Customs – Night Fox

A while back I got a screamin’ deal on a Ninja Combat Cruiser for $15.  I HATE the name and only call it that to be ironic.  It’s a truck and it’s cool and right now it’s the ride for my Slaughter’s Marauders (that I got on another screamin’ deal).

And for being all about ninjas and the Arashikage clan tattoos and all that other silly shit from G.I. Joe: Retaliation, it came with an all-black mistake called, “Night Fox”.

THIS.  I mean, holy shit.

THIS. I mean, holy shit.

I don’t… I don’t even… He had a good vest (though it wouldn’t even let him fit in the fucking truck) and a passable head.

So just to be a cheeky bitch, and not because I have any great love of Night Fox, I decided to make a custom for him using leftover stuff I’ve had for ages and the original head.

Night Fox

Night Fox

Lookin' fo' a drive by foo'

Lookin’ fo’ a drive by foo’

Recipe:

Night Fox from back

Whu? Where’d he go?

Biggest Nail – I quite like how the drybrushing “desert camo” came out and I put a slight sheen across his goggles too.  Plus a touch-up on the grenades on his vest.  I’m totally happy with that stuff.

Night Fox - Front View

Night Fox from front

Biggest Fail – Some of his joints are pretty loose and one of his knees even scraped back to the basecoat when I was posing him.  As hard as it may sound, it really isn’t that easy to make a figure entirely black and have it stay.

Night Fox posed

Fully posable bitches!

As with all my customs these days, he’s fully playable and poseable too.  Because otherwise they’re not action figures, they’re statues, and I’ve never had much fun playing with statues.  Sure, I like lookin’ at ’em, but you can’t play with ’em.

Night Fox in Dune Buggy

Wait, there’s no “10” OR “2” dammit.

One of my first vehicle customs, this desert dune buggy was more of an accessorising kit-out instead of a proper custom, but my ASD 4-yo pulled it off the shelf and had a lot of fun with it.  The end result is actually kind of good in that now I have a good excuse to clean it up and redo it.

This time though, no sloppy enamels or mis-placed accessories.  I’m going to do it right with a good amount of gear and a proper BFG on the top.

Customs – Wet-Suit

When a fellow Tanker did a trade with me for some random customs parts it was all good, but when his amazingly big-hearted self offered to buy me Joes from the US (that we can NOT get here in Oz) and ship them to me and only charge me what he paid I was floored.

I offered to get him anything I could from here (which isn’t a lot unless you like Australiana touristy crap, and some do) he declined, simply saying that he was doing what he’d hope somebody else would do for him if he couldn’t get Joes.

Well I still tried to get my wife to make his wife nail polish or something (she’s amazingly good at her customs too doncha know) he still declined.  But… I got him to tell me his favourite Joes and that’s when I got inspired to make him this custom.

Dod Ear, I hope you like it, because I had a great time making him.

Wet-Suit front

I always did kind of like that yellow.

Wet-Suit Front

More like diarrhea camo than nuclear urine.

Wet-Suit and gear

I took all my stuff off except the stuff that wouldn’t come off. I’m not Superman here.

Wet-Suit with weapons

Part James Bond, part silly yellow ninja.

Wet-Suit helmetless

The wry smile kind of ruins the Tough Guy Schtick, but I try to make it work.

Wet-Suit left front

I can zap you underwater too.

Wet-Suit geared up

With this helmet on, I’M the fishbowl!

Wet-Suit close up

It’s like looking out the door of my apartment…

Wet-Suit close up lhs

This backpack isn’t that heavy… IN THE WATER.

Wet-Suit Back Left

Zap, Zap!

Customs – Ninja Force Tiger Claw

Ninja Force Tiger Claw - front

I may not like being short, but somebody had to do it.

Ninja Force Tiger Claw - front

I got a big sword too, except I’m cooler because I talk.

Ninja Force Tiger Claw - front

Still pretty dang tough.

Ninja Force Tiger Claw - old and new

Yeah, the tiger claw is on the wrong side, so what? My sword is friggin’ HUGE.

Recipe:

Biggest Fail: By quirk of fate, the parts I used for his arms were all on the long side while his legs were all on the short side.  He looks like a weirdly-orangutastic thing.

Biggest Nail: I’m really, really happy with how the paint apps came out.  I think this might have been the first figure where I was totally happy with the paintjob.

Customs – Ninja Force Kamakura

Ninja Force Kamakura - front

Before I went blue and cool, I was green. Super green.

Ninja Force Kamakura - front

Uzi AND a big sword. Thanks Snake.

Ninja Force Kamakura - back

It’s not the green, it’s the puke yellow.

Ninja Force Kamakura - old and new

WHOA, bet you’re glad they pulled you out of that diarrheatic elephant’s butt.

Recipe:

Biggest Fail: The hood got a bit melty and ended up looking like a decroded piece of crap.

Biggest Nail: I actually love his arms and legs being from ROC Flash.  I know it’s probably not everybody’s same notion, but I frickin’ love it.

Customs – Ninja Force Zartan

As with the rest of the Ninja Force customs I had planned, I put together the parts for this one two years ago and have only just reinvigorated myself with my customs.

Sure, a bit ambitious to take on the project of the entire crappyass, dayglo 90’s G.I. Joe Ninja Force all at once.  I see that now.  But them limits, they is there to be pushed.

I knew that I would put off Zartan and his zany colours and wacky mohawk though, because I was anxious about trying to sculpt that damn mohawk!  I looked around for custom cast heads too, but I don’t remember finding anything that would work.  I even bought some proper Green Stuff (shit is spendy!) for sculpting, but Chief Craft Supervisor Wife got ahold of it and I haven’t seen it since.

Then one day I was looking at the Banzai that I did (will link later) and I remembered that his hair was originally off of one of the ROC ladies that I have heaps of.

Sure enough, I got to looking at ROC Baroness’s hair, particularly along the bottom, and I had an idea.  I cut off the bottom section of her hair, sculpted and curved it and heatgunned it and sho’ nuff, it was an awesome-looking mohawk.

Because really, go big or go home.  If I’m making crazy biker ninja assassin in flouros and leather, what’s the point of a nice, conservative mohawk?

Ninja Force Zartan shooting bow

Kwapang! Gotcha squirrel!

 

It was Head Art Executive Wife’s suggestion to bag the green pants and do orange and green stripes down some “snazzy” pants.  The orange and green are strips of electrical tape and the pants are just black with a silver wash.  Thanks Wifeage!

Ninja Force Zartan w/knives

Knifey Spooney mate… um, no.

 

I originally had those funky Retaliation Storm Shadow lower legs on him too, but there was something about them that didn’t work and I ended up with ROC Nitro Viper’s boots instead.

And while I understand the irony in pointing out something subtle, because it’s too subtle, the boots are black with a purple wash.  Because you can’t go wrong when tying together flouro orange, green and purple.  Wait, what?

Ninja Force Zartan old and new

Dude, you’ll never get the ladies with those pants…

 

Old school!  Shit, just noticed I’m missing heaps of stuff for that O-ring.

Well, I stayed simple on accessories deliberately because I felt that the NF stuff came with too much and I like the idea of Zarty carrying his bow and little else.

Ninja Force Zartan looking badass

In case the mohawk didn’t get my point across, I cut the sleeves off my leather jacket too.

 

I also noticed that the O-ring version has the armguard on the wrong arm, so I fixed that.

Recipe:

Recipe Gear:

  • Jacket – Mutt Williams (Indiana Jones).  I think this is the first time I’ve used something from a toyline that’s not G.I.Joe!  The chain is from one of my daughters’ broken necklaces that swished around the bottom of their jewellery box so long that I dug it out and threw it in my customs fodder.
  • Bow – DG Storm Shadow, modded with string and with arrows from ROC Night Creeper’s crossbow.
  • Knives – 25th Anniversary ANYBODY (Stalker and Snake Eyes, probably).
Ninja Force Zartan and bow

I’m badass. That’s the point. I’m a badass.

 

Biggest Fail: The seams of the pants are very obvious because of how the wash laid down on it.  If I could do it over, I’d find a better way to get that wash on so that the paint doesn’t gather like that.  Also, the sheathe for the knives is too tight and one of the knives already has some paint stripping off.

Biggest Nail: While I love his head and I’m pretty proud of it, I LOVE that bow.  Gives me happy vibes every time.