Head: 25A Breaker
Upper body, upper arms: IJ German Soldier
Lower Arms: IJ Cairo Swordsman
Lower torso: Resolute Snake-Eyes
Legs: Resolute Cobra Commander
Arrowhead Necklace: Scratch-built
Backpack: ARAH ??? with scratch-built quiver added to side
Bow: The Corps? with arrows made from paperclips


Design:

Another "Now a Joe" figure, bringing Eagle Force's Redwing into the world of GI Joe. Redwing was one of the Eagle Force characters that Hasbro arguably copied by creating Spirit. Redwing was released by Mego in 1982, two years before Spirit was released by Hasbro. Both characters had Native American elements on their uniforms and in their designs. With Redwing, I stepped away from most of them to help this figure stand apart from Spirit in terms of design and feel. Closer in feel to Hasbro's Airborne than Eagle Force. Aside from the arrowhead necklace, Redwing is in a standard uniform (standard by Eagle Force standards anyway).

In addition to the necklace, the bow & arrows are the only Native American elements. In the unlikely event that a military operative were to use a bow & arrow, I suppose a compound bow would be more likely. But I find traditional recurve bows to have a classic look that just looks cleaner.

I also kept the hair short instead of making it longer, as Spirit has long hair.

Color & Paint:

Using the same color set as my other Eagle Force customs, with the original gold replaced by a camouflage pattern. As for the gold grenades... why not?

I started this figure using a Quick Kick head. As good as the QK head looked on the body, it just didn't work as Redwing. As QK wearing an Eagle Force uniform, it would have been fine. But it didn't register as being any character but QK. Even with a darker skin tone and slightly lighter hair, I just couldn't get it to look like a different character. After realizing that it wasn't going to work, I discovered the Breaker head.

The short hair cut on the Breaker head was a big departure from the Mego's figure's long hair. This was a pleasant surprise. Much like my Goldie Hawk custom, changing the hair drastically helped flush out and update the character design. With a darker hair color and skin tone, the Breaker head completed the look. Although many collectors and customizers don't care for the Breaker head because it's nominally oversized compared to other 25A/modern era head sculpts, I like it for it's realistic approach. It doesn't have high set cheekbones or squinty eyes or a square jaw. It's by no means an ugly face, but not one of a flawless model either.

The QK head will get used somewhere down the road for another custom, likely with blonde or red hair.

Sculpting & Modifying:

The head was reworked to move forward on the neck post. The rolled sleeves were added. The lower torso of Snake-Eyes was cut and then added to the upper torso of the IJ German Soldier. The pouches are push molds from the ROC Ice Viper.

The quiver was scratch-built and then added to the side of the backpack, which was modified to accept it. The arrows are made from paperclips. The arrows only have two fletchings (feathered edges) instead of three.

Thanks for looking.

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