Custom Atari-Era Activision Figures

Today I turned 33, so as a birthday present to myself I’m going to get around to posting these customs I made. Using old GI Joes, I made a bunch of characters from some of my favorite Atari games. I specifically chose Activision games due to their particularly memorable characters and recognizable box aesthetic. I used each character’s color scheme from the game (as opposed to the colors from the box art), taking only minor liberties with boots, gloves, belts, etc… 

Short-Order Sam 
Body, Legs, Arms: Cobra Commander

Face: Recondo

Hat: Joseph Colton Mail Away

Cobra Commander’s body happened to look just like a chef’s outfit. I bought a completely sun damaged one on eBay for cheap. For the head, I cut the hat off of Recondo, then sliced the beret off of the mail-away Joseph Colton.  

 




Officer Kelly 
Body, Legs, Arms, Head: Gung Ho Marine Dress Blues

Hat: Riddler from Batman: The Animated Series 

Gung-Ho’s Marine outfit looked close enough to use for a British Bobby outfit. I struggled trying to find or make a helmet, but while I was at work (obsessing about these stupid figures), I noticed my Riddler from the animated series was wearing a derby. And, since he’s slightly bigger than the 3 ¾" Joes, it worked perfectly. I painted one piece of star glitter yellow and glued it on to resemble a helmet. 

 


Pitfall Harry 
Body, Legs: Short Fuze 

Head: Steeler

Arms: Airborne 

I would’ve just used Short Fuze’s whole body, but a buddy of mine had a Short Fuze with a broken thumb, so I gave him the good arms. In return, I stole the arms off of his Airborne. He still doesn’t know it, unless he’s reading this now. In which case, Ben, if you’re reading this, I definitely didn’t steal Airborn’s arms.  

 


Roderick Hero
Complete Figure: Tripwire 

Backpack: Breaker (Plus a metal rod and a plastic piece for the prop) 

Tripwire looked perfect, so I just painted him to match Roderick’s color scheme (or the color scheme of a Bomb Pop). I just stuck a piece of metal into Breaker’s tiny backpack, and made a propeller using some piece of plastic I found at the bottom of a bin.  

  


Frostbite Bailey 

Body, Arms, Legs: General Flagg

Head: Frostbite

General Flagg’s body looks big, bulky, and perfect for Frostbite Bailey. I just repainted him to match the color scheme. For a head, I (coincidentally) used Frostbite, since I wanted somebody with a hat on. Since Frostbite Bailey’s face is so red in the game, I wanted to match that color slightly, so I painted the beard red to help capture the color scheme.