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They’re at it again – Oreobuilder and Bucky work their magic on the new sculpt era

Oreobuilder has been doing simply amazing things over the past several months.  Even if you somehow missed his fantastic work on “Battle Corps” month last year, I think his spectacular job on his tribute to G.I. Joe’s 50th Anniversary most likely got your attention.  I’ve actually seen many folks saying that Oreobuilder’s tribute was far more fitting to G.I. Joe’s legacy than Hasbro’s own offerings at Toy Fair, and it would be tough to disagree with that.

Well, now he’s taken things even one step further, and working alongside long time Joe Customizer Bucky, they are tackling something near and dear to my heart.  The new sculpt era!

I was a huge supporter of the G.I. Joe era from 2002 – 2005 and have often reminisced about how great the coalescence between direct to DVD films, comics, and the toyline was back then, and that Hasbro was actually charting new territory and weaving new stories.  The designs for many of those new sculpt figures were terrific, unfortunately the execution was just not quite there.  Whether that was due to technology or desired format still isn’t really clear, but what is clear is that many of the new sculpt figures would greatly benefit from modern era treatment.  Over on OreoBuilder’s blog he is already hip deep in the project and has already given some new sculpt figures fantastic overhauls in the more modern style.  Agent Faces?  I mean, come on!  That stuff is gold.

Make sure you book mark and visit often, as we’re sure to see plenty of updates and check some of the past work while you’re at it.  I’ve mirrored a couple of images below.

Oreobuilder brings the custom lumber for G.I. Joe’s 50th Anniversary

I’ve talked about Oreobuilder’s projects here before, specifically his awesome Battle Corps theme month where he tackled many of the various Battle Corps characters in one month long customization barrage that had me on the edge of my seat waiting for the next one to show up.

Well, now, appropriately, he is celebrating 2014 with a new month long custom event, this time the G.I. Joe 50th Anniversary!

Already 7 figures into it, you can check out his thread over on JoeCustoms.com and see new figures emerging on a regular basis.  He’s already tackled many awesome classic figures, and he shows off the original 12″ versions, too, if only to prove how great an accurate modern 4″ line based off the old school 12″ stuff could be.  I know lots of folks have wished for a modern Adventure Team, but Oreobuilder is showing that some of these tribute figures would work in the old military aesthetic, too.

Really impressive stuff.  Keep watching JoeCustoms.com for each new entry.  I’ve mirrored just a couple of images below.

Kick Ass Customs – Oreobuilder’s Dino Hunters!

Ohhh wow.  Too often I feel like G.I. Joe fans do not fully embrace the almost ridiculous nature of the G.I. Joe universe.  I love the real world military element as much as the next guy, but there were some far out concepts in the Joe universe that I thought really gave is some of that kid-based charm.  As collectors many of us shrug that stuff off, which is why I was really excited when I saw the latest JoeCustoms Group Project was for the Dino-Hunters.

With only two figures a part of this Hasbro theme, I loved the idea of expanding the whole Dino-Hunters concept.  Well, last week, JoeCustoms unveiled the Dino-Hunters, and it was good.  Unfortunately there wasn’t a huge turn out this time around, but quality rules over quantity in my mind.  Chief among this idea was the masterful work of Oreobuilder.

He took the whole Dino-Hunter concept and ran with it.  Sooooo cool!

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Link Talbot for the win.  And look at that Dino-Viper!  Love it!

Awesome work by Oreobuilder, and by everyone who submitted to this Group Project.  If you’re ever in the need of a custom fix, definitely check out the JoeCustoms Group Projects.  Some very impressive stuff there, and if you go back far enough, you can even see some of my work.  😉

Kick Ass Customs – OreoBuilder's Robot Rebellion

I don’t think enough fans really appreciate what we had during the “new sculpt” days…as I worked on my Top 15 figures of the past decade feature, I continued to be impressed by the designs we were getting from 2003 – 2006, it was just a bit unfortunate that the sculpting had some proportion and functional issues.  From a pure design standpoint, though, there was some awesome, impressive stuff.
Well, JoeCustoms member OreoBuilder took some of those great designs, as well as some thoughts of what was going to be “Robot Rebellion” (the follow up to Valor Vs. Venom) and produced some absolutely fantastic 25th Anniversary style customs using those designs as inspiration.  Seriously, these figures look SICK.  Quite a departure from your typical look, but amazing looking figures and near production level custom quality.  This is exactly why I’d love to see Hasbro dip into the 2000 – 2006 well when doing some of their 25th and Rise of Cobra style figures.  Even though lots of fans don’t have any attachment to that era, there is lots of great, credible inspiration that can be drawn from there.

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