Something I've been thinking about recently is head sculpts. Some figures I didn't care for as a kid, because they were just so ugly to me. For example, Cross Country was a figure I didn't like at all. It didn't help that his cartoon look was so different from his toy.
Now, though, I kind of like some of those ugly sculpts. They have character and uniqueness. And now that I like a bit more realism in my Joe-verse, having some ugly dudes (and chicks) is a good thing. No longer does it bother me that V1 Scarlett looked more like our grade school gym teacher than the hot redhead of the cartoon. Armadillo is no longer hidden away, nor Effects always helmeted. There are ugly people in the world, so there should also be ugly toys.
So, what figures do you find just downright ugly, and what are your feelings on head sculpts that aren't aesthetically pleasing?

I always thought Grunt was the spitting image of Michael Ironside. Not only that, he was balding. Now THAT is a military look for an infantryman! I liked that he was no pretty boy. Grunt looked hardcore.

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yeah the vintage grunt head that was used on a few other figures as well i always thought was an ugly dude. when we were kids we use to take the joes apart and make our own characters and none military world with them, i actually use to use the V1 scarlett head on a male body cant remember whos and he was my good looking stud dude.
well there are different types of ugly, surely in the joevers of a macho sort of world there should be bad guys like noks that are ugly but in a tough badass looking way.

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For me, Lift Ticket's head was just too much. I wanted to like the figure as I had been looking forward to the Tomahawk all year. But, once I had him, the head just didn't work. The huge nose and terrible overall design killed the figure for me. I looked for a better pilot for the Tomahawk for years just due to the Lift Ticket's head.

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I agree with both statements in regards to grunt and Lift Ticket. I repainted a Slipstream head, terribly for lift ticket back in the day.
Grunt did look like Ironsides to me too, I used him as that guy that should be an E-7 but kept getting busted down for being too badass. He was the Gunny Highway of my Joe team.

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Charbroil's head. It didn't help that he was another flamethrower guy over one of my favorites in Blowtorch.

Muskrat v.3 head ins't ugly, the smirk just doesn't fit any characterization he's ever had.

Chuckles never did anything for me either. Not bad but not thee awesome looking card art eitgher.

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The 30th Blowtorch....... Well it blows. He looks like one of those guys you want to punch out.

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That's the one thing I still think the old figs did best--they imbued the headsculpts with character.

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a lot of the 30th headsculpts have character to them. but that is something that bugged me about the 25th and JvC era figures.

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You know, I never thought about Grunt as Michael Ironside, but yeah, there's a resemblance.

DEFINITELY agree about Lift-Ticket. Wow, some sculptor was having a bad day. That was one of my first major custom jobs, rather literal "plastic surgery" to fix that strange facial expression. Came out rather, well, too.

Speaking of Lift-Ticket, the 25th has the same goofy expression.

I'd always thougth the original Cross-Country looked like Dan Akroyd, and Sci-Fi v2 like Scott Baio.

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Cover Girl was another female that could have gotten a better head sculpt for sure. Especially that he was supposed to be a model. V2 got a great up date all over, but now with Sparta and the FSS Cover Girl, I'm kinda tired of that head. RoC Cover Girl wasn't a whole lot better. She looked good, but not great.

Need I mention the Baroness and Scarlett figures from RoC?

Cross Country looked older, but what bothers me more is the size of his noggin, not so much the face. His face has good character.

Avalanche's face is weird. Kind of a baby face. Same with Sub Zero. He looks like Seth McFarlane, so I keep wanting to punch him in the face.

The Joe Street Fighters had some of the wildest looks, but then again, their source has lots of wild looks too.

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As a kid, I never like the head on the v1 Tele-Viper, in fact I hated it. But, since my Dad brought me back that figure from a business trip he took to Chicago, I loved it anyway. In fact it was one of my most cherished figures despite the dislike for the head because of how I got it. I never abused it and kept it seperate from the others with all his gear kept intact. And that says a lot for me. I was the kind of kid who put matchbox cars in a vice for monster trucks to ride over and threw airplanes off decks to simulate flying.

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Dusty, that's a really great story about your Tele-Viper, but I agree with you, that headsculpt always struck me as some sort of "chinless wonder". I was never especially fond of it.

virtually every modern era Joe female figure counts here. Jinx maybe a an exception, though I've not got that figure to confirm. They just can't capture the feminine look, and even when the sculpt is close, the paint fails them. Resolute Scarlett perhaps being the worst. I will make a male custom using that head, out of principle.

25th Steeler is pretty bad in my opinion - looks pin headed and derpy.

The worst I remember from my childhood collection was RAH Wild Bill. Melon head

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