Lazy Boy Customs - Part Whatever

I think that the best part of the new Modern Era (ME) GI Joe figures is the ease of making simple customs. There are some amazing GI Joe customs out on the web, with joecustoms.com probably being the best place for GI Joe customs.
But I'm lazy and my near vision is fuzzy as I'm getting older. Yeah, I know, reading glasses help. Dammit.
I used to make customs with the old o-ring Joes, but those always required paint to get a unified look to the swapped parts. The o-ring figures were always much easier as well.
But I'm lazy. Switching gear and heads is enough for me. One day, I'll get some more paints and give that a whirl again, but for now, enjoy these three simple LBC's.

Airborne reborn. The 25th version was pretty damn cool, but was far behind the changes that have been done since then. I used a Steel Brigade (V2) body and I think Resolute Beach Head's web gear. Looks great to me.

Sgt Stone or is it Lt Stone? I don't remember, I'm going with Sgt Stone. A one shot character from Rise of Cobra that really needed new life. The original wasn't bad, but an upgrade was needed. I used POC Hawk's body and Steel Brigade vest. Just drop his head on and he looks great! He survived the ROC mess and lives on in my collection!

Scrap Iron, good old Scrap Iron. His 25th version was just kind of bland. He had a Cobra trooper body that had the tendency to be quite floppy. I saw a custom on joedios.com and really liked the ease of the custom. Head and vest from the 25th onto a Cobra Shock Trooper body. A kind of blah character has taken on a new life for me. He has been a bigger part of my Cobra collection now that he has been "reborn."

I think part of the customization aspect of these GI Joe figures goes back to my love of the 12" GI Joes. Those guys were the ultimate in customizing. Bits and pieces from various figures could turn a plain figure into something brand new. Something that only you have done and I like that!

You can check out my custom 12" GI Joe figures here on this old lame website. One day, I'll rebuild it somewhere else.

Action Figure Storage

So what is your preferred method for storing your action figures?
I personally like the reusable plastic containers that usually come with sandwich meats from the grocery store. I can use specific containers for specific types or categories of figures. 

There are several different sizes as well. there's the small size that is your usual sandwich meat container. Next is the medium family sized container. Last is the jumbo family sized container.

I think that they are great. translucent sides so you can see who or what is in each container. I've got two of the small containers specifically set aside for my zombies, one for the figures and the other for the stands and extra bits that come with them.

My Cobra Troopers need three containers, one large for the figures and two small, one for stands and one for weapons.

Heck, even the plastic containers from Crystal Light are decent to use!

I had to go rescue a medium container out of the trash today. To family: What is wrong with you people? Don't you know I use these?

So what about you? How do you store your figures? Something completely different?

Leave a comment, share your storage secrets!

Marauder Inc Wave 6 Review

Let's make one thing perfectly clear right up front. I don't know a dang thing about guns. There are plenty of reviews out there that cover just exactly what types of weapons these are and the technical details behind them. Not me. I just know that Marauder Inc does some seriously kick ass work and I'm a loyal customer.
The Retaliation GI Joe Trooper gets to help out with the review.

I just like cool looking weapons and how they look with my toys. So I'm just going to post pictures and include my random thoughts.

Check the pics out right here--

Cobra's Command Staff

Cobra's Command Staff - from left to right

Xamot, Zartan, Tomax, Storm Shadow, Mjr Bludd, Voodoo, Mistress, Cobra Commander, Firefly, Destro, Baroness, Scrap Iron, Dr Mindbender, & Blackout

Retaliation Ninja 3 Packs

Now with pictures!
I've added a couple reviews of the new Ninja 3 packs.


Ninja Showdown 3-pack
Ninja Dojo 3-pack


Hits or misses?
Go grab them - because if you don't, you'll have to wait 8 MONTHS for more!

The State of GI Joe - My Thoughts.

I have been a fan of GI Joe since I was a kid. I really don't know exactly when I started playing with GI Joe, but it was probably around when I was six years old. That's all the way back to 1968, folks. Yeah, I'm that old. Not that pushing 50 is old, but I've been a Joe fan for quite a while.


Read more of my thoughts here.

From Trash to Treasure

A few days ago, I sent out an inquiring tweet about the big goofy spring-loaded missile launchers from the GI Joe: Rise of Cobra figures. These things are so over-sized and drew the wrath of GI Joe collectors everywhere. I guess they forgot about Hasbro's prior use of big spring-loaded launchers back in the waning years of the original ARAH GI Joe figures.

My intention was to just trash them. I was tired of them taking up valuable storage space. Fellow Joe collector, Greg Schueller, sent a couple links to some very interesting uses of these "things" - here and here.

 I decided to give it a try. I had actually dumped them in a trash can and had to retrieve them. Fortunately no "icky" stuff had been dumped on them, so it was a clean retrieval!

Apparently, this was a popular missile launcher for Hasbro to include with the ROC figures. I have no idea which figure or figures they belong to and I really no longer care. The key element in reusing these launchers is to have a bit of imagination. Initial steps are just to test fit them together to get an idea of how they can be combined. The little soft plastic pistol grips usually need to be removed to get a better idea of how they can be placed next to each other.

This was one of my first attempts. I had trimmed off the grips and decided to try this configuration. Sometimes the launchers don't quite fit smoothly next to each other, so a little bit of sanding is needed.

Just a few drags across a piece of sandpaper can smooth out some edges and allow for a closer fit. The sanded plastic also takes super glue much quicker and the pieces stick together rather quickly. Watch that super glue on the fingertips!

Now this is interesting. the bottom launcher came from a ROC figure and the top came with the Rock figure from one of the Ninja 3-packs from RET. Reusing ROC junk for RET junk. Oh well!

 Here is my first batch of "things" that I have created from the launchers. I really have no idea what they are supposed to be. Mainly set dressing for dioramas, I guess. I think that they look pretty cool. Power conduits, energy transfer units, whatever. Pretty neat idea and pretty simple to create.

Scrap Iron approves!

The next step will be painting. I'm thinking a base coat of cheap gray primer as an initial layer and then add detailing with other paints. That means that I need to actually go out and buy more paints!
I guess this also means that I need to create some sort of set to use them in. Probably some sort of nefarious Cobra lab involving diabolical weapons development. Who knows?
I'll keep posting further progress of my "greeble" creations. Stay tuned!