G.I. J.O.E. - Codename SCOPE

G.I. J.O.E. - the Baroness

Star Wars - Hoth Rebel Trooper

Star Wars - Bat Earp, the Gunslinger

I've always liked the costume Harrison Ford wore in Ep V which is now mostly associated with the Bespin adventure. It looks cool, yet somewhat generic. Ebay has finally granted me a TVC Han in Bespin gear figure, but I must confess that I had wanted this figure for the simplest of all customs - the famous headswap. Throw a different head on the Han figure and voilá, you have a generic cantina patron, evil gunslinger, your personal hero for your next photonovel or fanfiction. You'll notice that I've given "Duke Solo" a DL-44 Blaster pistol from the Marauder Gun Runners range of products. The weapon does not fit into the holster, but looks great when drawn. If you want a holstered gun, just use the Blaster pistol which came with the figure. By the way: Except for the swivel waist and no ab articulation, this TVC Han is ball-jointed everywhere, just the way we like it. Love the figure, it was well worth the wait.

G.I. J.O.E. - Ridgeback

When I saw the new Star Wars TVC Obi-Wan headsculpt, I knew it was perfect for a self-custom. Now that I've grown a beard and my hair longer, the look is just about right. The basic figure is a Resolution Beachhead. I added a 30th holster and thigh mag platform and slapped a 30th knife sheath onto the DTC Barrel Roll tac vest. Actually, that's the tactical equipment I use. I set up a Marauder Gun Runners M4 the way my own M4 looks and voilá, another no-paint custom figure.

Star Wars - Galen Marek, Starkiller

This is my entry in the recent No-paint Kitbash Contest at Imperial Shipyards. Since Starkiller figures are hard to come by in Germany (read: next to impossible) and if you manage to find one, it's prohibitively expensive, I decided to kitbash a Galen Marek figure. I didn't want just some figure, but I wanted my Starkiller to come with a bunch of accessories. He's probably not game accurate, but he's in an outfit conceiveable for the character. The base figure is an Anakin figure. The lower arms and gloves came from an Imperial Storm Commando. I found that the heads on those Starkiller figures I have in my collection don't look much like Sam Witwer, so I chose a GI JOE ROC Duke head which I think looks more like Starkiller. The blue lightsabers came from my parts box. The cape came with the Anakin figure (I think), the hood is from a TVC Darth Sidious. The softgoods cloak is from the TVC Darth Maul. I added an "action harness" which came off a ROC Red Ninja and to which I added a kama or inner robetype garment made of a piece of nylon webbing. The photos show that you can dress Starkiller in different ways so he has a lot of play value.

Review: Star Wars TVC 113 Expanded Universe - Republic Trooper (The Old Republic)

Look what the mailman brought today... Being packed only one per case, the Old Republic Trooper is well sought after and commands hefty prices on Ebay. This one I bought from a fellow collector on Hisstank.com at a halfways decent price. The then nameless Trooper was first seen in the trailer "Hope" of the The Old Republic video game when he lead a Squad of troopers into battle against Darth Malgus' Sith army on Alderaan. Needless to say, he became an instant favorite with Star Wars fans. He has now been named Jace Malcom and provided with a background story. Everybody was excited when the figure was announced and well, here he is: The figure is nicely detailed with crisp paint applications, no doubt about it. It will look very cool on the shelf and many people will probably mistake him for a Clone Trooper or a Stormtrooper. Except for the hips and the wrists he is all ball-jointed, no articulation in the waist, though. Personally, I would have preferred him to come with ball-jointed hips, too, so he could be brought into the stance we see him firing his huge Blaster cannon. One thing is very nice: his shoulders have an amazing range of movement, something which most figures with sculpted-on shoulder armor do not have. His elbow range of movement sadly is somewhat limited. You won't be able to bring him to shoulder a rifle without modifying his arms. Compared to other Star Wars figures, his range of accessories is impressive: removeable helmet, removeable crossbelt with shoulder armor attached, a knife sheath with removeable knife and a removeable ammo pouch. The pistol we see him use in the game trailer fits nicely into the holster on his left hip and the gunbelt can be removed when you pop off his torso. There is a little hole on his crossbelt and on the right side of his gunbelt into which you can stick the knife sheath and the ammo pouch. On the stock figure, I would put the knife on his belt and the pouch on the crossbelt since the knife sheath is a little bulky. I'm sure, though, that those collectors with some GI JOE parts in their fodder box will be able to find a slimmer knife sheath which will work better on his crossbelt to attain the look the Trooper has in the game trailer. I'm not too sure about the dimensions and shape of the Blaster cannon, don't think it is game accurate. It is made of too soft a plastic as far as I am concerned and I think I will shorten it or replace it with another bulky weapon altogether. Altogether he's too much of a nice figure to pass on him, so despite the little flaws here and there, I won't hesitate to recommend him.