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Thread
: Figures
GI Joe 1983-??? by HIssHIssFangFang
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05-12-2020, 12:08 AM
HissHissFangFan
Iron Grenadier
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Kansas
Posts: 981
2020-05-09_01-34-21
by
HissHissFangFang
, on Flickr
The photo above was intended to be the closing shot for this Beachhead post, and was taken way back at the end of Dec 2019 when I first “teased” my Wave 2 of this thread. But pics of kuh rupht’s TF Beachhead made reconsider the head last week, and I felt obliged to reshoot this as well as others I had stocked up for this post. In the end, it felt worth it, because I think the 25th Beachhead head used above really wasn’t working as well as I hoped.
BEACHHEAD
20200503_184441~2
by
HissHissFangFang
, on Flickr
I always thought Beachhead was one of the coolest figures and characters to come out of the first five years of the ARAH era. Something about the masked Joes hit a chord with us, plus him being a ranger gave him broader appeal//usefulness over more specialized figure/characters. Throw in that Sunbow placed him in upper command and gave him a distinct personality, and you have yourself someone destined for iconic status.
However, I started out collecting Joes back in 1983, and seeing all the early figures/characters being “replaced” by others, starting a bit in 1985 and running full steam in 1986, was a little disturbing for the younger me—especially when updated characters with V2’s wasn’t off the table (ie Hawk, Snake Eyes, Roadblock). Seeing my favorite Joe Stalker technically being phased out like this not only started to dull my interest in Joe, but made me a bit sour on Beachhead—who in many ways was a clear upgrade to Lonzo. The first scene of Sunbow’s season 2 episode 1 only reinforced those feelings.
Luckily, Larry Hama would stay loyal to Stalker, keeping him very relevant in the comics until we got a newer figure in 1988, and as it turned out, decades later the original Joe ranger would as popular and relevant as Beachead. So these days, I myself can embrace Beachhead’s coolness without reserve.
20200503_015609~3
by
HissHissFangFang
, on Flickr
Build:
Body, accessories: 2014 50th 3-pack Beachhead
Belt: Cobra Trooper webgear (harness cut off)
Head: 2013 Retaliation Firefly (V27)
Paints: Citadel Base Waaagh Flesh [green]
Build Notes:
For the body, I choose to stay with the 50th build. Recently Pugsley had made the
ultimate classic Beachhead
, and is truly the most accurate to the original. But I never did have the original, and I am comfortable with the Hasbro 50th build—with a few tweaks.
I think what bothered most of us back in 2014 with this figure was the lack of belt and exposed green shirt below the vest—a result of using the older 25th vest meant for shorter 25th torso onto the newer taller 30th torso. For mine, I used my most readily available belt fodder—the Cobra Trooper webgear. The vest was able to sit lower on the body by sanding down the torso’s covered shoulders, and slightly cutting down the vest’s shoulder straps at the underside. The green belly was still exposed a bit, so I painted the lower torso chest black—and effective cheat.
2020-05-03_08-54-07
by
HissHissFangFang
, on Flickr
I repainted the torso a different green only so that I could also paint various head options the same color, and swap them out when I wanted—I really wasn’t sold on my definitive head sculpt to use. Also, I was intending on painting the torso with Citadel Layer Kabalite Green (a closer match to the 50th green), using the Waaagh Flesh as merely a foundation—but the foundation won me over, allowing me to skip another layer of paint (which being a Citadel layer type of paint would be more prone to rub/wear).
One last small tweak on the vest was to move the clasp mold on the lower left, leaving just enough plastic to overlap and glue—giving the final figure a more streamlined and balanced profile.
Below (left to right): POC (modified), 25th 2-Pack (modified green), vintage 86, 50th Anniversary (modified), 25th 2007 (real deal)
2020-05-03_03-48-54
by
HissHissFangFang
, on Flickr
My original intentions for my final display Beachhead were to use the upper body of the 50th build with the lower legs of the 25th. I’m still a big fan of those 25th Beachhead legs—I like the boots, the thigh gear on both legs, the leg heft and height. Unfortunately, the combo resulted in a figure way too tall for my display Beachead, who I always envisioned as normal height. From the pic above, you can see how long the legs and torso pieces are for both 25th and 50th versions to get an idea. In the end I opted for the 50th build for both upper and lower (and not really much of a “custom”, similar to Hawk previously).
The photo above also shows the relative shortness of the the POC build, which is due to short legs (which I first noticed legs when trying to use them on a Tele-Viper Custom). I am still using this POC build for my T13 set, but for a while I’ve been thinking of switching to the 25th legs. When this POC version first came out, I absolutely loved it—but over the years I’ve been more critical of it. Besides the short legs (and head, discussed below), the vest looks awesome (it’s gorgeous), but really prohibits any kind of cool poses with the figure (too bulky). I’ve cut off the can grenades and trimmed the left side to at least get his arms to rest lower for vanilla poses, but have trouble getting him to do anything else.
The pic above shows the various heads I was considering for my display Beachhead, but a head not shown above that was heavily considered was the 25th Shockwave head. Photo below shows my final four heads for comparison:
2020-05-09_03-19-43
by
HissHissFangFang
, on Flickr
I think the most popular head (and my choice for a long time) is the POC version (#4), used again for the 50th version. Great sculpt, nice countenance if you repaint the eyebrows. But after a while, the head started looking a little too tall and narrow, maybe due to the absence of EARS. I think this head works great with helmets though (I use it for my O13 Cobra Officer), but I thought it best to look at other options.
After seeing Pugsley’s latest ultimate classic version that used the 25th 2-Pack head (#1), I was pretty set on using that head (up to about last week). It’s definitely NOT narrow. But after multiple photo sessions using this head, it became apparent that this head was just too round and oddly shaped, and I became really unhappy with it.
The Shockwave head (#2) initially looked like a happy medium between narrow and wide that I was looking for. Unfortunately, when finally painted and mounted, the sculpt just didn’t work any better than the other two in my eyes—and not really sure why—maybe the top was always intended to be covered up with a cap or helmet, maybe the eyes.
My final pick, again inspired by kuh_rupht’s recent
TF Beachhead
, is the Retaliation Firefly head (#3). It had the right size and width and stare—I didn’t do any of the eyebrow or eyelid corrections that I usually do for the display figures. I am really digging this head right now.
The major drawback of this head obviously is the lack of ribbing on the mask. In the end, this drawback was the least offensive to me when comparing all four heads. Ironically, the sweater is not supposed to have ribbing. I only really noticed this recently with Pugsley classic style custom, as I didn’t have this figure as a kid, and all the 25th versions (including reworked art) had the sweater ribbing.
So my final figure is technically inaccurate in two ways for the ribbing, but I like the final visual results better regardless. This may also be why I’m not too concerned about swapping out the thigh accessories for accuracy…
25th 2007 – THE NEXT FIVE:
2020-05-08_11-55-28
by
HissHissFangFang
, on Flickr
Continuing my current obsession with 25th Anniversary Redo’s (40th?), I thought these five redo’s would make a nice 5-pack//photo. Discounting the V2 versions of Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow of Wave 1, these five round out the first 10 Joes of the 25th, who many consider the top 10 (+/-2?). All here are total rebuilds from their initial 2007 releases--except for Lady Jaye b/c I stubbornly replaced the 50th legs with the 25th ones.
Usually Rangers lead the way. But with Joe lore, it’s hard to top the Sunbow 3 of Revenge of Cobra. But in truth I initially didn’t want Beachhead and Stalker next to each other because they share the exact same figure builds. Looking at the photo after it was taken, I’m actually amazed that that is the case.
“FAMILY PORTRAIT?”
20200504_195909
by
HissHissFangFang
, on Flickr
The photo above was inspired by Michael Golden’s iconic pinup of the Oktober Guard for Yearbook 2. There is so much goodness in that Yearbook. Because there is so much Michael Golden Joe art in a single issue. This photo also inspired me to do something similar with the First Five Pack Joe Figures as well (black and white version previewed in an earlier post)
PhotoGrid_1588647581906
by
HissHissFangFang
, on Flickr
FOLLOW THE LEADER(S):
2020-05-07_01-54-47
by
HissHissFangFang
, on Flickr
Finally, above is the retake of the first photo of this thread, with the four Sunbow Commanding Joes with my final head choice. Part of me still cringes that Beachhead is there instead of Stalker, but not as much as back in 1986 (and my Sideshow display has it right).
2020-05-07_01-51-27
by
HissHissFangFang
, on Flickr
20200503_184815~4
by
HissHissFangFang
, on Flickr
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