FAN ARTICLE SPECIAL FEATURE: Snack-Eyes Barbosa's Custom GI Joe Gear (With Tutorial)

Much as I love the great amount of gear and weaponry the average GI Joe figure comes with, I'm also often disappointed to see how little thought the designers at Hasbro give to storing these pieces when not in use. And it seems I'm not the only one, as That Figures reader Snack-Eyes Barbosa submitted this custom sheath and holster work, which I immediately wanted to share with you.

But it gets better, as he's also included a number of ''how-to'' shots, for any other readers who fancied trying it for themselves...

Test Subject: Snake Eyes (Ninja Commando) 

The core figure employed is the GI Joe: Rise of Cobra Snake Eyes (Ninja Commando) , a figure that exemplifies the problem sometimes found with the line - a nice array of gear, but nowhere really to store it. However, these modifications could be applied to any figure.

Design Approach

Snack-Eyes explained his philosophy when it came to the custom pieces:

1. Custom sheaths and holsters must be removable to be interchangeable between different figures and to avoid permanent modifications to the figures themselves.
   
2. Custom accessories must remain in place steadily enough to prevent accidental removal.
   
3. Custom accessories must keep the figure's articulation unrestricted even when worn.
   
4. Custom accessories should be made of materials that are cheap and easy to find, like packaging parts, isolating tape, superglue, drinking straws etc.

Tutorial Images

(Click to Expand)

End Results

And Finally...

So there you have it! I hope you've enjoyed seeing Snack-Eyes' work as much as I have and that you found this tutorial useful.