Discount store repaints hit eBay, and another hidden homage?

by generalsjoes | Jan 7, 2013 | 30th Anniversary, Comics and Cartoons, Dollar Store, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary, G.I. Joe Comics, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Sunbow

In a clear sign that these discount store G.I. Joe figure repaints are likely on the way to retail stores, eBay seller viperkingdom has posted them all up on eBay.  This second wave is full of some great homages to the classic Joes…some obvious, some not so much:

• Cobra Commander
• Cobra Trooper
• Storm Shadow (No Longer Available)
• Snake Eyes
• Shipwreck
• Duke

Now most folks have identified some of the clear inspiration for these figures.  Cobra Commander is based on his comic deco, while Storm Shadow uses T’Ginzu from Ninja Force as his base.  Duke’s interesting uniform color pulls inspiration from the animated Sunbow Breaker.

Shipwreck looks like a great OG13 base, and Snake Eyes looks to be based on the unheralded and extremely underrated Toys “R” Us Heavy Assault Set 6-Pack version from the new sculpt era.  But perhaps the most interesting here (and maybe the most overlooked) is the Cobra Trooper.

Many folks have identified the Cobra Trooper as having a comic inspiration, with the light blue and tan.  But it goes beyond that, at least from my view.  I’m sure folks remember those animated commercials way back in the day.  Well, the Cobra Troopers in those animated commercials look exactly like these figures, all the way to the blue mask.  It’s a very obscure and really neat homage for Joe fans who are interested in that type of thing.

I’ve mirrored the original gallery of images courtesy of Gyre-Viper from JoeDeClassified, and I’ve also included some low res images from those old school commercials.  I think the inspiration is clear.  Very cool stuff.

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And below some very low resolution screen shots of those animated Cobra Troopers…notice the blue masks, blue gloves, and yellow straps?  Pretty cool.

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