Tag Archives: Black Major Customs

2016 TBM Cobra Trooper (Tiger Force)

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2016 TBM Cobra Trooper (Tiger Force)

The Black Major got famous for making figures everyone wanted and never got from Hasbro, like environment specific Troopers. Over time though, that got stale, and he eventually branched out into more oddball designs like Techno-Viper colors, Eco-Warriors, CAT and probably the most odd of them all: Tiger Force. Technically, it’s just a Cobra Trooper in Tiger Force-like colors, and I think they were sometimes branded “Bengal Troopers”, but the colors are a closer match to vintage Tiger Force hues than most of the Python Patrol figures he made.

When they came out, these were kind of the duds of the lot, though I remember this entire wave of Troopers sat around for a while. They were not my first picks either, as Cobras in Tiger Force colors were just a little bit of a challenge to accept. Yet, they sat around and were only selling for a few bucks a piece, so eventually I wound up with a full squad of 5 or 6 of them. Those accidental army-builds always wind up having me question my own tastes, as the stuff I’d normally never consider building a squad of often winds up appealing to me once it finally happens (I had a similar experience with the Frag Viper).

It takes time coming around to them, but the truth is I think these have some overlooked appeal. The first part of that appeal is that the colors are striking and look good; the yellow is the perfect orange-tinged tone similar to Tiger Force Frostbite’s. The second, is that they really aren’t Tiger Force, just tiger colored. There’s no subteam or GI Joe markings on them, just a lonely Cobra symbol on the chest like any other trooper. The colors aren’t even that bad of a match for typical Cobra, since the HEAT Viper, Secto Viper and Desert Scorpion are similar tones. So these actually go along fairly well with a selection of figures from roughly ‘89 through ‘90. Or you can repurpose Wreckage as Firefly and use them as a squad of fake Tiger Force infiltrators.

Other than that, it’s the 2016 TBM Trooper mold and it’s more or less the same thing as other variants I’ve reviewed in the past. The toes turn inwards slightly and the head is slightly thinner than a Hasbro figure, but otherwise the quality is good. The joints are tight, it’s compatible with normal backpacks, and the plastic has a nice, semi-gloss sheen to it like a Hasbro figure. Newer “factory customs” have moved to more of a dull finish I don’t like quite as much.

Of the four or so runs of TBM Troopers that have happened now, the 2016 lot was by far my favorite. All of the figures, even something as odd as this one, just seemed to be the perfect compliment to something else in my collection. That’s not to say the others weren’t good, but a lot of the Trooper recolors at this point come off as non sequitur, which doesn’t really suit the character so well. Cobra blue is classic because the original thrived on homogeneity, kinda like Storm Troopers establishing white as the Imperial color in Star Wars.

The Tiger theme was kept for subsequent runs of TBM castings (Snow Serpents, Eels, Night Vipers), and even another run of Cobra Troopers at some point, though a lot of details changed and shifted. Most notably the hue of yellow was different on the later ones compared to this one, which is a shame since the shades of yellow and brown were so perfect on this release. The later Tiger Troops do have more detailed paint masks and more colors on them, and also loose the annoying inward toe, so there’s some give and take.

Pricing old TBM figures is tough, because not so many of these were made, so they will only become more rare overtime. Despite, they aren’t official figures, and the market for them is also similarly small. So, sometimes an old TBM figure will still go in the single digit range, and sometimes they’ll hit upwards of $20 to $50. This figure shouldn’t be worth a lot, but at the moment I have no reference besides some BiNs for around $25. Contemporaries from the same run go cheap at auction though, so it seems fair the say this guy’s value is still around $12.

Tiger Force, Cobra Trooper, TBM 2016, GI Joe, ARAHTiger Force, Cobra Trooper, TBM 2016, GI Joe, ARAH

2017 Red Shadows Star Duster (TBM)

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2017 Red Shadows Star Duster (TBM)

Sometimes I feel like the staying-power of a TBM figure is dependent on how “needed” the given figure was. Over the years a lot of them have blended together and I can barely even remember when some came out. For others though, they seem a lot more remarkable if it was something there was a lot of pent up demand for, and such is the case with the Star Duster customs.

I don’t use most of them besides this Red Shadows Star Duster in photos a whole lot, though I’m tempted to say some of that comes from a subconscious notion that this Star Duster is the best one, so I always like tossing him around a little more than the others. Something about him really works as a Red Shadow for me, I think partly just because Action Force already has enough of a separate continuity from the American GI Joe media that it doesn’t feel so odd having Steeler’s evil twin wondering around. There’s a few more degrees of separation between them. Amusingly, the Red Shadows have a tendency to be the low-hanging fruit of the “factory customs”, since many of them tend to work so well. Palitoy seemed a little whimsical in their repurposing of molds, probably with Hunter being the best example of that.

The figure looking fantastic is another thing that makes him stand out as the best. The original Star Duster colors are pretty dandy, but the fluorescent red with black camouflage and details just pops. His red is not a perfect match for any particular Palitoy Red Shadow, though it does strike me as being very similar to the color some guns were cast in, which gives it some added novelty. The visor-helmet works pretty well for his look too, as V1 Hawk and Flash aren’t so iconic as to make the look sacred, and Scrap-Iron’s helmet wasn’t that much different either. I like that the opaque visor hides his face somewhat villainously while lacking so much overlap with all the Cobras that keep their mouths covered.

Overall the quality is solid on the figure too: Nice joints, solid construction, good paint-masks and sculpt looks fairly undistorted. I’m not to sensitive to TBM’s occasional quality defects, which I think partly comes from years of restoring junker figures with loose joints and other flaws. Despite that though, the Star Dusters felt better than average, especially the overall feel of the plastic; it’s much more Hasbro-like in tolerance compared to some of the other customs that strike me as a tad more brittle feeling.

Most of the TBM Star Duster’s also included and alternate torso casting, so you could chose between Duke’s torso and Recondo’s. The Recondo torso has that open shirt and looks a little more wild, so I like that better than Duke’s. Still, giving you the option is to switch to your preferred Star Duster configuration was pretty neat. There’s a very fickle audience for these sorts of figures, so this method is nice way of pleasing everyone.

Included is full set of Star Duster accessories in different colors, so a China Lake grenade launcher, a jet-pack, a helmet and visor all in solid red. The jet-pack’s pretty nifty, but also similar to the one with the Q-Force Deep Sea Defender, so it’s not too new. The helmet and visor completes his look and are integral accessories, but you’d also be fine to swap them for a few others. Lastly, the grenade launcher is still the classic part from Gung-Ho, and in my opinion, the best thing about Gung-Ho. A standard black or silver gun might look a tad better with him, but the red guns have their uses, and this makes a nice alternative for plenty of Cobras.

You can still find these floating around, if you look long enough. Almost all of the TBM Star Dusters, including this figure, go for a routine $30, which I don’t find that appalling. It’s still a fair bit of money to pay, but the nice thing is that he’s not an army-builder, so it’s not like he has diminished appeal for the lack of a squad. Plus, if you’re into Action Force, you don’t really have that much to collect to begin with, so in that context he’s a relatively inexpensive addition.

TBM Red Shadows Starduster gi joeRed Shadows Star Duster gi joe

2017 Red Shadows Star Duster (TBM) Links:

Attica Gazette

2012 Inferno BAT (The Black Major)

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2012 Inferno BAT (The Black Major)

Another week of “just not feelin’ it”, so another random Cobra recolor. Here’s The Black Major’s Inferno BAT, a figure I like an awful lot, but never did as much with that I once dreamed possible. With that said, I think this is the most memorable BAT custom he made, partly because it’s just a lot of fun to see a figure like the BAT decked out in solid orange. Also, I think he’s the Inferno BAT, but I’m going off my often hazy memory, so that may have not been the original name.

As a part of the early waves of Black Major figures, this wave of BATs all feature some mold oddities newer renditions lack. Namely, old TBM figures were designed to be incompatible with other vintage Joes, so the backpack pegs are twice as big and the extra hands for the BAT aren’t compatible with V1 BATs. I always hated this about these older figures, as it seems like something that was done in the vein hopes of pacifying the hobby-mafia, and as that didn’t work it was later phased out. Personally though, I always hate taking a loss just to appease people that hate me having fun in the first place.

The orange color is nice and deep. It’s very close to the reddish-orange of the V1 Alley Viper, which even a lot of Hasbro figures have failed to perfectly emulate. Other than that, it’s a very simple, no-thrills kind of recolor, keeping most of the 1986 BAT’s basic paint masks and not adding anything to it. The only thing I really dislike about the deco is the silver paint, which covers the orange plastic very poorly compared to other colors like blue. I always thought it was weird he skipped over doing a crimson BAT, but I think orange ones are a lot more useful than a robot in elite ceremony colors.

For accessories, you get the standard kit of ‘86 BAT parts, just modified in ways to make them unique as mentioned before. So that includes the backpack, and four removable appendages (a flamethrower, a claw, a gun, and a hand) The BAT hands have a tendency to fit too tight or too loose in the backpack, so a few copies broke right away, while others remained just fine. Nothing a pin vice and some rods can’t fix, but who knows if I’ll ever feel like doing that.

I think I mentioned in an older post that the quality on these were okay. I mostly stand by that, but these orange BATs do remind me that the lot wasn’t great either – “mid”, to use some modern jargon. Ill-fitting pegs make the arms break easy, and of course they have some stance/tolerance issues with their o-rings. There’s enough there to be worth griping about, but then I remember how much cheaper these older bootlegs were: a whole lot of 5 BATs only ran something like $25. The world’s a much different place almost twelve years later, so you can’t make cheap toys like that any more. Still, it was so much more fun and easy to overlook fairly serious flaws just for how cheap this stuff used to be. 1 o-ring figure in 2023, from either Hasbro or anyone else, costs me as much as 5 did back in 2012.

If you’re in the market for one of these, good luck, because I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen one for sale. At the very least I don’t see many TBM BATs running high premiums, so it shouldn’t cost a lot when you find one, it’s just that you’ll have to hunt for a while. A lot of these old customs tend to disappear like that, especially as they enter crypts like my personal dwelling, where I buy a lot, but never sell. Of course, there’s a newer 23‘ BAT in Alley Viper colors with the camo, but the orange isn’t as orange and purty as my figure here, you should be jealous.

tbm bat cobra gi joe arah custom 2012tbm bat cobra gi joe arah custom 2012

 

2016 Cobra Trooper (Techno Viper Colors) (The Black Major)

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2016 Cobra Trooper (Techno Viper colors)

I’m feeling pretty burnt-out on Joe this week, and I think my solution for that going forward is that I’ll just write about one of the many color variations that The Black Major has put out over time. Will it solve my burnout? Probably not, but while I’m in a frump, it gives me a chance just to cover some of these repaints in detail. I can’t make an interesting blog post about the Cobra Trooper or the Night Viper seven or eight times over again, but I think it’s worthwhile to dump some content on these for the sake of posterity.

The 2016 run of TBM Cobra Troopers was really a good lot. His first wave of figures from around ‘09 put a bigger focus on realistic, environmentally themed colors; the 2016 figures instead go for some punchy colors inspired by various facets of the brand. It’s flavored a bit by contemporary trends, but each set of figures did a good job of exploring the various kinds of Cobra Trooper repaints we needed, that Hasbro never gave us. In this figure’s case, his colors are lifted off the ‘87 Techno Viper.

Seeing the original Cobra rendered in the “Cobra Purple” that’s synonymous with the line’s later years seems bizarre yet oddly enjoyable. Mind you, it’s just a tad more pink than the Techno Viper’s purple, but it looks pretty close when they aren’t side by side. You could use him as a Techno Viper in training, or even use him to represent an ordinary trooper from the later years of the organization. Maybe Cobra adopted purple as their color after the end of the Cobra Civil War, to represent a new identity. Or not, my Department of Destruction Cobra Handbook didn’t elaborate on the meaning of purple uniforms.

When this figure came out I thought I’d never get tired of Cobra Trooper repaints. To a mild extent, I have. After this set of Cobras TBM really explored every avenue he could with the sculpt, and while a few useful looking repaints came out later down the line, a lot of the ones he did last year just didn’t resonate with me. They aren’t bad, but at current pricing I’d rather just bolster my existing collection with a few more troops here and there, rather than get another one-off recolor. Of course I get that there’s always demand for more troopers, so I don’t fault the later ones for existing; I just personally got my fill.

Another oddity of the 2016 TBM figures is that most of them include painted weapons. I think this was mostly just because of the mold layouts, but thanks to it you do get some particularly exotic pieces. This figure includes the classic Dargunov and the Officer’s AK-47, as well as a V1 Viper backpack and figure stand all in bright silver, the same tone used for the figure’s face-mask and knee pads. The silver AK is incredibly cool. The details of the sculpt pop with the metallic paint, plus it makes a great compliment for so many other figures. Lampreys, of course Techno Vipers, and Ripper all look pretty natural with it.

You can still get these for somewhere between $20 to $25, which isn’t bad for some obscure bootlegs that are around 7 years old now. Some of the “factory customs” have gotten a little pricey over time, especially when they’re not too weird like this figure. When they were new these repaints sat around for a while at something like $7 a piece, but those days are long gone now, just like the spending power of the dollar.

2017 TBM Alley Viper (Reverse Colors)

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2017 TBM Alley Viper (Reverse Colors)

In terms of TBM figures, my favorite run was probably the 2017 Alley Vipers. They felt very new given the mold was never used before, and the original paint masks created for the second run of figures was very fresh and breathed a lot of life into the mold. Generally, I liked all of the recolors he did from this mold, but of them all the Dirty South exclusive one in reversed colors is tied for my favorite, with the Night Viper colored one.

A problem that the TBM Alley Vipers run into, is that the original Alley Viper was already an incredibly sharp and attractive figure. He’s bright, but orange and blue are colors that compliment each other really well. For people allergic to neon, the black variations immediately stand out and show what this mold could offer in darker colors. Still, it’s hard to actually make a figure that’s more attractive than the original when you put realism aside. The colors on this release are sharp, and maintain a lot of the original figure’s charm just by reversing the main color with the camouflage color, give or take a hue.

These colors are fun, and I find them easier to integrate into my Joe world. To me, these are apart of a special Detonator task force, who are both capable of operating the vehicle, and act as it’s security that protects it in the lead up to a missile launch. The tones on the figure aren’t a perfect match, but look close enough that I think they compliment the Detonator really well. Plus the idea of a vehicle being important enough to have it’s own, unique division to accompany it, was something I can’t un-think.

The quality was alright on these. I always have a little trouble judging this element of the “factory customs”, since there’s a lot of toys I see people call fragile or flimsy on the internet, that I personally have no problems with. Overall, I got very few Alley Vipers with significant flaws, and the new mold did a good job of recreating the sculpt without deforming it as far as I can tell. The Snow Serpents and Eels he did later were a bit better, but these were also a bit better than most of his older figures at the point they came out.

All of the original Alley Viper accessories were recreated for this release, which includes the mask, shield, backpack with grappling hook, and his distinct SMG. For a long time, I really couldn’t stand the way Alley Viper’s looked without their shield, so incomplete V1 Alley Vipers really drove me nuts for not having the parts. Since I acquired the TBM figures though, I got enough Alley Vipers at once that it made me curious about them with different kinds of gear. A flaw of the original is that these parts are very clunky, and truth be told, he can’t hold his shield very well, even if he looks incredibly bad-arse with it. To be honest though, it’s a fun figure to reaccessorize with less clunky gear, although the original shield and gun is still my favorite setup.

Although they were only sold at first at the 2017 Dirty South convention/meetup, they aren’t particularly more expensive or rare than most of the other ‘17 Alley Vipers. You don’t find them all the time, and they may run upwards of $40, but you might also get them a lot cheaper than that, as patience really helps when it comes to getting old bootlegs. I got mine at the original price, as a kind soul on Instagram hooked me up with an individual who bought too many and got in trouble with his wife. Personally though, I have a hard time paying a high premium for TBM figures, especially when there’s always the chance he’ll make new ones that are similar to what I want.

black major customs gi joe alley viper dirty south bootleg black major customs gi joe alley viper dirty south bootleg

2017 TBM Alley Viper (Reverse Colors) Links:

The Dragon Fortress

TBM Red Shadows Night Viper

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TBM Red Shadows Night Viper

I’ve talked a lot (actually too much) about how much of a stereotypical Night Viper fan I am. Partly because The Black Major produced an ample amount of Night Viper customs for me to gnaw on, but I’ve also had plenty of opportunities to talk about official offerings from Hasbro and Funskool. While most of TBM’s repaints are cool, there’s not much to say about them that you can’t say about any other variation, though, the Red Shadows version is in particular, a favorite, so here’s a few unique things about it.

Despite how popular the Red Shadows are as a theme, truth is, I’ve gotten pretty tired of them. I’m not tired of Palitoy’s excellent vintage figures, but more so the contemporary trend of taking any Cobra, coloring him bright red, a calling it a Red Shadow, like with this Night Viper. It’s always popular and much of the time, the colors are quite striking, but it also dilutes the Red Shadows into just being Cobra with a singular, monotonous color scheme. It’s the same problem the Collector’s Club had with Iron Grenadiers, where they made “new” characters like the Iron Anvil, but only using the original Iron Grenadier’s color scheme, which was repetitive.

I say all that, but I have a glowing opinion of this Red Shadows Night Viper. I don’t know why, but I absolutely love the way the Night Viper looks in fluorescent red, which was something I realized a few years prior when Hasbro made the incredibly odd 50th Anniversary Night Viper. When TBM announced he was making Night Viper customs, the thing I wanted most was some approximation of that figure from the o-ring mold, and this release was pretty much that.

Of course, finding a way to justify a bright red night fighter is virtually impossible, so this figure can be a Red Shadow and bypass my normal grievances with that, just because. Truth is, a bright red Night Viper is pretty asinine at face value. For me, I like the mold, and the bright color makes a few of the details stand out, in addition to just giving me something different to fiddle around with. It’s all I could want from a novel bootleg, so I don’t care if it’s unrealistic.

Parts are the same thing you get with every TBM Night Viper: Visor, scope, gun and backpack. TBM’s experimented with odd part inclusions on more recent releases, which has often been a good thing, though, there’s nothing wrong with a figure like this, which stays loyal to the original’s loadout. I think the Night Viper’s gear is cool and does everything it needs too, although once you get these parts enough times they do get pretty old.

Because these don’t show up for sale too often, it’s hard to say what people are paying for them. Most of the other custom Night Vipers trend between $20 to $30, so it’s probably fair to assume that’s what this figure’s worth. Still, there’s a lot of interest in the Red Shadows, so that alone might put this one on the slightly higher end. They nicely compliment an Action Force collection, so I think they’re worth seeking out if you can find one under $30.

red laser the black major factory custom night viper hasbro palitoy

2012 TBM BAT (Blue)

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2012 TBM BAT (Blue)

So all the way back in the now distant year of 2012, The Black Major produced a run of 1986 BATs in his typical colors and patterns. It was pretty much the same drill you’ve seen a few times with his Cobra Troopers, Cobra De Acos, Crimson Guards and others, but it was a good lot of figures regardless. At the time, some of these figures saturated the market and floated around for low prices, though 9 years later, they’ve become a bit more of a rarity.

I like Cobra BATs, to a certain extent. In general, I’ve been excessively fond of robot characters since I was a small child, so figures like the ‘91 BAT or the BAAT got a lot of use in my playtimes. Still, the BAT removes the interesting human element from Cobra, so I can’t focus on them too much. They have a role in my Joe world, though they may not be as important to me as they are for others.

The thing that really sucks about the original BAT, is how much it costs to get one! Seriously, it was an expensive figure that might run you something like $30 when I got into collecting, but now complete BATs routinely haul $80. I really don’t know why they’re so much more expensive than Vipers and Cobra Troopers, but it’s entirely led by demand, and people really loose their marbles for BATs. Since Hasbro refuses to reissue old sculpts, it really leaves TBM as the only option for affordable BATs. When these 2012 BATs came out, you could almost get a full quad for the price of 1 Hasbro BAT, I’m pretty sure that will be the same when his new ones come out this year or next year.

Today, I’m looking at the Cobra blue BATs he produced. Although there’s a good number of other color schemes I enjoy, I’m focusing on these. Blue BATs are something I’ve seen people ask for a lot, in reference to how they appeared in the Marvel comics. These BATs aren’t quite Marvel-accurate, but they look pretty good regardless.

I can imagine some reasons for why there would be some random Blue BATs running around alongside normal BATs. One idea I have is that they’re simple production variants, and that BATs aren’t very consistent in terms of coloring and construction. Another angle you could use, is that their uniforms are made in the same factory or from recycled materials for Cobra Trooper and Viper uniforms. It’s basically just a dust-cover, so it’s actually strange that the BATs have their own unique outfits. They lack a real niche, but they look good, and there’s a few explanations I can think of for them.

There’s a few mold changes between the Black Major BATs and the Hasbro BATs. Notably, the TBM figures have fatter backpack pegs, and different pegs for the arm attachments, to prevent people from swapping them onto the originals (and presumably, then selling them). It was a really nice gesture at first how far he went to make it easy to tell TBM figures and parts apart from vintage ones, though I think there’s really no need to go this far.

Besides the chest stickers occasionally falling off, and their natural stance being a tad weird, the TBM BATs come across to me as being good, if not, average quality. His more recent releases, like the WORMs/Cobra Commanders, strike me as being a bit better, but the BATs were also better than some other releases, like the Night Stalkers. At the time, they were pretty amazing, though I personally suspect the paint might be a tad more crisp on the new ones he’s making, given the quality of most of his newer releases.

For accessories, you get everything that was present with the original BAT, including a backpack and four arm attachments. Personally, I’ve always thought a few of the arm attachments look a tad corny, namely the claw, but it’s only corny to a charming extent. My favorite was always the flamethrower arm, which seems limited in usage, but is certainly a terrifying concept, plus the sculpted details are the best on that one.

I believe the mold for this particular bootleg was given off to Red Laser Customs, who made some very interesting variants out of it. I will admit though, I’m not very clear on the specifics of how that worked. There was a lot of discussion and information that floated around on Facebook and Instagram back then, but I hate those websites, so a lot of it went by without me knowing too well.

The biggest problem is pricing a lot of old bootlegs is finding them. Mind you, some of these figures, especially these older releases, appear to exist in decent numbers. Still, you won’t be able to find a 2012 TBM BAT in a specific color at any time you want one. The good news though, is that he’s making a new set of BAT customs, and in all likelihood, will retread old themes as he did with the Cobra Trooper. If you’re not to obsessed, it’s probably a better option just to buy those.

gi joe bootleg hasbro vintage cobra bat gi joe bootleg hasbro vintage cobra bat

2012 TBM BAT (Blue) Links:

Blue BATs by 00zxcvb

Other than that, I don’t have any links. If you have a cool photo or some content on this BAT, feel free to link to it in the comments.

2021 TBM Blue WORMS (Cobra Commander)

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2021 TBM Blue WORMS (Cobra Commander)

You’d think with the endless amount of Cobra Commander figures Hasbro made over the years, the last thing I (or really, anyone) would be in great need of is more Cobra Commanders. However, the circumstances and novelty appeal of Black Major’s Cobra Commanders really hit me just right, so I went out of my way to acquire a couple of these.

This figure was mainly billed as custom WORMs, but those didn’t really work for me, for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that I like Hasbro’s WORMs so much, I use them in their normal colors regardless of the environment, so environment specific repaints don’t do much for me. Besides this, you could only get the WORMs in a big set at first, with one of each color. This also didn’t appeal to me very much, as I’d rather have several of my favorite army-builders, as opposed to one of each.

TBM did sell some figure individually, however, he only sold ones with Cobra Commander parts. This suited me fine, as again, I’m really fine with the Hasbro WORMs I already have. As a Cobra Commander figure, he picks up a few unique benefits, such as the fact that I’m fine with only having one, or that he doesn’t invalidate opportunities to use my normal WORMs that I like so much. I also think that these Cobra Commanders are very well done, which is all the justification I need to own some in various colors.

Today’s profile is of the blue coloration, which among the many variations of this figure, is my favorite. On a basic level, it doesn’t look too much different from a typical Cobra Commander figure, but the appeal is in the details. Far and away the most eye-catching detail is the Cobra-sigil painted over his hood. That in particular kind of makes me think of this figure as an ARAH rendition of JvC Cobra Commander.

The colors and paint are nice here. The details on the WORMs sculpt come across well, and the choice of using red contrasts nicely against the bright blue the figure uses. There’s some silver details, including some on his knees, which I think look weird. It’s especially irritating when the figure’s posed with his knees bent, as it highlights the joint there. Other than that, there’s enough painted details in different colors that the figure pops.

He includes some very odd choices for accessories. You get the Iron Grenadier’s Uzi, a generic ROC pistol, a 25th Snake Eyes knife, and a modified sculpt that I believe originates from a Grunt M16. Overall, I dislike them, as these sculpts are either bad or don’t work well with this figure. I do like the modified M16 though, as while it looks a little strange, it’s also something new and unique to this figure.

Currently, these figures are circulating around and are fairly available around $24. TBM himself sold through his stock of several colors in less than a day (hours?), which surprised me, although it will be interesting to see how much demand holds out for these figures. Ultimately, $24 is a lot for a figure, and probably too much even for this one, as nice as it is. Likewise, this isn’t really a figure you need huge squads of, even if you prefer the sculpt as the WORMs, so I expect the prices on these could stagnate at a certain point.

gi joe custom black major bootleg worms cobra commander gi joe custom black major bootleg worms cobra commander

2021 Red Shadow Agent X (TBM Cobra Officer)

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2021 Red Shadow Agent X (TBM Cobra Officer)

For one of his 2021 projects, The Black Major took a different route from his more typical repaints of popular army builders, and instead made sets of new army builders, from a more original recipe dubbed Agent X. Each figure came in four variations, with the main changes being the head, torso and accessories. Essentially, there’s two versions of Snake Eyes, a Firefly and then then a Cobra Officer.

It’s a different approach even if I think most of the figures that resulted from this aren’t too interesting. For me, the main draw to this series of figures are the Cobra Officers, while I honestly have enough Firefly and Snake Eyes repaints not to bother too much with those. With that said, a few of the color schemes are strong enough to warrant the extra variations, likewise, they do nice to supplement collections of odd groups like the Red Shadows. With that said, I think he missed a big opportunity by not doing SAS Force from this mold.

The part choices are fairly interesting too. In the case of the Cobra Officer, he’s made from the ‘83 Officer’s head and torso, ‘83 Snake Eyes arms and legs, and the waist from ‘86 Roadblock. Gotta admit, I’m not a big fan of either the Snake Eyes legs or the Roadblock waist, especially not when paired together. At the same time, they don’t look horrible, and I appreciate having the figure changed up in small ways that make me not feel so insane for buying copious amounts of the same toy in different colors.

This Red Shadow Officer is really well done and looks much more on point than some of the early Red Shadow customs. The red color is bright and a good match for the tones you saw on Palitoy’s releases. It doesn’t take too many creative liberties and mostly stays in line with the paint masks for the other Agent X figures, which in this case seems like a good thing.

The accessories are actually what inspired me to stock up on a few variations of this figure, although that might sound odd to some. Included is an M4 (Marauders Gun Runners sculpt), a 25th Snake Eyes knife, and ‘87 Chuckles’s pistol. I really liked getting the extra Chuckles pistols! That’s a really nice part and it’s not the easiest to get a few of, let alone in large amounts. The other parts work and are okay. I really enjoy collecting odd colored bootlegged ARAH parts from TBM, so it bums me out a little when he does MGR accessories. The 25th SE knife is a weird choice too, but it has a thin handle, which means it’s useful to old-sculpts at the very least.

The quality of this release seems alright, and about middle of the road as far as factory customs go. The joints seem okay, most of mine are pretty tight. Paint applications are tight and look very good consistently. Out of a little more than a dozen, I’ve yet to acquire any with any weird casting defects or anything like that.

At the moment, you can get these for about $15 retail, but he knocks off a few dollars when you buy a few at a time. I’m really curious to see how these will change in value over time. On the one hand, they’re fairly odd figures and I’m not sure how popular this set’s been compared to past releases. Then again, he’s also making a lot fewer figures than he used to, and Cobra Officers are popular. Personally, I speculate this figure will be more demanded later on, while the oddball SE’s and Firefly’s will probably languish a tad more, especially given that people might feel fine only acquiring one each of those.

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TBM 2012 Arctic Cobra De Aco

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TBM 2012 Arctic Cobra De Aco

The Black Major’s run of Cobra De Aco figures are probably among some of his least popular releases, next to the Night Stalkers he made. In the case of Cobra De Aco, many of the colors he chose, along with the quality of the release was fantastic, but the figure was made from straight-arm tooling, hence the limited interest from the collecting community.

I have mixed opinions on the choice personally. On the one hand, I think it’s very nice to own a reproduction of the authentic Cobra De Aco in colors and tooling that’s as close to the genuine article as possible. I’ve gotta admit though, the figure’s usefulness is a lot more limited because of the straight-arm tooling, and the choice certainly dashed collector interest.

There’s two white-colored Cobra De Aco’s that were made: One that’s a stark white and matches TBM’s arctic Cobras, and this one that’s more of an off-white color. The off-white plastic strikes me as being a tad more interesting, and I even think it looks like something Hasbro would use (it’s very similar to the tone of the ’89 Track Viper).

Another feature of these Cobra De Aco figures I really appreciated was the alternate heads they included. There’s a gasmask head from the comic-pack Cobra Officer, a Chrome Snake Eyes head, and the third option, Flash’s head with a brown, South-American skin tone. It’s a neat inclusion that seems like it could have a lot of life away from this figure, though I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anyone make good use of it.

The quality of this release was almost impeccable. The joints, paint, and construction is all a step above the typical fare of a “factory custom”. I think I didn’t get a single figure with issues from the entire run, and I ended up with a pretty big collection of these since they were so cheap and plentiful for the longest time.

The Cobra De Aco’s include Flash’s original gun and backpack, though sadly it also presents the only real quality issue with the figure. Almost all of TBM’s Cobra De Aco’s came with guns that weren’t really flexible enough to be used without the cord breaking. Some of mine also seem to suffer from flaking paint, which is a little weird. It’s a small thing to look over, though it does mean that most of the De Aco’s lack decent weapons.

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These Cobra De Aco’s are old and tracking down a specific color scheme can be tricky. Collector interest hasn’t picked up that much for them though, and after enough hunting you can get about any version you want for around $20. That’s a lot more than I paid for most of my De Aco’s, and I’m not sure I’d pay that much for them now, but it’s not too much if you only want a few.

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TBM 2012 Arctic Cobra De Aco Links

Reproduction Cobra De Aco at Forgotten Figures

Photo by Cyko_9

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