Pennsylvania JoeCustoms Picnic Exclusives
Auger vs. Methane (COBRA Mine-Viper v.II)

As someone who has collected the 3 3/4" Joe line since its inception in 1982, I've seen a lot of stuff out there, but nothing in this community impresses me more than when a devoted group of fans get together and start weaving their own stories and universes. It's even cooler when they can translate this into Joe "meets" and exclusive custom figures to tie into those universes. James DeSimone did it a long time ago during his conventions, and of course, it's what I love the most about the official G.I. Joe Collectors' Club these days. But in recent years some other folks have dipped into this pool with great success. The JoeCanuck folks are officially the "head of the pack" as far as custom exclusives go, but I gotta tell you, I really love what the folks in the Pennsylvania region are doing with their annual JoeCustoms Picnic.

Last year at the Convention, I had the pleasure of meeting up with Michael (better known on JoeCustoms as Blitzkrieg), who is one of the guys who heads up the JoeCustoms picnic, and he kindly supplied their latest exclusive figures from last year's gathering, and asked me to review them. These figures were first available at the JoeCustoms get together in Allentown, PA. Coming right up this year, though is the 4th Annual JoeCustoms picnic, this time around being held on May 30th in Pottsville, PA. Full details can be found on JoeCustoms here. By all accounts, there is plenty of fun to have with two customizing demonstrations planned, a G.I.Joe trivia contest with prizes, and plans to shoot Cobra PSA spoofs ("Now you know..."). They will also have new exclusives at this picnic as well. Current attendees will be coming from PA, NJ, NY, and MD (possibly CT).

The fans getting together and sharing their enjoyment of the hobby is one of the coolest things about it, and a huge draw to me in going to conventions, etc... but from an exclusives perspective, here's a look at Auger and Methane, who were the last two offerings.

AUGER

At first glance, Auger looks like a Big Ben figure with a Tunnel Rat head slapped on top, but that's actually not the case. JoeCustoms member Darkwynter (and his daughter SilverWynter) both really went above and beyond with their work on these custom figures, by modifying the base figure and making them both more than simple repaints.

Auger's head is actually a Big Ben's head dremeled down and sculpted with Green Stuff into a bandana. This makes for a really nice touch, and I'm glad they went that way rather than just using a Tunnel Rat head. The end result is that the Big Ben head ends up with a much more pronounced earpiece, a small detail that sometimes goes overlooked with that figure. More Green Stuff was used on the torso to build up a holster over the machine gun straps, which breaks up the mold nicely and separates the figure somewhat from the common and somewhat generic Big Ben look.

Darkwynter went with a nicely muted paint scheme as well, keeping things dark and in various shades of green, black and gray, which goes along with the mining theme throughout these figures. It also helps the brass gunstraps stand out against the darker green jacket. Even using such common parts as the Big Ben figure, it ends up standing apart and looking like a cool new figure.

METHANE

Continuing on with the mining theme, apparently based off an earlier army builder, the Mine-Viper (given out at a previous JoeCustoms get together), Methane is a unique character culled from the Mine-Viper corps. Like Auger, at first glimpse, Methane would appear to be a simple repaint, but it goes above that by quite a bit. Obviously the base figure is Mega Marines Mirage, who has been the recipient of many repaints throughout the years, but Darkwynter and Silverwynter went the extra mile by sculpting a unique looking mining helmet to his head, and also modifying the torso. Instead of Mirage's standard grenades, this figure has what looks to be a chest-mounted airtank with some nice additional detail at the shoulder.

Like Auger, the paint scheme is fairly straight forward, but is very nicely done. You can't go wrong with COBRA blue, and that's the bulk of what makes up Methane's color scheme, but the nice applications of red and brown (not to mention the silver grenade strap) all make him a bit more exciting than a simple slap of blue paint might have been otherwise. The black face mask also gives him a more army-builder look, which helps, too.

The overall result of the modifications gives you a figure that looks fairly unique, even when using some easily-found parts. This is something both the Collectors' Club and the Canadian JoeCon guys have gotten very proficient at, and it's nice to see another group making their way up that ladder as well.

From the subtle modifications to established figures to the scratch-built explosives and unique color schemes, this is a pair of pretty neat and unique figures. It's obvious that the folks behind the Pennsylvania JoeCustoms get togethers really put some effort into these pieces I love the underlying mining theme to the characters (it fits in well with the region) and it sounds like these get togethers are a bunch of fun to be had by all!

Once again, visit this thread on JoeCustoms for the full details. The next Picnic is happening next weekend, so make your plans now!