Snake Eyes - Future Noir

There have been many, many versions of Snake Eyes over the years.

And here's another one.

The problem with Snake Eyes is that, although there have been many versions of his costume, they are all pretty similar. (With a few funky exceptions.) So, for Future Noir, they didn't really do anything unexpected. He's still in black with a mask. He looks a little more futuristic, but still basically Snake Eyes.

The biggest difference between normal Snake Eyes and the Future Noir universe version is that Noir Snake Eyes is not associated with G.I.Joe. He works solely for the Arashikage clan. Had the Future Noir series continued past those 2 issues though, I bet he would have joined the Joes.

For Snake Eyes I used a Star Wars Mandalorian Marauder mini. I had to trim the neck a little because of how the Mandalorian's helmet was shaped and I added the visor with green stuff.

Again, I did my best guess for the colors since it was a B&W comic. For all I know his suit is dark purple with yellow highlights.

-c

Agent Jinx - Covert Infiltration Specialist

I'm a little on the fence about the name change from "Jinx" to "Agent Jinx". I like the simplicity of "Jinx" but that name is used a lot for different characters. If you search for "Agent Jinx" though, you pretty much only get the G.I. Joe character (and maybe Halle Berry).

Either way, I *do* like the redesign of her outfit.

For her Valor vs Venom outfit, I used the Heroclix Katana and added the crossed belts with green stuff.

I tried to paint her with the blindfold. Not sure how well that comes across.

I like this design enough that I'm tempted to track on of the figures down.

-c

Soft Master - Arashikage Ninja Master

There's probably three ways you could go with a mini for the Soft Master. One would be in his orange kimono from the comic flashbacks. Two would be the brown suit he wears when infiltrating Springfield.

Or, you could do him in his Cuban-Chinese Restaurant outfit as he was introduced in the comic:

Odd choice aside, the Soft Master another one of the comic only characters who brought a lot of depth to the stories. And as a non-action figure character, he didn't have the Plot Shield that other characters had, so he could sacrifice himself to save others. (Spoilers?)

I used a Reaper Miniatures Bones Innkeeper and used green stuff to make his pants look more like modern trousers.

Now, I just need to make a miniature Cuban-Chinese Restaurant (with ninja bolthole.)

-c

Beast Ninja Soldier - Arashikage Ninja

This is kind of a weird one. I have no idea what a Beast Ninja Soldier is. This figure comes from the 2013 G.I.Joe Micro Force line which featured many familiar faces and also some total mystery characters like this.

I'm not even sure he's Cobra. That's just a guess.

Regardless of the mysterious origin, I really like this figure. I liked the whole Micro Force line actually, and was said it stopped after the first series.

For Beast Ninja Soldier, I used a Heroclix Wolverine with green stuff for the mask. Unlike other miniatures I've done, I didn't repaint Wolverine's eyes. They looked pretty crazy as it was, which seems to fit the "beast" part of the name.

Actually, Beast Ninja Soldier is a pretty good description of Wolverine, isn't it?

-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

Hard Master - Arashikage Ninja Master

How's this for an obscure Joe-related character? In most Joe continuities, the Hard Master is already dead and we only see him in flashbacks. And yet somehow he did get and action figure, although that one looks a bit too much like Yul Brynner instead of an old Japanese man.

Ya know, I say the Hard Master is an obscure character, but the Marvel comics spent a good amount of time dealing with who murdered the Hard Master and why. Enough time that I felt like he deserved a figure.

He's just a quick repaint of the Heroclix Karate Kid. The only modification I needed was cutting away the pile of broken robot from around his feet.

Does the mean I'll be doing the Soft Master, the Blind Master, and the others?

You better believe it.

-c

Arashikage Ninja - Cobra Red Ninja

Another figure I wished I had as a kid but was not made until the 2000's...

It's hard to know how to categorize these guys. The Arashikage Clan was separate from Cobra, but affiliated through Storm Shadow and later through Zartan. So, they are definitely bad guys on Cobra's payroll. I guess that's good enough to call them Cobras.

Just a simple repaint of a Heroclix Hand Ninja. I could have just got the already Red Hand Ninja, but that wouldn't be any fun, would it?

-c

Billy - Cobra Commander's Son

Ah, New Years. The time for reflection and for fresh starts. Just like Cobra Commander had for about thirty seconds before being shot in the back and then turning evil again. And it's all Billy's fault.

Actually, while Cobra Commander in the comic *did* blame Billy for his being shot, he really brought it on himself.

While he started as kind of an annoying kid, Billy grew to be an interesting character in the Marvel comic. His training with Storm Shadow and then loss of his eye and leg in the car crash\rocket attack (spoilers) were pretty gripping to me.

Since he dresses similar to Storm Shadow a few times in the comics, I thought this Master Bruce Wayne Heroclix would make a good conversion choice and I think it did.

Plus, doing it this way meant not having to figure out how to make his artificial leg.

-c

Snake Eyes - Commando

Sure, I've done Snake Eyes already, but that was the Renegades version. Before he was known as a super ninja, Snake Eyes was just a commando.

The popular story is that Snake Eyes' design came from a cost savings idea: reuse existing parts, painted all black, and give them a new head. From that simple idea, came the most iconic G.I.Joe around.

For my commando version of Snake Eyes, I used the Heroclix Johann Kraus combined with Punisher's arms. Add a little green stuff for his visor and instant Snake Eyes.

So, for this mini, I took the same approach and painted him all black. If only Punisher had been holding an Uzi, it would have been perfect.

-c

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

Jinx - Ninja Intelligence

Another departure from the metal miniatures, this time coming from the Heroscape line.

Jinx, Ninja Finance Clerk! Ok, she's actually "Ninja Intelligence" but I love the little detail of her Secondary Specialty being Finance Clerk. Those are the kind of details that really bring the characters and the Marvel comic alive. (Thank you, Larry Hama!)

For Jinx, I found the Heroscape Otonashi figure. (For the curious, "otonashi" is Japanese for "silence", which is appropriate for a ninja.)

A simple repaint and rebasing. I like the little pony tail, which reminds me of some of the more recent Jinx figures.

The scale seems just slightly smaller than some of the others, but I think that is just the figure, not the Heroscape line itself.

Alternatives? Well, there's no shortage of female ninja minis, so if you really insist that Jinx have a naginata, there's probably a mini out there for it.

Good hunting!

-c

Storm Shadow - Ninja

You can't have Snake Eyes without Storm Shadow.

And not just any Storm Shadow, but Version 2 from 1988:

For this mini, I tracked down the Reaper Miniatures Ninja Bowman (04419).

(Sorry the picture is a little blurry, but I was trying to take a picture of a Ninja after all.)

Unfortunately, this mini is no longer for sale from Reaper, so you'll probably have to find it on ebay or elsewhere.

If you prefer the original Storm Shadow look, well, there are *tons* of Ninja minis out there for you to choose from.

Good hunting!

-c

Snake Eyes - Ninja Commando

If you're going to paint a bunch of minis based on G.I. Joe, where else do you start but with the most iconic personality in the line: Snake Eyes.

Picking a specific mini and\or costume could have been a challenge. After all, he did have about sixty different figures to choose from.

Thankfully, Reaper Miniatures made things a little easier with their totally-not-a-Joe figure Cobra, Modern Ninja (50082).

For my version of Snake Eyes I based it mostly of the Renegades version of his costume, as opposed to the all black original. The visor is a little different, and my ham-handed attempt at making knee pads with green stuff didn't work too well, but I think it came out OK.

Another possible option, if you want a slightly more dynamic pose, would be the Heroclix Black Tarantula figure:

Cheers!

-c