Head: IJ German Soldier w/25A Dusty Goggles
Torso, upper arms: ROC Storm Shadow (Paris Pursuit)
Lower arms: 25A Cobra Commander
Legs: ROC MARS Trooper


MASK - Brad Turner

Design:

I'd been tinkering around with doing some non-Joe characters drug into the Joe Universe, and MASK seemed appropriate since Matt Trakker was Joe-iffied by Hasbro a few years back. Some other customizers have made fantastic- and accurate to the source figure- customs. I wanted to go another route and borrow elements from the source figure, but making a figure that looked like a Joe character and not a MASK character. The hat on the unmasked head is different than the source figure, too- but it just works with the jacket too well to remove.

Colors & Paint:

I took the primary colors from the original figure, bright yellow and pink, and replaced them with the closest less flamboyant colors: dull yellow-tan and burgundy. The Storm Shadow jacket even has "stitching" lines running down the sides on the chest, making for a perfect center panel. Adding the large sideburns brought some of the source figure's feel to the head, as did the hair above the eye.

Initially, the figure was going to be just dull yellow-tan and burgundy, but it started to look very Ronald McDonald, so I added the black elements. I made the inner collar green instead of yellow for two reasons: to further downplay any Ronald McDonald similarities and to make the character look ever so slightly more "Joe" than MASK. The green is fairly close to the Condor, Brad Turner's helicopter-motorcycle from the old MASK line.

Mask or no mask? Mask or no mask!? I decided not to give the figure a mask because I see it now as a Joe character, not a MASK one. Adding the mask forces the figure towards being a MASK character, which is exactly what I'm trying to step away from.

Sculpting & Modifying:

I dremelled out the head so the post could sit better.

Thanks for looking.

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