I dig them all!

_________________

Red Laser
Red Shadows Gunner

When I acquired a Red Laser figure a few years ago, I actually got a lot of two, but with one having a broken waist piece. So I decided to use that broken figure to make a custom version of Red Laser, and give him a new bottom half so he wouldn't just be a recolour of Cobra Commander. I used the red version of Firefly for the lower half, but if you thought that using another red figure would save me on painting, you'd be mistaken. They're two different shades of red, and rather than vainly attempting to find or mix a paint to match one of the shades. I just painted the whole figure with insignia red. Having a red base colour does alleviate a lot of the problems that you normally have around joints, of course.

Head, arms, torso – Red Laser (Action Force)
Waist, legs – Firefly v7

Pistol – Cobra Commander

_________________

Cobra Dragoon
Mechanized Infantry Trooper

A few years ago I bought a lot of unpainted Black Major Cobra troopers. I used the opportunity to create a variety of Cobra troopers. Blue uniforms (the originals) are infantry and light grey uniforms are transportation (based on the Stinger Driver). White uniforms are aviation, green uniforms are rangers, brown uniforms are combat engineers, purple uniforms are marines and black uniforms are shock troopers. Finally, red uniforms are armor (based on the HISS Driver). There are two varieties of red troopers; this one is the dragoon, infantry troopers who go into battle in armored vehicles before dismounting to enter combat.

All parts – Cobra Soldier (reproduction)

Rifle – Cobra Officer (reproduction)
Backpack – Viper (reproduction)

_________________

Cobra Tanker
Armor Trooper

This one is the tanker, the soldiers who operate Cobra's armored vehicles. HISS Drivers (which are called Cobra Horsemen in my Joeverse) are the officers, and Tankers are the enlisted men. I gave this figure an extra-large white Cobra logo, since that's what the HISS Driver has, and armed him with a Skorpion machine pistol since the Cobra soldier filecard indicates they're trained in its use.

All parts – Cobra Soldier (reproduction)

Machine pistol – Marauder Inc.

_________________

Longshore
Sea Devils Navy Beachmaster

Gung-Ho's original head is relatively difficult to use in making customs, unless you're making a Marine. There aren't many units other than the Marine Corps which wear the same utility cover that they do, but the Navy Beachmasters are one such example. Beachmaster units support amphibious operations by controlling watercraft and cargo near the shore, and assist in surf salvage and personnel evacuation. Longshore is part of the second wave of Sea Devils, a GI Joe subteam that specializes in amphibious, littoral and riverine operations, so a Navy Beachmaster is appropriate for the team. Gung-Ho's head actually has a hairline sculpted in – sideburns are clearly there, just not painted. The decision to make him bald must have been made relatively late in the process.

Head – Gung-Ho
Arms – Dogfight
Torso – Airborne
Waist – Duke v22
Legs – Roadblock

Backpack – Mercer
Rifle – Marauder Inc.

_________________

Mariner
Sea Devils Ambhibious Assault

Mariner is a character from the DDP run of GI Joe, which I have adapted to fit into the second wave of the Sea Devils subteam, a unit that specializes in amphibious, riverine and littoral operations. I had previously done a Mariner custom based on his comic appearance, but I was never happy with how he turned out. I gave him a little more traditional look this time, but I maintained a connection to the original with the pattern on his pants as well as the eye black.

Head – Flint v6
Arms – General Hawk v2
Torso – CLASSIFIED
Waist – Side Track
Legs – Sgt. Slaughter v2

Cap, machine gun – Marauder Inc.
Backpack – Cobra Trooper

_________________

Searchlight
Sea Devils Coast Guard MSRT

Searchlight is part of the second wave of Sea Devils, a GI Joe subteam that specializes in amphibious, littoral and riverine operations. He's a member of the US Coast Guard's Maritime Security Response Teams (MSRT), a counter-terrorism force able to deploy anywhere in the world to engage in high-risk boardings and other direct action against hostile targets. This makes him the second member of the USCG to be a part of the Joe team, after Cutter.

“Searchlight is a creature of the night. He cruises around with the curiosity of a cat. Nothing is too insignificant or irrelevant to escape his notice. Quiet, serious; a loner. He believes in gaining as much tactical knowledge as possible in every situation, that no bit of knowledge is too small to provide some kind of advantage. And that knowing, of course, is half the battle.”

Head – Skidmark
Arms, torso – Slipstream
Waist – Snake-Eyes v18
Legs – Shockwave v3

Shotgun – Zartan v7
Backpack – unknown

_________________

I posted a bunch of Cobra trooper customs in another thread together:

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=46715

_________________

Kraken
Red Shadows Amphibious Assault

The 1980s Red Shadows produced some interesting villains. I did an ARAH-style Muton figure early on in my customizing career, and wanted to round out the roster. So this is Kraken. I had actually made an earlier attempt at a Kraken custom using a Star Wars figure, which has a good look but the lack of articulation sinks it as an ARAH custom. So this one gives the character the right articulation. I used the Tunnel Rat legs both because they allow the figure to have inhuman height, which is something I wanted to make him extra creepy, and because they're made of soft plastic which makes them very easy to cut down as needed. I added some black highlights on his face to try to make him seem a little more menacing, since his head sculpt is a bit derpy. Although you could see it as cold and dispassionate instead, I suppose. You can decide for yourself whether the black marking are natural colouration or war paint.

Head, hands, feet – Kraken (Action Force)
Arms – Beach Head v2
Torso – Tripwire v2
Waist – Topside
Legs – Tunnel Rat v4

Trident - Undertow

_________________

Proto-Kraken
Red Shadows Experimental Creature

This was an early attempt at Kraken. It uses a Star Wars figure (Bossk), which has a good look but the lack of articulation sinks it as an ARAH custom. The articulation is just far too important for Joes in my mind, it's what always set them apart from contemporary toys. So when this custom was done, I set it aside to make a better version, which I later did. This one can still fit in the continuity as an early attempt at creating Kraken.

All parts – Bossk (Star Wars)

_________________

Skeletron
Red Shadows Robotic Infantry

So this is Skeletron. I had actually made an earlier attempt at a Skeleton custom using Star Wars droid parts, which gave it a good look, but the lack of articulation sinks it as an ARAH custom. So this one gives the character the right articulation. I used a custom cast of the original Skeletron head with a swivel joint, and then used parts from a couple of different B.A.T. versions in order to give it something of a robotic skeleton appearance. The big-ass sword attachment from Cobra B.A.T. v7 gives the figure an appropriately menacing weapon.

Head – Action Force Skeletron (custom-cast)
Arms, torso, waist – Cobra B.A.T. v7
Legs – Cobra B.A.T. v13

_________________

Skeleton – Alpha Test
Red Shadows Prototype Robotic Infantry

This was an early attempt at Skeletron. It uses parts from Star Wars droid figures, which gave it a good look but the lack of articulation sinks it as an ARAH custom. The articulation is just far too important for Joes in my mind, it's what always set them apart from contemporary toys. So when this custom was done, I set it aside to make a better version, which I later did. This one can still fit in the continuity as an early attempt at building Skeletron, before the kinks were worked out. A failed experiment.

Head, torso – Build-a-Droid YVH1 (Star Wars)
Arms, legs – Build-a-Droid HK-50 (Star Wars)

_________________

Night Creeper
Mercenary Ninja

This is just a paint upgrade of the original Night Creeper figure. The one I used here needed even more work than it should have, since it was missing a paint app. The bottom-most grey camo stripe on the left leg was missing, so I painted that on in addition to the various extra painted details. These include painting the boots and gloves, visor and various bits on the torso and waist. I think the best detail I added was the red visor, which gives it a night-vision look.

All parts – Night Creeper

Backpack, sword, crossbow – Night Creeper

_________________

Night Hunter
Mercenary Ninja Assassin

The second version of the Night Creeper that was released as part of the Ninja Force subset was disappointing. It has a big bulky torso common for its time, had an action feature instead of full articulation, and an ill-advised colour scheme to boot. When this version of the Night Creeper appeared in issue 141 of the comic, they had a much better maroon-and-green colouration, so I wanted to make a custom to reflect that. In the comic they also have the same sort of fur/feather cape thing that appears in the card art, but was not present on the figure itself (perhaps a last-minute decision to leave out an accessory). To represent this in the figure I modified a v2 Snow Serpent figure. I don't mind losing the original torso, since it was a very bland one, just muscles and a few grenades. I gave the figure a new name as well, so its not just a new outfit but a subset of the Night Creepers.

Head, arms, waist, legs – Night Creeper v2
Torso – Snow Serpent v2

Backpack – Footloose
Sword – Tiger Claw
Bow – Marauder Inc.

_________________

Aleph
Night Creeper Commander

This custom is a bit of a mash-up in terms of source material. His appearance is mostly based on the DiC verson of the Night Creeper Leader (using a Krexx Radek sculpt for the head) but it named after a Night Creeper leader from an issue of the Marvel comic. I did the same paint upgrades to the Night Creeper outfit I did for the Night Creeper figure, but also painted Aleph's chest plates gold to give him a unique appearance and mark him as the man in charge.

Head – Cast of Krexx Radek sculpt
All other parts – Night Creeper

Sword – Night Creeper
Backpack – Grunt (accessory pack version)

_________________