Crimson Neo-Viper

Carlos chimes in once more with a guest-review, helping my sorry ass out, since I don't have enough time to get to all of this product that's flooding store shelves these days! Take it away, Carlos...

CARLOS: Oh oh. Hasbro is already throwing out that word that makes some cringe..... CRIMSON. Its only the third wave of R.O.C. and we are getting the 'Crimson' repaints. Crimson Neo-Viper is a crimson repaint, without a doubt, but is he different enough to warrant a purchase? Read on for my opinion.

CARLOS: According to their file card, Crimson Neo-Vipers are more skilled and have higher endurance than normal Neo-Vipers. They are also guards to Cobra Leaders. When I first saw pics of these I thought of a Crimson Guard in R.O.C. movie style but in hand and seeing some of his accesories I see more of a throwback to the Royal Guards from Cobra La. For some reason that makes me like him more. I could see these guys guarding the inner sanctum of a Cobra headquarters as a final line of defense in case Joes breach the frontline. But enough of his purpose, how is the figure?

JUSTIN: I can't quite get my head around the purpose of this guy either. Yeah, I get that he's some sort of bodyguard, but he doesn't come across really as the "Crimson Guard" equivolent. I think it's just a familiar COBRA color, and Hasbro's rolling with it. I also kind of like his somewhat vague resemblence to COBRA La, and I love that his actual title is "Royal Guard".

CARLOS: Well the figure shares the exact same tooling as Neo-Viper except now he sports a metallic crimson coloring. I really like the paint scheme. The crimson is not a loud obnoxious color but more of a flaring 'danger' color. Sorta like the warning colors in snakes, he has that 'Im going to cause you serious pain if you approach me!' look. But that mold comes with all the hindering arm restrictions, as well, due to that body armor. Luckily he doesn't include bulky hard to use weapons like the Neo-Viper did.

JUSTIN: I hate the fact that I own this figure. I told myself right up front that I was not going to go crazy with the COBRA troops this time around, mostly because they didn't do much for me. Well, once I got Viper Commando and Neo-Viper in hand, my opinion changed, and once I saw some of these guys hanging from the pegs at a Target, I just couldn't help myself. Not only is this guy crimson, this is guy is about the most bad ass shade of crimson I've seen in a while. The Crimson Guard effect has worn kind of thin, but the glossy, thick, rich shade of shiney red that compliments these figures just looks impressive. Really impressive.

CARLOS: He comes with a ton of new gear. Some are very odd choices. He has the BFG useless spring loaded missile, sigh. He has an awesome rapid fire assault gun with a bayonet. This gun rocks and with the bayonet it does resemble the ARAH Crimson Guard gun. He also has the standard Cobra side arm, a machete like knife, two axes, a large spear like weapon, a snake and a container. Lots of stuff, you can't really complain about all this gear but he has no backpack and therefore no where to store it. He can only carry what his two hands will hold.

JUSTIN: Yeah, I absolutely love the machine gun, bayonet and all. The snake in the crate is a pretty nice touch, and it does make sense considering this guys are obviously often seen in the "inner sanctum" of COBRA. Like the Elite-Viper I have no idea what's up with the hatchets, though. Lots of upcoming figures seem to come with these strange tools rather than appropriate weapons, and I can't really explain it.

CARLOS: That assault rifle is a real beauty. With some work you can get him to hold it correctly, too. Like I had said before in the Neo Viper review, I think its the bulky odd sci-fi guns than hinder them being held correctly, and that holds true here. Same figure as Neo Viper but with different gear he feels so much better. With that I just can't knock him in the articulation department too much.

JUSTIN: Yeah, I was happy to see that the weapon-holding issues with the troopers in the Rise of COBRA line seems much more focused on the weapon size and not so much the range of motion in the figure itself. Weapon problems are very easily resolved.

CARLOS: That gear, though, is hard to judge. Some of it is very oddball. Why would he need two axes, I guess they would be a last line of defense if he ran out of ammo. I just with he had a place to store them. They could have utilized that thigh peg hole gimmick here and it would have vastly improved the figure. I dont know why he comes with a snake or a container (may involve a movie scene) but its there for what ever you would want to use it for. The top pops out and you can slide the snake in and out pretty easily. He also has that long spear/hook weapon. For some reason that gives me the Royal Guard impression when he holds it. Sorta like a ceremonial weapon.

CARLOS: I've only bought one so far but I may pick up a second one to have a pair. That crimson metallic armor really shines and I like it. He is not perfect. Neo Viper had that awesome backpack that could hold the rifles, but those rifles were imposible to hold for him. Crimson Neo Viper has a much better assault rifle that can be held correctly but he lacks a place to hold the rest of his gear. You pick and choose your battles but you can't win them all. Still, not bad for a repaint.

JUSTIN: I feel like I have to strike while the iron is hot, or I won't get some of these figures, considering where I live and where I have to shop...so when I saw a helping of these figures during my trip to Hasbro's Charity Screening, I couldn't help but snag a pair. I only got two, and I don't feel like I need any more, but I also don't feel like I got shortchanged either. The paint scheme on these figures is absolutely brilliant...or maybe that's just because they're shiney...I do love my shiney objects...

Buy this figure at Big Bad Toy Store!

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