[HissHissFangFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 46 Zone

Those forearms are the work of Bobby Vala. In the effort to make the MCC CT and CO look as close to the vintage figures as possible, he decided to use those forearms instead of the usual forearms that that torso came with. I guess the elbow pads was a deal breaker. That's why the legs are all messed up too.

Anyway, I guess the mustache just used that build as that was the last time that torso was used. Another example not not doing any research on what figures have been out before.

Why spend the time designing new thighs (even though they have messed up engineering) and not just looking at the previous figures.

How many times have we seen that torso, upper arms and lower arms since 2011?

Cobra Trooper, Steel Brigade, Night Viper, etc...

Why not just look at what's out there and use that?

Damnit!!! Here I go again!!! I said I would stop getting upset at these poor builds and lazy work. Ok. I'm done.

I was going to mention [blame] Bobby for the arms, but he was going to best sculpt accuracy to originals on the ComicCon set, and went to great lengths of search and trial/error to get there. For me, size, proportion and of course height must come first--or at least not be sacrificed.

The lower arms of the Retro HISS Driver figure released do have a better/longer cuff to match the original, whereas the POC Shock Trooper arms barely have a cuff. But those are some damn long arms and hands...

Love when you get going--we see the same things on almost all these 2020 releases, where it seems most are pretty content with the offerings.

But I guess it doesn't really upset me at this point. Fixing and tweaking these guys to me liking has been my thing for a few years, and has made the 3.75 modern Joes my all-time favorite toy line due to that interaction with the figures mixed in with the nostalgia of my youth. The only thing that really irked me was Scarlett, but I'm over most of that.

Your own recent fixes have been great, and it had to be kinda fun to figure out, execute, and show off. So why complain, eh?

[jlw515]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HissHissFangFan

2020-12-12_03-44-49 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr

That is such an awesome picture!

Also, from the Bobby Vala conversation, "sprue" is the word I've been looking for. This is has got to be why certain figures come with the parts they do! All the parts are combined into one sprue. So, where it is easy for a customizer to swap legs and arms with a certain torso, Hasbro has to pick what is already "sprued" together.

The problem here is when we have complete figures that would make awesome repaints as another character, like DOTD Flint/Retaliation Firefly repainted as Duke (not a perfect modern reproduction of ARAH Duke, but better than "O" face-Duke). I guess when Hasbro picks some terrible figure as an alternative we can say they "sprued" us again!

Jason

[46 Zone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HissHissFangFan

I was going to mention [blame] Bobby for the arms, but he was going to best sculpt accuracy to originals on the ComicCon set, and went to great lengths of search and trial/error to get there. For me, size, proportion and of course height must come first--or at least not be sacrificed.

The lower arms of the Retro HISS Driver figure released do have a better/longer cuff to match the original, whereas the POC Shock Trooper arms barely have a cuff. But those are some damn long arms and hands...

Love when you get going--we see the same things on almost all these 2020 releases, where it seems most are pretty content with the offerings.

But I guess it doesn't really upset me at this point. Fixing and tweaking these guys to me liking has been my thing for a few years, and has made the 3.75 modern Joes my all-time favorite toy line due to that interaction with the figures mixed in with the nostalgia of my youth. The only thing that really irked me was Scarlett, but I'm over most of that.

Your own recent fixes have been great, and it had to be kinda fun to figure out, execute, and show off. So why complain, eh?

I guess your right. I did enjoy "fixing" these figures.

[HissHissFangFan]

FANG Pilot [2020 Update]


2020-12-12_02-57-08 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr

Build:
• Head, Legs, Chest Armor: 2020 Retro Collection HISS Driver
• Upper Torso, Lower Arms: 2014 50th Night-Viper
• Belt: 2008 25th HISS Driver
• Webgear: 2008 DVD Battles Pack Cobra Commander (painted black)
• Mask: 2011 50th Blowtorch (modified), spliced with 2011 Renegades Ripcord
• Hands: MTF male hands, gloves with pads

Notes:
This is the final of three updates for the 1983 set, “upgrading” from the 2008 HISS Driver build to the 2020 Retro Build. The straps and back plate of the webgear were cut, so that the front chestplate would work with this webgear. I chose this simple webgear to maintain a stripped-down look compared to those used for my later year pilots (1984 Rattler pilot, 1986 Air Viper).


2020-12-12_02-54-12 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr

The mask was the most dicey part of this update. The mask on the Ripcord is a cooler sculpt but was too large on the head. However, I hated the hose on the Blowtorch mask, so I spliced the two sculpts together at the bottom of the mask—held to together with a cut steel pin and glue. Both the mask and the head face needed to be cut back to have the mask fit right.


2020-12-12_02-35-23 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr

If you haven’t been reading this thread since its 2017 origins, my FANG pilot was a concept to fill out a larger 1983 figure concept set of Cobras, explained in early posts. The FANG pilot is meant to be purposely derivative of the HISS Driver to tie it back to something visually familiar to all—plus FANG pilot abilities were specifically noted on the original HISS Driver file card. This is something that I always remembered as a kid since I had the FANG, but my Joe buddy had the HISS.


2020-12-12_02-50-02 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr

Above is my previous 2015-2017 FANG Pilot on the left, and a recreation of my “custom” in 2009. Back then I stole the helmet+mask idea from Hasbro’s 2008 Cobra Pilot, and used the 2008 HISS Driver (Silver Chest) for a similar but different look than the normal HISS Driver. Later I went back to the HISS Driver head in 2015 because I felt it needed more use/presence in my Cobra Collection.

GET IN DA CHOPPA!!!

I keep saying this guy is THE FANG pilot, and have explained the concept—but I realize the only way to “sell” this concept to myself and others is to throw him in the chopper and snap shots--especially in light of the upcoming Wal-Mart FANG pilot by Hasbro (which I guess I'll be ignoring). So I took apart my usual lightbox rig, and tried to do some decent shots of this:


2020-12-12_02-34-42 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr

Above was my first shot. He fits in a lot better than my 2017 figure because his legs are shorter and smaller. The nice thing about this new figure is that I don’t have to remove his feet to get him decently seated.


2020-12-12_02-33-36 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr

Above is first shot of my 1983 vehicles and their corresponding figures together, to get a feeling of how they’d look together “in action”. The Pilot came out well in the shot, the FANG kind of gets lost in the overall. I cropped this photo for the teaser photo of the pilot from a few days ago.


2020-12-12_06-15-11 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr

Above is another shot of FANG and Pilot, to show how he fits. The explosion in the background was weirdly created in post, by combo of adding vignette effect to my usual shiny black/grey background, then using the using the RGB color tone curve adjustment to light up the various shades in red/orange/yellow. Adventures in Lightroom...


2020-12-12_02-09-14 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr

Above is another shot of the three Retro HISS FANG figure rebuilds, to get a better shot of both HISS Driver and FANG Pilot, both in their respective vehicles. I like the idea of the vehicle drivers and pilots in red—very unique for Cobra in 1983 following 1982—and also why I can’t see the blue version as the HISS Commander. I tried to do my motor vehicle driver (proto Stinger Driver) in red well back in 2017, but I didn’t look and feel like a retcon figure/design--maybe too derivative off a an already derivative idea.


2020-12-12_02-34-28 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr

Above is the final reshoot to get the FANG more readable to the eyes. My phone camera doesn't have bokeh effect, or do I have access to masking effects to blur elements, but I was able to find other ways to get push the FANG and pilot forward in the shot.

This completes my Walmart Retro Collection HISS Driver figure reuses for now, although I’ve loved to get two more to do a Black Jungle version and Grey Desert version for my 1984-1986 collections in the future. It was nice to go back to this 1983 set—my second set to be unveiled when I officially joined these forums back in 2017. It was also nice to complete the rebuilds of HISS Driver, HISS Gunner, and FANG Pilot to 30th figure construction as I had hoped to do back then.


2020-11-26_01-13-15 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr


2020-12-12_03-05-34 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr


2020-12-12_03-44-49 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr


2020-12-15_01-52-52 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr


2020-12-12_03-51-57 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr


2020-12-12_03-24-16 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr

[jlw515]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HissHissFangFan

FANG Pilot [2020 Update]


2020-12-15_01-52-52 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr

Bro!! Whatever filter you used on these pictures makes them look exactly like the painted vehicle/filecard pics from a Hasbro box. These pics are my favorite!

Jason