Newbie - Airtight, Oktober Guard, and Cobra Cares

[Airtizzight]

Hello, all.

Name's Patrick, I'm from Garland, Texas, and I'm a costume-aholic. I'm so glad to have found this site (I actually read about it in ToyFare). I've always wondered when people would start Joe costuming, and here you are!

On that note, let me give you guys the down-low on my thoughts.

I want to make an Airtight cotume. I dig the character, and it's a nice excuse to waer a fun NBC-suit, and look like a bad mo-fo. That being said, I don't know what to do about the helmet. The soft-goods are no problem, but armour, etc. is somewhat new to me. My original thought is to build onto an X-wing pilot helmet, with a seperate gas mask, and a wicked paint job, but I don't know exactly: maybe there's a better way. Any thoughts and reference pictures would be helpful. Also, I did WW2 reenacting for a few years, and have collected alot of Soviet stuffs, that I practically have an Oktober guard uniform together. Anyone interested in getting some of that together, I'd love to hear it.

And now, for Cobra: why the 21 and up rule? Is it just because of drinking. I am going to put together a faceless cobra trooper anyways (I know, a lot of projects, huh?), but I just wish i didn't have to leave it in my closet for a while, and away from its cobra brethren.(By the way, I'm 18). Cobra infiltrators, please let me know.

Whew! Thanks for those of you who just read my long-winded message, and for any and all help. I know there were quite a few projects mentioned there (well, 3), but Airtight is my main focus, the rest are taking a back-seat to him.

Thank you all.

[Tequilawyrm]

Welcome! Airtight? That would be bad ass. Going to have to take a better look the pictures of the helmet before giving building ideas.

[Duke]

I know that we've got some folks putting together some Oktober Guard stuff

[Law]

Welcome Mr. Schnurr! I would scrounge ebay for old flight helmets, motorcycle helmets, hell just helmets in general... something out there is bound to look right. Add a neck seal and it with some elbow grease it'll look great. As for the rest of his get up it really smacks of rebel pilot to me, chestbox and all

[Airtizzight]

Yeah, I thought it looked a bit anti-imperial myself. I've been doing a bit of research, and it looks like what I will do is, gat a basic x-wing helmet, and built "airtight" (heh, excuse the pun) goggles and a gas-mask assembly onto it, cut down the mohawk dramatically, and hook all the smooth hoses up. Has it ever been decided whether we were trying to get closest to the cartoon, figure, comic, our own perception of the character, or what? Cause I like making all of the joes look realistic when I sketch them, like if they really existed. I was thinking like, a bunch of cool dials and bio-hazard symbols, etc. And a groovy stormtrooper-style voice box. Ideas? And also, still down with some Oktober stuffs.....no male versions of females, right? Damn! I wanted to be a sexy-ass sniper. Thanks for all the responses.

P.S. Still waiting to hear from the cobra infiltrators.

[darthfoley]

For the over 21 thing...basically, think of it in terms of the Pirate Code - the code is more of a...guideline...than actual 'rules'. It's not absolutely set in stone.

Consider an invitation extended to join the forums at Cobra Cares.

[SNAKEEYES]

Welcome! Air-Tight would be a sweet custom to build.

Yeah, we have a Diana from Oktober Guard (JOE version) locally.

[Profiler]

Interesting idea using the X-wing helment. I was actually toying with using it for my Wild Weasle idea I'd been toying with. Finding red flight suit though, ack that is a pain.

[Mutt]

Airtizzight said:

Has it ever been decided whether we were trying to get closest to the cartoon, figure, comic, our own perception of the character, or what?

There are no rules per se. The bottom line is making sure the character is recognizable. If there is a particular "look" that seems to represent the character more than the others, go for it. I think all of us have blended toy/cartoon/comic/realistic to some degree. (Although it might be interesting to see a "fully toy" approach, with bulky low-detail single-color weapons and accessories, rivets at the shoulders, etc, a la that "Kenner Vader" at the first Star Wars Celebration.)

One approach is to go realistic but use bright, primary colors where applicable. For instance, for Mutt I painted his shoulder pads as bright a red as I could without making it neon. More toy/cartoon-like. But the rest is pretty much military colors.