Snow Job - Arctic Trooper

Snow Job was one of the first specialists introduced to the G.I. Joe team and, together with Torpedo, opened the way for the Joes to become a team of specialists.

Except they usually just used Snake Eyes anyway.

For the Joes resident Olympic skier and con artist, I went with Heroclix Captain Cold with a little green stuff added for his beard.

Surprisingly, Captain Cold matches up pretty well with Snow Job. He even has the holster.

I think I may have overdone the beard a little bit. This might pass as the Zach Galifianakis version of Snow Job.

Better keep an eye on my fridge.

-c

Airtight - Hostile Environment

The inspiration for this conversion came from a blog post. I don't remember the site, but the person was showing and naming a handful of Joes and jokingly referred to Airtight as "Rebel Pilot."

What do you know, he was right!

There are a few different Rebel Pilot miniatures, with and without helmets, so I went with one with a gun.

"But what about his air vacuum cleaner thingy?" you ask.

Well, I thought about mocking something up, but when I grabbed a Marvel comic issue for reference while painting, Airtight was using a machine gun, so...

Anyways, I may go back and touch up the yellow paint a bit since it's not quite the right shade, but for now I think it works.

Close enough!

-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

Cover Girl - Wolverine Driver

There are many iconic female characters in the G.I. Joe line: Scarlett, Lady Jaye, Baroness, Jinx, Zarana...

And then there's Cover Girl.

Poor Cover Girl never seems to get a break. While she was used some in the cartoon (when Scarlett and Lady Jaye were busy), she was mostly ignored in the comic and tragically killed in the Rise of Cobra movie. (Not to mention being demoted to an assistant to Hawk.)

Uh...Spoiler Alert?

Anyway, while the other females got cool Specialties like Intelligence or Ninja, Cover Girl was the Wolverine driver. But at one point or another, every other Joe drove a tank anyway, so Cover Girl was left looking like the one guy on a superhero team whose only power is flight: awesome unless others can do that AND something better.

Even Cover Girl's color scheme is kind of dull: brown and tan. The other Joe girls have red, black, pink, green, etc. Cover Girl kind of got shafted.

Finding a mini I thought fit Cover Girl was actually kind of hard *because* she is not well defined.

I went with the Heroclix DEO Agent, but this will just be a stand in until I find a better mini for her.

As one of the second series figures and the second female Joe, she deserves better.

Cheers!

-c

B.A.T. - Cobra Android Trooper

The original B.A.T. was a figure that just made sense to me. Instead of a faceless army of goons for the Joes to beat up, why not a faceless army of unthinking machines. Brilliant!

The B.A.T. has a very specific look, one that is not easy to duplicate. I considered quite a few different minis before selecting the Star Wars Mini: Republic Commando - Scorch.

Scorch has two things going for it to make it B.A.T.-like: it has the T-shape visor, and the backpack with those two posts sticking up. I put a little green stuff on one to make a crude claw, leaving the other as-is to stand in for the laser attachment.

Of course, the best thing would be to pick up an original B.A.T. micro fig, but they tend to sell on eBay for a little more than I want to spend.

Maybe someday...

-c

Sci-Fi - Laser Trooper

For some of the Joes, finding a miniature that matches the look and feel can be quite a task.

For others, I just see a mini and think, "Hey, there's Sci-Fi."

For Sci-Fi, I ran across this Star Wars Miniature Human Mercenary.

He's got the helmet, the rifle, the boots. The only difference is the mini has kind of long outer coat look instead of the silver and green vest. But still a pretty good match.

In fact, the hardest think to find for Sci-Fi was a nice bright green paint. I ordered a bottle of Reaper Moth Green and it looks just about perfect for Sci-Fi.

Don't worry though Flash fans, I plan to include the original Joe Laser Trooper down the line.

Cheers!

-c

Side Note: Spirit Tells a Joke

I'm a little behind on taking pictures, so in lieu of that, please accept my favorite joke from the Marvel G.I. Joe run, from Spirit of all people:

From G.I Joe issue #33

Alley Viper - Cobra Urban Assault Trooper

A newer entry and one of my all time favorite Cobra troops, the Alley Viper.

You have to wonder who decided blue and orange are good urban camo colors. (Although, the Alley Vipers would have been perfect to blend in with my elementary school team colors.)

I considered going with a Captain America type, since some of the Heroclix based on early Cap have shields in the right shape, but decided on the S.W.A.T. Officer.

With his truncheon, riot shield, face mask, and rifle strung across his back, he makes for a pretty good Alley Viper.

I do have to say...while I really did the original orange and blue, the later releases of Alley Viper in black and maroon are also pretty spiffy.

Oh, look...an excuse to paint another mini!

-c