Grom
Oktober Guard Urban Warfare

The Oktober Guard was not the Soviet version of the GI Joe team, but the Warsaw Pact version of the GI Joe team. Unless you ask Horrow-Show, of course, who would tell you that the Joes are the American version of them. At any rate, certain members of the Warsaw Pact had no representation on the Oktober Guard, so I wanted to fill in the gaps. Poland is one such country, so Grom is their representative. His code name means “lightning” in Polish, and I intend to eventually pair him up with another new character called “thunder” in some other language.

Head – custom-cast
Arms – Updraft
Torso – Skidmark
Waist – Mutt
Legs – Remco American Defense

Backpack – Hawk v2
Submachine gun - unknown

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Snake Eyes
Night Force Commando

I was reading through an old message board thread about characters that were originally designed to be Cobras but were changed to Joes later in the design process, and vice-versa, and someone mentioned that the Cobra Night Vulture looked it could have easily been a new Snake Eyes figure. I can't help but agree, especially since it has nunchuks on its left leg and no mention of martial arts training on the Night Vulture filecard. So I just took a Night Vulture, replaced its head with Ninja Force Snake Eyes, and painted it in some appropriate colours for our favourite ninja commando. Since it started out as a Night Vulture, I decided this was the Night Force version of Snake Eyes. I painted the eyes red to suggest some kind of night vision lens, to go along with the Night Force motif.

Head – Snake Eyes v5
Arms, torso, waist, legs – Night Vulture

Rifle – Marauder Inc.
Sword – Snake Eyes v23

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another great batch!

that roadrunner dirtbike, wow, really excellent transformation!!

your oktober guard guy would look great with a short ak (krinkov type) or bison (9mm based ak).

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Wong
Oktober Guard Anatopism

Wong is a character who appeared only in the Sunbow cartoon, a member of the Oktober Guard representing China but who loved American cowboy movies. This is a simple custom of Wong, made just to fulfill a completist urge that I had. In my Joeverse, however, Wong is not part of the Oktober Guard. The OG is the Warsaw Pact equivalent of the GI Joe team – and China was never a member of the Warsaw Pact. Moreover, from the 60s through the 80s, China and the USSR were not allies. Though many people (including writers of children's cartoons) might have thought “both communist, therefore allies”, this is far from the truth. They were political rivals instead; google “Sino-Soviet split” if you want to read about it.

Head – Budo
Arms, waist, legs – Cobra Commander v5
Torso – Wild Bill v2

Hat – Wild Bill v2
Rifle – Marauder Inc.

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Sea Snake
Sea Rattler Pilot

The first issue of Marvel's G.I. Joe comic I ever bought when I was younger is #36, “All the Ships at Sea!” In that issue, the Joe ship is attacked by two “Sea Rattlers”, apparently Rattlers modified for operations at sea. There were also a couple of panels showing the pilots of these planes, who were clearly not Wild Weasel (especially considering both Sea Rattlers ultimately got blowed up real good). This custom is inspired by these pilots, who I'm calling Sea Snakes.

Head – Tripwire
Arms, legs – Countdown
Torso, waist – Cobra Soldier (Black Major custom cast)

Submachine gun – Marauder Inc.

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Snake Eyes
Sticker Pack Commando

In 1983 a sheet of GI Joe stickers was produced which featured Snake Eyes in some pretty odd-looking colours. Most of the Joes on the sheet had some kind of difference from their actual figure, but Snake Eyes is probably the most extreme, having a green top, a light blue balaclava and light blue camo pants. He's not even wearing any gloves. This is just a fun custom, Snake Eyes wouldn't be caught dead in that outfit, I'm sure.

Head, torso, waist, legs – Snake Eyes
Arms – Hawk

Submachine gun – Snake Eyes (accessory pack version)

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Airlift
Rotary-Wing Pilot

I have a custom version of the Retaliator helicopter that I'm working on. This vehicle is a two-seater, so we need a two-man crew. Updraft is the pilot obviously, which means we need a co-pilot/gunner. Since the Battle Copters released in 1991 are more gimmicks than actual vehicles, I assigned Major Altitude to this role. Or rather, the G.I. Joe formerly known as Major Altitude.

I have a couple of rules when dealing with Joe code names in my universe: no elements of a rank should appear in the code name (otherwise, they'd need a new codename when they get promoted), and no codenames that were used by an earlier character (which is why I changed Sky Patrol's Airborne to Air Raid in my universe, for example). Major Altitude violates at least one of these rules, but in fact the “Major” part of his codename does not refer to his rank, since he's a Chief Warrant Officer, not a Major. (Updraft is a Captain, so it makes sense for him to be the pilot). But that, combined with the fact that Altitude was already used by the Sky Patrol, means Major Altitude needs a new code name. So I call him Airlift.

The custom itself is just a paint update, including a new hair colour. His head was originally Wildcard's, but if you're going to reuse a head you need to make a significant change in some way. The original Major Altitude just looks like Wildcard in a flight suit (now there's a good idea), so I gave him black hair instead as Airlift.

All parts – Major Altitude

Helmet – Marauder Inc.
Pistol - unknown

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Updraft
Rotary-Wing Pilot

I have a custom version of the Retaliator helicopter that I'm working on. This vehicle is a two-seater, so we need a two-man crew. Updraft is the pilot obviously, which means we need a co-pilot/gunner. Since the Battle Copters released in 1991 are more gimmicks than actual vehicles, I assigned Major Altitude to this role, who I renamed Airlift (see his custom for details.) Since Updraft is the senior officer of the two, his place as pilot makes the most sense. He gets a simple paint job to add a little detail and variety, and new eyes, plus an aircrew helmet from Marauder dressed up to resemble Airlift's to give them a connection with each other.

All parts – Updraft

Helmet, mic – Marauder Inc.
Submachine gun – Low-Light

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you are a machine! sea snake and sticker pack commando steal the show! nailed the source pics!!

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Great batch! The Sea Snakes are a great idea.

OB

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Your work with the ARAH style really inspires me, especially the ones that go for the early Marvel feel.

Putting Grand Slam in a Scrap Iron vest? Brilliant!! And using the Tripwire torso for Flash? Consider that look stolen- it's perfect!!

Storm Shadow
Arashikage Ninja

I acquired a Storm Shadow custom kit with a cast of LIVEVIL's scupt of the character, but I wanted to make the resulting figure more than just Storm Shadow v1 with a new head (not that there would be anything wrong with that). So I gave him an Arashikage sigil from Toyhax.com instead of a Cobra symbol, and used red for his sash and wrist and legs wraps to make him stand out from the original. This is either Storm Shadow just before he joined Cobra, or perhaps when he would take on clan missions on the side while working for Cobra Commander. I also upgraded his weapons to make them a bit more substantial than his original accessories – note that I modified the bow so that still attaches to his backpack as it should. Which is to say, I drilled a small hole into the bow.

Head, torso, waist – cast of LIVEVIL sculpt
Upper arms, legs – cast of Storm Shadow parts
Lower arms – Storm Shadow

Backpack – Storm Shadow
Bow – Storm Shadow v21
Swords – Jinx, Storm Shadow (Black Major reproduction)

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Ninja Viper
Cobra Ninja Trooper

I acquired a cast of LIVEVIL's Storm Shadow sculpt (everything included except the lower arms) in Ninja Viper colours, so the obvious thing to do was to make a custom Ninja Viper out of it. I used a silver Cobra sigil rather than the red that the original has, since I thought it suited the colour of his outfit better. I also painted his sash black instead of white to give him a little more variety in his colour scheme.

Head, torso, waist – cast of LIVEVIL sculpt
Upper arms, legs – cast of Storm Shadow parts
Lower arms – Storm Shadow

Machine pistol – unknown
Sword – unknown

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That Storm Shadow is perfection!

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Thanks I really like how it turned out. The red accents add a lot to the figure, I think.

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