The first day of the Customizing Class has ended, and we attended todays event, which was also the final customizing class planned at the moment as things are uncertain. By now, you are most likely aware that this is the final G.I. JoeCon, and that HasCon will be taking over things in 2019 (there will not be a HasCon in 2018).
The Customizing Class offered a Red Shadows Trooper figure, and the class offered the head, torso, jacket blousing, harness, bag, and rifle that would be necessary to paint and construct this figure. What you needed to bring was the arms and legs, which could have been anything you like. For our purposes, we used a G.I. Joe Retaliation Alley Viper, which we repainted the arms and legs red to better match the Red Shadows Trooper.
Spoiler Warning! Do not continue to read if you are attending the class tomorrow and you do not want any surprises ruined for you. This is your only warning!
All class parts that were handed out at the beginning of the class are shown above, which includes the arms of legs of the Retaliation Alley Viper that we brought. The head and torso of the Red Shadows Trooper had a different shade of red from the Retaliation Alley Viper, so both needed to be painted in order for it to match. The only dilemma, there were only a few red paint bottles to go around in the class, and there were also several shades of Red offered. One of these was called Italian Red, which at least one person had used. The Alley Viper needed to cover his camouflage, so for obvious reasons, it needed to be painted. Once painted, the figure had to assembled (the harness goes on BEFORE the entire figure is assembled, and if you are attending the class tomorrow, make sure to ask an instructor for assistance on this).
This is what John, the class instructor had done. This figure includes all new parts that he made himself. His creation is just remarkable, and you wouldn’t expect anything less from him.
This is our final result. The seal coating goes on after the figure is assembled and the the stickers are applied to his helmet and bag. As this is a modern G.I. Joe figure, he has all the articulated and detailed likeness to fit in with your collection. Some minor detail was either too hard or too tricky to get into, such as painting the eyes, and painting some of the details on the harness.
Once completed, there were two giveaways for attending the class.
This first one was given out by John, and is a cannon.
This next exclusive is something totally unexpected and Hasbro really came through for attendees of the class. These are unproduced head sculpts of modern G.I. Joe action figures that Hasbro did not, and will never release. Attendees of the class were instructed NOT to sell, replicate, or distribute these heads in anyway, shape or form as they are meant for your private toy collection and nothing more. Hasbro will be watching eBay, and when they catch a listing, hear about production or copying, etc. of these head sculpts, they might not offer anything like this ever again. So if a customizing class will ever be offered again such as at HasCon, don’t blow it for everyone else and try to make money by selling these, or reproduce these heads. This is a gift, and one that is much appreciated. The heads are not drilled to allow them to fit on the ball joint of any figure, and this is something that you will need to do yourself.
The head sculpts include:
Compound Z – Zombie
- Storm Shadow
- Cobra Commander (includes helmet)
Rise of Cobra
- AVOC
G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary
- Iron Grenadier
- Storm Shadow – Unmasked
- Sky Striker
G.I. Joe Renegades
- Duke
- Scrap Iron
These heads are nicely detailed, and it’s truly unfortunate that these were never made. If you’re an expert at this, we’d love to see your finish painted heads and figure, which may end up being shared with our readers. If you’re more like us, these will stay as they are, and in our private collection.