From day one, and even with Wave 1, I’ve kept an open mind and really liked what they’re doing with the new G.I. Joe Vs. COBRA figure line. Through the ups and downs and ins and outs I’ve always supported them and will continue to do so, not because I’m a Hasbro “sheep” or because I enjoy kissing their asses, but because I like the product and I think that the company is making some hard, but decent choices.
That being said, there are figures that come out once in a while that make you really wonder where Hasbro’s brain is and what they were thinking when they designed a particular new character or trooper…and then you get cases like the Tele-Viper and you think ‘man…if every figure were this cool, there wouldn’t be the division there is between RAH and JvC collectors’. While I enjoy many of the figures that come out of Hasbro’s camp, there are only a few that really knock me down and make me almost giddy with excitement. Two recent figures that did that were the Wave 8 COBRA Commander and the Wave 7 Destro. Tele-Viper is doing a decent job of it as well.
This figure is the way COBRA Troopers should be done…he is an update to the original, complimenting everything good about it, and changing everything bad about it until there is a figure that pays wonderful homage to the original, while at the same time surpasses it in greatness.
Personally, I wasn’t much of a fan of the original Tele-Viper. His mold was pretty bland, and he was quite mono-chromatic, without much to draw my interest. Not only that, but he never did much in the comic or toon (or much productive, anyway) and he had a very distinctive, almost goofy looking face, which makes using him as a trooper very difficult. Not only that, but his funky weapon compliment made him very non-threatening, a mark of doom for a COBRA operative.
So, I wasn’t really looking forward to this new version. I didn’t think I’d have any use for another COBRA Communications Trooper. They’re obviously crucial parts of the COBRA trooper hierarchy, and serve an indispensable purpose, but they would work mostly behind the scenes and I don’t see them being front-line types of guys.
I think this figure just changed my whole outlook.
First of all, his mold is pretty spot-on proportion wise. He’s got nice, large hands compared to many of the Wave 7-8 figures, and his torso doesn’t look overly short or squat. His legs are an almost normal length and he seems built like a real person instead of a body-builder. His shoulders are slim, his torso normally shaped, and his legs are thin, the right length and it all just works great, which is a great move, considering this guy probably serves most of his purpose as a non-combatant.
As for the specifics of the mold, Hasbro hits a home run here as well. His patterned vest is obviously taken from the original, yet updated nicely and with some different textures/colors thrown in there just to make it stand out more, which is a great thing. Yet besides that, the rest of his mold is surprisingly plain, yet very effective. He’s got a non-complex mold which just works. Pouches are all in the right places for proper effectiveness without being overabundant and it looks like he could be dressed in an actual uniform.
So Hasbro seems to hold off on the detail on the body, and instead moves it up to the head, which is a great idea. Tele-Viper’s helmet is streamlined and menacing, two things that the original was not. His angled goggles are functional, yet very cool and I love that COBRA logo on his forehead. Then he’s got that elaborate mechanism along the back of his helmet, obviously meant to provide his communications system, which is a work of genius by the Hasbro folks. It looks wonderful, and appears to be very functional.
But the best part of this figure are his accessories, for sure. It’s a known fact (and one I fully agree with) that Hasbro simply does not produce enough new accessories. That is one of my main gripes, especially when I see what great stuff they’re capable of making. First of all, the earpiece for Tele-Viper is perfect! It snaps right into the side of his head and rotates to hang just where it should, by his mouth. It’s very small and can pop off easily, so be very careful with it! Then you’ve got this super-neat chest harness/antenna combination which plugs into the hole in his chest and back, and provides a long range antenna for communication purposes. Perfect. A great little touch that adds a great feature to this figure and makes him much more portable without dragging tons of equipment along with him. Excellent, excellent stuff. He also comes with a small, nicely detailed walkie-talkie and a non-sound attack version of Dart’s shotgun, something VERY cool and a nice weapon for him to be equipped with. At first, I thought it odd that he had a weapon at all…I mean, back in the 80’s, he was pure wuss (at least in my mind…) but his filecard has instantly made the Tele-Viper a credible COBRA trooper on and off the battlefield. His role as a bodyguard for COBRA Commander and a gunman is a stroke of genius, and I love it. I’ll absolutely need to put aside a generous assortment of Tele-Vipers to make my CC Secret Service Squad for sure.
Last thing I want to touch on are his colors. His predecessor had a great COBRA color scheme- deep, dark blue. The only problem is, that’s the only color he had, and it made him somewhat boring. Well, this new version is a wealth of colors. He has a dark purple uniform (which is a GREAT shade of a controversial color) with nice pouches of vibrant blue and gray. These different shades of color come together very well, and make this figure quite cool and interesting, but still keep him colored the way a COBRA should be, so he still fits right in.
It’s an unfortunate shame that this figure came in as a late release and wasn’t produced widely with the original run of Wave 8, because both the Tele-Viper and Sgt. Airborne are terrific figures and deserve to be in many armies. Buy this two pack when you see it, you will not be disappointed!
That being said, there are figures that come out once in a while that make you really wonder where Hasbro’s brain is and what they were thinking when they designed a particular new character or trooper…and then you get cases like the Tele-Viper and you think ‘man…if every figure were this cool, there wouldn’t be the division there is between RAH and JvC collectors’. While I enjoy many of the figures that come out of Hasbro’s camp, there are only a few that really knock me down and make me almost giddy with excitement. Two recent figures that did that were the Wave 8 COBRA Commander and the Wave 7 Destro. Tele-Viper is doing a decent job of it as well.
