Rip Cord - HALO Jumper

Back when I first started doing these G.I.Joe miniatures, there were a few that I said I wouldn't do. Duke was one (and I've done a few versions of him already). Rip Cord was another.

Rip Cord is one G.I.Joe character I've always had problems with. I didn't like the figure much. Something about it was just...off. He looks too old and has little tiny legs.

But it was his portrayal in the Marvel Comics that really soured me on him. He dates a girl who happens to be the daughter of a Cobra agent, and after she dumps him, he whines and moans about her on missions.  That's when he's not whining about the missions themselves.

After that, he winds up getting captured by Cobra and impersonates Zartan and all that *should* have been cool, but wasn't for some reason.

When they cast Marlon Wayans as Ripcord in the awful Rise of Cobra movie, that was the one time Ripcord was likeable.

That's saying something.

I had planned to use this Heroclix Shield Commander miniature for something else, but it didn't work out, so I decide to use it for Rip Cord instead. For some reason, he has kind of a chubby face so he looks a little weird.

Oh well, the important thing is I've almost done all the 1984 Joes and Cobras.

Yay, me!

-c

Deep Six - S.H.A.R.C. Diver

That's not a typo. "S.H.A.R.C. Diver" is how he's listed on his file card. It just sounds weird though.

I always kind of liked Deep Six. He was never a major character, but he got some good moments, especially in the comic. His solitary personality winds up rubbing some Joes the wrong way, which made for some interesting scenes.

For Deep Six, I used the Heroclix Lex Corp Battlesuit and added some detail with green stuff. I decided not to try to make a bubble helmet for him. Maybe his helmet retracts like Buzz Lightyear's? I also tried to add a nose because the original figure didn't really have one. The nose didn't work to well...

The original miniature's pose is about to fire some hand lasers I think. As Deep Six though, it just looks like he's showing off the only parts of the original figure that were movable.

Or maybe he's pushing someone away so he can play Solitaire.

-c

Thunder - Artilleryman

Technically, Thunder's MOS is "Self-Propelled Gun Artilleryman" but that's kind of a mouthful and also kind of silly.

I'm sure there are people who count Thunder as one of their favorite Joes growing up, but unfortunately he's one of the forgotten vehicle drivers. He was barely in the cartoon, and his contribution to the Marvel comic was to be gunned down along with other (less popular) characters by a S.A.W.-Viper.

That being said, he has a really nice costume design and I always appreciated his unique headset and visor.

For Thunder, I used the Heroclix Soldier from the Man of Steel set and added his headset with green stuff and pieces of paperclips.

He traded in his monocular for an assault rifle. Good choice!

-c

Recondo - Jungle Trooper

Recondo was not used as much as some of the other Joes like Roadblock or Duke, but when he did show up, it was usually to do something bad-ass.

Recondo might have one of the best introductions of all the Joes in the Marvel comics run.Instead of just having him show up at the base and introduce himself, a small team meets up with him while on a mission in the jungle. Turns out, he joined up and was shipped to the jungles and had been there ever since, hanging out with the natives. He then goes on to be the baddest MF'er on the team, which includes Gung Ho, Stalker, and Roadblock.

When I first started this project, I knew which mini I was going to use for Recondo: Reaper Miniatures Jonathan Kincaide, Big Game Hunter. All it took was some paint.

I went ahead and painted his rifle green instead of a normal color to match his figure's rifle.

Why not?

-c

Storm Shadow - Cobra Ninja

Back in the Eighties, there were ninjas in everything: ninja movies, ninja TV shows, Ninja Turtles...

So, it's not surprise G.I. Joe got a ninja to fight. I wonder if Hasbro had any idea how popular and influential their first ninja would be?

Introducing this figure changed a lot about the G.I. Joe universe. After this, anything was possible and soon half the teams would be made up of ninjas, but in the beginning it was just Storm Shadow.

I did his second outfit already, but I wanted to go back and do the iconic first outfit.

I could have picked just about any ninja mini for it, but I liked the pose of the D&D Miniatures Sun Soul Initiate and the fact that he had nunchuks  was a bonus. After all, I've done a few sword guys already, but no non-turtle nunchaku users.

The main conversion I did was cutting off the topknot and adding a mask with green stuff. If you're a stickler for accuracy, you could use green stuff an trimming on the boots, but I felt like it worked well enough.

-c

Spirit - Tracker

Let's face it: Spirit was all set to be a horrible depiction of a Native American and in the cartoon, that's kind of what he was. Thankfully, in the comics Larry Hama was able to portray him as someone deeply connected to his native heritage without sounding too much like Tonto.

I never understood why Spirit was often paired against Storm Shadow in the G.I.Joe cartoon. I guess they just decided it was easier to pair up the racist stereotypes. Oh well, it could have been worse...they could have had a Cobra cowboy for him to fight.

When I went looking for a miniature for Spirit, I ran into some similar problems. Most Native American gaming miniatures are of the 'Savage Indian" type. Not what I wanted for Spirit.

Thankfully, the Star Wars Miniature Jariah Syn already had most of the look I needed. I added the headband and shirt details with green stuff, and removed the weird throwing star. Too bad I don't have a little eagle to perch on his arm.

Oh well...

-c

Roadblock - Heavy Machine Gunner

Roadblock is one of the most iconic G.I.Joes there is, after Snake Eyes, Scarlett, and Duke. He's been in almost every version of the team I think.

And yet, he was not on my list of minis to paint initially.

I think it was the cartoon that kind of soured me on Roadblock. All the rhyming combined with the fact that he seemed to get a lot more screen time than some of the others, made me kind of tired of him. Since then, some of the other interpretations of the character, like in Renegades and Future Noir, have changed my mind a little about him.

We won't speak about the Retaliation version of him though...

Anyway, I got the Heroclix Blade figure in a lot from eBay and I really tried to think of who to use him for *other* than Roadblock, but finally decide to use him that way. It was just too good of a fit.


-c

Hooded Cobra Commander - Enemy Leader

Sure, I've done Cobra Commander before, but not Hooded Cobra Commander.

This might be Hooded Cobra Commander, or it might be a Pac-Man ghost sitting on someone's head.

Hooded CC was made from a Heroclix Kryptonian Soldier with a wad of green stuff on his head. I mainly used the Kryptonian Soldier because a) I had him already and b) his pose was useless for most characters other than a leader type. And it didn't seem right for Hawk.

In order to make the hood fit right, I had to trim the head up a little. So, under his mask, this Cobra Commander's face might be even worse than the horrible snakelike abomination face he had in G.I.Joe the Movie (depending on if you take that as canon or not.)

-c

Blowtorch - Flamethrower

Pork Chop Sandwiches!

OK, now that that's out of the way.

Blowtorch was the first of many flamethrowers that joined the Joe team and, to me, the only one that stands out.

When I was flipping through the Reaper Miniatures catalog (and why don't more mini companies have printed catalogs?) I saw Torch McHugh and was like, "Well, there's Blowtorch".

I never noticed until painting this that, other than the green flamethrower and his head, Blowtorch's figure is just 2 colors: yellow and orange.

Not too hard to follow that pattern. I went ahead and made his tanks orange though...they just didn't look right all yellow.

-c

Clutch - Vamp Mark II Driver

Clutch was the very first G.I.Joe figure I had and the start of a collection. When the Vamp Mark II came out with this tan version of Clutch, I really dug it because now he stood out compared to the original team line up. I liked to think he got a promotion...

For Clutch, the Heroclix Dark Knight Rises Mercenary has the qualities I was looking for: a beard, short sleeves and an AK-47 that he probably took from a Cobra Officer. That seems about right for Clutch.

-c

Scrap Iron - Cobra Anti-Armor Specialist

Scrap Iron wears blue and red. Superman wears blue and red. Gangbuster is a hero from the Superman comics and kind of resembles Scrap Iron. Coincidence?

Probably...

Scrap Iron was a figure that I actually sort of didn't like. I felt like his head was a little too big. His usual job, therefore, was to fire his rockets at the Joes before getting jump kicked off a cliff.

A simple repaint of the Heroclix Gangbuster, it would be easy to go beyond that and add his rocket launcher. He's already holding a nightstick that could easily be converted to a launch cable for his rocket launcher.

If you felt like it, that is...

-c

Update:

I wasn't totally happy with my first pass at Scrap Iron, so I added a little detail with green stuff:

Firefly - Cobra Saboteur

Firefly is kind of the Boba Fett of the G.I.Joe universe: He looks cool, but he doesn't do much.

Firefly was one of my favorite figures and I was always a little sad that he didn't get much focus in the comic or the cartoon. He was usually there, but just kind of off to the side, blowing stuff up.

I think the comic eventually tied him into the whole Arashikage ninja clan dynamic somehow...I'm not sure I like that idea though.

The pyromaniac version in the Renegades cartoon was interesting. And, while I hated pretty much everything about G.I.Joe: Retaliation, I did kind of like the movie version of Firefly.

When I started on this project, I saw Spymaster and thought, "There's my Firefly." I still shopped around but for some reason this Heroclix mini just seemed to match the figure in my mind. Maybe the green gun is a bit much, but what can you do?

-c

Wild Weasel - Cobra Rattler Pilot

Wild Weasel was the first Cobra pilot introduced and had the most awesome plane in the whole toy line.

But maybe I'm biased...

Wild Weasel is one of those characters that should have been more popular, but for some reason, he would up being more of a background player.

Normally, when I choose a mini to paint up for this project, I try to find one that really suits the character. Sometimes though, I buy a handful of minis off eBay for cheap, and then try to figure out who I can make from them.

That's how I would up going from a Heroclix S.W.A.T. Specialist to Wild Weasel. I added a little green stuff around his visor  to form Wild Weasel's mask, but other wise used him as is.

I was actually torn between converting this mini into either Wild Weasel or a Motor Viper. I decided Wild Weasel was a better option. I also was torn on trying to include his leg maps...but decided against it.

That decision I'm not so sure about now...

-c

Update:

I went back later and added his legs maps:

Cutter - Hovercraft Pilot

Another Mystery Mini from the same eBay auction!

Cutter was one of those Joes that didn't see a lot of action outside of his vehicle. He showed up a bit more in the cartoon, but to me he was always just "Boat Guy".

When I picked up this mini, I wasn't sure who it would be (like the last one.) The backpack made me think of Cutter's life jacket so I tried to go somewhere down the middle.

For once, I think I managed to get one of these guy's moustaches right.

-c

Baroness - Cobra Intelligence Officer

Speaking of iconic females from the G.I. Joe line...

I had originally picked out another mini for the Baroness, but changed my mind once I ran across this Victoria Hand Heroclix.

She matches so well, I almost wonder if she might have been influenced by the Baroness.

I tried to do a little shading of black and slightly lighter black to add definition but it didn't work too well and doesn't show in the picture anyway.

This is actually my second attempt at converting the Victoria Hand mini to the Baroness. The first, well, I tried to color the glasses and...things went awry. Badly.

Best not to speak of it...

-c

Mutt - Dog Handler (K-9)

Before Law & Order came around, Mutt and Junkyard were the closest thing the Joe team had to military police or security.

In fact, on his filecard, Mutt is noted as an "advisor to Security and Enforcement Committee", whatever that means.

So, maybe it makes sense to use the Heroclix Captain Gordon for my Mutt:

I added some knee pads with green stuff, but otherwise didn't change the fig.

A note on the coloration: When painting Mutt, I used a Marvel G.I. Joe comic as my color reference. In that comic, his goggles were green and his knee pads red. Well, until I turned the page and then they were brown...and then green...and then red again...etc.

What about Junkyard, you ask?

He'll be here.

Cheers!

-c

Update:

I was never really happy with Mutt. He looked too much like Jim Gordon cosplaying as Mutt. So, I tried remaking his face with a green stuff helmet and muzzle with...limited success:

Zartan - Master of Disguise

The famed mercenary: Zartan.

Pretty much any mini that is a dude in a hood could work for Zartan, but I chose Talathlan, Elf Ranger (03198) from Reaper for my Zartan.

Admittedly, the boots and skirt are more fitting for an elf than a mercenary, but what can you do?

One note about this mini: it's HEAVY. Lots of metal in that cloak, I think.

-c