I understand that NECA is working on the Archie Comics Mutanimals. So in order not to ruffle any feathers, Super7 could look at the IDW Roster as inspiration.
The main 3 characters missing are Herman, Sally Pride, and Lindsey Baker. The issue would be how could they adapt these into a Vintage-inspired look.
Like Vintage Playmates loved a bit of body horror in some mutations or have characters be wearing asymmetrical clothing like say 1 shoe and the other foot bare. I'm not a HUGE fan of that, but I'm racking my brain about it and have zero napkins to doodle...
Herman is theoretically the easiest, since he's the most toyetic of the bunch. Also, the most expensive. The sheer size and dumpster would put him in Mon*Star pricing range. Now if he had existed in the 80s, he most likely would have been a gimmicky figure. Most likely using the "storage shell" gimmick with his dumpster "shell". Another alternative would've been a "transformation gimmick" where he "hides" inside his dumpster. (The "shellformer transformation" would act as him hiding.)
His color scheme would be changed greatly, because it's not toyetic enough. I sense that he would get some bits of garbage stuck to his clothing and body. His BDU would probably get a desert camo pattern since that would pop next to his red body, green dumpster shell and blue "water camo" pants. Using Playmates logic, one of his legs could have a rubber boot for shoreline fishing, while another of his legs gets amismatched and broken "Military styled" boot.
His accessories should be military grade weapons if we use straight up IDW. But since it would be a "Vintagized" version, they would end up as Military styled weapons MacGyvered from garbage and actual weaponry.
Soda Missile Launchers or something like it that would plug into the dumpster, maybe a Narwhal tooth bayonet or something.
He wouldn't get an extra head but instead an interchangeable left arm. Crab meat arm and mechanical arm. 4 extra left hands claws:
Expressive open claw, fully closed claw, in addition to the c-grip claw (both organic and mechanical) the right claw would be articulated.
It's from the waist down that I'm worried. The dumpster's weight will mess with his center of gravity. With Super7 delivering loose legs on figures, having articulation on his legs would cause him to topple over.
With all that said, Herman still is the easiest one to translate into a toy. Now Sally Pride is easy, but she lacks some of the extra "oomph!" that Herman has. She's a lioness in a leather jacket and jeans. A lot of her design would depend on "How much cost cutting can Super7 do?"
I'll start with accessories first, because these would be the same for all design possibilities for the figure.
-Set of tools (reuse from party wagon)
-sword and gun
-standard set of hands
-alt head with a more 80s hairstyle.
It would be optimal if Sally could get a 100% new sculpt. But I will assume that something has to give and parts reuse is forced upon me.
Personally I'd only reuse April's upper arms, crotch,upper legs, and Mondo Gecko's shoes.
The head, forearms, lower legs, and torso would be new. The reason to have some April compatible parts is for the posible Werecheetah April (aka Mutatin April) reusing as much as possible. Since Herman is a 100% new sculpt, we need to find a way to balance the rest with parts reuse. So I tried to get creative.
Honestly, there isn't much that can be done with her, but she is still a lot easier to sell than Lindsey... Sally has the whole Rebellious Punk Lioness vibe to her. Lindsey is a scientist. How can we make Lindsey desirable as a toy? A $55 toy I might add. It's a bit hard to sell a character who is literally a non-fighter civilian who wears normal clothes.
If she were "vintagized" I sense a Lab Coat would be part of her outfit. I know I almost sound like a broken record, but Ravishing April would be a source of inspiration here. I'm mot saying a ravishing April Repaint... which is what Playmates would've done. I'm saying starting from there making a few changes to make Ravishing April into a Lindsey Baker. The first change I would do would be the torso. For her I can see something like Irma's torso (minus the tied sweater) working for Lindsey. Toss in a lab coat, Ravishing April's skirt and shoes and badabing! You have Lindsey's body. All she'd need is a new head and "bare" legs. By bare I mean no weird anklets or frills from bloomers sculpted in the legs. If the legs are molded in a more brownish color and getting a satin clear coat, the illusion of pantyhose can be achieved.
What I DEFINITELY WOULDN'T WANT TO SEE IS a blue repaint of vanilla April with new lower legs and forearms with Stock Gen's logo tampographed on the back as Lindsey Baker. That would be ridiculously lazy even for Super7.
For accessories, I'd say an injection gun, Ooze Canister, Laptop, Erlenmeyer flask, Volumetric flask, and a stun gun. Obviously extra hands, maybe an extra head would be necessary accessories.
I'm trying really hard to make Lindsey and Sally desirable as action figures while trying to keep them as low-cost as possible.
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