Beach Head Custom Figure

In 2019, thought it would be fun if Hasbro started making six-inch G.I. Joe action figures, especially since the Joe line had been dormant for a couple of years. While looking at various Marvel Legends action figures at the comic shop, I saw the Erik Killmonger figure. I thought, “you know, with some paint and a new head, this would make a pretty decent Beach Head figure.”

Beach Head (alias Wayne R. Sneeden) is kind of a jerk of a character with his penchant for sticking to the rules no matter what, but he’s one of the few Joes that really stands out amongst a crew of clean-cut-always-do-the-right-thing individuals. And his goal, like the rest of the G.I. Joe team, is to protect human freedom, which is always a lofty purpose.

The customization process was pretty simple. I used an x-acto knife to cut off Killmonger’s hair, and some Sculpey III to sculpt Beach Head’s trademark ski mask. Used a lighter to heat up and harden the Sculpey, sanded it down, and then the painting began.

While I definitely was more focused on the cartoon than any other iteration of G.I. Joe as a kid, I thought the animated Beach Head’s grey gloves looked a little silly, so I opted to go with black gloves like the original toy. The two designs are otherwise basically the same, so there weren’t any major decisions to be made. Just had to swivel Killmonger’s belt around to get the extra ammo on the front side and better match Mr. Sneeden’s design. Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t express how much fun I had painting the camouflage on his pants.

This was a fun little project that didn’t take terribly long. Of course, less than a year after I made this, Hasbro announced the G.I. Joe Classified action figure line, which is a series of six-inch G.I. Joes, and Beach Head is included in the Target-exclusive “Cobra Island” wave, the second set of figures in the line. Oh well, this was still fun to make!

Yo, Joe!