G.I. Joe Spy Troops Vehicles - Crimson Command Chopper
I’ve always been very peculiar about my toys and how they’re represented in the mass media. When watching the original G.I. Joe toons, I had a big problem with a hatless Lady Jaye, a long-haired Scarlett, and a Firefly with bare hands. I think I had some issues as a kid. :)
But regardless, that translates into today. I find that the closer the comic/cartoon, etc characters and vehicles are to the plastic forms I hold in my hands, the better I like it. When Devil’s Due whacks out the vehicle designs, it bugs me a little, and when they choose some other uniform for a character rather than sticking with a cool one that already exists in figure form, I get a little bothered.
This was one thing that I really liked about Spy Troops: The Movie. For the most part, the characters within were very accurately represented, and the vehicles…well, the vehicles looked like they were popped right off of store shelves and stuck into the TV screen. That’s probably a benefit to computer generated cartoons, and it works really well in this case, and frankly that might be where a lot of my enjoyment of this vehicle comes from.
Since day 1, the Joes and COBRAs have swapped vehicle designs and vehicles, each side using molds from the other, and usually I’m not real wild about the idea. It doesn’t bother me a whole lot, since most of COBRAs designs are probably from MARS, which could easily be licensing it’s tech to the US Government as well, but I like it a lot better when they have an actual explanation for it, and Spy Troops explained it pretty well. As a captured Night Attack Chopper, the Crimson Command Chopper was built and designed to be as powerful as the Joe chopper was, and I think the modifications that Hasbro made to it are enough to draw it away from it’s predecessor and make it cool and interesting in it’s own right.
The overall helicopter design is near-flawless, using an attack-chopper foundation and building upon it excellently. It resembles an Apache, or any other next generation assault helicopters, but they added enough design flair to make it new and different, and unique to G.I. Joe (and now COBRA). The great thing is, it works on both sides.
Face it, it would be very strange to see a Skystriker flying around with a COBRA logo on it. Some Joe vehicles are just iconic that way and it just wouldn’t work. Hasbro could have easily slapped some red and black paint on the NAC and passed it off as a COBRA vehicle (like they did with the Fang III/Missile Storm), but they really went the extra mile.
First of all, the unique helicopter blade design lends itself well to either side, but by adding those wicked ridged scales on the propellers, it brings a new life to these cool, crooked blades. Then Hasbro really ran with the ball, and added this same cool detail to the canopy, missiles, and some great snap on plates that attach to the rocket pods. Then they took this detail and included it with a very neat rear gun tail, which adds a cool flair to the tail rotor and ensures that the Crimson Command Chopper is not defenseless from behind. This combined with the modernized design and shape really make this thing stand out as a killer new COBRA weapon.
Instead of the traditional gunpod on the front of the chopper, COBRA also elected to go with an interestingly designed claw/gun combination. This contraption is a very cool, large claw-like apparatus which has twin guns on each prong, enabling the weapons to be positioned. Very cool addition!
Now with these scales, the neo-COBRA design, and couple that with this killer new paint scheme, this helicopter is downright impressive. I know we are getting bombarded with crimson troops and red-hued vehicles galore, but on this chopper, the deep, dark red and black snake-stripes look killer and give this thing a great COBRA feel. The overall package just screams COOOBRAAAAA from the skies. I love it.
But, nothing is perfect, right? And with this expertly crafted air weapon, the only downside is the pilots. I love the Crimson twins, and have since their introduction, but they just do not fit this mold. I can appreciate what Hasbro is trying to do, giving us a more business-oriented pair of Crimson Guard Commanders, but it falls very flat with these two figures, and they end up not even looking as cool as the mold’s original incarnation, the COBRA CLAWS Commander. They do look a little different than he does, with some slight shade changes here and there, but the look isn’t different enough, or unique enough to really fit the bill. These figures are pretty blah, which is too bad, because the vehicle they were meant to pilot is stellar.
Hasbro’s been hit or miss on their vehicles for a long time, but in recent months, they’ve picked up the ball and run with it, and this is no exception. You will not regret picking up this great COBRA attack chopper, it serves many purposes, and even without using Tomax and Xamot, this is a great piece to own and integrate into any collection.
Back to the Spy Troops Vehicles