[shishi]

Cool builds and execution. Also love the way you present the figures and file cards. Do you use PowerPoint?

[HissHissFangFan]

Jason: I first have to admit that I was hoping for a more limited color palette on these, sticking with the blue and black (with a bit of red) of the blueshirt progenitor. But these look great individually, the filecards read so well, and you’ve stuck well with the anti-[Joe] exploration and execution that you hinted at a year ago. And I love that you’ve kept these anti-Joes as generic type troopers (“blue shirts” yes?) instead of specific individual Cobra characters—taking it to that level would be too on-point.

And really the best part of these for me is the way you’ve been able to reassemble the varied colored-as-cast body parts of figures (most notably the original Shock Trooper, Steel Brigade Delta, and 50th SAW Viper) into figures that make sense for this project/set, and as conceivable Cobra trooper army builders. And in this sense, I see the reason for the large color palette that resulted. But as a suggestion, maybe you could streamline the palette of the secondary and minor colors to tie all these guys closer together.

Also:
-The name “Bush-Viper” is inspired brilliance, and makes me real sad that this name was never used in the first place. I’d use it myself, but my pre ’85 guys don’t get codenames. Shame…
-I swiped your Techno-Viper//Saw-Viper body switch as soon as I saw yours, as it always bothered me how short the original POC version was, compared to the rest of my Viper1 squad. Just gotta fix those darn Shock Trooper knees and legs so that they can straighten out fully (it’s always the little things with me). But at least he's not on a double-stacked stand anymore. Thank you for this idea.

And a few questions:
1. Do your versions of [@@@]-Viper as proto versions of the vintage versions, or out-right reimagined replacements of those vintage versions in your Joeverse? If proto-versions, what years do you see these guys retroactively released?
2. For the blue specialties, do you envision them the same but in other colors for the different environments (ie tan for desert, black for jungle)? I’ve been thinking of this in relation to my Cobra blue O13 as compared to my grey and black for desert and jungle. I think I know my own answer but don’t want to admit it right now (10 or so figures I’d love/hate to want/have to do).

So, great job on these—thanks for getting them out there before the holidays. Cheers!

[Stormgard]

So much awesomeness!

[jlw515]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shishi

Cool builds and execution. Also love the way you present the figures and file cards. Do you use PowerPoint?

Yes! I do you use PowerPoint. I crop and adjust colors on Adobe Photoshop, but the final presentations are all made on PowerPoint. Then I save the slides as jpegs. I have two different running PowerPoint files for customs. One is file card where I type the info and then save the file card as a jpeg. Then the other PowerPoint is the "card front" pic with file card and the front and back photos.

I do quite a bit of teaching and use PowerPoint exclusively for making teaching illustrations. So, it's what I'm most familiar with.

Jason

[jlw515]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HissHissFangFan

Jason:

And a few questions:
1. Do your versions of [@@@]-Viper as proto versions of the vintage versions, or out-right reimagined replacements of those vintage versions in your Joeverse? If proto-versions, what years do you see these guys retroactively released?
2. For the blue specialties, do you envision them the same but in other colors for the different environments (ie tan for desert, black for jungle)? I’ve been thinking of this in relation to my Cobra blue O13 as compared to my grey and black for desert and jungle. I think I know my own answer but don’t want to admit it right now (10 or so figures I’d love/hate to want/have to do).

So, great job on these—thanks for getting them out there before the holidays. Cheers!

Hey thanks for the awesome comments! I was kind of taken back when I saw the name Bush Viper myself. I did a Wiki search of all the different "viper" snakes. "Jungle-Viper" seems so redundant. It'd be like saying "Grenade-Viper" instead of "Frag-Viper."

I do love the "Viper" moniker for the Infantry and Air forces, but draw the line with the Cobra Navy, which includes "Snow Serpents." I see the Cobra Navy as being as different from the Infantry and Air Forces as the USMC is from the US Army - don't call a USMC a "Soldier!" LOL!! They will not answer and will set you straight that they are not a "Soldier," they are a "Marine."

So, Hasbro terms like "Aqua-Viper" and "Ice-Viper" do not make it into my Joeverse. They are Eels, Lamprey, and Snow Serpents!

Ok, now to your questions:

1. I see my customs as total reimagined replacements of the vintage characters. I like how all the "blue shirts" have basically the same style of uniform, but the color may vary. This is similar to the O13 where each Joe had a similar uniform, but with slight color variations.

2. I could definitely see the specialties like HEAT-Viper, Saw-Viper, Frag-Viper, etc. in tan uniforms for Desert Warfare or green uniforms for Jungle Warfare. You could probably even get into some green or tan Stinger jeeps and such, but it's probably not something I would put much effort into customizing.

Vehicle wise, the only squad type customs I've done is I've painted a black HISS white to have an arctic HISS with the standard cannons, and I've put a Stinger missile rack on a standard HISS to have a basic infantry version of what Hasbro calls "Arctic HISS."

Thanks again for all the comments and questions. Hope everyone has a great holiday. I'll have some more "VIPER" customs at the first of Next Year.

Jason

[nighthawk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlw515

Did the green from the Night Viper torso match the green of the Medi-Viper? The one reason I never made a custom of him was finding a green that matched without having to paint. It looks really good.

[jlw515]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nighthawk

Did the green from the Night Viper torso match the green of the Medi-Viper? The one reason I never made a custom of him was finding a green that matched without having to paint. It looks really good.

The Green skirt piece matches almost perfectly with the Green Night Viper. It matches well enough that there are no paint apps on this custom at all.

Jason

[shishi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlw515

Yes! I do you use PowerPoint. I crop and adjust colors on Adobe Photoshop, but the final presentations are all made on PowerPoint. Then I save the slides as jpegs. I have two different running PowerPoint files for customs. One is file card where I type the info and then save the file card as a jpeg. Then the other PowerPoint is the "card front" pic with file card and the front and back photos.

I do quite a bit of teaching and use PowerPoint exclusively for making teaching illustrations. So, it's what I'm most familiar with.

Jason

Thanks for the info. They look very cool.