Parts:
Head, Arms, Upper Legs, Chest Harness front, Gun-25th Anniversary Airborne
Torso-25th Beachead with sculpted ribbed collar.
Lower Legs-25th Anniversary Dusty
Gloves-Marauder Gun Runners gloved hands.
Vest-Rise of Cobra Breaker with sculpted on neck protector, sculpted on top and back harness.
Helmet-Vintage Weapon Pack Airborne helmet
Backpack-One of the many 25th Anniversary Duke backpacks
American Flag-Marauder Gun Runners sticker


Airborne
Time is kind to some figures and not so much to others. The 25th Anniversary Airborne was great when it first came out but as time marched on I became more and more unsatisfied with the proportions, the parts, the vest and how so many elements of what I loved about the Vintage figure were missing here. I remember seeing the tan contrasted with the light blue tactical vest and thinking as a kid "I NEED THIS FIGURE". I had made a Joe vs Cobra version back in the mid 2000s and it bugged me that I felt that O-ring style figure was better than a modern one. The biggest challenge was in figuring out what I wanted to do with the vest. Sculpt it with the articulation point showing or could I find a tight enough fit to function as a pull over for a smoother look. I thought back to how much I liked the look of the vest from Rise of Cobra Breaker and quickly scoured ebay for an affordable version. After that I looked I broke down what parts of the 25th Airborne I liked and those that I didn't. I realized that I mostly needed to just change out the torso piece and once that was done many of the proportion issues I had ended up working out. I grabbed a 25th Anniversary Beachhead torso and tried out the parts. Perfect. I did need to sculpt his collar as I wanted a high ribbed collar like the vintage figure. I also then cut down the front of the web harness from the 25th Airborne figure and after thinning down it's thickness glued it to the new Breaker vest. Lastly I sculpted out his blue collar neck piece and finished it off by sculpting the rest of the harness pieces, marrying them up to the pre-existing 25th harness piece. I then realized how much I disliked the harness that the 25th anniversary Airborne came with. In looking at the vintage figure it made sense to me to just sculpt it and not worry about it be removable or not. I had this figure with the 25th anniversary helmet as well all the way up to a few days ago when I found an old extra weapon pack Airborne helmet. I test fitted it, sanded down the seem and painted it up. Finally I decided that I wanted boots closer to those of the vintage figure as well and found a pair of 25th anniversary Dusty boots. Threw in a set of Marauder gloved hands and a backpack that resembled the vintage, American Flag, and Stripes and there we go. Very happy with this guy now.

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