The PopCult Toybox
It’s been a while since your humble blogger took some time to pretend that he was working when he was really just playing with action figures.
With the Kentuckiana GI Joe Toy Expo WinterFest coming up next week (and I’ll tell you much more about that on Sunday), I thought it might be fun to grab a figure I’ve wanted to do something with, and combine it with some 1/6 scale stuff I just happened to have sitting around the office (since last July’s Kentuckiana, to be honest).
As my base figure, I chose something that, just a few years ago, would be considered blasphemy in GI Joe collector circles. I’m using Barbie’s male companion, Ken.
But, Ken has changed lately. Mattel created the “Barbie Looks” line a few years ago, and the dolls…uh, figures in that line have some unusual characteristics for the Barbie series. First of all, they are not smiling. They have neutral, some even hostile, expressions on their faces. I’m sure that the idea was that they are scowling like professional models do much of the time, but it’s a welcome change from the “Up With People” Stepford expressions that most Barbie and Ken dolls have.
The second major change is that these figures tend to be super-articulated, with double-ganged joints in the knees and elbows. The newer muscular Ken dolls in the series even have torso articulation and gripping hands.
You read that correctly. They have gripping hands. That and the fact that they have lifelike hair makes them prime candidates for membership in The Adventure Team!
Before I get into the actual kitbashing, let me stress that this is “quick and sloppy.” I did not put a lot of thought into this. Basically, I wanted to try out the very excellent camera in my new phone, and I wanted to do a fun photo essay for today’s post because I just finished a magazine article yesterday and wanted to do something a little less stressful today.
So let’s start out by showing you the key ingredients…
The Fodder

The dolls in this line work great as serious action figures. The females may need new hands, but the muscular males are fine as-is.

Here’s a better view of “Ken.”

He looks serious enough to join the Adventue Team. He could use a little flocking on the beard, though.

Dude’s got super-articulation.

Also at the elbow.

The most amazing part, for a Ken, is the gripping hand. A quick slice with an X-acto knife gives him a separate trigger finger.

And the guy also has torso articulation, which can come in handy for some poses.

The base of our outfit is a SCUBA suit that we got from Cotswold Collectibles last July. My idea was to make it look like a space suit, but I think it’ll eventually be used for a SCUBA guy, on a figure with painted hair. I didn’t use the headpiece here.

Our accessories came from this very generous bag of cool stuff made by White Elephant Toyz, who will be at WinterFest next week.

I think this belt also came from White Elephant toyz, but I’m not sure and will post a correction if I found it it came from elsewhere (Maybe Mattsquatch customs?)
The Initial Bash

Okay, ,so this is our guy after I slapped the outfit and some accessories on him, and I have to say, the suit is not really tailored to fit his body. This belongs on a Muscle Body GI Joe, and will eventually wind up on one. The accessories are pretty cool, but would work better on an astronaut or sci-fi guy. Still, not too shabby for ten minutes of work (five of which was spent getting Ken out of his box).
Going In For Closeups

Two points here: 1) He can hold a rifle 2) His hair gets a little frizzy

Not a bad sci-fi action pose. Probably would’ve worked better with any other color of SCUBA suit, or a space-type suit.

We’ll leave you with a “glamour” shot. All in all, not a bad proof of concept, but the figure will eventually be put in a different suit and will join The Adventure Team.
Check PopCult on Sunday for videos about The Kentuckiana GI Joe Toy Expo and WinterFest, and remember…it’s fun to play with toys.
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