Breaker


Breaker was my first Joe way back in '82 and I've always had a soft spot for him. The big question with Breaker customs is beard or no-beard. Being a fan of the early Marvel comics, I'm a dyed in the wool no-beard man. For my custom, I wanted a head that suggested the same boyish quality that Herb Trimpe imbued the character with. I like the one I've used here, but I'm not completely sold on it. I have a cast on order that I want to try, but in the meantime, this one works well enough.

Zap


With this round I'm chest deep in the OG13 sea of green. The challenge with this group especially is finding ways to honor the uniformity of the original designs while still giving each figure a unique look and distinct character. The hats are a bit of a cheap trick in that regard, but I like it. It reminds me of the shorthand of comic books and old war movies, where distinctive headwear is often used to assist the audience in quickly differentiating characters.
You'll also notice that Short Fuse and Zap have new/adjusted specialties. Zap is now the team's demolitions expert. Once again, my love of WWII commando movies is evident here, with Zap playing a little homage to both David Niven's and Anthony Quinn's characters from The Guns of Navarone, among others. I originally stuck a green cap on him, then a black. Both were fine, but didn't add much. The ordered the red for another purpose, but once I tried it on ol' Zap here, there was really no question as to where it truly belonged. I also like how it evokes the red collars of the early Joe comics.

Short Fuse


Short Fuse has glasses. That's really the full extent of his character. His file offers little more insight into his character beyond what his code-name already suggested. He's got a quick temper, you see. For the purposes of this set, I see Short Fuse as the dude in the war movie that everyone kind of hates. He's a reliable soldier and good in combat, but he's also quick to pick a fight over some perceived slight and feels it's his righteous duty to play devil's advocate regardless of the topic of conversation. To my eye at least, the MTF Logan head has that sort of pugnacity about it.
I stole the idea for the hat from sgcaper's Private Meekly custom. This one reminds me of Telly Savales' character from The Dirty Dozen. Obviously, Savales' Maggott is an infinitely more contemptible character than Short Fuse's run of the mill "LASER BLAST HOLE", but SF's flipped up brim should still stand as a warning.

Clutch



I posted this gender-bent take on everyone's favorite grease monkey as WIP a few months back. I made a few minor changes since then. (Thanks to past nastification for the toothpick suggestion. Little things can make a big difference.) The head is from Spartan118, but I did the painting. I'm not super pleased with how it turned out, but I'm not sure the sculpt can bear another coat. The wrench is from AVACs lab. I've gotten some amazingly cool stuff from him in the past few months, but haven't shared any of it yet. Stay-tuned!

The rest is all Marauder. I sculpted the vest onto a Valkyrie t-shirt torso with Green Stuff. I also sanded the straps off the upper legs, as they didn't really make sense here. The toothpick is a piece of a toothpick.

Steeler




I have never had much use for tanks in my Joe universe. My GI Joe is a rapid deployment special ops unit. No need for a lonely tank on the hill manned by a tank commander with no other tanks to command.
You know what my Joe team does need? A helicopter pilot! So, ol' Steeler, like Zap and Short-Fuse before him, got a new assignment. And you know what, I think it works pretty well, requiring minimal re-imagining of his classic look.
The figure is mostly Marauder again. And, again, a t-shirt torso has been modified with Green Stuff, this time to simulate a flight suit. The head is a Dime Novel Legends "Cowpuncher" from Vitruvian Armory (ordered a mere two days ago and in my mail box on the other side of the country this afternoon, because that magnificent SOB is on top of it!)

Everything looks great, but these last two are perfect. The sculpting on both is impressive.

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These are great, but that Clutch *chef kiss*, that is a work of art. So much character in that one.

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Nicely done. Keep 'em coming!

Scarlett




I've shared some WIPs of this one on here. She's been through a lot of iterations as I experimented with different bodies, different approaches to her leotard/body armor, and other accessories, etc. I ultimately landed on a BFS build, using a modified blank torso and arms and legs from a female orc figure (thank you, Vitruvian Armory!) The gauntlets and shin guards are also BFS while the rest of the gear is MTF. The head is a Gal Gadot cast from Spartan118 (once again, painted by me, which is why it's a little less than perfect). I generally hate soft goods on 1/18 figures, but having looked at a few other options, I decided to see how fabric would work for the leotard/armor/whatever and ultimately felt pretty good about the results. It has a texture that I don't love, and it's gotten a little stretched out as I've been working with it, so it's not quite as form-fitting as I'd prefer, but For the most part, I think it works. I cut up an MTF shoulder rig for the... uh, shoulder rig. Since there are no mounting points on the BFS legs, I cut the straps off of MTF knee pads and attached them to an MTF holster and knife sheath.

Since I'm only posting one figure in this round, I'm tossing in a bonus look. I always hated that my Joes had to hang around their base in full combat gear. So, Scarlett here gets a more relaxed option for her off-hours.

Love her. The off hours look too!

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Thanks!

That's fun!

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Great paints on Scarlett!