Action Figure Overview: G.I. Joe - Viper, Cobra Infantry (Hasbro, 1986)
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| G.I. Joe! Cobra Infantry, Code Name: Viper (Hasbro, 1986) |
When the first wave of the G.I. Joe relaunch in 3 3/4" scale arrived in stores in 1982, I thought they were the most amazing action figures that I had ever seen! I wanted every G.I. Joe figure that I could get my hands on and even to this day, that first wave includes some of my favorite figures! As subsequent waves arrived, Hasbro offered more and more toy awesomeness with a few clunkers here and there. But mostly, the figures that arrived each year gave me plenty of opportunity to add to my G.I. Joe and Cobra armies!
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| My childhood Cobra Viper. I would have liked an army of them! |
When the fifth wave was released in 1986, there were a couple of figures that didn't appeal to me at all, but there were also a few that I just had to have! The Cobra Vipers were on the short list of my personal favorites from this wave! I thought these guys were so awesome looking that I wanted a few of them. Although I wasn't able to build an army of Vipers, I was fortunate enough to get one.
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| Although I saw Vipers as mainly an urban team, they took on G.I. Joe anywhere! |
In most cases, the figures that seemed farthest from reality were the ones that I didn't like as much. Dr. Mindbender, the former orthodontist who became a crazy megalomaniac after messing around with his own brain waves, wasn't their strongest character...and his shirtless, monocled action figure with purple pants and a cape didn't help. Their updated, neon green laser trooper "Sci-Fi" wasn't really a step in the right direction for me either. I could see someone making the argument that the Vipers weren't very realistic either. However, they reminded me of police in riot gear and it seemed perfectly logical that Cobra would have similarly outfitted teams patrolling Springfield, the city that served as Cobra's bass of operations.
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| The front and back of the card back from my childhood Viper |
Features like the bullet-proof vest, padded gloves, and helmet with a visor mixed with the predominant blue and black color scheme of their uniforms to make them look very similar to the special police teams that I'd seen on TV. They were armed with light gray assault rifles which also had a grenade launcher. Their backpacks seemed huge and served as a reasonable excuse to suddenly give these guys just about anything they might need in battle! Although their file cards indicated that they were the most basic of troops, I ignored that information completely and made these guys tougher than that. They weren't as elite as some of Cobra's other troops, but they certainly weren't "bullet catchers" that got sent out first in a battle just to wear down the enemy.
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| Vipers carried huge backpacks filled with unimaginable weapons! |
Because the Vipers didn't arrive until the 5th wave of G.I. Joe, I didn't have as much of an opportunity to play with them as a kid. I was nearing the end of G.I. Joe dominating my thoughts by 1986 and playing with these awesome action figures less and less by then. I continued picking up figures for a while after this wave, but the amount of action that they saw diminished quickly at this point. I wish these figures had come out sooner because I really think they're great and I wish they had been available when I was at the height of my G.I. Joe obsession. Still, even now, they still stand out as one of the cooler Cobra troopers to me.
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| Four views of a fully-armed Cobra Viper (Hasbro, 1986) |
In the years since the release of this awesome figure, Hasbro has released a couple dozen different versions of the Cobra Viper. As a generic infantry soldier, they were an obvious choice for a new re-imagining every couple of years. Although there were several versions that looked great, I don't think any of them were quite as cool as the original from 1986!
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| Cobra Infantry, Code Name: Vipers (Hasbro, 1986) |
Do you collect G.I. Joe figures? If so, what do you think of the Cobra Vipers? Which Cobra Troop character is your favorite? Tell me below in the comments!
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Awesome review!
ReplyDeleteWhile you imagined your Viper(s) as unit of special operators, even before I got my first, I went the opposite way and took the file card literally, treating them (and the Python Vipers) as my lowest-tier Cobra Infantry. Above them were all of my suffixed-Vipers (Techno-, Astro-, H.E.A.T.-) and my Cobra Officer, whom I treated as an actual officer. With the exception of Battle Armor Cobra Commander, I didn't have many named/individual Cobras (excluding Cobra-La) until my later years.
I think it's great that we all had different adventures with the toys that we loved!
DeleteWas always a fan of the Cobra Viper, but my fav was the Alley Viper. The only thing I hated was the fact that the shield "handle" was horizontal, and not Verticle, so it made having the figures hold it awkward imo.
ReplyDeleteI've never had an Alley Viper, but that one's on my "want" list!
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