Dragonsky - Oktober Guard Soldier

Back when I was collecting G.I. Joe figures, they never made any of the Oktober Guard toys, which was a bummer. I would have been thrilled to have them. And one of my favorites was Dragonsky.

Most of the Oktober Guard wore normal military gear, so when Dragonsky came out in this purple outfit with a flamethrower, I thought it was freaking cool.

I started with a Heroclix N.O.W.H.E.R.E. Soldier and added the fuel tanks, hose, and helmet with green stuff.

I tried to add the little red star on his helmet. I might be hard to see in the pic though.

-c

Fast Draw - Mobile Missile Specialist

I had Fast Draw when I was little and I always kind of disliked him, but I wasn't sure why until I decided to paint a mini version of him.

There are 3 reasons I don't like Fast Draw:

1) The original figure's chubby face just looks a little goofy to me.

2) He is a soldier who goes into combat with nothing but TWO MISSILES. After he shoots them, what is he supposed to do? He doesn't have any other weapons, so I assume Fast Draw just leaves. He's probably always the first guy back at the Joe base after a mission.

3) I didn't realize this until I was painting him, but Fast Draw's colors and design look like a He-Man figure. Imagine him at the scale of other He-Man action figures. He would fit in perfectly. All he needs is a name like "Rocketor" or "Two-Shot".

Anyway, even though he wasn't one of my favorites, I still made him. I used a Halo Spartan with Dual Magnums and added the missile pack, hoses, and visor with green stuff.

Now he's ready to shoot his two shots and get back to HQ.

-c

Nitro-Viper - Cobra Detonator Driver

Another figure that I never had but liked the look.

Nitro-Viper is a repaint of the Track-Viper, but I didn't want to just repaint the same mini in the same pose.

It took a little time to find this version of the Halo Heroclix ODST, and probably wasn't worth the time and energy just for one figure, but what the heck.

-c

Listen N Fun Tripwire - Mine Detector

It's Tripwire again, but not just any Tripwire: Listen N Fun Tripwire. He's very...orange!

I only ever saw LnF Tripwire in the store a couple of times: once at a drugstore on a family vacation (when I got him) and many years later in the discount bin at a toy store.

I always thought of this version as an alternate chemical suit or something. And it looks like I wasn't the only one.

Since LnF Tripwire was just a repaint of the original mold: I used the same Old Republic Soldier mini for him.

-c

Hit & Run - Light Infantryman

I'm kind of surprised it took Hasbro until the seventh series to make a figure with full body camo paint. Either that, or Hit & Run is a Martian.

A pretty simple conversion that came out pretty good. I used the Halo Actionclix Marine with SMG #088 and added the goggles and duffel bag with green stuff.

Like I said, simple but it works.

-c

Scar-Face - Cobra Courier

 Scar-Face was never featured in the cartoon and only years later did he get a figure, but he was pretty instrumental to a lot of the early Marvel Comics G.I.Joe story lines.

Technically, Scar-Face was a Cobra Officer, but he was often used to transport intel, packages, and, in one case, a virulent toxin. So, not a great job...

The lasting image of Scar-Face for me is him returning to his Coney Island secret hideout, trench coat covering his Cobra uniform and sans helmet.

The Grifter Heroclix was a good choice to convert because all I really needed to modify was the lower part of Grifter's mask thing.

I tried a two tone approach to Scar-Face's trench coat. Not sure how well that worked though...

-c

Gung-Ho - Marine

Gung-Ho was the first G.I.Joe figure that made me do a double take when I first saw him. People joke about the day-glo colors of some of the later figures, but look at Gung-Ho. What is he going to blend in with in teal camouflage?

Gung-Ho is one of the iconic early Joes and, like Roadblock, got a lot of use in the cartoon as "the big guy". For that reason, I don't mind the fact that I couldn't find a good grenade launcher for him to use. In the cartoon, he rarely used anything other than his fists anyway.

I used the Samandahl Rey Heroclix for Gung-Ho, adding his hat with green stuff and trying to approximate his chest tattoo.

Since the cartoons like to play up his Cajun side, maybe I should have given him some gumbo.

-c

Tomax and Xamot - Crimson Guard Commanders

I put off doing the original versions of Tomax and Xamot for a long time because I never found minis that looked right to me. I should have thought of the obvious acrobat connection earlier.

I'm not sure why I never thought of using Nightwing for the Crimson Twins, but I didn't. Not until I bought a lot of Heroclix off Ebay and Nightwing was among them.

So, I bought another and went to work.

I trimmed the collars on the sides and added their sashes with green stuff. I considered trying to mold the cobra heads on their legs or the pistols on the sides, but decided to try just painting them on. I think it worked out pretty good.

Sure they aren't in mirrored poses, but I wasn't about to try pulling *that* off.

-c