I had very high hopes when I firs't laid eyes on the prototype for this vehicle...a cool new Cobra motorcycle with a Viper figure! Where could you go wrong?

Well, Hasbro went a little wrong...not REAL wrong, but wrong enough to hurt slightly.

Don't get me wrong, the bike is nice. I like the sculpting and I LOVE the little sidecar. Definitely lots of play value for kids, yet it's cool enough for the collectors to enjoy as well. Cobra's never really had a motorcycle, so this is a welcome addition to their ranks...unfortunately any figure made before 2002 is going to look absolutely ridiculous riding it.

Heck, for that matter, any figure made since 2002 is going to look pretty silly...

This thing is HUGE. Granted, for the newer, slightly larger figures, the bike may look better, but for it's Viper driver and any other old sculpt figure, the motorcycle just looks too large. The Viper looks like a child trying to ride it. It is actually, really, really unfortunate because the bike's mold itself is fantastic. Not only that, but I really like the colors as well. The dark off-red shades and funky snake-like camo pattern just look neat and like a perfect compliment for the HISS IV. It's got some great working suspension in the back, and everything is molded just right. Looks real enough for "real life" use, yet still retains that Cobra feel...and yet it was made just a little bit too big.

Granted, I still bought it...and I don't regret buying it, but my original plan was for 5-7 of these, and after this one, I think I'm done. The bike just didn't knock my socks off, and the Viper was less than desirable as well.

I'm all about the army building when it comes to Cobra Troops. Especially cool Cobra Troops that you can still find at retail...I loved those Blue Alley Vipers...those Vipers from Wave 2...but I wasn't a huge fan of the Vipers from Wave 1.5, and that's pretty much what these are with some minor alterations. The green shades are darker...the facemask is a different, more coppery color. TheyÕve got dark gray trim instead of light, and not really any camouflage. But these Vipers don't wow me. I don't love these like I loved the Wave 2 Vipers, or the Crimson Vipers for that matter. I don't think I really have a need to own more than one of these, which is unfortunate.

But there is one major redeeming factor for this little vehicle. When you transform the sidecar, the little assault pod just plain rocks! Scale isn't a big deal here, and the Viper looks absolutely awesome in it. It's a great little attack pod, I just wish that the bike itself wasn't so big. I mean, I took the Wave 5 Iron Grenadier, which is one of the tallest of the new figures, and put him on it...he still looks small. I'm not sure where Hasbro's measurement of scale went, but something did not mesh right with this vehicle.

This combined with the size of the bike makes me uncertain about how I should recommend here...buy the Bike for some of the newer troops, and heck, buy it for that sidecare alone! But I would say don't go crazy until you've checked one out for yourself. See if the size difference bothers you, then go from there...perhaps I'm just getting a little tired of the Viper sculpt, I don't know, but I'm VERY glad that Hasbro is using some different Trooper molds for the Python Patrol set and for the upcoming Convention Exclusive. I think it's about time the '86 Viper mold got retired...

All in all, it was worth the money to me, but I don't need any more of them. Not a bad addition, but definitely a let down from what I was expecting.