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Wraith is a new Mercenary in the GI Joe Universe, created by Devil's Due Productions (DDP for short) when they had the license for the GI Joe comics. Hasbro recently decided to convert him from the printed page to a 3D plastic figure. I know I wasn't the only one who was happy to hear it, and couldn't wait to get it. And I know I wasn't the only one who was incredibly disappointed by the end result.

The figure itself was ok. However, it has a few problems with it, right from the get go. The armor piece that covered the chest was bulky, and restricted movement of the arms. It also had wires running from each forearm gauntlet to the bicep, that restricted movement as well. Not to mention that when the faceplate was lifted, Tony Stark was under there. Well, I guess that was almost accurate, as Wraith did look a little Stark-ish in the comics. But I didn't like it.

Here's the modifications that I made:

1) First thing I did was clip off those annoying wires. You can't move the arms practically at all with them attached.

2) Second thing I did was disassemble the armor. With the way that it was created, the figure couldn't move his arms... maybe they figured that with the wires there, you couldn't move them anyway. But I wanted movement. I cut the armor into 4 pieces - chest, back and 2 shoulders. I also thinned it out a little bit, as the Hasbro version was pretty thick in places. I discarded the remaining original pieces, the part that connected everything and the huge collar piece. I created a strap system that connects everything together. The armor is no longer removable, but I don't think that's a big deal. The new system allows him to move his arms - either one at a time, or both - without the chest armor riding up. The chest and the back plates are both glued to the torso, and the straps run underneath to hold the shoulder plates in place. The shoulder plates are NOT glued the arms in any place, thus allowing them to move up and down and allow arm movement.

3) Next I did a little something different with his head. I'm not a fan of the Tony Stark face underneath, and who's going to display the figure with the face showing, anyway? I also didn't like the way the face plate hung, it sat a little too low IMO so I glued it on a little higher up. Repainted it in two different silver colors and repainted the eyes.

4) I repainted the entire armor plating and the upper torso. I used two different metallic silvers - Tamiya Metallic Grey for the torso and Citadel Mithril Silver for the armor.

5) My favorite version of Wraith is by far the Michael Turner image. So I really wanted to add that blade that he drew on there. I created that with some styrene sheet, and attached it to the gun placement turned backwards and trimmed down.

 
All contents on this website are from my own personal collection. I am not affiliated in any way, shape, or form with LucasArts, Lucas Film, Hasbro, Star Wars, GI Joe, Marvel Comics, or any other properites shown here.

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