86 Beach-Head

In the late 90s/early 2000s, Joes were pretty easy to come by where I was living. There was a shop that specialized in old VHS, video games, vinyl, comic books, baseball cards, and toys. They regularly had dozens and dozens of 80s and 90s Joes for sale, and they were almost always under $10. Every other Friday I would go in with my paycheck and clean them out. I didn't quite trust ebay yet, so this is how I built fodder. On one of those days I found a very minty 86 Beach Head.

Upon arriving home, I compared the figure to my childhood Beach Head who had seen some serious wars. After my Stalker and Grunt had both broken both of their thumbs and crotches (Stalker also suffering the dreaded busted heel) I was in need of a squad leader for small, covert insertions. Beach Head became my go-to guy and was the first figure I snatched up right after Christmas of 85 and the 86ers were on the shelf. I had actually already read his filecard in the GI Joe preview in Marvel Age, and I was eagerly awaiting the new Army Ranger. From that moment until the end of my childhood Joe collecting years, Beach Head went on pretty much every mission my Joes went on. As such, by 2000, his figure was seriously worn. However, there was no actual structural damage, just a worn out o-ring and a lot of worn out paint. So, with a minty replacement in hand, I decided to repaint my childhood companion.

I decided to go darker with the green, and to try and go for a more elaborate tiger stripe pattern on the pants. I tried to use more woodland colors with the pattern rather than the traditional greens of the commonly seen Jungle pattern. I also originally went with a tan beret for a more realistic ranger look, but thought it was too much of a departure from Beach Head's original color palette and just switched it back to red.

The end result was a figure that has been with me for nearly thirty years, and is in a more muted and detailed paint job to fit in with the rest of my customs.