Okay…yeah, the floodgates have pretty much blown open. Suddenly over the past week, a few gray market sellers have started stocking the Pursuit of Cobra pre-production items and test shots again. While I try to make it a policy not to promote the sales themselves, I do, for nosey reasons, like to host the images, just so we can go through them with a fine tooth comb and pick out all the imperfections while they’re still in an unfinished state. :shifty:
Some observations here. Yeah, we’ve been choking on Dukes over the past 5 years. That doesn’t change the fact that Jungle Strike Duke is the balls. A great military look, awesome accessories. If Hasbro slapped Muskrat’s name on here, or even Leatherneck, I think fans would be climbing the walls. As such, it’s a great looking figure, and the new head sculpt makes it even better. Interestingly enough, these pre-production shots have the old Tatum melon.
I’m not really feeling that Snake Eyes. He’s all pouched up like crazy, and I can’t really tell what they’re going for. He started out as an Arctic Threat version at JoeCon, and he’s now a Desert Battle version, though apparently with the same wardrobe. Not real sure how that works. The concept of Timber is a noble one, but not really sold on the execution, at least from what we can tell here. Granted, things might be a bit different at production level.
Storm Shadow looks pretty nice. Very ceremonial, somewhat middle eastern. Looks like he’s all decked out with some crazy cool ninja weaponry. Not bad, though not sure where he really fits.
The Arctic Threat Cobra Commander looks fat, cobbled together, and just sorta… crappy. He’s one figure I’m not sad about losing.
Alley-Viper is, of course, awesome. How long have we been asking for an Alley-Viper with the vintage design, but in better colors? We’ve got it right here. He still looks very Cobra, but a whole lot cooler than the orange and purple. This guy will be flying off the pegs.
All told, a nice assortment. Some really good, some pretty bad, but mostly a solid selection of product to look forward to. I really can’t wait to see what JoeCon brings. Check out all of the various mirrored images below, most pulled from my buddies at The Terror Drome.
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I have to be honest and say, I will be glad not to see most of these figures hit our shelves. At least not in their current forms anyway.
Duke – Well, like has been said, we’ve been CHOKING on Dukes the last several years, so enough is enough. Let’s have this one released as Muskrat (even though I never cared much for the original character, this would be a pleasant improvement for me), or even Leatherneck or Footloose, or Grunt or Repeater…or darn near anyone BUT Duke. The basic look is sweet, but enough Duke for now. Give us someone new for a change!
Snake Eyes – Well, here’s yet ANOTHER one, but at least he isn’t the Ninja Force kick action version in neon blue. I’m still not big on this one either, since it uses the RoC head too, and seems a bit over done on the irrelevant gear options. Not really very commando OR ninja really, more like Alpine… and Timber, OMG, I surely hope they go back and fix his big stupid oversized head, or i’ll have to chuck that thing into the fire. Did the sculpter base this off of watching the Lion King or something?! And WHO thought it was a good idea to let it get THAT far into production?! Wake up, Hasbro.
Storm Shadow – Here again, is ANOTHER SS. The basic uniform/gear looks very cool, but I’m not sure how or why he is supposed to suddenly be Indian/Middle-Eastern Asian looking in design rather than Oriental Asian, and appearing to be like some bizarre samurai (which by the way is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT school of martial arts training and mindset. Ninja and samurai were mortal enemies). If the paint apps aren’t better than those I’ve seen for him elsewhere, I don’t hold much hope for this version of SS either. Might get him for gear to customizing, but that would be about it.
CC – I won’t even acknowledge this continuation of the RoC version as Cobra Commander. I detest the design and concept for this…thing…as CC. Were it a new Red Shadows original character or something else, sure, but not as CC. The initial one is bad enough, but the Polar/Arctic version is very pathetic all the way around. Far too bulky and patchworked to be even mediocre at best. Looking at his uniform, he looks like a VERY badly designed Star Trek movie extra’s costume, with a big head stuck on top. Let’s just call this version the “Elephant Man” CC. The ONLY good thing I see with him is the little robotic looking gizmo beside him, but not worth buying the figure to get.
Alley Viper – I know there are a lot of guys who think this will be a cooler version of the original, with these color adjustments, but I gotta say, the red and gray is just as bad as any other version of the A-V to date. They could have at least gone for something a little more sensible than that. I’d rather have seen them in gray/blue with the same camo pattern as the 25th style, with black gear. To me, this is visually flat, with that paint job. Ultra plain and no feeling or visual impact. All good if you just want to customize though, providing it comes with all of the gear that the 25th version had.
If this batch never saw the light of day, I wouldn’t complain really, except that we didn’t get a new version Jungle soldier (that isn’t Duke!) or that we missed out on the massive gear elements that come with the Alley-Vipers. I still have hopes that we see a good bit of the PoC stuff make it on out and it turns out well, so maybe Hasbro won’t disappoint us too badly with the rest of this line by the time it reaches the open market.
I still love that Duke. My goodness that is a NICE looking figure. Slap a boonie hat on him and bingo, you’ve got a great Muskrat. That Alley Viper is very nice looking as well. I’ll be getting a nice squad of them, me thinks.
Yeah, that duke is going to be muskrat! there’s no other way we’ll get that character; as for “elephant man cc” i think he would be elephant man’s UGLIEST brother! damn it looks crappy, and oh, big-headed timber? he looks like the “american werewolf in london” lousy effects. let’s hope he gets fixed by the time it hits the shelves.
I want the ice auger.
That’s the best GIJoe accessory ever! 😀
Man, a couple of those Dukes would make GREAT Contra customs.
The Arctic Threat Cobra Commander is/was a jungle version of Cobra Commander. Neither environment is an excuse for the wing tips though. The guy was in the Army. He should own some combat boots.
Just like the canceled mail-away, I probably would’ve bought it anyway just for the drone. Hasbro should put this nanomite drone, the canceled HISS drone (in black w/ a red CC1 chase variant also available), and the nineties Eel’s robot shark (w/ a green “nanomite” torpedo) on a single card and sell it for the same price as a single figure.
They could do the same for the Joes with repaints of ROC Ripcord’s drone, DEF Shockwave’s battering ram tank (w/o the electronics), and the Con Long Arm/ROC Tripwire’s bomb disposal robot.
And if there’s any budget left they can toss in a few rifles, helmets, and vests so they’d be like the modern era accessory packs.
Subsequent re-releases can be repainted in environment specific colors like arctic or desert or specialty team colors like Python Patrol and Tiger Force.