First post in these woods, so may as well get it started with some customs.
While the new sculpt figures are much maligned, there is no doubt that it was a retail favorite who loved the price point for two figures and were willing to supplement them with a variety of playsets and vehicles. for all it's shortcomings, the line was bigger and better in the market than the beloved 25th line and even ROC, despite having nearly nothing in media tie-ins.
personally, I'm a big fan of that era, even if the figures didn't live up to the art that was provided. that's what customizing is for I suppose. Ironic, that I spent the new sculpt era customizing them into vintage designs, and now I am customizing vintage designs into new sculpt designs. oh, well, without further ado, I present to you...

WET-SUIT vs COBRA MORAY
probably my favorite of the group. The design for Wet-Suit is great, and is the benchmark for how far the figures strayed from what were tremendous designs.


Should be my favorite, as Frostbite is a perfect rendition of the art, and arctic figures are my favorite, but it loses out on the basis of Cobra Moray being more interesting to me than the Neo-Viper

HEAVY-DUTY vs COBRA C.L.A.W.S.
While the design for Heavy Duty doesn't particularly capture Heavy Duty, it is still a really great modern take on a soldier. Gas mask is removable and fits over his head. None of the CLAWS figures ever came close to capturing how great the card art is. If Hasbro ever made the figure to match, it would be one of the great Cobra troops of all time.

SNAKE EYES vs STORM SHADOW
Who really needs more of these two? I do if they are based on kick-ass designs, and this version of Storm Shadow is fantastic; too bad the figures never came close to capturing this design. Favorite part: removable nunchuks on the left leg for SS.

DUKE vs COBRA COMMANDER
The art for Duke is nearly flawless as a 2001 update for the character. Then there was the awful figure. the JvC wave 4 Duke was never needed, Hasbro should have resculpted this design in o-ring construction as far as I am concerned. Cobra Commander suffers the same fate. maybe not as fantastic a design as the rest, but the figure didn't do much with it, even though it was corrected somewhat in wave 3.

GUNG-HO vs DESTRO
I have always loved this Gung Ho design, and the t-crotch figure is the best of the bunch, especially the art accurate clean shaven version. off all of the wave 1 figures, Gung Ho was the best done. again, why this kick-ass design didn't get an o-ring redo is ridiculous. But then you have Destro. even though the art is dynamic looking, there really isn't anything memorable about the concept.

ON-CALL
And last but not least, everyone's favorite horribly frankensteined mail-away G.I. Joe Reservist appropriately code named ON-Call.
wave 2 coming soon. anyone that has an extra POC Zartan they may have picked up for the accessories that wants to contribute to the project, lmk. I can trade fodder or extra figures for it.