SLUDGE-VIPER 1991

Now we have figure number 21 for the Re-Color Project, the Sludge-Viper. This figure was a bit of an oddity to me. He had a very cool body sculpt, and while his colors reminded me of an Easter Egg, he still managed to look pretty decent. Unfortunately looking decent isn't good enough, especially when you are a soldier in the most diabolical organization ever to exist. This guy needed to look menacing, something you simply cannot achieve while colored up like a bag of Easter seasonal M&Ms.

Being a member of the hazmat brigade means this guys gets the "Warning!" color scheme taken from B.A.T., as with the other punishment battalion and disposable troops. This figure lends itself quite well to the B.A.T. color scheme and his helmet bears a strong resemblance to the first version B.A.T.. He follows the same basic formula as other troops in these colors; Black uniform with yellow webbing and body armor, and silver details. Since several of my other figures in this color scheme had the orange tinted yellow found on many B.A.T.S, I decided to use the more yellowy color for this one just so the variance in yellows is covered.

His helmet was so complex that it couldn't just be solid black or it lost a lot of its flare. I decided that since it appears to be a large crash helmet worn over the top of a more compact breath filtration helmet, that I would make the outer crash helmet yellow, with the under helmet in black to provide a good contrast. The breather for the helmet was going to be black at first but too much detail was lost and I decided in the end to make the mask yellow instead so it stands out far better and makes the helmet look more flashy.

The rest of the figure was pretty simple by making all the straps and belts yellow and all the control panels silver, and this helped give a good balance to the two colors. I played around with several color arrangements for the chest plate and decided the yellow armor with silver control panel gave the best balance to the color arrangement and allowed the chest armor to blend with his yellow shoulder plates. I balanced this out by using silver for the chest plate cords and the power lines running down both sleeves and pant legs.

The finishing touches were added with the four colors found on the B.A.T. chest hologram. The radar screen readouts on several control panels were painted dark green, with the other three colors used on the various switches and buttons on each panel. Since his chest armor didn't need to be repainted, his Cobra logo was left uncovered and did not need to be replaced.

With this new color scheme he should be well feared when people see him coming, and no-one will ever mistake him for one of the maintenance workers on the Easter Bunnies septic tank. A win-win situation for Sludge-Viper to be sure.

Figure: Sludge-Viper 1991
Scheme: Warning!
Notes: A front and rear view, with a group shot next to a first generation B.A.T. and re-colored Toxo-Viper v1.