Wow some of you guys came of with some great ideas. Thanks a lot. Yeah I'm working on the customs now and I'm trying to put the heads together for 6 members. Looking for past asian characters I can use that won't be too familar.

Mortal Kombat Liu Kang
Street Fighter Chun Li
Vietnam Storm Shadow
Tunnel Rat
unmasked Storm Shadow
Quick Kick (too recognizable)
Budo

Anybody I'm forgeting?

I'd say Quickkick is a bit too recognizable. Ryu would probably be a better choice.

Countdown, Eco Warriors Flint, Spaceshot, and Super Trooper could probably pass as Asian.

Kano and Rayden would work too, if you don't mind the funny hat and metal face peice.

there is also Dragon han from the old Corps' line. But I think the old Corps heads are a bit big for Joe Bodies in some cases.

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If you were wanting non Joe toys and if you could find them there's always the 21st line of Vietnam and WW2 figs.

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I do not really think a hand to hand com teams combatant would be sterotypical, especially with other teams which are non asian and they have hand to hand covered (IE X-men and wolverine, Gi Joe with Snake Eyes, cobra with Storm Shadow), But to make it a bit different, and the idea is expressed earlier, make the hand to hand expert a female. I think that would be a perfect twist on the h2h expert, as we are so used to male h2hers.

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no one said it would be streryotypical... just cliche.

and as long as the female isnt cliche (Skimpy uniform that doesnt Represent a Communist Military Officer)it would be cool.

heres a cool link with images of female soldiers around the world. Cool for customs references.

http://www.anvari.org/cols/Female_Soldiers.html

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Hey someone rememberd, I actually did about 20 customs for the team, Firefly v2, Beachead, Shockwave v1, Fast Draw are some that are also passible as asian. One female I made useing a vega head (saying she was scared in a cobra raid and wears a mask to hide the disfigurement).



Technically the name was Jade Dragon guard, but hey to each thier own.

But also pointing out that many chinese martial arts have moves that translate into "Monkey Claw" "Leaping Crane" and "Crouching Horse" plus Jade is often considered to be a stone of great import, so Jade dragon guard didn't seem like to big a stretch since the martial arts are still strongly practiced even today and Jade still carries the cultural signifigance. Wanting a dramatic and exotic name (Equally as dramatic as "Cobra" ) I can see the government giving the team something like this as a public persona name at least.

China has a rich cultural history... but mainline Chinese government tends to try to distance themselves from that for the sake of modernity and proto-communist ideals.
Same reason you wouldn't have a Russian team in the 80s referencing the Tsars, you wouldn't have a modern Chinese team referencing the Imperial Chinese past.

That's why I never liked Jade Dragons since it seemed too 'old world'.

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However while china doesn't reference it they also haven't tried to wholesale elimate it as well, Russia did. You can still see influences in culture everywhere in china (most noteably in archtecture). The communist chinese government also allows "certain religions" to continue functioning as they have for many centruies (however in point of fact some very prominant ones are outlawed as well) which is something russia NEVER allowed under any circumstances (However religion did go underground there). But that is just some of the striking differences in Russia and china, there are tons more.

It seems too chinese restaurant for me

They have pretty good General Tsoa's Chicken and fresh Egg Rolls at Jade Dragons.

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I found another variant head sculpt that may work too for custom fodder...
http://www.yojoe.com/actionforce/int/2intcard/feiwongdu.jpg

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