Vests for Low-Light

[lancelot]

Something that has always troubled me, is the fact that POC Low-Light is completly unable to not just hole his own fall apart gun, but he is also unable to hold any guns in a reasonable manner. When I take the vest off of him, he can hold any weapon you put in his hands, but those bulky arms, mixed with the POC Beach-Head torso, make him look ridiculous without that bulky ass vest.

I wrapped a POC Beach-Head vest around him, and it helps, but not by a whole lot. A shock-trooper vest works wonders, it is a perfect fit, and does not interfere with the arms movement, but those bulky ass arms on Low-Light do not look good with that vest. I'm thinking I will have to make some kind of custom using the Dollar General ship-Wreck for the torso and arms, and somehow obtain a grey POC Shock Trooper vest.

What do you guys think?

 

[Giga Bread]

Well, here's my custom I did awhile back. I know you're just looking for a replacement but this is what I did to make mine work with the LowLight vest.

First I shaved the inner edge of the vest's armpit.

Then I switched to PoC shock trooper arms with the areas I marked being areas I trimmed, shaved, and polished to create even more flexibility.

For polishing softer plastics I use this nail polisher that can be found in most makeup departments. It's 4 stages, 1 is sanding and then 4 is polishing.

I don't know how well he'd hold his sniper rifle as I threw that one in storage somewhere, but he does a much better job of holding guns.

 

[snakeling]

No modifications whatsoever, (Recondo's rifle)

 

[lancelot]

Is he really looking through the sight or is that just a camera angle trick? I can not get him to hold Recondo's rifle like that.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

Hey Giga, did you consider just shaving LLs stock arms?

 

[Giga Bread]

Hey Giga, did you consider just shaving LLs stock arms?

They're just way too thick. I'm using them for an artic custom.

 

[snakeling]

Is he really looking through the sight or is that just a camera angle trick? I can not get him to hold Recondo's rifle like that.

Yes it is a angle trick, There is not one Joe who can actually sight down the barrel. But my LL is holding Recondo's rifle just as well as the one pictured above mine with no modification. I'm not mocking Giga, his LL does look cool but why do all that work when you don't have to?

 

[MMorelock66]

Yes it is a angle trick, There is not one Joe who can actually sight down the barrel. But my LL is holding Recondo's rifle just as well as the one pictured above mine with no modification. I'm not mocking Giga, his LL does look cool but why do all that work when you don't have to?

Giga's gonna whip your ass!

Am I the only person who super glued LL's M200 together and just gave him a few different rifles? Different ones for different predicaments

 

[fogger1138]

Yes it is a angle trick, There is not one Joe who can actually sight down the barrel.

As I recall, the Retaliation Joe Trooper comes really close.

 

[K-Tiger]

Joes will look down the sights, it's a matter of how much cutting you want to do and how willing you are to concede that they will not grip a gun properly when looking down said sights.

 

[snakeling]

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[snakeling]

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[lancelot]

Yes it is a angle trick, There is not one Joe who can actually sight down the barrel.

Bullshit. PTE figures do it all the time. 30th Anniversary Stalker can also do it, without any modifications. There are figures that can do that. Low-Light just has the misfortune of not being one of them.

 

[K-Tiger]

I leave it to the members to decide if it's an "angle trick" or too legit to quit.

 

[Giga Bread]

The issue I have with low lights arms, is the pit is too thick, making it impossible to bend anywhere near perpendicular to the torso. The elbows have way too many surfaces in contact to even get to 90 degrees. On top of that, the inside of those forearms restrict more than just about anything out there.

When something sits on my shelf, it has to look right from multiple angles as when people walk into the room, they don't have the luxury of the perfect camera angle.

 

[Giga Bread]

I leave it to the members to decide if it's an "angle trick" or too legit to quit.

Difference being he's not wearing a huge vest. Either way, his hands look ridiculous with those giant sleeves.

 

[K-Tiger]

Send me a Low Light and I'll make that cocksucker work, too. There are no perfect solutions when it comes to 4" plastic toy men and their guns. Mods will only overcome so many of the limitations.

Anyhoo, LL should be rocking webbing and not a vest.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

How much cutting did you have to do to the crook of the elbow to bend to tightly KT?

 

[K-Tiger]

A fair bit. I want to say I took some out of the pectoral area and the area just below the joint in the inner arm, too.

 

[lancelot]

I also forgot to mention that almost all the Female GI Joe members are able to hold their weapons perfectly. I think you can even get 25th Scarlet to hold an M1 Garand in a standing, shooting position. I can get Crazy Legs to look down the scope of his assault rifle too.


I've decided that I'm just going to let LL have a Steel Brigade vest until I can find the same vest with a grey color scheme. I thought that the shoulder pads were bothering me but it's not the upper arms, it's those weird gauntlets. I'm thinking of just replacing his lower arms, but I have not found any candidates in my collection for such an operation. I would prefer to do as little painting or cutting as possible.

Another idea I had was to find one of those Slaughter Marauder packs, and take the LL from it and butcher him into something decent.

 

[K-Tiger]

I've noticed that about the ladies, too.

 

[lancelot]

I have another question now. Who would make a good spotter for Low-Light?

 

[K-Tiger]

The question is, who would make a good sniper for LL, as he's the spotter?

I imagine people team him up with Bullhorn, since he's a sharpshooter.

 

[lancelot]

Oh yeah, he's like a recon guy isn't he? That's funny considering that they gave him a sniper rifle. I don't think I have any potential Joe snipers outside of Low-Light really. Unless you count Sci-Fi, who has compromised every single night reconnaissance mission ever!

Also, who the fuck is Bullhorn?! you mean the asshole with a mega-phone?! At least Sci-Fi stays quite.

Since Low-Light is suppose to be more of a night fighter anyway, he should probably have night vision goggles, or a gun that has thermal or night vision capability. I don't many accessories like that.

 

[K-Tiger]

The scope on his ARAH rifle was supposed to be a nv-capable one. Slap a Marauder AN/PVS-4 on a rifle that can reasonably be believed to be a long-range one and you should be good to go. And, yes, the asshole with the megaphone.

There wasn't a lot of explicit snipers on the Joe team. I think Scarlett was a marksman.

 

[fogger1138]

The scope on his ARAH rifle was supposed to be a nv-capable one. Slap a Marauder AN/PVS-4 on a rifle that can reasonably be believed to be a long-range one and you should be good to go. And, yes, the asshole with the megaphone.

There wasn't a lot of explicit snipers on the Joe team. I think Scarlett was a marksman.

She was qualified Expert with a number of weapons, including the M-700, according to her filecard. Stalker was a qualified expert on the M-14 according to his filecard and an expert in the comics (don't believe they ever gave qualifications, though).

Snow Job is also qualified expert in "all NATO long range sniper rifles". Do they have short range sniper rifles?

 

[K-Tiger]

The Russians do. I don't think qualifying expert on the M14 necessarily qualifies you to be the with the M21.

 

[MMorelock66]

What about Crosshairs as a marksmen? The dude from the spytroops era.

 

[K-Tiger]

I think both of the Stall brothers were marksmen. Unfortunately their sister is the only thing from the new sculpt era I'd work into my Joeverse.

 

[Giga Bread]

Low light basically just walks around asking people to shoot his gun for him.

 

[lancelot]

What about Crosshairs as a marksmen? The dude from the spytroops era.

That would be an interesting choice for a modern update. Maybe Hasbro will make a new one of him after Retaliation is done, assuming they don't kill the brand. Both Low-Light and Cross Hair have marksman instructor as their secondary MOS, so I'd imagine they'd make a good team. It seems that they could both fulfill the role of sniper and spotter for each other. I guess Low-light could be the spotter during night time, and Cross Hairs during the day.

Is this AN/PVS-4 you were talking about KT?

http://www.marauderinc.com/servlet/Detail?no=182


Now I'm starting to wonder what the best parts to use for a Cross Hairs kitbash would be. POC Dusty's head sculpt would be perfect, I just need the hat that ROC Jungle Ripcord came with. Actually I could probably just use that body as the base for the figure.

 

[MMorelock66]

I'm also on the look out for a Crosshairs base

That would be an interesting choice for a modern update. Maybe Hasbro will make a new one of him after Retaliation is done, assuming they don't kill the brand. Both Low-Light and Cross Hair have marksman instructor as their secondary MOS, so I'd imagine they'd make a good team. It seems that they could both fulfill the role of sniper and spotter for each other. I guess Low-light could be the spotter during night time, and Cross Hairs during the day.

Is this AN/PVS-4 you were talking about KT?

http://www.marauderinc.com/servlet/Detail?no=182


Now I'm starting to wonder what the best parts to use for a Cross Hairs kitbash would be. POC Dusty's head sculpt would be perfect, I just need the hat that ROC Jungle Ripcord came with. Actually I could probably just use that body as the base for the figure.

 

[Midget]

Low light basically just walks around asking people to shoot his gun for him.

Can't speak much for the sniper community, as I've only ever come in contact with one sniper, but from what I recall, the spotter is actually the senior member of a Marine scout sniper team. He's basically telling the shooter exactly what he needs to do as far as dope and hold over, to make the round end up on target. It takes a master shooter to properly call a shot.

 

[Giga Bread]

Can't speak much for the sniper community, as I've only ever come in contact with one sniper, but from what I recall, the spotter is actually the senior member of a Marine scout sniper team. He's basically telling the shooter exactly what he needs to do as far as dope and hold over, to make the round end up on target. It takes a master shooter to properly call a shot.

I was baiting for an eddieism

 

[K-Tiger]

Is this AN/PVS-4 you were talking about KT?

http://www.marauderinc.com/servlet/Detail?no=182

Correctomundo.

 

[snakeling]

Bullshit. PTE figures do it all the time. 30th Anniversary Stalker can also do it, without any modifications. There are figures that can do that. Low-Light just has the misfortune of not being one of them.

At what point was I talking about PTE?

 

[snakeling]

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[snakeling]

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[K-Tiger]

Then you have to deal with the limitations. I don't mind modifying them on occasion, as they look fucking ridiculous holding their guns like that. To each there own and all that jazz.


At least they can do something besides fire from the hip. That's all an ARAH figure can do.

 

[lancelot]

At least they can do something besides fire from the hip. That's all an ARAH figure can do.

Not entirely true. I got a Joe vs Cobra Mirage figure to hold a big ass sniper rifle that he came with, that had a front hand grip. I can get him to get the scope up to his eye, and the stock to his shoulder. I think it had more to do with the gun than the figure, however. On the other hand, the old o-ring figure sculpts are WAY better than than the early Joe vs Cobra era T-Crotch figures, that were too brawny to do anything.


ALSO, none of these figures have been modified beyond kit bashing. The exception is Crazy Legs, the only modification done to him, is that I cut the straps around his legs that were connected to the parachute harness so his legs could move around more easily.

I'm actually proud of this Shock-Wave kit bash. I did so little work, yet the effect was good.

I finally decided to just body swap low light and give him the Steel Brigade vest. Until I get some more tools and figures. For now, he does a much better job looking down the scope than he originally did.

This guy came very close, but not quite there, from the sides he is convincing.

Duke was also close, in fact he came much closer to holding the weapon properly than Night Adder did.

The girls can hold the weapons perfectly. It's hard to tell with Helix though, because of her hair that probably violates military grooming standards.

So there you have it, there are Joes out there that can hold their guns properly. Yes there plenty that don't, such as the Alley Viper, Shock Trooper, the 30th Cobra Trooper (which is a surprise because the Viper has a much easier time holding weapons despite the vest he is wearing). But even some of those can come close, and besides, who cares if the bad guys hold guns correctly? They're suppose to miss and die anyway.

Snakeling, I think you need to do a little bit more experimenting with the figures in your collection a bit more, because you have figures that are capable of looking down the sights if you want them to. That's your choice though.

I think that since Hasbro is capable of producing figures that have the articulation and pose-ability to hold their weapons to an accurate degree of authenticity, they should try to make all future figures have that capability. Especially snipers, or figures that come with sniper rifles.