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Kick Ass Customs – 12″ G.I. Joe: Resolute (and others)

I’m a little ashamed to admit that I’ve been a monstrous fan of G.I. Joe in pretty much any characterization or scale out there…  except for the one that started it all.  For whatever reason, I just find it hard to get into the whole 12″ figure scene, but that’s not because I don’t like it or have a certain appreciation for it.  Usually it comes down to price or what you get for your buck, and it’s very rare that the 12″ scene gives me a good “go between” there.  The figures are either simplistic, non-detailed, and dull, or they are overly exagerrated, insanely detailed, yet priced way out of my affordable range.  There doesn’t seem to be anything in between.  Some of the Spy Troops and Valor Vs. Venom stuff gave us the best of both worlds, in my opinion…a reasonable price range, yet still enough bang for the buck, but recent releases have just been dull and uninspired, especially for the recently elevated price tags, even on basic retail shelves.

The Sideshow Collectibles stuff is out of this world, of course.  It’s simply fantastic.  However, the $100 – $120 price tag per figure doesn’t fit my somewhat limited Joe budget.  So, it always amazes me when I run across 12″ enthusiasts who actually accumulate enough fodder to do some crazy customs.  And I’ll tell you, the customs don’t get much crazier than a member of the One Sixth Warrior forum, gaiagear.  I’ve seen my fair share of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero themed 12″ customs, but gaiagear tackles something near and dear to my heart, G.I. Joe: Resolute.  There aren’t really enough words I can type in this post that express just how insane these customs are.  They are truly works of art and things of beauty.  In fact, pretty much every custom that gaiagear has done affiliated with the G.I. Joe universe really blows me away…but it’s really just the tip of the iceberg.  Check out a small sampling of gaiagear’s incredible work below, all found on the One Sixth Warrior Forums.  The gallery below features incredible versions of the following characters:

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Crazy stuff.  But the craziest thing is this is just the beginning.  There are a wealth of insanely talented 12″ customizers on the One Sixth Warrior forums, and there is some equally insane Real American Hero styled customs over there.  Check out this thread for some of them.  While I don’t have the budget or the real incentive to dive headlong into the 12″ scale, I can certainly appreciate the work that goes into these customs.  Some awesome stuff here, I think fans of any scale will really dig ’em.

Kick Ass Customs of the week – Slaughters_Renegade

Well, I haven’t done one of these in a while, and haven’t really felt a burning desire to, even though I’ve seen a lot of pretty damn cool and creative stuff out there lately.  However, when I stumbled upon Slaughters_Renegade on the Terror Drome…well, I just had to make mention of it!

His work ranges from simple tweaks to existing figures, to entirely new part sculpting and flawless paint apps, he has filled in a TON of holes in the 25th Anniversary roster.  I’m sure everyone knows by now that I’m not all about reliving the past, but his work is so good, I just had to mention it.  These images were all pulled from posts on The Terror Drome, and mirrored here.  Some fantastic work.

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Kick Ass Custom – Painting details on The Pit!

The self-proclaimed OCD Joefan, “Werecat” of JoeSightings and JoeBattleLines went the extra mile with his Pit Playset, and spent a whopping 14 hours doing detail work with a very small paint brush and a whole lot more patience than I have!  Check out his post on JoeBattleLines here, or check out the gallery below.  Very impressive.

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GeneralsJoes latest Kick Ass Custom – Peanut Butter and Chocolate!

Two great tastes that taste great together…  Resolute and Sigma 6!  The perfect marraige.

All credit goes to Jsalwen from JoeBattleLines, who stepped up and took to the sewing machine to blend the Sigma 6 universe and the Resolute universe in a way I’ve only dreamed of…and produced this amazing Sigma 6 Resolute Destro!  Check out the thread here, and drool over the hand-sewn greatness below.

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Kickass Customs of the Week – MASK vs. VENOM!

I know it’s been a while since I did one of these, but I just couldn’t resist.  The inclusion of Matt Trakker into the 25th Anniversary line created quite a ripple in the fandom with arguments about a non-Joe character taking up a “slot” for what could have been a better choice, or wondering why MASK was getting any G.I. Joe love at all.  Myself?  I thought it was a very cool idea.  Well, HissTank member BHiga6181 takes it one step further and whipped up a full blown M.A.S.K. and V.E.N.O.M. team with masks and all.  Both BHiga and myself have to give huge props as well to Tri-Gate Creations for their awesome work on the masks that were used for this project as well.

Check out these two threads on HissTank for all the names and details, and you can hit up the images mirrored below.  Nice work on this one!

Kick ass custom of the week – Custom packaging by BennyBroca

Wow.  Some amazing stuff here.  You don’t always have to work with plastic to get the “kick ass custom” moniker here.  😉

BennyBroca over on HissTank has posted some very impressive customized box art and package art and really manages to capture the vintage style.  My personal favorite is the customized box for the MASS Device, which has two images I’ve mirrored below.  Definitely check out the thread to see the other pics, though, they’re all awesome.

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