high profile toy documentary “The Toys That Made Us” has said, but long before they were a thing, I went straight to the source and I asked Kirk Bozigian. His answer? SE was always supposed to be inspired by the S.A.S. and in black. The color scheme from the sticker was likely just used to brighten him up. You know how hard it is to make an all black sticker look cool? to children? The clad in all black anti-hero wasn’t nearly as popular of a trope yet, and certainly not on Saturday morning cartoon.
I looked at some of my Joe related notes, and past Pms, with Kirk, and couldn’t find when/where he confirmed this. It may have been in person, I’ll presure that further. That said, Even if it wasn’t his original intended look, I still love it.
With the background info out of the way, based on that little sticker in 1983, I took Fred Azcon’s Digital sculpt for the G.I.Joe Classified line, as well as a commando style head from the Pursuit of Cobra Line, and gave him the sticker sheet treatment.
I chose to leave the blue/gray simply grey, and to keep the gloves. I used this as an excuse to keep the Uzi gray, as I regularly had light grey weapons in my Joes hands as a kid, I don’t even know where I got them. I also accidentatly stumbled on the light brown w/ dark brown Arashikage logo combination and fell in love with it. The vest in brown, reminds me of Stormshadow’s DDP Solo Series look in a weird way, which might give me a future idea since I’m playing with adding new head sculpts to these.
a close up view:
Continue reading
Bobby Vala fom Valaverse.com gave me a better starting image for my digital recolors of his action force lines, and I after having just completed a Destro in “pimp daddy” style, (See this post for that, and the origin of the name) I decided he wasn’t the only one who could party!
without armor:
with the a more classic, non detailed helmet to better mirror the source material
Many folks have complained about the brighter elements on the Classified series Duke, so I did a little digital recolor when I made the new banner for the Classified Series Discussion group.
the actual banner is here:
I put these up on Facebook and Instagram, some time ago, but in an effort to keep all my work in one place, here are digibbashes of modern 6″ versions of Ozone and Airtight. I used Action Force’s Steel Briage as a base. You can check out more of Action Force here.
I’ll start with what were actually my second version of each character
some wip in shots:
I pulled this off of a video review of Classified Series Duke, by Fwoosh Robo. Thought I’d save it here in case anyone else wants to you use it.
We are only a week away from New York Toy Fair, where most expect a full reveal of the upcoming 6″ G.I.Joe Classified line. The designs, the sculpts, the packaging, all of it is already in the bag. That’s how toys are made, it’s a year or longer process. Even though we are still waiting to get our first look at them, most of the early product is locked down. I expect they have learned some valuable lessons from their own work along the way, as well as from other toylines. Because I want this line to go on beyond the initial waves, I wanted to do a few posts pointing out specific things that the upcoming G.I.Joe line could learn from, and I want to start with everyone’s least favorite game, and bizarre action figure hit:
Before I do let me clear up a rumor:
ONLY ONE ANONYMOUS SOURCE SAYS THAT JAZWARES IS MAKING JOE FIGURES, THAT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE, as John Reale was in charge of the line until he left Hasbro a few weeks ago, and now Roni Noyma has been announced as in charge of marketing. This isn’t about what Jazwares can do, this about what Hasbro can learn from jazwares… anyways…
I was introduced to Fortnite when My son wanted me to play the game with him, I tried, and it was TERRIBLE. I played some Call of Duty in my time and enjoyed it, but the fortnite maps were overly large and sparsley populated with other players, and the players I did encounter in fortnite where cheap, and overpowered. I’m too old for the micotransactions not to feel like pay to win, even if they aren’t, but that was the impression I got. It felt like it had a hard barrier of entry.
I thought I was uninterested , despite noticing some cool designs, but then came the toys from both Jazwares and McFarlane. I already appreciated the obvious homages in aesthetics in their designs , but seeing them in plastic was like a breath of fresh air. It hit all the right nostalgia points, yet was varied, drawing from multiple sources, many where bright and eye catching, and they had no attached story. I felt like could grab them, plug them into one of my shelves and imagine.
So what could G.I.Joe Classified learn from Fortnite? Let’s start with Mcfarlane’s Red Strike…
On the left you can spot Red Strike. I would have bent him over further, but he would have fallen, and on the right the excellent Fwoosh articulated icons green ninja, and future base for a Kamakura custom.
It may not be obvious, but that jacket that covers Red Strike’s torso, is super soft and flexible, meaning he has a good range of motion, but the sculpt isn’t broken up. I love the Articulated Icons ninja body, even if they are a little more true 6″ scale than my Marvel legends figures. There is an obvious flaw they have, that I admit would be hard to avoid. They did what most companies do, natural movement is in the middle of the torso, which means a break, but that hard break doesn’t always work well with the sculpt, especially a ninja gi.
Stormshadow isn’t in wave 1, but you know he is coming, how can Hasbro set themselves above Fwoosh’s excellent work when many of us already have made Stormshadow customs? Cloth is one way to go, but doesn’t mesh as well with the rest of the plastic, I think they should adopt the soft plastic approach Red Strike has here. We could have all the detail of the gi, and the articulation, without the break up.
2. Go wide
For the U.K. fans of G.I.Joe, or Action Force, they likly thought Mcfarlane’s Hybrid looked familiar:
This scaly lizard beast with hints of red and black seems to be inspired by Action Force’s Kraken. While like the Firefly/Havoc Connection it’s not the most unique design, it feels more distinct than just a soldier in urban camo.
(Photo from figurerealm.com)
One of the reasons Fortnight is a hit across both kids and adult collectors is that it is pulling from a wide variety of inspirations. The figures on a shelf each stand out.
One of the worst aspects of the G.I.Joe rise of Cobra movie line was that it was just a bunch of dudes in black armor. Nobody stuck out. The iconic colors where gone. Later figures like Helix from the video game, or non movie characters helped, but the initial waves failed to stick out in the toy aisle. Many collectors think we want realistic, and even all black or all camo, and while many of us do enjoy those things, but if a new toy doesn’t add something to the display shelf it can get left behind on the pegs.
Time is limited, we only have a few waves before it will be time to Push the Snake-Eyes movie, but G.I.Joe has a rich history. If they want to learn from Fortnite, they can include pieces from all throughout Joe’s life, from Adventure Team, to Renegade’s Bio Vipers to Zombie Vipers, all in the right dashes of variety to keep it feeling fresh. Overdoing it will turn the more military minded collectors away.
3. Neck articulation:
Remember Red Strike above?
He features neck articulation like on Mafex and S.H. figuarts, that really helps make the figure expressive, even with a mask. It also mirrors the a Real American Hero era with it’s cut at the bottom of the neck line. Why not up the ante compared to marvel legends? Joe was always ahead of the game in articulation, why not give us something similar here with double ball pegged necks for excellent emotional poses.
4. Mcfarlane and Jazwares prove you can go two directions with designs.
Jazwares stays true to the softness and cartoony style of fortnite, while Mcfarlane leans towards realistic, while still being true to the heart of those designs. If Hasbro dips into the more stylized designs like Renegades, or the overly bright designs of the “neon nineties” Mcfarlane has proven they can give a nod , and be recognized as what they are, while still adding an edge to it, making it more palatable for adults.
5. Not all articulation is created equal.
I want to turn to Jazwares for a moment, because I love their 6″ line too. In fact I like it’s scale better for humans in the line, even if it is a bit shorter than my preferred Marvel Legends. But they do have gripping articulation, can we leave that one behind? It works better than on old Toy Biz legends, but it doesn’t feel needed. Toe joints aren’t really for me either, but I can live with or without them. Jazwares really does do something else I want Joe to learn from…
6. Go wild with the accessories:
If this fish monster gets Popcorn, why can’t we get Yo Joe cola?
There are lots of great Joe Facebook Groups out there, but If you want to keep talking about it at a place dedicated to the new scale, you’re more than welcome @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/gijoe6inch/
The one Joe group where no one should be yelling at you that they won’t buy 6″ and only want classic 0-rings. Unfortunately too often in other groups it turns into a negativity fest 😦
Rathio 