The impetus for this figure was one of the 1998 Masterpiece Edition Black Soldier figures. The term Black Solder never really made sense to me. From 1964 to 1969, every version of G.I.Joe had the same headsculpt, only differing in painted hair or eyes, or in this case, the color vinyl used for the head and body- the sculpt remained exactly the same. [It wasn't until 1970 that a new African American sculpt was used for The Adventurer in the Adventure Team series] For the 1998 reissue figures, this didn't change. Every figure,Action Soldier, Sailor, Marine, Pilot, and Black Soldier all had the same body style, and same headsculpt.
So, here was a dark skinned figure with clearly Caucasian features- a thin, long nose and straight molded hair, styled in a side part. Such a figure didn't really look African American. He looked more like other darker skinned, straight haired people I knew, and one that I was. He could've played any other ethnic role easily.
Stephen Stanton, in his Government Issue Joseph (later renamed Sarge) series, had such a figure play an Indian character. I tok a page from that and set to work.
The G.I.Joe Collector's Club had already done similar figures- a Man of Evil, using the Foreign sculpt from the Soldiers of the World series, as a villain for Joe to fight. Similarly, a Man of Asia figure, using the Japanese Soldier sculpt from the Soldiers of the World series, was flocked and included as another Adventure Team member, a hero rather than a villain.
So too, I thought that a Man of India might be beneficial to the team. Why not have another team member join up?
To differentiate the figure from standard Soldiers with their classic hands [nose pickers or pincer grip), I swapped arms from Top Jake (Captain Action style hands) African American firefighter onto a Masterpiece Edition Black Soldier figure. The concept was that after Kung Fu Grip, perhaps Hasbro might've borrowed from Ideal's design and incorporated a new gripping hand feature, after the rubbery Kung Fu Grip hands deteriorated. My next thought was whether to flock or not to flock the figure. While the 1970s Adventure Team figures were mostly flocked with soft flocking to replicate hair, later figures like Mike Power and Bulletman were not flocked. Perhaps the Man of India didn't need flocking to make him part of the Adventure Team.
Then came the decision of how to dress him. Initially, he had on reproduction clothes from Dreams in Visions' Sgt Rock figures, but I later went with a mix of homemade clothes as well as aftermarket attire- his final outfit consists of a Dragon Models tank top, Hasbro socks, Cotswold Collectibles Elite Brigade boots, hat from Integrity Toys Jerrica Benton, and his jacket and shorts were hand made my my aunt- the shorts were intended for Joe, but the jacket started out as a dress shirt for Ken, but looked better as a jacket, with the added waist tie (formerly a shoelace from an infant sneaker).
His gear consists of a camera (Barbie's?), binoculars (Barbie's), a walkie talkie (Top Cop's), a Barbie flashlight, some odds and ends, and a Bratz satchel.
Now he's ready to join the Adventure Team in their exploits!