Thursday 3 August 2017

(Lead) Mountain Musings - "G.I. Joe" August 2017

"G.I. Joe" WIPs - Snake Eyes and Sergeant Slaughter
This month's themed attempt to try and reduce my ever-increasing horde of metal, plastic and resin models has been severely influenced by the infectious enthusiasm of PulpCitizen ("Eclectic Gentleman Tabletop Gamer") and Simon Quinton ("Brummies Wargaming Blog") for a "line of action figures produced and owned by the toy company Hasbro" called "G.I. Joe". Indeed, the dynamic duo's regular blog posts featuring different members of the G.I. Joe Team, as well as the evil Cobra Command, have proved so persuasive, that I have actively sought out and acquired some surplus miniatures from a private collector in order to let me join in their "ongoing struggle" to keep the Free World safe from the terrorist plots of the Cobra organisation.

Resultantly, I aim to paint up a handful of 28mm scale metal miniatures which are based upon the franchise's characters when they were originally sold as carded 3 3/4 inch action figures back in the early Eighties. This was a time of great change for the "American icon among toys", as it had evolved into "an elite military unit" rather than just a representation of the four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces; so kindly expect some outrageous colour schemes and probably the last thing you'd want to wear if you were genuinely "dedicated to defending freedom against the evil Cobra..." 
Timber WIPs - The wolf has been undercoated, washed, drybrushed and now layered with grey
To start this mini-project off I have decided to paint "one of the original and most popular members of the G.I. Joe Team", Snake Eyes, and the "G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero" character, Sergeant Slaughter. I've actually managed to make some good progress on "the team's original commando" due to my 'mirroring' of the action figure's 1985 black-grey palette, and additionally, finished the olive-coloured boots on G.I. Joe's formidable drill instructor.

Finally, inspired by a suggestion from Brummie, I've begun work on one of the wolves "Leading Edge Games" sold in order to "support the Bram Stoker's Dracula board game (1992) and roleplaying game (1993)". This particular sculpt is from their Creatures of the Night set, and will hopefully make a perfect proxy for Snake Eyes' wolf Timber. 
Zygon WIPs - The "Doctor Who" monsters have been primed, shaded, dry-brushed and detailed
With so much attention currently placed upon "G.I. Joe" it would be all too easy to believe that my collection of "Doctor Who" miniatures by "Warlord Games" have been left simply gathering dust on my painting table. But instead all I have done is temporarily just re-focus my "Into The Time Vortex" mojo upon some reasonably straightforward painting subjects.

I have wanted to increase the number of Zygons I can field in a game of "Doctor Who: Exterminate!" since the shape-changing extra-terrestrials were beaten by a Dalek invasion force during my recent "Cube Of Death" battle report, and this momentary desire to tackle a less-taxing series of aliens is just the opportunity I need. In fact, two of the "metamorphic humanoids" are already close to completion, with another four miniatures, generously gifted to me, waiting in the wings...

16 comments:

  1. Really looking forwards to your G.I. Joe project unfolding. I'll be watching with keen interest. :)

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    1. Thanks Leon, and for getting me into "G.I. Joe" in the first place :-)

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  2. Nice start on the Joe's Simon, Snake Eyes was a cool character and Sgt Slaughter was modelled after the wrestler with the same name. Nice start on the wolf, and great your keeping up with your Who stuff at the same time

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    1. Cheers Dave. Sgt Slaughter was one of my fave WWF wrestlers, so as soon as I saw the mini I was mad keen on getting hold of one. There's just too much "Doctor Who" out there and coming soon, for me to take the foot off the painting gas with them yet ;-)

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  3. I admit to knowing next to nothing about GI Joe, although I did see the film, "GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra", which was passable. I've seen better and I've seen worse. No doubt I'll learn a lot more about this franchise from your blog postings.
    I understand the need for reinforcements for your Zygons.

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    1. Thanks Bryan. I too know little about the "G.I. Joe" franchise, but that's something I plan on changing this month. I love the Zygons, so the more the merrier :-)

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  4. I have to admit that GI Joe was a something that passed me by, and never really grabbed my interest (or pocket money), I too saw the films and quite enjoyed them, though I would have preferred if they had kept the same cast in both of them rather than shoehorning "the Rock" into the second.

    Looks like it will be a fun little project though, good luck with these.

    Love your Zygons, really creepy looking, but though I know it's how they do them now, I'm not keen on the black hands and feet.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Cheers Roger. TBH the only place I've seen the Zygon black hands & feet is on the official "Warlord Games" paintjobs, so I'm not sure where they've come from - I do like them though. Plenty of "G.I. Joe" posts to come, so hopefully you'll enjoy them and catch up on the franchise.

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  5. As I owned a fair few G.I. Joe figures as a lad and then progressed to the Marvel comic afterwards, I do know who all these characters are and look forward to seeing your versions of them G.I. Joe...Doctor Who...combine this with Roger's MOTU and that's my childhood in a nutshell. Actually, we're missing Linda Carter as Wonder Woman. Mmmmm, Linda Carter... *sigh*

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    1. Thanks Jez. One of the real draws of "G.I. Joe" for me is that I know so little about the show, but want to. There seems to be huge following for the toys/universe too, so I'm really excited about this mini-project :-)

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  6. You're in Britain mate, the comics and cartoon I watched as a lad in the 80's was re-branded for the Brit audience as "Action Force". ;) It'll always be Action Force to me.

    Sergeant Slaughter's inclusion into the cartoons was a fun cross-over from the old WWF wrestling and strange to my young mind as in WWF Sgt Slaughter was always a Heel, not a Face!

    Everything in this post is very cool Simon. Those Zygon reinforcements especially.

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    1. Cheers Dai. I'm a huge "WWF" fan too (before it went "WWE"), and loved Sgt Slaughter as a Heel; albeit he later became a Face again towards the end of my viewing era. As a result his mini was the one I wanted the most when I first saw the model and I'm delighted to have got hold of a spare cast. More Zygons are coming too, as I work towards doubling my initial meagre Faction.

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  7. The recent rise of interestin GI Joe / Cobra related gaming does nothing for me, I rmemember the names though from my own kids plastic collections of years ago!
    The Zygon loooks great btw.

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    1. Thanks Joe. I'm rather taken by GI Joe myself, if you hadn't guessed ;-), but I'm trying not to get too distracted by it due to all the Doctor who stuff I need to paint!!

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    1. Cheers Simon. I've a long way to go though before I've the collection you and Leon seem to have acquired ;-)

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