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