There may have been a little inspiration there.

_________________

very "island of dr moreuo" too

_________________

I didn't realize I had taken pre-paint pics of these two.

The torso for Katarina is a custom cast. Arms from Baroness and Scarlett with a bit of fur detail added to the left arm. Legs come from Storm Shadow and the head is Starkiller from Secret Apprentice 3 pack that I've had for a couple years.



Mara got started when I swapped those feet for my Ma Nok custom. The fins were an attempt to balance the figure a bit and I used some new sculpt swim fins and green stuff. The arms, torso, and waist are from the VvV Baroness. I originally intended on smoothing the Cobra logo but decided instead to see if paint could make it better. From there I needed to explain why she wore the Cobra wetsuit and she became Mara from the cartoon. The movie Scarlett head seemed a perfect fit for the character.

_________________

I'm not ashamed of my fondness for the Kilmer/Brando version of that story and the Fairuza Balk character was the inspiration of Katarina's personality.

_________________

This is a great thread. Very nice figures all around.

_________________

Had some fun with the kids to day setting up this outside.

The Dino-Hunters are now the hunted!!



Danger to the left...



And to the right.

_________________

those are some dynamic ultra real perspective pics! please tell me you have more! including close ups of all those baddies! I see cobra la's, starwars freaks' and king kong

_________________

Thanks!

Here's some older pics. I took some closeups while outside yesterday but these are a more manageable and visible size. Warning: I have put way too much thought into this story.

Dr. Mindbender escaped Cobra Island with the help of Maximus, his latest attempt at recreating Serpentor. When Cobra Commander discovered that he was attempting to bring another emperor to life, he ordered Mindbender killed. Maximus defended his "father" and escaped into the tunnels below Cobra Labs and they escaped into the open ocean. Believing that they would perish in the seas, Cobra Commander put him out of his mind and elevated Scalpel to Mindbender's old post. Mindbender and Maximus did survive the open waters and made their way to Central America. Mindbender set his sights on the abandoned research island once owned by genetics corporation InGen. There he found labs and began his experiments again. Although he has not realized his original plan, he has made many great discoveries. Victor was born in his labs from the same trials that created Maximus. Not a perfect recreation of a human but Victor still sees himself as a better version of Maximus. The oversized lynx is an attempt at reversing Mindbender's process of animal DNA spliced into humans. He instead spliced an orphan child's DNA into that of the wild mutated cat. Again not the results he had hoped for, but he now has a pet that stays at his side and needs constant nurturing. He named him Wiley and the docile beast amid the chaos of the island is Mindbender's one confidant.



At first Mindbender captured the creatures of the island and sailor's that got too close to shore thanks to Maximus and Victor constant attempts at outdoing one another. The men and creatures were spliced with varying degrees of success. Most died in the lab. A few survived with feral tendencies and a few survived but kept their human traits. They have taken names such as Slythor and Warwolf. One creature calling himself Grimli has stepped up to take command of the beasts. The body of another brother to Victor and Maximus was fused to the DNA of a kodiak bear. He keeps the other beasts in fear and will not allow them to speak to Father.



Never one to waste his limited resources, Mindbender attempted to revive the dead test subjects. Very few have been reanimated and only one shows any sign of logic. The undead beast is simply called Death and the zombie-like corpses follow his every step. Every creature on the island avoid Death and his followers.

_________________

Mindbender continued his experiments. In the deep vaults of the InGen labs, Mindbender discovered radioactive material. The Doctor began experimenting with the material on various subjects. The gamma radiation seemed to affect them all differently. All were different physically as well as mentally although they shared two common traits of aggressive tempers and the green skin. One military refugee from Trucial Abysmia made his way to Costa Rica where he was kidnapped by a daring Victor. Mindbender was delighted to have a great mind to talk to but his curiosity got the better of him and he had the general brought to the lab. He directed the gamma rays at his head while he continued to converse with the man. His skin took on the familiar hue and he became confrontational as the conversation continued. Mindbender finally put an end to the experiment but put the general into a cage for observation. The next morning Mindbender found the cage destroyed and the wall demolished. The monsters had a leader.



Mindbender's experiments up to that point had involved live subjects or the recently deceased. Exploration of the Island Sorna by the new inhabitants began to unearth remains of past occupants. Mindbender's trials with the undead gave him no idea that he could raise these long dead beings but maybe he could extract some useful material from their bones. Spliced with live subjects these new "men" began to live again. Claiming to rise from a fallen race, they claimed to rise and rule again. One called himself king of this race and demanded to be called Golobulus. He formed his royal guard, he called The Nemesis. They were the Immortal, the Enforcer, Prawn, and Pythona. More creatures have risen from pit of sludge and joined him as a follower. One such is the four armed mutation calling himself the alpha predator of the island, Predacon.



The dead bodies were dumped into a sinkhole. Unknown to Mindbender, all waste from the InGen facility ran into the cavern as well. The toxic soup that was created began to have odd effects and the brothers began telling Mindbender of unwanted creatures appearing on the island. They stayed to the shores and disappeared into the depths when approached. Mindbender did not believe until the tentacle faced man walked onto shore as he sat with Wiley. He introduced himself as Davy Jones. Mindbender was horrified and called for his sons. Jones called for his own men and the giant lumbered into view with the brothers held by their throats. He claimed the seas as his own and said he had more followers nearby. With no other choice, Mindbender agreed and ran back to the laboratory with his sons. Searching for their origin, Mindbender discovered the pit and more creatures crawling out of the muck. He called for Grimli and his beasts to kill anything that crawled from the cavern. He hated to kill these fantastic creations but he needed control over them and he needed control over the reanimated pirate. Mindbender began harvesting the Ooze, as he called it, and took it back to his lab to find some new subjects.



Like I said, these are older pictures and their ranks have been expanded. This has been my go to point when I hit a wall with customizing and start getting weird.

_________________

I read it all and it makes perfect sense , so i'm weird too

_________________

Excellent!

_________________

Cool. I like the second pic where King Kong looks very imposing!

Confession Time: 1989 Tundra Stalker was my only version of the character until the newsculpt release. Not even ashamed. Its one of those figures I remember getting from Hills on a special trip to an out of the way city that I now live near. The awesome kayak taking command of the package was a sure eyecatcher but opening that thing up in the van on the way home and putting the gun on and that counter balance. And it all fit on his back. And that mask. Too cool.

So I decided to update the figure in my style.

And I decided to make him a new character named Tundra.

GI Joe's Arctic survival specialist is at home in the frozen lands of the polar regions. When the Joe team needs to head into the worlds coldest extremes, Tundra is the man to meet them as their guide. His specially designed mask and air purifying system keep a continuous flow of oxygen. The mask also has a heads up display that monitors environmental and atmospheric changes with a optional thermal scan. Rarely seen at GI Joe HQ, Tundra disappears back into the Arctic wilds when his service is not needed. Now he has been called on by Duke to lead a new team with a focus on polar exploration and protection. The Arctic Rangers are now on patrol.




One thing that bothered me with the 89 figure was the brown on the legs. I always thought he wore green and brown camo pants with brown boots covers. So here I went with a more traditional camo pattern in shades of green with brown. The boots covers go up past the knee and were painted a different color of brown and with another lighter shade on the boots. The mask was a last minute addition and is cobbled together from a Batman 6" figure accessory and a newsculpt Wet Suit mask. The pack takes the place of the original counterweight and is a repurposed CamelBak from Marauder.



The head is GvC Stalker with the beret removed and the hat resculpted. Crosshair was probably the worse offender of short jacket syndrome but I have a ton of these torsos and I intend to use as many as possible. I extended the torso as well as the jacket hem. The super long Tunnel Rat arms were shortened at the bicep swivel as well as mid glove. The legs are all Hacker, with the knee pads shaved and details added with green stuff. I also shortened the feet and reshaped the boots.

_________________

I too had that figure and possibly from hills! you totally did it justice. your resculpting and lengthening are very impressive!!

_________________

Thanks! I've been trying to do this figure for years.

This was my placeholder until I just packed everything away for the possible move.

_________________