G.I. Joe: 25th Anniversary COBRA Trooper (Single Packs Wave 2)

One thing I think we can get used to for the next year or two is that it won't be hard to get our hands on a lot of these COBRA Troopers. Already, within the first 6 months, we have Troopers or Officers in pretty much every single assortment, and mixed in liberally throughout the five-packs. Still, while a lot of folks are really happy about this single pack COBRA Trooper who came out with a silver-logo "homage". This is, of course, a flashback to the "Viper Pilot" version of this figure back in 1983, but Hasbro didn't anticipate that collectors would prefer that the standard backbone of their COBRA army have the red logo as they're meant to. Hasbro did acquiesce at the Convention, however, that it would not make much business sense to NOT release the COBRA Trooper with red logo in single pack form, which would indicate we'll likely see that down the road.

There really isn't a whole lot more to discuss about this figure, since I've pretty much reviewed this figure twice already with the COBRA Trooper from the 5-Pack and COBRA Officer from Wave 1. The base figure here is unchanged except for the additional paint apps on the Drugonov and the addition of the silver logo.

As funny as it sounds, too, it looks as if this COBRA Trooper could end up suffering from the same issues as the original Viper Pilot did way back in the day. All I've done with this figure is take it from the package and pose it a few times, and check out that silver logo:

It's already rubbing off! Perhaps this is another reason to avoid the silver logo tampos in the future on Hasbro's part, or perhaps I just got unlucky with this particular figure. Whatever the reason, just something I need to point out.

The articulation here, as I've mentioned in other reviews, is consistent with what you expect from the Anniversary figures these days. Some limited elbow problems, limited hip problems, but the rest is very nice. I don't even have the problems with the mid-torso joints that other folks seem a bit hung up on. Once you get the webgear on, it's all good in my book.

The gear here is exactly what you get with the original Trooper, except for some added (and very nicely added, I must say) brown paint applications on the sniper rifle. It adds some nice depth and detail to the rifle, and I really dig it. I'm not sure I dig it enough to army build this figure like crazy, but this is a very cool single pack version of the Trooper.

All in all, there's no doubt that putting out this COBRA Trooper in single pack form was a no-brainer. The change from red to silver logo has caused some disturbances throughout the fan community, though honestly it doesn't bother me a whole lot. If folks have a ton of these guys all grouped together, I don't think it'll take anything away if some of them have silver logos and some have red. No big deal to me, though I don't plan to army build these figures all that heavily anyway.

I'm glad Hasbro is getting a lot of these troopers out in different formats. That gives us completists a chance to pick up every figure and end up with a nice little army afterwards, rather than resorting to buying 8-10 versions of the same figure. This is a fine update, I feel comfortable recommending it, regardless of what color the logo is. It works for me.