those whips are so much cool! what are the tips made from? i have been stumped on a whip for beastman and these give me hope!

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Great to read and go for it!



Coming from another classics sets guy, that means a lot! Thanks! These guys are before our time. I didn't know about these guys until I stumbled onto them doing research on the history of G.I. Joe. The idea of them fascinated me because of how obscure and unknown they were. I want to do the good guys to these bad guys but can't locate some very hard to find parts in order to make them.



I purchased that head so you can imagine it wasn't cheap. There was a helmet accessory I provided the figure but it was chipping away at the paint on the sides of his head. I had to repaint his hair eventually.



As always, glad whenever I can teach you something new! You're like one of my favourite guys for ideas so glad I can sometimes share some with you! Tips are made from those large inner ball joints for MTF heads like male MTF heads.

Been a while. I've got a new one. She's based on a cast aside early stage prototype of the Zargonite sometime between 1980 and 1982. The image was shared to Chris from The Full Force - a fancast about the world of Action Force and G.I. Joe from Tony at Analog Toys.



Not the most inspired design, imo, but it means something to my good old Time Enemies project which got brushed off for this entry. Here's my rendition of the Prototype Zargonite.



Thoughts?

i think you got all the original detail plus some. i like it! glad to see you still at it!

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Thanks. I'm in a new country with a more dedicated job and a family to care of. The time I used to have is gone now. A problem that I have is no longer having fast access to spare parts. I'm limited to a few figure customs. So this year won't be full of customs like 2021. I am looking at doing some new creative pieces this time around. Anyway, heres an update of Prototype Zargonite.

I moved up her respiratory device and added a "nose". I also added padding to bulk up her shoulders and a pair of buttons at the base of her armour.

She was built using the Retaliation Cyber Ninja head, MTF female Valkyrie torso and arms, MTF male waist and legs and ROC Neo Viper armour. Molding with putty was crucial to get the look. Other miscellaneous parts used include, printed stickers, a pen ink barrel, plastic from a red soda bottle, and a plastic coated paper clip.



For reference

This is very likely to be the final character that I make for this project. I was searching high and low in just about every licensed brand of G.I. Joe between 1976 - 1984. I came across two prototypes. This is the second one. Back in 1981, to capitalize on emerging interest in the space adventure theme initially pioneered by the successful sale of Kenner's Star Wars line, Estrela released the hero Condor and the villain Torak in their Falcon 80 line. The Falcon 80 line was the futuristic version of their Falcon line which in turn is the Brazilian equivalent of G.I. Joe. It was successful enough that they released more futuristic outfits as well as a villain, Torak; and two allies: Condor and Roboy.

In Estrela's 1983/1984 catalogue, they featured some new futuristic outfits as well as two brand new characters: Laserman and Triton. These images are the only images to confirm their existence becuase the following years of 1984, not only did they go unreleased, but it saw the end of the Falcon line entirely as well. Judging by the images taken, Laserman appeared heroic whilst Triton appeared villainous. See image below.



This got my gears turning as I am doing this bad guys project. So I got some junker parts, put them together and made this guy happen. Here he is with Torak!



I'll post more images down the line of the work in progress. He still isn't as clean as I'd like him so there is more work yet to be done.

He was made using MTF helmet; ROC Ripcord head; BFS Blank body; Maria Hill forearms; and MTF Valkyrie lower legs combined with 30th Anniversary Scarlett feet. The blasters on his stomach are made from pen ink heads. The vents in his back (featured in a future image) were made from slices of a credit card and the tubes came from a sanitizing spray bottle. Clipped nail pins were used to secure them in place on his chest. I'm running out of paint here. Haha.

I've enjoyed keeping up with this project as you have progressed with it. People always say some of my customs are "deep cuts" as I do stuff from the 80s they have forgotten about, but you making customs of prototypes of unproduced figures from some grainy pictures is truly outstanding. I've said before I had to look a lot of this stuff up as I had never heard of it. My Joe world was from 83-89 and mostly revolved around the cartoon and some of the comics. Excellent job as always. I hate to see the project end but I understand customizing is a time consuming and expensive hobby.

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the zargonite added details are subtle, but go even further to match your source.

this new build all your parts all work well together, and i was surprised you used some lady parts. always great to see someone use found items too.

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Thank you so much! You and me both. G.I. Joe for me was from 83-89 and the same goes for just about every project you launched and completed (especially that awesome COPS collection!). Doing this project was all about satisfying a curiousity. It was such an amazing journey too. Of course, if I do stumble onto another character made during that period for any of the G.I. Joe properties, then the project may continue. I have given a lot of thought to doing the good guys. The problem with that is one of the characters from the Super Joe line (Luminos) is a clear figure. Customizing a clear figure or even finding a good clear body to work with, has been difficult. Maybe someday. Who knows, maybe this enemy project is only on hiatus just waiting for me to stumble onto the next guy we all never heard of hehe.



Thanks. The lady parts became necessary because... circumstances. I am running out of bodies and body parts to work with haha. I have enough parts left for at least 2 guys and 2 ladies. I need more bodies!


Today I am sharing the projects that really started me off in the world of customizing. Behold!



THE MICRONAUTS! These are minis based on how they were depicted in the IDW comic book run. Sorry guys. I ended up reading the IDW series before the Marvel series. So my history belongs to Hasbro. I didn't stop there. I also developed the Ministry of War featuring The Emperor, Baron Karza and other characters.



I had done weapon projects in my earliest times customizing for my Transformers. However, the Micronauts project was the real start of painting and creating new characters. They're all not customs. Nine of them hail from the IDW Revolution Box Set. The others come straight from the comics that inspired them.

The Master of Time. Evil being from the future. Leader of the Time Enemies. Controller of the Time Door. Owner of the beast, Gargon. Ally of The Intruder. There isn't a lot that we know of this mysterious villain because the information was never intended to be updated or to go anywhere. That always burned me.

Anyway, I made a version 1 of the character who was depicted as an old man who was a magic and tech user that controlled Time. After the passing of Chadwick Boseman, I felt a desire to honour him primarily because of his portrayal of the Black Panther character and his insistance on fighting his cancer away from the public eye. My idea was to use his likeness for this character.

It was a simple head swap back then but after sometime, I felt that the character could do with a meaningful villainous makeover.

I used a few of the colours from the back of the Gargon packaging to give the new design much life. It's mainly a repaint. The really new addition here is a MTF helmet repainted and modified with translucent lenses from a red plastic soda bottle. Customizing is amazing.

You always find pieces that translates the original looks, while also adding complexity.

Nicely done.

he looks really cool! love the whip in air shots.

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These are really well done. Lots of stuff I had never heard of. Your versions are fantastic

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The Master of Time is another addition to this project.

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Greetings, Yojoe Customs Friends! Been a long time. I started a Scarlett Custom that I set aside for a very long time. I had enough motivation to push and continue the custom after 2 failed attempts due to paint not adhering well after application.

She's incomplete but so far I've used the top half of Renegade Scarlett. The new legs are MTF female legs. The gear is a mix of MTF and standard G.I. Joe with some slight customizing. The left shoulder guard is also moulded into the figure from spare g.i. Joe fodder gear.







Just a few more details as well as a wash or two (I do them now hehe) and she'll be great to display with the other Joes in my collection! Thoughts?