PINSER
Powered Interdiction Skirmisher

This custom represents what could have been released as a Cobra vehicle in 1982, a tank called the PINSER (Powered Interdiction Skirmisher). The commander could have been released that year, since it's just a recoloured Cobra Officer. The tank has a nice play feature, with plenty of room for accessory storage in the back.

All parts: Processed Plastic M60 tank (modified)

Stickers: Toyhax.com

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VERMIN
Vehicle: Reconnaissance, Mobile Infiltration

This custom represents what could have been released as a Cobra vehicle in 1982, a utility vehicle called the VERMIN (Vehicle: Reconnaissance, Mobile Infiltration). The driver is not one of my customs – it's a Black Major Cobra trooper. The grey colour marks him as being part of the transport division to me, to match the grey Stinger officer. It's a figure that could have been released in that year, since it's just a recoloured Cobra.

All parts: Processed Plastic AA Jeep (modified)

Stickers: Toyhax.com

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Super FANG
Fully-Armed Negator Gyrocopter

Until the Mamba came along in 1986, Cobra was lacking in the attack helicopter department. The FANG, while an iconic part of the Cobra air forces, is very small and has a rather obvious design flaw: an open canopy. To give Cobra Commander something to compete with the Dragonfly, I took a Soldier Force helicopter and turned it into an upgraded FANG. It has a pretty neat feature where the sides flip down to reveal rocket launchers, and it has a trigger on the bottom that drives the rotors as well. I gave it a FANG colour scheme, and as a pilot I used the HISS Driver (which I call Cobra Horsemen in my Joeverse), because their file card indicates they are able to operate the FANG.

All parts: Soldier Force helicopter (modified)

Stickers: Toyhax.com

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Is that the green army men tank? Loved that when I was a kid

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And used it for Joes myself. This is nicely done

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Yeah it's the Processed Plastic basic green tank. I had one as a kid as well - but I had completely forgotten about it until I had this one in hand to do the custom. It jogged my memory immediately.

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I really dig your IG set

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The sea devils - So many excellent customs. Great character selection, very unique part combinations, and some awesome vehicles as well. The best part is that together they look like a cohesive unit.

Special Forces Stalker - Love this one, the camo stripes are really nice, and I like the parts choice.

Hydro-Demon - I've always been a fan of the hydro viper, and the concept behind them. Very cool use of parts, and I love the paintjob. Takes everything scary about the hydro viper, and makes it even scarier.

OG13 - dig these alot, the parts work really well. My favorite of the bunch has to be the second Clutch. The tollbooth upper half with skidmark's lower half is perfect for him, the details are just right. The hat is a nice touch.

Cobra AAG - nice use of that vintage mini rig.

RAM Mark II/Buzzard - I'm not familiar with Robotech stuff, so I didn't recognize the motorcycle but I'd say it works perfectly, nice job repainting it. Buzzard looks great too, nice use of the johnny cage head, and those btr parts work surprisingly well.

Col. Courage - nice paint additions, he is a solid figure even with the brighter green. Nice job removing the neon.

Grom - love the idea of adding new members to the oktober guard from the other warsaw nations. Excellent use of parts. Very well thought out.

Snake Eyes Night Force Commando - The night vulture is a great cobra figure, and the body does work rather well for a snake eyes custom.

Wong - Simple, but very effective custom. I never really understood why this character was created either.

Sea Snake - The white uniform is very striking, cool use of countdown's legs and arms, and tripwire's head actually works here.

Airlift - nice updates to this figure, and I like the rename. I've yet to add Major Altitude to my collection. Might have to keep this custom in mind when I do.

Updraft - always been a fan of updraft, that helmet is certainly an upgrade.

Storm Shadow - great take on the character, the added red to the outfit helps this one stand out. Reminds me of the sigma six version. I didn't know the livevil sculpt had been made available somewhere.

Ninja Viper - I love this custom. That kit is in just the right color, and you painted he details perfectly. Great weapon choice too.

Cobra Commander - excellent take on his early comic appearances. The alterations to the parts make a huge difference.

Annihilator - I've been a fan of these for a long time, even with the purple and orange. However, I've always wondered how they would look in red and black, and you nailed it.

TARGAT - Now this IG trooper I've not been too keen on, but you made it look so much better in proper IG colors.

Wild Boar - the stock figure is ok, just little bland with all the missing paint applications. Your repaint proves just how detailed the mold really is. And that helmet is far better than the one he came with, that thing never fits right. Reminds me I need to keep looking for a razorback.

Voltar - Another stellar repaint, I like how you even painted the vulture. He should have been in red rather than purple. I think if hasbro had used a much darker purple it might have worked.

PEST - this vehicle fits with the early cobra troops perfectly.

I completely agree, there's lots of little details on the figure that you don't tend to notice because of the plain paint job. It's one of the figures that's the worst served by its paint job in the whole line really.

Thanks for all the great comments. Glad you like everything.

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Negator
Iron Grenadier Anti-Gravity Pilot

I've previously customized a Nullifier into a Cobra-La figure (as it was originally intended to be before that subteam was cancelled), which created the need for a new pilot for the AGP. I chose a synonymous code name and used mostly BattleForce 2000 parts to make the figure, which I thought was appropriate since the Iron Grenadiers were originally released under the BF2000 label. I see the torso as being something of a compression suit, to help keep the Negator's organs roughly where they're supposed to be when the anti-grav weirdness kicks in. When painting the figure I kept the basic Iron Grenadier colour scheme in mind: black, red and gold.

Head – Star Viper
Arms, torso – Blocker
Waist, legs – Blaster

Pistol – Metal-Head

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Polecat
Iron Grenadier Armor Driver

Destro and his Iron Grenadiers sport a very strong colour palette: red, black and gold. This allows for some very striking uniforms for his troops, and complement Destro's v2 outfit well. I have been repainting Destro's forces (Annihilator, TARGAT, Undertow, Voltar, Wild Boar) in order to achieve a more consistent look for them, and that includes the DEMON driver as well. This was mostly to make the red a deeper shade to match the other figures, but also to add some painted details that were left off of the original. You'll notive that I have named this figure Polecat instead of the original Ferret – the reason for this is that there is already an earlier Ferret in the Joeverse (the Cobra ATV) and I want everything to have a unique name.

All parts – Ferret

Personal defence weapon – Marauder Inc.

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Relampago (Lightning)
Tiger Force Motorized Infantry

Relampago (“Lightning”) is a Brazilian Python Patrol figure that I did a custom version of last year. His filecard reveals that he was initially a member of the Joe team, specifically Tiger Force. So of course that led to me wanting a custom of Lightning in his Tiger Force days. I didn't want to just paint another Ripcord in Tiger Force colours – especially there is a preproduction version of Tiger Force Ripcord that I've already done a custom of. So instead I dug through my fodder to piece together a figure. The Red Star head had the right hair colour (based on my version of Python Patrol Relampago), and bears more than a passing resemblance to Ripcord, with a nasty scowl thrown in (very traitorous). The rest of the parts came together pretty quickly, with the Lifeline v2 arms being used to have some authentic Tiger Force-ness included.

Head – Red Star
Arms – Lifeline v2
Torso – Sci-Fi v2
Waist – Rock 'n Roll v2
Legs – Low-Light v4

Rifle, cap – Marauder Inc.

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MOBAT
Main Battle Tank

One of my MOBATs had a motor that no longer worked, so I decided to turn that one into a custom, starting by gutting the mechanical parts and the battery compartment. With all the space now available in the rear section of the toy, I built a storage compartment out of Plastrust styrene, and trimmed down the edges of the tailplate so that it can be removed without having to open up the MOBAT entirely. This adds play value in the way of accessory storage. I also removed the commander's gun from the turret, replacing it with an M2 machine gun to add a little realism. A few painted details, some fresh stickers and a custom Steeler finish the vehicle.

Base vehicle – MOBAT
Machine gun – Roadblock v3
Ammo case – unknown
Stickers – Toyax.com

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Krokodil
Oktober Guard Attack Helicopter

The Krokodil, or more properly the Ka-51 Krokodil, is a custom based on the Kamov Ka-50 Black Shark helicopter, which is notable for its coaxial rotor system, meaning that it has two main rotors which rotate in opposite directions. I purchased a toy Ka-50 from Russia, which is pretty cool but not perfect – it's too small to really be a Ka-50 (which is why I call it a Ka-51, a fictional smaller-sized variant of the aircraft), and for some reason has a tail rotor which the coaxial rotor system actually eliminates the need for. The toy also came with landing skids rather than wheels, so those needed to be replaced. I took the front landing gear from the Tomahawk, and the rear landing gear from a True Heroes Apache Longbow. I also poached the rocket pods and missile racks from the Apache, and these required a fair bit of modification to fit. Some Oktober Guard stickers from Toyhax.com complete the look. The Daina custom I did last year serves as the pilot.

Base vehicle – Russian toy Ka-50
Front landing gear – Tomahawk
Rear landing gear, rocket pods, missile racks – True Heroes Apache Longbow
Stickers – Toyhax.com

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krokadil! very nice!

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