Mercer - Renegade

Some minis I paint because they are my favorites...some, because I have extra minis lying around. Guess which one this is...

I guess there's nothing wrong with Mercer, but he just didn't stand out when mixed with other (better) Joes. It probably didn't help that he came packed with 2 guys that would probably be horrible  stereotypes if I could figure out what they were stereotyping.

Anyway, for Mercer, I used an extra Punisher Heroclix I had left and it works pretty well. Pants could be brighter blue. Could have added details to his shirt. I suppose I could have green stuff'd him a flattop.

But I didn't.

-c

Update:

While I didn't give him a flatop, I did add some more detail to his legs and chest 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

Zandar - Zartan's Brother

Like his sister Zarana, Zandar is sadly defined by his more well know brother, not even getting a specific military function. If he was a D&D character, his class would be the generic "Commoner" type.

Another EM4 Plastic Ganger, with a perfect head for Zandar. There wasn't a spear gun though, so I gave him a shotgun. I added his pink scarf with green stuff but decided to give him a sleeveless shirt instead shirtless sleeves.

And now that I notice it...I forgot his face paint\tattoos.

*Sigh*

Another touch up job...

-c

Update:

Touched up his face and sleeves:

Bazooka - Missile Specialist

In the Marvel comics, Breaker was always shown chewing bubble gum, but it would have made *way* more sense if it had been Bazooka.

Bazooka was one of those figures that I got but he just kind of was there. He was never a favorite and I didn't think about him much. If I had, maybe I would have wondered how smart it is to rush into battle wearing a bright red football jersey. But, I didn't...

Maybe it's fitting then that I didn't really plan to make a mini for Bazooka but happened to have a Howling Commando from buying some Heroclix in a lot. I slapped on a green stuff moustache and added a missile launcher on his back made from the EM4 plastic miniatures tree.

I guess the fact that I did Bazooka means eventually I'll have to do his pal Alpine...

-c

Monkeywrench - Dreadnok

After the original three, Zartan would go on to recruit many more Dreadnoks, including the exposives expert Monkeywrench.

I always imagined that Monkeywrench and Firefly would have a sort of professional rivalry. Firefly probably knew more about explosives from a technical point of view, where Monkeywrench probably made up for his lack of training by being a nutcase.

Another Dreadnok means another EM4 miniature, this one is 0064 Male Biker, SMG, Chain. There are a lot of little details that match up pretty well: the beard, the vest, the jeans and belt buckle.  He even has a grenade on his belt and what looks like some electronic detonator behind him.

He's missing the shades and I totally spaced and forgot about his gloves, but otherwise, a great match.

Now, I think I need to move on to non-Dreadnok pastures for a while before I start motorcycle shopping...

-c

Torch - Dreadnok

Where Buzzer is the "brains" of the original Dreadnoks, and Ripper is the dumb one, Torch is more of the Team Mom of the trio.

In the comics, Torch was the guy who could sort of tell that they shouldn't be doing something, but went along anyway. So, he's still dumb, but maybe not as dumb as Ripper...barely.

I was wondering for a while how I was going to find a mini with Torch's distinctive chops, but luckily the EM4 Miniatures Gangers set had just the right head for him.

The set comes with parts for 5 miniatures (3 male, 2 female) and the arms, legs, and heads are interchangeable (between the same sex parts at least).

I gave Torch the most Flamethrower\Torch looking weapon and added some tanks and a hose with green stuff and pieces of the plastic tree they minis came in.

I guess in this reality, Torch traded in his vest for a chain mail shirt. Not sure how well that goes with a flamethrower...

Ripper - Dreadnok

Where Buzzer is arguably the smartest Dreadnok, Ripper makes a good case for being the dumbest. It doesn't help that he kind of resembles Bebop from TMNT.

Another EM4 Mini, this time 0031 Savage. Autoshotgun. Shades. Mohican. As with Buzzer, this is a little more Road Warrior than Biker, but very similar to the Ripper look. I considered trying to add a blade to the rifle with green stuff, but I think it would have been too fragile.

Looking at the picture now, I see that I neglected to put a camo pattern on Ripper's vest.

C'est la vie.

-c

Buzzer - Dreadnok

When it comes to Zartan's Dreadnoks, consistency was something I wanted to maintain. Instead of picking random figures here and there to be his gang, I made an effort to find a group of similar miniatures. After a bit of searching, I decided on a few figures from the EM4 Miniatures Savages and Bikers lines.

Buzzer was the first Dreadnok I had and, in my canon, was the leader of the Dreadnoks (after Zartan). As it turned out, that was pretty much his role in the comics as well, so I was pleased I'd identified him correctly.

EM4's Savages line is a little more Mad Max than Hell's Angel's, but I thought the 0024 Savage. Saw Edged Sword mini worked for Buzzer. I guess he's grown his hair out a bit and traded his chainsaw in for a saw tooth sword.

It's kind of hard to tell in the picture, but this mini has a teddy bear strapped to his pack. Considering Buzzer's short arc in the comics where he kidnapped Candy (aka Bongo the Bear), this seems appropriate.

-c