Head: ARAH Keel Haul cover on ARAH Pathfinder head
Torso, arms: Resolute Destro
Right hand, feet: A-Team (movie) Face
Left hand: ROTS Anakin (Mustafar?)
Legs: ROC Storm Shadow (in suit)
Belt: ROC Heavy Duty (in fatigues)
Sidearm: Resolute Alley Viper?
Sword: Resolute Cobra Commander


Design:

Another "Now a Joe" Eagle Force-to-Joe character. General Mamba was the leader of Eagle Force's rival bad guy team, RIOT. The Destro upper body projects a dictator vibe. More importantly, it isn't a Cobra Commander torso, which would somehow seem wrong as I didn't want General Mamba to use any Cobra Commander parts to look like an imitator.

Although knee-high jackboots are a staple of bad guys, almost all of the Eagle Force/Riot characters seem to wear them. For General Mamba, I instead went with the suit legs of Storm Shadow to mix up the look just a bit. Eagle Force creator Paul Kirchner explained that the character was based on African dictator Idi Amin. Google image checks for Idi Amin show him usually wearing dress trousers with dress shoes, not jackboots.

A figure with a tie would have worked to match the original design even better, the Destro ruby on the neck isn't necessarily bad as a bit of bling for General Mamba. I painted it as an emerald. Perhaps his country has emerald mines?

The eagle on Keel Haul's cover was so well sculpted that it was a shame to disguise it, but General Mamba needed a less-American looking symbol on his head. I just painted portions of the eagle to create a random shape. The gold is "loud" enough that the unpainted portions of the eagle don't get caught by the eye.

I also left the (what had been red) piping on the Destro jacket the same color as the rest of the uniform instead of painting it. This was to make the design look somewhat less like the Destro figure.

The A-Team Face hands were perfect, but I used one Anakin hand to better accommodate the sword.

Color & Paint:

The uniform is a green/brown spray mixture. The flesh tone is in keeping with the initial Idi Amin-driven design instead of the lighter tone of the action figure, which Kirchner explained was a last minute change by Mego before the figure was released. The original figure had a mustard colored holster. I replaced the mustard with black on the holster, but used the mustard on the armband.

I painted the RIOT logo by drawing it first with pen and then filling inside the lines.

Sculpting & modifying:

This is the first time I've added an ARAH figure to a 25A/ROC body, aside from a custom cast. The ARAH Pathfinder's face was just too perfect to pass on using. Topped with the cover from Keel Haul, the head certainly has a crazy dictator look to it. The head is a bit larger than the Destro one it replaced, but it doesn't detract because the Destro body was a bit oversized compared to the rest of the 25A bodies.

I removed the "HD" logo from the belt.

I have to give Megomuseum.com credit for its great interview with Paul Kirchner.

Thanks for looking.

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