Custom Chromes from GIJoe Carlos

Presenting G.I. Joe Chrome Custom creations courtesy of GIJoe Carlos from sunny California . I have to say one of the nicest things about blogging is that you get to meet a whole new world of people and ideas.

I met - well I've never really met him - GIJoe Carlos in a Facebook group for G.I. Joe Collectors aptly named  G.I. Joe Collectors, look it up. And I have to say he is afine example of what you can experience if you socialize: you get a plethora of ideas that you may have never ever thought of; and you get to stand in awe at the effort that some people would go through to make their custom toys distinct and even more collectible.

Chroming something - electrolysis - is not an easy process. For lack of better words, I believe that these are no longer toys or collectibles, these are painstaking works of art.

And they're for sale!

More photos after the jump

Exosquad LD-029 Field Sergeant E-Frame - G.I. Joe Custom

Presenting an Exosquad LD-029 Field Sergeant E-Frame Power Armor stripped and modified for  G.I. Joe action figure use.

Exosquad is a cartoon of American origin that ran for two seasons between 1993 and 1994. Unfortunately I've never seen the series and I don't believe it was ever released here in the Philippines.

But according to their wiki, Exosquad follows the exploits of Able Squad: An E-Frame (Exoskeleton Frames or Exo-Frames) enhanced military arm of the Earth Congress that becomes Earth's spearhead against the invading Neosapien Commonwealth.

The Neosapien Commonwealth is a race of what can best bed described as genetically crafted Humanoids made by humans to assist in the colonization and terraforming of Venus and Mars. Which is interesting because until 1991, no one knew if there was any "Terra" on Venus to "Form". Anyway, the Neosapiens get pissed at the abuse of the humans and revolt. Their first revolt is crushed and things are made better for them, but they rise again this time with a vengeance and a severe Adolf Hitler complex (Think Battlestar Galactica).

G.I. Joe: Cobra Ferret (Custom)

While trawling through Greenhills a few months back, I came across this Cobra Ferret. This particular Cobra Ferret is a custom job done in military olive drab that gave it a neutrality that allows it to be used by G.I. Joe. The fun fact about this though is that this particular custom job is not original. Trawl the internet and you will find photos just like it. The original Cobra Ferret was meant as an answer to the fast G.I. Joe RAM cycles. While the Cobra Ferret could not match the RAM Cycles in speed, the Cobra Ferret could go where the awkwardly balanced RAM Cycle could not. However unlike the RAM cycle that could rely on its speed to keep its driver safe, the Ferret has neither armor or speed, reducing it to security and/or infantry support roles. 

This particular custom job, enhances its role as an infantry support vehicle and grants it a one-shot assault role - well there is power in numbers after all so imagine a cadre of one-shot assault vehicles coming down on a base's defenses. 

Iron Man Rolling Battle Headquarters (Custom)

Last year, at the height of the Iron Man 2 hype, Habro released the Iron Man Rolling Battle Headquarters. In a nutshell, it's an armed rolling one-man truck mobile base from which Iron Man can customize his armor and be launched into action. I liked it because it was reminiscent of the G.I. Joe Rapid Heli-Integrated Neutralizing Offensive Vehicle (RHINO) and the Rolling Operations Command Center (ROCC). I looked at it and saw its potential to become a custom Joe vehicle. 

The only problem was the Iron Man colors which was closer to colors used by Cobra then by Joes. Still I promised myself that I'd have to get it - not because I'm an Iron Man fan or collect Marvel toys that are that small, but because customizing it for my Joes was worth looking into. I waited quite a while though because I was hoping it would go on sale. So I was disappointed when it started to disappear from the local Toy Stores without having gone on sale. So I forked over the store price, bought a can of paint and a lot of masking tape and here it is.