GI Joe - A Real American Hero: Cobra Rifle Range Unit (Hasbro, 1985)

GI Joe RAH: Cobra Rifle Range Unit (Hasbro, 1985)

From 1982 through 1984, I loved GI Joe toys!  I think I had every figure and vehicle for the first three waves.  I picked up every issue of the comic book and I sometimes watched the cartoon.  By the time the fourth wave hit the shelves in 1995, I was still a big fan, but no longer a completist when it came to these real American heroes.  Don't misunderstand, I was as at maximum excitement to finally have action figures of the Dreadnoks!  I had been reading about them in the comics and just thought they were the greatest.  Even with the fourth wave, I picked up almost all of the figures, but the vehicles and such just didn't grab me as they had before.  I did have the Bridge Layer (although I honestly don't know why) and the awesome Snow Cat!  I must have never seen the Cobra Night Landing raft in stores because that's definitely a piece that I would have liked.  However, for some reason, I ended up with the Cobra Rifle Range Unit from the Battlefield Accessories sets.
Parts for the GI Joe: Cobra Rifle Range Unit (Hasbro, 1985)

 Cobra didn't really seem to get sets like this anywhere near as much as the Joes did.  It's not a bad set and I do remember playing with it some as a kid, but I don't remember it ever being a favorite.  The set came with a couple of targets that were attached to sandbag bases and if you shot them with a rocket-firing gun (from another toy line, of course), they would fall over.  It had a gun rack with three guns, a firing range sign, and two figure stands.  There was also a "Bunker" (as it was called on the back of the box) or "Embankment" (as it was called on the blueprints) which was really more of a machine gun nest.  Not a bad set for under $3.
I still have the box from my childhood Cobra Rifle Range Unit, but I wasn't able to find the paperwork.

While photographing my Rifle Range Unit, I noticed that the artwork on the cover and the photo on the back both include a blue AK-47 rifle along with blue versions of an M-16 and Snow Job's laser rifle.  However, my set included a blue version of the XM-16 with bayonet that came with Airborne instead of an AK-47.  Also, the figure stands on the box are tan, but the figure stands included in my set are dark blue.  If you had this set as a kid, do you remember which rifles were included or what color the figure stands were?  I don't know if there are variations of this set or if the package art simply never matched what was included in the actual sets.

 Did you have any of the GI Joe Battlefield Accessories when they first came out in the 1980s?  Do you have any of them now?  What are your favorite GI Joe sets or vehicles?  Tell me in the comments!

Also, if you collect toys, you should know about Toylanta, the best toy show in the Southeastern United States held annually in Georgia.  Visit Toylanta.com for more information.

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