You would think after three years we’d seen almost every canceled Rise of Cobra figure that was out there, but as usual, Gyre-Viper proves that thinking incorrect. We’d heard rumors about these figures several times over the years, with the most solid information coming from package artist Mike Thompson, but for the first time ever, we are seeing plastic evidence of canceled Rise of Cobra figures Dr. Mindbender, Zap, and Budo. Gyre-Viper also tosses in some more great images of Nano-B.A.T. while he’s at it, and to further prove the theory about these figures’ histories, Nano B.A.T. seems to come as part of the package with the other three figures.
Check out the very nice gallery of images at JoeDeClassified.com. Dr. Mindbender is a very interesting looking addition, with the 25th Anniversary head sculpt and some great purple gloves as homage to the original. Budo is mostly a Resolute Training Storm Shadow with what looks like the Hard Master head and the belt/ceremonial skirt from the Valor Vs. Venom Slice. Zap is obviously the most straight-forward update.
Rumors have persisted that these are part of a canceled second series of Wal-Mart Exclusive 2-packs, and Mike Thompson believed that was the case as well. Check out a few of the mirrored images below, and look at all these great pictures at JoeDeClassified.com. A huge thanks as always to Gyre-Viper for the pictures.
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Cool to see these, thanks Gyre, but these two minute customs won’t be missed. Sometimes canceling stuff is a good thing.
Hey I wish they’d canceled Rise of Cobra all together. heheh.
Hmm. Character-wise, Mindbender would have been the major draw for me here, but those parts don’t blend well enough to do him justice. Zap and the nano bat are pretty cool, but I think I would have been unsatisfied. Plus, if it were a Wal-Mart exclusive, I would never have actually seen it because my local branch hasn’t regularly carried GI Joe stuff since the very early days of ROC. Not a huge loss.
I agree with the general consensus here. These guys were cancelled for good reason. On the other hand, we can now pay upwards of twenty bucks for a carded Nano-Bat, so …yay?
yeah, though budo is nice the other ones are lacking but hey I would have bought the Mindbender and zap for parts at least.
Only Zap doesn’t do it for me.
The B.A.T is goofy and fun, Mindbender is a great base to work with and Budo, delicious.
These don’t break my heart. Mindbender looks comical and the rest are repainted kit bashes.
I see what they were trying to go for with the Mindbender but those parts just don’t work well together. The arms don’t mesh well with that torso and the coat doesn’t fit that torso well either.
That’s hilarious! I made that same exact Zap, only I used a masked head. I wouldn’t have bought those at Wal-mart. But the ROSS prices the rest of the two packs came down at would have been ok.