New Tripwire
Next up from 1983, a new version of mine detector Tripwire. He looks a little bit more hi-tech here, complete with a heads-up display in his face shield.
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Archive for the ‘G.I. Joe’ Category
Desert Gung-Ho
Also from the 1983 G.I. Joe vintage is Gung-Ho. This time it’s GH in a desert-themed outfit.
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New Cover Girl
Continuing with Joes that debuted in 1983, here’s a new version of Cover Girl armed with a rocket launcher and a wrench — both useful when your tank breaks down. Her original filecard refers to her as a mechanic, too.
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Ace and Cold Weather Wild Bill
Continuing on with making some new versions of the 1983 Joes, here is a new Ace, and Wild Bill ready for cold weather.
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The complete new original 13
A while back I posted new designs for the first 13 members of G.I. Joe. Just for fun, here’s a group shot.
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Raven (G.I. Joe)
Several times here I’ve gone back to the old Sunbow cartoon for inspiration. This time we go back to the second season episode “In the Presence of Mine Enemies”, in which Slip-Stream is stranded on a dangerous island with a female Strato-Viper, code named Raven. The two join forces to survive and in the end Raven rips the Cobra insignia off her uniform. Slip-Stream even suggests she may be a recruit. So here she is, Raven as a G.I. Joe in a more vintage-style uniform.
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Arctic Major Bludd and Ace (?) from “The Spy Eye”
A two-for-one post today. First up we have Major Bludd in Arctic gear which needs no explanation. Then we have a character design from the front cover of the 1983 childrens’ book, The Spy Eye. I am guessing it is supposed to be Ace since he is the only other Joe character in the book besides Hawk, Steeler and Flash. It’s just as possible it’s not him since the outfit doesn’t match the interior art which has Ace in a non-specific uniform that better fits with the 1982 Joes. Click here to see the whole book on 3DJoes.com.
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Find Your Fate Joe
Back in the ’80s, nearly every licensed children’s characters had their own line of books that gave readers different options to choose, sending you to a different page number to continue the adventure or end it abruptly. Choose Your Own Adventure was the most popular line, but G.I. Joe had 20 Find Your Fate books. Each one included a young member of the team that represented the reader. The character’s look in the illustrations was essentially the same for every book; a generic young soldier in fatigues.
So, here they are:
Bombshell, Brainstorm, Break-In, Cat, Commando, Compass, Delta, Dog Ear, Genius, Headset, Hotshot, Lightning, Outlaw, Presto, Spider, Sting, Wheels, Wiseguy (he appeared twice), and Zapper.
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G.I. Joe Recruit
Today we get really obscure with this character design. Inspired by the 3DJoes.com page, it’s a G.I. Joe recruit as seen in Hasbro’s offer, Mission “Stars ‘n Stripes”, which you can see here at the 3DJoes site (Scroll down a bit).
UPDATE: These recruits actually made a second appearance in a 1987 offer you can see on this page.
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New Recondo
Continuing with these single posts for now, here’s a new variation on jungle trooper Recondo.
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New Doc
Today we have an updated version of Doc, one of Torpedo’s fellow 1983 characters. This Doc is just a slight update, but after finishing it I think it kind of looks like a younger Doc then we remember, maybe a little more of an action oriented medic…
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Land based Torpedo
This isn’t the project that is coming in the future, but here’s a little something until then. A land-based, commando style Torpedo.
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Sunbow Snake-Eyes
It’s been a while since an update, but busy things in the real world take precedence. Plus, the Scarlett timeline was very popular and another is now in the works. Consider this a preview of that. It’s the original Sunbow cartoon version of Snake-Eyes, likely the first version many fans ever saw. It’s easy to assume he was made so colorful to avoid a bland all-black character on a kids’ cartoon. It has a certain charm, including Snake’s bare hands.
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Sigma 6 Scarlett concept
While Scarlett‘s Sigma 6 design was seen on the design timeline, today we have a concept a figure for one of the small secondary Sigma 6 “2.5 inch Mission Series.” The design can be seen on this GeneralsJoes.com page from 2009.
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Unproduced Bombstrike and Hollow Point
A while back the site posted a number of designs based on concept art revealed by Sam Wells on this page at Nerdrahtio.com. Here are a couple more from there. First is “Cadet Bombshell,” an early name for Bombstrike, and a slightly different version of Hollow Point from the Built to Rule toy sets.
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Scarlett design timeline
A while back, I posted a Grunt character timeline. This time around, we’re going way too far with a Scarlett timeline with 34 different variations! This was being worked on ever since the Grunt timeline.
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Arctic Alpine
Today we’ve got a new version of Alpine, this time ready for a snowier mountain than usual.
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New Snake-Eyes
This site isn’t usually updated daily, but when a new design is ready, it’s put up. Now we have the last of the New Original 13 series. This time it’s the late (depending on what you’re watching or reading), great Snake-Eyes! The intent here was to make something different and not copy all the very similar Snake-Eyes designs.
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To see all the other original 13 designs you can click the tag below for the whole category. And thanks to all the people who liked the Facebook page!
New Stalker and Hawk
Almost near the end of the original 13 Joes! Today it’s Stalker and Hawk. And after that, the next post will feature one last unimportant, unpopular character… 🙂
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New Grand Slam and Rock & Roll
More of the new original 13 Joes! This time we have Grand Slam (who is all jet pack trooper and not a Flash clone) and Rock & Roll. And like this site’s Facebook page to get all the updates.
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New Clutch and Flash
Next up for the new original 13 redesigns are Clutch and Flash. (Don’t forget to leave a comment, if you have something to say.)
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New Grunt and Breaker
New designs for the original 13 Joes continue! Today we have Grunt and Breaker.
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New Scarlett and Steeler
Here are two more new designs for the original thirteen Joes. This time it’s Scarlett and Steeler. Scarlett’s black beret (used by Rangers in the 1980s) is appropriate, since her filecard mentions she was in Ranger School.
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New Zap and Short-Fuze
These two concepts may be the start of more updates for the original thirteen Joes, some who have gotten new figures over the years, some who haven’t. We start with Zap and Short-Fuze.
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Honda Lou, Transport Specialist
One of those unusual characters who crossed paths with G.I. Joe in the cartoon days, Honda Lou West was inside a truck when Cobra stole one of her food-hauling convoys. Here, I’m seeing Honda Lou joining G.I. Joe’s support staff, and I guess she’s kind of like a female Wild Bill.
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Unproduced Arctic (?) figure
Sorry for the month-long break, but in the future you can look for another character design timeline, this time much longer than the one for Grunt.
This unproduced concept comes from a while back at the Facebook page for the upcoming 3 3/4 Inch Joe book. The figure has no name but looks like an Arctic figure despite being more colorful than the usual mostly-white figures are.
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Grunt design timeline
Here’s a little experiment with something new on the site. While not including original concepts, this is a character design timeline for Grunt, with eleven different looks for the character over the years. With Grunt being a smaller profile character, just imagine how many looks for a character like Duke we could end up with. Opinions on whether this is a series that people may be interested in are greatly appreciated!
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Alice, battlefield technician
One of the most obscure G.I. Joe characters out there shows up and speaks in one episode of the old cartoon series. In “Lasers in the Night,” Lady Jaye talks to Alice, the technician working on her Skystriker. It’s strange for one of the support staff to get a name and some lines, but Alice was singled out for some reason.
First, we have Alice as she originally appeared, and then I gave her a full-Joe redesign as a “Battlefield Technician.” Sort of the G.I. Joe version of the Techno-Viper. I didn’t come up with a code name for her, but feel free to make up your own! 🙂
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IDW Dial-Tone and promoted Cadet Deming
Today we have two variations on existing female characters. First we have then new Dial-tone (sometimes identified as the first Dial-tone’s sister) in a uniform like the original’s. And then it’s the memorable Siegie trainee from the cartoon’s “There’s No Place Like Springfield,” Cadet Deming, imagined as a full Crimson Guard officer.
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Unproduced Hawk plus Greenshirt upgrade
First up is an unused design from concept art post at the JoeDeclassified Facebook page a while back. The drawing is labeled “Missile Specialist” though the page says it’s General Hawk. I’m not sure it looks like Hawk, but his first figure had that specialty. It’s also uncertain what era the design is from. It’s definitely an unusual design. In addition, I’ve put up a new “upgrade” to my male Greenshirt image. All that’s new is the collar, which I wasn’t really happy with before.
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Unproduced Lifeline and Serpentor
We continue (and maybe complete) the recently revealed unproduced concepts. For now I think I’ve exhausted the designs that interested me, or ones that I thought I could recreate reasonably well here. Lifeline in an outfit that seems to flip the colors of his original, and a simpler, Caesar-like version of Serpentor.
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Unproduced Low-Light and Outback
Two more of the recently revealed G.I. Joe vs Cobra figure concepts: Low Light and Outback. I must admit these two aren’t my favorite designs, but I tried capturing them accurately:
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Unproduced Jinx
First up from the handful of recently revealed, unused character designs is Jinx. The actual Jinx released in this era was a more traditional ninja design. I think I like this unique version best out of these unused concepts.
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Replicator Hawk and Gung-Ho
Continuing with more Replicators, we have Hawk and Gung-Ho. Like the Duke concept earlier, these are based on a few blurry photos of concept art and prototype figures. The colors here are an attempt to match the color artwork, in which the characters are obscured by the aliens. Gung-Ho’s helmet is included while Hawk’s is not, because they’re hard to recreate.
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Replicator Duke and IDW’s Copperback
It’s been awhile, so time for a double update. First up is a unusual concept that would’ve extended Star Brigade, the Replicator version of Duke. Apparently, Replicators were to be duplicates of Joes controlled by aliens. They would’ve had a weird alien-bursting-out feature, but this is simply human Duke in the uniform seen in the artwork. (See various Replicators at YoJoe.com)
The second figure is an original character from IDW’s G.I. Joe, Copperback. She was a scientist working for Destro until he killed her father, and she joined Cobra. Later on the Joes freed her to help find Destro. This is an original costume design since she really didn’t have one in the comic.
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G.I. Joe Ramar and Brittany Van Mark
Finally, another update! This time, we continue the theme of Sunbow cartoon supporting characters as Joes. First, Ramar, the giant Cobra slave Duke had to fight in the first mini-series, then we have Lifeline’s girlfriend Brittany Van Mark, who is revealed to be a helicopter pilot in the cartoon. Her uniform is based on the “fashionable” uniform she buys for Lifeline in that episode.
Greenshirts!
These aren’t technically new concepts, of course, but they were fun to recreate. Here are the uniform designs for the generic G.I. Joe troopers from the Sunbow cartoon. The men were all over the place, but the woman here is based on one of the characters seen in “Spell of the Siren”, which may have been the only time they appeared. Which is too bad, because their designs are actually much closer to the original thirteen’s standard outfits. If the female “greenshirts” appeared in any other episodes, correct me in the comments.
Combat Col. Sharp & Dr. Biggles-Jones
Following up on the cartoon redesigns, here is Colonel Sharp in combat gear. This could be Sharp’s makeshift uniform when he is forced back into the field during some emergency. Then we have the weirdly-named Dr. Biggles-Jones from the Scarlett undercover / Transformers: Generation 2 storyline. I see her as an experimental weapons expert if she had joined the Joes. Devil’s Due strangely killed her off-panel. Keep an eye out for more similar redesigns of obscure characters. Please add a comment if you have some thing nice or even not nice to say.
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Cartoon Joes – Teiko and Amber
Today’s update is based on some obscure characters from the Sunbow cartoon series who were never Joes, but maybe could’ve been. First is Teiko Sasaki (her full name revealed in G.I. Joe vs. Cobra: The Essential Guide), who appeared in the episode “Cobra Quake” as a martial arts trainee working with Quick Kick and Bazooka in Japan. She wasn’t necessarily a real Joe, but she was listed in the World War III team roster. Next up is another connection to Quick Kick, his girlfriend Amber from “Lasers in the Night.” She caused trouble by (ridiculously easily) sneaking into G.I. Joe headquarters because she wanted to join the team, and this is the outfit she used with added gear. I figure she could be an Infiltration Specialist or something. Click the thumbnails for larger images.
Super Joes!
It’s been a while, and this new updated is something different. What I think is a fun concept, G.I. Joe characters if they were traditional comic book superheroes and villains. I’ll probably come up with some others in the future, too. First, we have Scarlett as a “archer” hero, then Cobra Commander even more flamboyantly dressed than usual.
Please post a comment if you have something to say!
Tiger Force Ripcord
Early catalog photos for Tiger Force included character that never came to be, including Tiger Force Ripcord. Here is a close approximation of that figure. Also, since the figure was still based on the original Ripcord, I figured I may as well include classic Ripcord, too. Don’t forget to leave a comment if you have something to say!
Mega Marines Barbecue and Iceberg
This update includes a design based on the unproduced concept for a Mega Marines Barbecue, seen here (obviously a lot had to be guessed at since the image isn’t great), and an original Iceberg in warm weather gear. (Click images to enlarge.)
And if you have something to say about any posts, leave a comment!
Frostbite and Pythona
It’s been a few days, so here are two more characters. First, it’s another cold weather G.I. Joe ready for warmer climates, Frostbite. And from a more obscure corner of G.I. Joe, here’s a new version of Pythona. This design is maybe a bit more human, and it’s more like she may have appeared in a modern comic book, instead of a kids’ cartoon.
1995 Flint and “Original 13” Scarlett
A two-for-one post today. First up is the unproduced Battle Rangers Flint that would’ve appeared in 1995, and then like with an earlier Snake-Eyes post, it’s Scarlett if her original uniform matched better with her male teammates.
UPDATE: Click here to see the Yojoe.com page about that Flint figure.
Bazooka times three
That Bazooka’s football jersey is an obvious New England Patriots jersey makes perfect sense, given they would be Rhode Island-based Hasbro’s home team. In 1985, number 14 was Steve Grogan, who played for the team in the season that led them to the 1986 Super Bowl. The Patriots got beaten badly in that game by the Chicago Bears, which include William “Fridge” Perry, who would get his own G.I. Joe figure soon after! Here are, in order, Bazooka’s action figure design, a version including the Patriots’ CORRECT 1985 jersey design, and then one including their current uniform.
Warm weather Snow Job
One of the sometimes silly aspects of G.I. Joe fiction happens when a environment-specific Joe appears outside that environment, but still wears the same uniform. The worst example may be Torpedo running around the city in a wet suit, complete with diving flippers. Snow Job gets that same treatment now and then, so here he is outside of the Arctic, dressed more appropriately. There may be more of this theme coming soon. Click the image for full size.
Snake-Eyes in green
Here’s a look at how Snake-Eyes may have dressed if he hadn’t been injured and ended up more like the rest of the original members of G.I. Joe. Click the image for the full size view.
1995 Ace (?) and Footloose
Here are two more designs based on unproduced figures, one definitely part of the proposed Battle Rangers series, the other comes from wrapping paper of all places. The first unnamed character looks like a version of Ace, the other is Battle Rangers Footloose. See them here and here at YoJoe.com. These more recent creations are much bigger than the Baroness image, so click to enlarge.
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