[germ]

Next up: RAPTOR
First I wanna thank ARBCO for hooking me up with the POC Zartan...vest/hoody thing(?)or what ever you wanna call it lol. When I first saw this POC Zartan in the stores way back in the day, I thought to myself this would be an easy Raptor custom. In fact I think that was actually Hasbro s intention (just my opinion). I passed on him back then because I was never a fan of Raptor and had no use for that Zartan. A while back I picked him up cheap and just couldn't resist. Originally I just planned on using the Zartan vest/ hoody thing (I cut the actual hood part off) as I thought it looked cool enough with just that and I thought the wings were cheesey and just too much. But then I found the original wing backpack at a toy fair for only a dollar so I figured why not try it. He actually came out cooler looking than I thought he would. I still think the wings are cheesey but thats the cool thing about back packs is you can take em off and put em back on so I can switch up his look. I didn't care about the character enough to make his eye makeup correct. I'm fine with the Zartan eyes. I felt the legs the club used on theirs was were too long and bulky for that body. I like my legs a lot more - I feel they're more accurate to the original figure (more or less). It has the gun holster on the side like the original and still has the claws on the boots too so I think it works well.





I did the best I could to match his belt buckle lol. I also left the machete on one side cus its just cool and why not.








Cobra Commander: "Fred who's the weirdo in the bird suit?"
Fred: "That's my accountant. He does my books."






Fred: "Great thing about this armor...could be anyone inside"







PS- if you missed my Dr. VENOM and TUNNEL RAT from last week, they are now at the bottom of this page if ya wanna check 'em out.

[germ]

So I haven't posted any of my recent customs from the past 3 years. Between filling up my photo allowance on Hisstank and my lack of computer knowledge, I just haven't gotten around to figuring out how to do it. Thanks to a few fellow Hisstankers and my girlfriend, I think I figured it out. I have a TON of customs from the past 3 years so I will keep updating this every time I get a chance to take photos and upload. I'm gonna try to aim for once a week, but we all know how busy life gets, so maybe it will get updated a little less often (I'm really gonna try though!) but there is A LOT to come so stay tuned!

Up first is ULTIMATE FALCON. I've made several Falcons over the past ten years and could never seem to get the main color right and it always urked me. It always came out too "minty" green. I eventually gave up and figured I'd just make one with just a simple/modern camo scheme. Thats what the other random falcon on here is as the other two are based off the original fig and the cartoon. He's also sort of LOOSELY based off of some of his comic appearances. Well ten years and several Falcons later, I gave it one more try for my ultimate falcon and I am very pleased with him. I finally got to mix the color close enough -for me anyways. Since he was my last I had to go all out and give him the flashlight and Knife on his web gear and make him as accurate as possible.


























Heres all my old Falcon customs over the past ten years. I've changed some heads & scarfs out over the years.



I'm not good at small details like patches. My very first and very last falcon patches came out the best looking like the original figure. Also the only two customs where I went all out and gave him the flashlight on the cargo pocket and knife on his web gear. These are quite literally 10 years apart 2009-2019!



here he is for comparison next to the OG figure. I wish I noticed ahead of time that his head isn't facing forward. would have been nice to see the matching emblems on the berets as well. Oh well.




Next up SEA LOVERS AHOY MATES! Needed updated versions of Shipwreck and especially Cutter. Also a new Deep Six below. I need to learn how to use better lighting when taking pix so they come out better. Not so dark and also the shadow in the back of some of the pix kinda takes away from how awesome it looks.

the 5 pack shipwreck was a great update but I hated how his arms couldn't go all the way down and his lower arms were too skinny. Plus his belly and thighs seemed a little too thick. So I just combined parts from the original 25th and the 5 pack shipwreck to create my ultimate version. I was gonna replace his hands with more modern articulated ones but I decided I like the way he looks. He only needs to hold the pistol plus i like the fist on him. I think it goes with his attitude like hes always ready to throw down. Plus my other shipwreck is more battle ready and can hold a rifle with both hands (see below). I also like the 25th torso better cus his shirt is unbuttoned a little and in the cartoon it was always unbuttoned down almost too far.




you can sorta see the "B" on his hat in this photo


I only use the bag on him when I wanna use this version of polly


I gave him the tan belt he always had hanging off his hips in the cartoon.


I also gave him a hook to hang his "sailor hooks" on just like the original figure


Deep six out of his diving suit. I changed a few accessories on Shipwreck but the fig is the same

















Next up ARCTIC ADVENTURES. I needed Blizzard and Sub Zero to complete my arctic ranks. I was not happy with how the FSS figures came out, so I made my own. With the club figures I mostly hate how their jackets are too bulky and they cant hold there guns with both hands.






I had to give 'em the fancy snow shoes the original and modern figures came with



The black parts on the original, I decided to make gray on my version just cus it seemed more in line with white winter camo than black, but otherwise seems fairly accurate to the original right down to the knife on the web gear.I wanted to paint brown all the way down the center of the chest like the original figure but I didn't want to mess around with sculpting something there to paint, so i just painted the small zipper at the top. close enough for me i guess. Also, I wanted to make him stubbly looking like he's been out in the arctic for a while.



I'm pretty happy with how Sub Zero came out. I feel he is very accurate to the original.




Commander and Destro in their arctic gear as seen in the cartoon





Definitely the worst diorama I've ever made. Mostly due to lack of time and supplies, I just threw this together really quick. I promise all my future dioramas will be better!











Sunday is here and time for an update! (don't hold it against me if its not literally every Sunday lol) Today we have my ULTIMATE SPIRIT as well as some updated mods on the 25th AIRBORNE and RECONDO







So I wanted to give Spirit an actual red cloth so he can sit in vehicles and be more posable in general. The new head with the old pig tails glued on is an idea I got from seeing several other tankers do it before me. I did my best to paint on the small red patches on his shoulders. I'm not the best at painting small detailed stuff. I also painted his boots darker but not as dark as the original. It's sort of a happy in between that I like a lot.






I was gonna glue the red cloth to his original belt but then I realized the Kwinn belt was cooler. Plus the knife on the back matches his other two knifes he has on him and it just seemed fitting. I also gave the bird a brown and white wash.





I added a machete attached to his back pack. Just seemed like an extra accessory he should have. Also I decided not to glue his webgear to the belt (I was gonna originally) but then I realized I like the option of having it removable just to mix up his look occasionally.





With RECONDO I had to touch up his mustache and make it a little thicker. It just never looked right to me when he was released. I didn't really bother me that he had the slit wrists instead of short sleeves like the original BUT he couldn't hold his rifle with both hands so I had to fix that with updated arms(and also short sleeves so he was accurate to the original). Also the 25th version was just to light/white for a sweaty guy getting dirty in the jungle all day so I gave him a light wash plus it matched the Kwinn arms I gave him. While I was at it, I decided to make the boots a little more accurate anyways. I also painted on the two patches the original figure has on his right side (arm and chest).




With AIRBORNE I always hated the 25th gung-ho boots that he had so I replaced them with the 25th crankcase lower legs (but left airborne's knees). I was gonna paint the boots gray like the original and 25th but then I decided I liked how the brown boots matched his knee pads, elbow pads, and leg straps. I felt that his base color was also too light/white so I gave him a darker wash that matched the color on crankcases legs.




















Sunday is here again and I'm trying to be consistent with a new post weekly. Next is PATH FINDER and METAL HEAD.

Usually I try to make em accurate to the original figure as possible but PATH FINDER's camo was just ridiculously horrible so I gave a little more realistic take on him. The back pack with the machine guns attached was a cool accessory but I always felt is was too much for him with all the other cool accessories he came with- specifically the weed-wacker thing. I like the idea of him being, well basically a "pathfinder" so I also gave him a a machete and a rifle and that's all he needs in my book.

METAL HEAD - I used a mold of the modern head but I didn't like the body parts or design they used, so here's my take on him. I did copy their take on his web gear. I thought about giving him the missile launching gear the original had - I've seen casters make and sell it for modern figures but I kinda feel like its too unrealistic for my universe. Shooting missiles off your back and the thighs of your legs... yeah , while it was cool in theory and looked cool on the original fig as a kid, its just too unrealistic for me nowadays. Plus the caster was always sold out of the missile attachment set anyways...lol. Since I wasn't using the machine gun set up with Pathfinder, I felt it was a natural fit for Metal Head because I still wanted him to have some heavy duty fire power like the character always had, so I am very happy with the turn out.








The arrow/bullet attachments fit inside his back pack perfectly if I ever do decide to use them.
















Sorry its been awhile. Up next is Rock and Roll V.2 and Stalker V.3. still have plenty more to come when I get to it!










Stalker V.3 based off of the talking battle commandos. I tried to keep him similar to the original but with a more realistic take on him. For example the grey instead of white camo pants and also couldn't do the yellow web gear. I still gave him the yellow dot on his beret though. Over all I like how he came out and like him a lot.




I also gave him a big back pack just to sorta match the big packs the talking commandos came with. His original pack was yellow, so again in keeping with a more realistic feel, I kept it black but made the straps yellow in homage to the original. I then gave the straps a black wash to dirty it up a bit so it wasn't so bright. I also added some random dark green camo spots on it just because/ thought it looked good.



Rock and Roll V.2 - I know I'm probably in the minority, but I hate those gatling guns. I would have gave him the 2 from my original fig if I wanted them but I decided to keep him as a basic machine gunner. I still wanted the gun to be grey like the original gatling guns though.







since I wasnt using the gatling guns, i didnt need the matching back pack. Instead I gave him a big pack sorta to homage the sonic fighter version of him that used the same body mold. I made it so the back pack can hold both guns.



I also decided to give him his classic bullet belts across the chest. I always loved that about him as a kid and I think it still looks cooler than the gatling gun bullets across the chest of the 89 figure. To me its just a staple accessory to the character. I did give him the bullet hat like the original.



I still think mine is better than the club version (just my opinion). I still have no idea what they were thinking with some of the part choices.

[germ]

Up next is the 13 OG G.I. Joe team. These are all pretty old customs.


Grand Slam with silver and red pads. I had to make sure both versions had boots on, I prefer this over the stirrups the 25th had. the red padded one I wanted to give a back pack to him that matched the red and gray of his pads but also looked like something a "laser artillery expert" would wear.




Hawk and Flash- again with Flash I wanted to give him long boots. I also gave him a back pack that looks more like something that would go with a "laser gun". Even though we got a more accurate to the original Hawk in the comic 2 pack, I prefer this version. The button up shirt and the emblem on his helmet makes him look more like a leader to me. I gave him the shoulder gun that he sometimes had in the comic. I replaced his head with the (1986) 25th Hawk head but painted the hair blonde. I also replaced his lower legs. the ones he came with were too skinny and short. Plus I wanted a holster for him to put his gun in. I eventually plan on replacing his hands with marauder hands.




Rock and Roll and Zap - Zap has no changes other than his accessories. I still use his main ones too but thought sometimes he just needs a gun and a regular back pack for certain missions. And a smaller bazooka.





Short Fuse - I had to fix the web gear on the one they released plus theirs has glasses so he's based off the comic version. So I made another one based off the original figure.




Scarlet and a desert version.





Snake Eyes - there's my ultimate version, cartoon version, and the other one was my main version before they made new better parts. I really liked the dark gray shade the "battle damage" comic 2 pack had, so I just painted the exposed skin to match the rest of him and he was my main snake eyes for a while. With my ultimate snake eyes (Hard to see cus hes all black) I replaced his web gear, pouch, gave him a back pack and attached his sword holder to it.





Breaker - My ultimate is in the center, cartoon version on the left, and then there's the 25th version with a beard painted on him.




Grunt - I use the Steeler head for my Grunts. When the two first came out in the 25th line I just thought that the grunts head looked more like Steelers and vice versa, so I switched the heads. I got a regular Grunt, Tan Grunt and a cartoon version.




Steeler - The one on the left was my original one when I switched his head with Grunts. Then there is my first custom of him which I like for that time period, but the parts are so outdated now. The one with the updated parts is my ultimate version. I wanted him to be kind of stubbly and pissed looking. And then the one on the far right is the cartoon version. This one is really old.




Clutch - My favorite take on him was always when he was stubbly like in the early comics instead of the full blown beard. So that's how I made my ultimate version. Then I got a tan version and a simple version with a beard. The one on the far right isn't really important. He came with a vehicle. I changed and painted his web gear and glued his token gun to his chest. I gave him a matching back pack and painted the band on his helmet.






Stalker - cartoon version (no custom work on him), ultimate version, and the other is based off the comics where he often had brown camo instead of green on green. I would love to remake the cartoon and comic versions but I don't have the time or money for the parts.




































CARTOON JOES





STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER SET









Up next is DUSTY and FOOTLOOSE.
Dusty was always one of my favorites since I was a kid. I have 6 different Dusty's and there's a reason for each one happening over the years lol. On all of them I replaced the cloth on the helmet, the hands for better articulation, the gun (I never liked his gun), and on some of them I replaced his back pack just cus I kinda got sick of it and wanted to try mixing things up a bit.



Cartoon Dusty. The one on the right was my first attempt of the cartoon version way back in 2009. Even though I made a way better version of this take, I still like this figure and colors a lot. He even kinda resembles some of his appearances in the comics. The one on the left I made around 2012. A better take on the cartoon version and looks more accurate with the dark tan outfit and paint on his face.




the one on the left is the ROC version which was a decent take on him but I didn't like the green face paint and gloves so I painted them tan. these two small changes made a world of difference improving the figure in my opinion. On the right is the 25th version with a tan wash. Basically I thought the base color under the camo was too light/white so I added the tan wash to improve him to what I thought he should have looked like. (I did the same thing to my Recondo and Airborne- which you can see if you scroll to older pix in here). I've decided I like these two the best and cant decide which one to make my "ultimate Dusty", if anyone wants to give me their opinion feel free!




On the left is the standard 25th version with a few slight changes. I gave him the Airborne backpack cus it was light like his base color and it matched. I painted the straps and shovel two different browns to match his camo scheme. On the right is my take on the 85 figure. I tried to make him as accurate as possible to the original (minus the gun cus i hate it). The red flag came out crappy cus its hard for me to paint small details but I got the black emblem on the other side, the white patches, and the palm tree patch on the arm.






FOOTLOOSE: On the left is the ROC 5 pack version. I changed out all his gear to more resemble the original figure and I use him as my desert version. I painted a bazooka helmet to match his camo. I also like the head they use on him (25th Airborn mold with a mustache painted on) so I used the same head for the others as well. In the center is the club version. Again I changed out he accessories to resemble the original figure better. I also added dangling straps from his helmet. The head he came with was a good mold but just didnt look like footloose to me so I changed it. On the right is a really old custom of the cartoon version that I made back in 2009, but I have updated him several times over the years.





I always thought it was neat how him and Dusty always matched in the cartoon so Made sure I accomplished this when making the cartoon customs.

[germ]

I did this a few months back and finally got around to posting it. I know there were a handful of Tankers (myself included)who were wondering if an 85 barbecue helmet dremeled out would fit over a modern head. Well here are my results: (good and bad news)

IF you use a smaller 25th head (I picked one that I thought resembled him from the cartoon)and do a good job getting really close to the inside of the walls of the helmet, the good news is that it does fit! The bad news is the helmet isn't long enough so his chin and bottom of his head stick out at the bottom of the helmet. To fix this I molded some green stuff at the bottom of the helmet to extend it then I of course painted it to match.

I have mixed feelings about how this looks (GIVE ME ALL YOUR OPINIONS!) so I also got a 2nd 85 Barbecue head and just dremeled a neck hole out to use this as a head instead of the removable helmet. Its bigger than the 25th head and looks more fitting/ realistic. I also gave him Marauder hands so he has more articulation and can actually hold a rifle.









Again, I have mixed feeling about how this looks so feel free to give me your feedback! Next below is with just an 85 head on, NOT hollowed out so no removable helmet.





comfortable day off at the office.........





Ultimate Duke and Road Block

ROAD BLOCK - I made back in 2012 and then I updated his arms and articulated feet in 2018. I thought about giving him updated more articulated hands but these original 25th still seem the best for holding his massive machine gun IMO. I gave him the dusty back pack just cus/ I liked it at the time. I still plan on doing a better camo design on his shirt someday. DUKE - I have the original gun and back pack that also came with the 25th tiger force version, but I just felt like this gun and pack for a modern version of him. He was made in 2018.






I got this body in a pile of fodder years ago and just painted a cast head to put on him. nothing special really, just another take on him.

























Next up, I figured I'd try something new and make a figure that hasn't been made by customizers in modern parts yet. (Or at least I have never seen one made before.) This is based off of the 1992 12" figure - Desert Storm Duke. See link
https://www.yojoe.com/12inch/92/duke2.shtml

It's also SORT OF based off of the 1993 V.4 o-ring Duke. More so the card art, if you scroll down farther in the link you can see it
https://www.yojoe.com/action/93/duke4.shtml

So I made sure to give him goggles like the o-ring figure had on his helmet. I also gave him dog tags cus the 12 inch figure came with 'em plus around this time they started giving him dog tags in the comics (on version 4 duke.) I also gave him a radio and knee pads just to make him a little more modern.












the next 4 are with all his gear off to better see his camo







Next up is my "green shirt" Joe army builders and my ultimate Hisstank.

I do all my army builders in fives so I made 5 green shirts from the cartoon. I intentionally tried to give everyone a different button up shirt and different cargo pants just so they would look more like individuals instead of the same mold.

The Hisstank is my first attempt at customizing a vehicle. I always liked how the Hisstank II could hold more figures - 2 in the cockpit plus the back opens up to carry more figures into battle. The negatives to the Hisstank II are the ridiculous bright red parts and the huge triple cannon. So I painted MOST of the red stuff black. I also cut out the middle cannon so it now resembles the first hisstank cannons. I dremeled down the feet pegs in the back so it could work with holding modern figures. I couldn't decide if I wanted to leave it gray or paint it black like the original tank. I ended up deciding to compromise and put a very crappy (but intentionally crappy) black wash over it and I am actually happy with the results. Its a lot darker now and resmbles the original but the crappy wash makes it look like its survived quite a few battles and could use a new paint job. I also painted the treads up to look a little muddy.






















Here is my poor mans Mauler tank lol. I picked up this generic tank about a year ago at a flea market for a dollar. It was missing the hatch lid so I fashioned one out of a white pizza box topper and made it so it can actually open and close. I dremeled out a part in the front and in the back so I could fit more figures in it. Then I put green stuff around the cut out parts so I could pop them back in without them falling through the holes in the tank. Then of course I had to paint the green stuff to match. The tank came with the black camo which I like, but I wanted to add another color in the camo scheme. Originally I was gonna make the 2nd camo pattern the same color as the mauler to pay homage, but then I decided it made more sense to match the one and only other desert vehicle I have (see color comparison in last photo). I painted the treads to look dirty too. This is my second attempt at customizing a vehicle.

[germ]

Next up is TUNNEL RAT. When the 25th comic 2 pack TR came out way back in the day, I saw a lot of tankers on here make a movie cartoon version of him with the big light grey camo painted on his skin. This was something I always wanted to do but never got around to. I picked up an extra TR at retro con a couple of years ago for only $1! Almost ten years later I finally got around to him.

When I started to make him, I realized if all I'm changing is the face and arm camo paint... well that's kind of boring and whats the point. So I started thinking of other ways to alter him so he wouldn't just be 99% of the original 25th figure. the first and obvious thing I thought to change was to give him updated/better arms and hands. Then I used the night force head cus it had a green camo bandana which was different plus the face had no paint on it which made it easier to paint his face the way i wanted. I did put a very light grey wash over the bandana. Going through the old comics I noticed his pants were green instead of black about half the time so that was something else i could change about him. In the comics he always had brown camo paint on so after going back and fourth in my head, I decided to add a little but still keep it mostly grey. Also in the comics he usually had his gun tri-pod up like 75% of the way so I altered the gun to look like that too. I glued a flashlight on his backpack over his shoulder to homage the original figure - plus it just looks cool.







I also put mud speckles on his shoes and bottom of his pants.














Next up: DR. VENOM

I do have the long cobra lab coat (as seen in first pic)but I decided I like the shorter jacket better. It's a lot more flexible where as the long lab coat is pretty stiff. Plus you can see his tie better in the shorter jacket and I feel its long enough for a modern Doctor today (Isn't it?)
Also want to shout out to 46 Zone for helping me get all the parts. I think I used his exact recipe too, minus the jacket.

[germ]

reserve for future customs ....

[germ]

reserve..

[germ]

reserve.

[germ]

reserve for future customs.

[Pizza Man Z]

Those are really cool figures