Topside
Sea Devils Naval Assault

For the second wave of Sea Devils, Topside was an obvious candidate. The Sea Devils are a subteam I created that specializes in amphibious, littoral and riverine operations. This is mostly a repaint, but I did replace his waist piece since the original one is a bit plain and kinda strange, with a bit of line for a belt instead of something appropriately military in nature. The darker colour scheme looks good on him, I think.

Head, arms, torso, legs – Topside
Waist – Range Viper

Helmet – Topside
Backpack – Mercer
Carbine – Marauder Inc.

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Range-Viper
Cobra Light Infantry

Cobra Range-Vipers must have an awful time being stealthy in the wilderness. With a fairly bright blue being their primary colour, they're not exactly camouflaged. So this custom is simply to give the Range-Viper a more appropriate uniform for its role. I also altered the accessories a bit, using Hardball's backpack to still have plenty of ammo for the grenade launcher, but also adding a machine gun to explain the ammo belts that Range-Vipers carry.

All parts – Range-Viper

Backpack – Hardball (modified)
Grenade launcher - Range-Viper
Machine gun – Marauder Inc.
Knife - Shockwave

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Bludgeon
Samurai Robot

I've never really been sure how I feel about Transformers being part of the G.I. Joe universe. Alien worlds don't mesh that well with my Joe preferences, which is why I'm a little queasy on the Lunartix aliens as well. But in 2013, there was a convention-exclusive set built around some transformers, including a version of Bludgeon. I had a custom-cast figure that was supposed to be an ARAH version of an unreleased Ghost Ninja figure, but I used it for Bludgeon instead, and made my own Ghost Ninja figure.

All parts – custom-cast by Kevin Watts

Sword – unknown
Helmet – Budo

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Ghost Ninja

Ghost Ninja was an unreleased 2012 figure, which made it into the Micro Force figures in 2013. I bought a custom-cast ARAH figure intended to be the Ghost Ninja, but given its armor I used it for a Bludgeon custom instead, and pieced together a much simpler figure for Ghost Ninja, given the simple design of the Micro Force. A Remco martial artist figure combined with some Ninja Force parts and a random skeleton head was all I needed.

Head – Fodder skeleton head with Rayden (Mortal Kombat) hat attached
Arms, legs – Dojo
Torso, waist – Remco American Defense figure

Naginata - unknown

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Checkpoint
Steel Brigade Security

I've never liked the concept of “greenshirt” Joes. The Joes are a special ops unit, the best of the best of the best, so having generic troopers without codenames makes no sense. This applies equally to nameless Steel Brigade troopers, so it was great when Hasbro released three Streel Brigade figures with codenames instead of just generic troopers, which makes the Steel Brigade a subteam of the Joes. But of course, ARAH-style versions of the figures are needed.

Based on his filecard, which described him as a “behemoth” and noted that he was the only person to ever defeat Major Barrage in wrestling, I knew my custom version of Checkpoint had to be a big'un. I used some New Sculpt era legs to give him extra height, and the Action Marine torso is very bulky. For longer arms and a large head I used parts from a Galoob Unifighters figure. I had to build out the shoulders with Milliput a bit to make the arms look right. In the end he's nearly as big as my Barrage custom, which is what I was aiming for.

Head, arms – Galoob Unifighters
Torso, waist - Action Marine (torso modified)
Legs – Sgt. Stalker v2 (modified)

Carbine, shotgun, cap – Marauder Inc.

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Red Zone
Steel Brigade Urban Assault

Red Zone is the second of three ARAH-style figures based on the Steel Brigade set released in 2006. As it turns out, I used non-ARAH legs and heads for each of them, that wasn't by design from the get-go but that's how it turned out. Red Zone's head is from some fodder figure, I wanted to give him a regular beard instead of the douchey chinstrap that the original figure has. The Steel Brigade logo on his back ties him to the team, along with the colours.

Head – fodder
Arms – Crankcase
Torso – Chief Torpedo
Waist – Duke v8
Legs – Sgt. Bazooka v2

Carbine – unknown
Knife – Marauder Inc.
Backpack – Gung-Ho v3

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Rook
Steel Brigade Interrogator

Rook is the final ARAH-style custom based on the 2006 Steel Brigade figures. All three of the figures share a colour scheme (which is a bit darker than the original Steel Brigade colours) and all have similar pants and shirts, with some distinguishing elements between them so they're not too samey. Rook here has a sweater over his Steel Brigade shirt, but like Checkpoint and Red Zone has a logo on his back to mark his team. All three heads I used are from non-Joe sources, and all three have a slight cartoony appearance to them, which I think works because they all have it so that none of them stands out from the others.

Head – fodder
Arms – Falcon
Torso, waist – Crankcase
Legs – Steel Brigade v3A

Shotgun, cap – Marauder Inc.

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bludgeon and ghost ninja steal the show in this group!

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Really nice to see these RAH figures. Each one looks fantastic and better then factory.

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Range-Viper
Cobra Urban Light Infantry

I previously did a repainted Range-Viper to give them a more realistic colour scheme for their role. This is another repaint of the figure, this time inspired by the second version released in the New Sculpt era. Blue and grey again doesn't make sense for a wilderness trooper, so I see this version as the Range-Vipers' urban gear (since I have expanded their role from wilderness trooper to light infantry). They step on the Alley-Vipers' toes a bit here, but I see the Range-Vipers as more of an elite force than the Alley-Vipers.

All parts – Range-Viper

Machine gun – Marauder Inc.
Backpack - Viper

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Back Up
Renegades Special Forces

Back Up was a concept character designed by Hasbro for the Renegades team, but was never put into production. Dan Klingensmith shared the concept art in 2016, and since then I've wanted to make a custom ARAH version of the character, the form he would have been released in had he made it past the design stage. I'm quite pleased that I was able to find parts that match the illustration very well, not to mention the accessories. When the custom-cast head became available I knew exactly what I was going to use it for. OreoBuilder did a modern version of this character in 2017, and went with a caucasian skin tone. But I noticed that the alternate code name on the illustration was Heavy Duty. So, this character might have gradually morphed into Heavy Duty in the Hasbro design department, and as such I went with an African-American skin tone.

Based on his design, it's obvious that Back Up has more of a military background than the other Renegades. But there has to be some reasons why he's a Renegade instead of a part of the regular Joe forces. I'm thinking maybe he was part of a Special Forces unit but was court martialed and convicted of a crime he didn't commit?

Head – custom cast (Doc with beret added)
Arms – Leatherneck
Torso – Wild Weasel
Waist – Red Star (modified)
Upper legs – Crankcase
Lower legs – Skidmark (modified)

Assault rifle – Marauder Inc.
Semi-automatic shotgun – Destro v10
Pump-action shotgun – Falcon
Belt – Cross Hair

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Taurus
Renegades Demolitions

I'm giving each of the Renegades a paint upgrade, both in terms of adding detail and in toning down the colours a bit, since they tend to be a bit bright. For Taurus, in addition to repainting him I removed his shoulder things because they looked weird, and gave him the tattoo on his left arm that the v2 figure (convention exclusive) has. For accessories, I painted some detail on his backpack and carbine, and gave him the same sword that v2 has.

All parts – Taurus

Backpack, carbine – Taurus
Sword – Taurus v2

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Red Dog
Renegades Infantry

I'm giving each of the Renegades a paint upgrade, both in terms of adding detail and in toning down the colours a bit, since they tend to be a bit bright. Red Dog is pretty straightforward in this respect, just a recolour with some extra details painted as well. Since all ARAH-era handguns are comically oversized, I gave him a more recent pistol as a sidearm, and added a knife as well. His backpack is original, with some paint.

All parts – Red Dog

Backpack – Red Dog
Pistol – Shipwreck v5
Knife – Marauder Inc.

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Mercer
Renegades Armorer

I'm giving each of the Renegades a paint upgrade, both in terms of adding detail and in toning down the colours a bit, since they tend to be a bit bright. Mercer is pretty straightforward in this respect, just a recolour with some extra details painted on his vest and some stubble inspired by the beard the second version of the figure has. I did rough up his hair a bit to give it some texture so he doesn't have the helmet of hair he came with, and I trimmed down the edges of his sidearm so it was too big a lump on his chest. I darkened his trousers to something closer to Viper blue. The firearms he originally came with are ridiculously oversized, so I have him something better, an AA-12 semi-auto shotgun and a Desert Eagle pistol.

All parts – Mercer

Backpack – Mercer
Shotgun – Marauder Inc.
Pistol – Dr. Mindbender v5

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Here's a group shot of the Renegades and a couple more pics of Back Up for good measure.

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