 This week for Cobra Convergence 7, I'm looking at the 1994 Viper, now in delicious grape flavor. Oh, everybody hooded core commander 788 here. We are in Cobra Convergence 7. I am doing Cobra related videos all through July, and there's an entire calendar of presenters doing Cobra content for Cobra Convergence 7. You can find the calendar at HCC788.com. Now, let's turn the world purple. Purple? Even though Cobra is most associated with blue, in the later years, purple was a more common Cobra color. Even the basic Cobra Viper was purple. The Viper is the backbone of the Cobra Army. Sort of. The organization of Cobra is a little vague. There are lots of specialized vipers, and it's easy enough to figure out where they fit in, but the basic Viper is a little harder to pin down. There was a Cobra trooper released in 1982 that was not called a Viper, but served the same function as the Viper until the Viper was introduced in 1986. There were later versions of both the trooper and the Viper at the same time. So, are they the same, or are they different? In 1994, the final year of the G.I. Joe toy line, there was a new Viper action figure that went in a totally different direction from the earlier figures. Let's check it out. The Viper is coming to Vipe the Windows. HCC788 presents the Viper. This is the Viper, the Cobra infantry trooper from 1994. This figure was released in 1994 and was only available in 1994. That was the final year of the G.I. Joe toy line, so it could not be released after that. This is the fourth version of the Viper, depending on how you count it. The first Cobra trooper was released all the way back in 1982, the very first year of the line. That figure was very different from what we would call a Viper. It had a blue uniform and helmet and a black mask. That figure was the basic unspecialized trooper. The Cobra officer was released at the same time and had a very similar uniform. There has been a controversy about whether the officer and the trooper should be swapped. The uniform and equipment for the officer would have worked better for the trooper and vice versa. Both figures were designed by Ron Rudat for Hasbro, and pre-production art shows that these two figures were intended to be labeled and released as they are. But keep that controversy in mind because there will be fuel dumped on that fire later. A slightly different version of the Cobra trooper was released in 1983. It was the Viper Pilot, which was included with the Viper Glider. It was the same figure as the trooper, but with a silver Cobra emblem on the chest instead of a red one. That was the first time the basic Cobra trooper was associated with the word Viper, but in this case he was named after the vehicle he came with, the Viper Glider. In 1984, the Cobra officer mold was recolored and reused as the Stinger driver. In 1985, we got the first specialized Viper. Before we got the standard Viper, the Televiper was Cobra's communications trooper. In 1986, the first Cobra infantry trooper called a Viper was released. That is the figure that began the lineage of the Viper we are reviewing in this video. There were also some specialized Viper's released that year. If these Viper's are the basic Cobra infantry troopers, then what does that make the 1982 blue shirts? Many G.I. Joe fans, including myself, considered the blue shirts to be the entry level trooper and the Viper to be the next step up. According to Larry Hama, the writer of the G.I. Joe comic book series and the action figure file cards, there was no distinction. Viper was to be the generic term for Cobra troopers. The file card for the 1986 Viper states they are the bottom of the pyramid. They are the entry level trooper. To add to this confusion, the Cobra Viper and the Cobra trooper were re-released at the same time in 1989 as part of the Python Patrol subset. To add even more confusion to this, the mold for the Cobra officer was reused for the Python trooper and the mold for the Cobra trooper was reused for the Python officer. It's a controversy within a controversy. Which one of these guys on the Python Patrol team is supposed to be the lowest ranking trooper? Is it the trooper or the Viper? And for those G.I. Joe fans who thought the Cobra trooper and the Cobra officer should have been swapped, well, here they are. Swapped. The Python Viper, which is called Viper version 2, was built as the Python Patrol assault Viper, which sounds like he's a more elite version of the Python trooper. But the file card still says the Python Viper is the bottom of the pyramid. By 1990, we finally got away from the trooper Viper dichotomy when Viper version 3 was released as part of the Sonic Fighters subset. The Sonic Fighters figures came with very large backpacks that had electronic sound makers. This Viper version 3 figure used the same mold as the 1986 Viper and the 1989 Python Viper, but in different colors. Really cool colors. This is quite a departure, but I think this is a good look. That brings us to the 1994 Viper version for the subject of today's video. By the final year of the line, the Viper was the undisputed basic Cobra trooper. I have the full card back for the 1994 Viper, so we can see how this figure was marketed at the time. We have the G.I. Joe logo and it says Cobra the enemy above that. Then we have the Battlecore logo. The Battlecore was a subset introduced in 1993. According to Mark Bellomo's Ultimate Guide to G.I. Joe, a proposed sound making subset called BattleScan was planned, but the technology was not implemented and many of the BattleScan figures were instead rolled into the general set of G.I. Joe figures in 1993 called Battlecore. Battlecore continued to 1994. We have some red laser stripes in the background. The red background indicated a bad guy character. This is number 5 in the 1994 Battlecore series. We have some card art here that's some pretty standard 90s style card art, but the art is obscured by multiple blurbs. It looks like he has a red laser and a green laser. There are some instructions behind where the figure was packaged that show how to use the figure stand and the spring loaded missile launcher. We will look at that later. On the back of the card we have the cross cell for other figures that were available at the time. Not very many. We have advertisements for Star Brigade and Street Fighter 2. We have a 90s style flag point. We have some ads for vehicles. We didn't get those on 80s card backs. We rounded out with a 90s style file card, which we will read later. This has a numbered list of some of the features and the accessories. And I will refer to this when I look at those features and accessories later in this video. Let's look at the accessories. If you know anything about 90s GI Joe, you know what we're dealing with here. We have a spring loaded missile launcher. The figure came with a plastic frame that had all of these orange red accessories attached to them. And the purchaser would have to cut the accessories off of the plastic tree. That means all of the accessories on that frame are in this same color. Not only that, all of these accessories are reissued from earlier action figures. There is nothing original here. Let's start by looking at the first of two pistols. It is in a reddish orange plastic. This may be turning out on the camera as more red or more orange. But to my eye, this is in between red and orange. So I'm calling it red orange. It has a scope and a trigger guard and a vented shroud. This is a reissue of the accessory that came with the 1992 Spirit Version 3. The file card calls this an LL66 long pistol with sight. We have a second pistol. It's about the same size as the other pistol. It's got a long barrel. It's in the same red orange plastic color. It has a sight at the front of the barrel, and it has this wire that kind of wraps around the barrel. This is a reissue of the weapon that came with 1991 sludge viper and 1991 Toxo Viper Version 2. The file card calls this a standard issue backup laser pistol. The next accessory is this rifle, if you can call it that. It is in that same red orange plastic color, and it has this trident spear or harpoon. This is a reissue of the weapon that came with 1986 Monkey Wrench. The next accessory is this knife. It is in that same red orange plastic color. It has a jagged blade. This is a reissue of the dagger that came with 1988 Hydro Viper. He includes a figure stand in that same red orange plastic color. It's a basic figure stand with a single foot peg. 90s figures included figure stands and 80s figures did not. So this is something the 90s did better than the 80s. Finally we get to the spring loaded missile launcher. The file card calls this a rocket launching master blaster. It is a reissue of the missile launcher that first came with 1993 Alley Viper Version 2. And the Alley Viper missile launcher is almost identical. It's a yellow color. It has a black trigger. I would say the Viper's missile launcher is a slightly lighter shade of yellow, but they are almost exactly the same. This missile launcher is well detailed. It has a barrel for the missile. It also looks like it has a minigun under the missile launcher. It has a grip that does not fit very well in my action figure's hand, so I don't put it in his hand. It also has a clip where you could clip it to the arm of an action figure, but that doesn't fit my figure very well either, so I don't use that. The Viper includes two missiles for this missile launcher. It was on that plastic tree, so it is in that red-orange color, and these missiles will really shoot out of this yellow missile launcher. Additionally, you can place a missile in this clip on the side. For what purpose? I don't know. To fire these missiles, you just press one of the missiles into the missile launcher barrel with the notch side down and press it in until it clicks. You will use this black trigger at the back to fire. To test this missile launcher, let's bring in our favorite target, Dr. Meinbender. This is his first appearance for Cobra Convergence 7. How do you feel, Dr. Meinbender? He doesn't feel too well. He knows he's going to get shot again. To fire the missile launcher, you just take aim and push this black trigger up to fire. There he goes. The Viper was taken down by his own missile, but at least he took down Dr. Meinbender too. With the accessories out of the way, let's take a look at the articulation for the Viper. He has the articulation that was standard for GI Joe figures well before 1994, so he could turn his head from left to right and look up and down. He could swing his arm up at the shoulder and swivel at the shoulder all the way around. He had a hinge at the elbow that allowed him to bend his arm at the elbow about 90 degrees. He had a swivel at the bicep that allowed him to swivel his arm all the way around. This was an O-ring figure, meaning the figure was held together with a rubber O-ring that looped around the inside. That allowed him to move at the torso a bit. He could move his legs apart about so far. He could bend his leg at the hip about 90 degrees and bend at the knee about 90 degrees. With the accessories out of the way, let's look at the sculpt design and color of the Viper. This is the first Viper that does not use the 1986 Viper Version 1 mold, nor is it inspired by the 1982 Cobra Trooper. It doesn't have a mirrored faceplate. It doesn't have a black mask. It doesn't have blue. It doesn't even have a Cobra emblem anywhere on it. If this figure wasn't called a Viper, how would you know that's what it was? The 1994 Alley Viper Version 3 is a better candidate for a Viper than this figure. It had some blue. It didn't have a Cobra emblem on the figure, but it came with a big Cobra shield. That's more Viper-like. Starting with the head, we have a big purple helmet. It has a ridge around the crown with some raised square details on the top of the head. It has a raised earpiece on the right side. It has large orange goggles. It has a cylindrical gas mask attachment at the front of the helmet just under the goggles. The file card calls this armor-plated Viper helmet with oxygen filters. The chest is in a base purple plastic color. He has an orange color that goes around the neck. His shoulders are slightly pointy, not as pointy as some other figures, but they do stick out there a little bit. He has a purple armored vest on. The file card calls this a multi-layer body armor with reinforced biohinges. Looks like there's a zipper down the front, and there's an unknown detail on the right side of the chest. On the left side, there's this square panel that looks like some kind of electronics panel. The file card calls this thermal control body armor processors. Around his midsection, he has orange pouches and an orange belt. Those pouches are strapped around the midsection above the belt. There are four small pouches in front and four pouches of equal size in the back. And under that, there is a pretty plain belt with a triangular belt buckle. The file card calls these bandolier strapped ammunition pouches. The figure doesn't come with any weapons that would fit any ammunition that would fit in these pouches unless they're laser bullets or something. His arms have long purple sleeves in that same purple plastic color. He has textured bands around the biceps. He has gray gloves with pointed cuffs on the gloves. He also has bands around the wrists on those gloves in that same gray color. This is actually pretty well done. The sculpting on this is not bad. The waist piece is purple with no paint and minimal details. When figures have the belt sculpted around the torso instead of the waist, it leaves the waist piece rather plain. There's a lot more detail on the legs, though. The legs are purple at the top, but there are long gray leg covers that go from the boots almost all the way up the leg. On the outside of the right upper leg, there is an orange knife. And on the front of the right upper leg, there is this ridged orange panel that is not present on the left leg, so that's asymmetrical. On the outside of the left leg, there is this unpainted gray pouch. He has what look like screw heads on the inside and the outside of both knees. Are these guys supposed to be robots? He has some armor panels on the knees and he has some gray boots in that same gray color with some bands around the back of the boots. Not a lot of detail, there's more detail on the upper part of the legs, but these legs are really not bad, pretty well sculpted, and of course the colors go well enough together. This viper is very plain in comparison with earlier versions. The sculpt has some oddities, but it's generally pretty good. The details are fine. The colors are underwhelming. There are three colors, the base purple, plastic color, orange, and gray. Even the Sonic Fighters Viper, the simplest of the vintage viper to use that mold, had more colors than that. My impression of this figure is that it's not bad, it's just underwhelming. But this is the Cobra Viper, that's a very important figure. So for the Viper to be underwhelming is kind of bad. Let's look at the file card for the Viper. This is a 90s style file card, so it's in a rectangular shape with rounded corners. It has a copy of the artwork on the front of the card, and a closer portrait of the Viper above that. The codename is Viper, and he's the Cobra Infantry Trooper. There's no additional information in this top section, it's blank. There's a quote here, it says, If you want to get anywhere in Cobra, you have to start as a Viper. So who is it quoting? Is it quoting the recruiter? This paragraph says, Viper's are the grunts of the Cobra legions. If there's an especially dirty job that needs to be carried out, these guys aren't asked to do it, they volunteer for it. They are highly motivated, superbly trained, and formidably equipped. All Viper's are issued a combination laser slash rocket launcher, the laser part of which can function as a short burst assault weapon, a sustained fire cover support weapon, or long range sniper rifle. And that doesn't mention the cop holder and the cigarette lighter. I used that joke last week. They're also equipped with multi-layer body armor and blast resistant helmets with built-in night vision visors. Fighting them is like fighting any toughest nails army grunt, except these guys never show mercy. This file card starts by paraphrasing the beginning of the version 3 file card. It mostly talks about the Viper's equipment. This card text is uninspired, I doubt it was written by Larry Hama. On several occasions, the file card writing duties were taken away from Larry and Hasbro tried to do it in-house. They produced this kind of dull text. Looking at how the Viper was used in GI Joe media, the first animated appearance depends on whether you consider the Viper to be the same as the blue shirt trooper. The basic Cobra Trooper was introduced in the first GI Joe animated show in 1983 and had many appearances during the 80s. The Viper was introduced in the miniseries Arise Serpentor Arise. The trooper in the Viper uniform also had many appearances in the 80s series. The Python Patrol version of the Viper appeared briefly in the Deak era of the series in the episode Operation Dragonfire Day 4. Looking at the comic book series published by Marvel Comics, the blue shirt Cobra Trooper was introduced at the very beginning of the comic book series in issue number one. They remained a staple of the series long after the action figures were discontinued. The first appearance of the Viper is a little more difficult to pin down because the blue shirts were so prominent and there were many other troops in the background. They didn't fully replace the blue shirts. The 1994 Viper's sort of appeared in the comic book. In issue number 149, their design was used for some troopers assisting the cyber Viper's but they were miscolored. Their colors were similar to the 1991 Sludge Viper. The version one Viper uniform was used as late as issue number 154, the penultimate issue of the Marvel series. Looking at the Viper overall on the upside, this is the first Viper to get away from the 1986 Viper mold and do something totally new. On the downside, everything else. The sculpt really isn't that bad. It doesn't look like a Viper but it has enough detail. The color is lacking. The color is very minimal and the paint doesn't pick out very many details. This sculpt with different colors and different paint might have been really good. The accessories are all reissued. There is nothing original. Other than the missile launcher, they are all the same color. I will always praise the 90s figure stands that something the 80s figures were lacking but the unoriginality of these accessories just make them feel blah. The figure is unexceptional. The accessories are unexceptional. The card is unexceptional. It's more disappointing to get an unexceptional Viper figure in 1994 than it would have been for other figures. The first Cobra Trooper from 1982 was iconic and is one of my favorites. The first Viper in 1986 is sharply detailed and has striking colors. 1994 was the final year of the vintage GI Joe toy line and the last chance to give us a truly innovative Viper in the vintage era. Instead, we got this. If it had better colors and better accessories, it could have been great but it didn't have better colors and better accessories. It was as we see it. As it is, it's mostly forgettable and I think a lot of GI Joe fans have mostly forgotten. The Viper is the most visible Cobra Trooper. You can't have a mediocre Viper. If you have a mediocre Viper, that's kind of bad. That was my review of the 1994 Viper for Cobra Convergence 7. This channel recently hit 17,000 subscribers so there are some new folks here and you may have some questions. Questions like, who is this guy? Who exactly does he think he is? Why does he dislike toys that I like? Why does he like toys that I dislike? Why is his opinion so gosh darn important anyway? Well, that takes a bit more time to explain so let's walk into it. I've been doing reviews for about nine years now and in that time I've tried to think about what the right way to do a review is and my conclusion is there is no single right way. There are a few wrong ways but there are a lot of right ways to do it and that's why an event like Cobra Convergence needs to have not just a diversity of points of view but a diversity of approaches to the subject but I have tried to think about what's the right way for me to do it. I approach my reviews as a form of art criticism like film criticism or literary criticism just aimed at a different media and as such I think there are certain things that must be in a review. I need to understand the subject. I need to research the subject the best I'm able to. I need to place the subject in a broader context so the viewer can understand the history and why it exists in the form that it does and its relation to other similar things. There are more objective elements but there's a subjective element to a full review and that is that I must take a position on the subject to do all of this research and to talk about the history and the context of the subject without taking some kind of opinion about it would be a bit of a cop out so there is a subjective element. I do have to form an opinion and say what I think. Now my opinion may be strong it may not be so strong but it does need to be there and if it's not there then the review is at least incomplete since I must take a position and state an opinion that means that my opinion may differ from yours and that's expected this is just the subjective part of the review it's necessary but it's not a hard fact it's just an opinion. Opinions are always subjective there's no way to transform a subjective opinion into an objective fact just by stating objective reasons for it it's still subjective that's the nature of opinions so I'm not offended by disagreement I expect disagreement and it would be a little weird if there were no disagreement that's just my approach and there are many good ways to do a review many right ways to do a review even if there isn't one right way but there are definitely some wrong ways what would be a wrong way well dishonesty for one thing why would anyone be dishonest in a review especially the subjective part of a review which is the easiest part well one might be dishonest in a negative way to exploit drama for views or one might be dishonest in a positive way so as not to burn bridges with artists and insiders that's not quite the same as hyperbole though this is a dishonesty beyond hyperbole I try to avoid hyperbole as well I've not done that so well in the past I've tried to improve on I've never stated an opinion that I didn't actually hold but I have exaggerated for entertainment value I enjoy the videos that I make I want you to enjoy the videos that I make so I do want the videos to be fun but not hyperbolic and that's something that I've tried to learn from and grow and find other ways to have fun with the videos but that's not dishonesty I've not been dishonest in a video and really dishonesty is such a low bar that I would never assume any reviewer is dishonest barring evidence to the contrary and opinions change opinions evolve so even someone holding a different opinion tomorrow to what they had today is not evidence of dishonesty really that is the lowest bar so I think I should shoot a little higher than that so beyond just being honest with reviews I want my reviews to be reasonable a reasonable review is fair I think back to John Rawls' definition of justice as fairness and John Rawls in no way intended that definition to be applied in this way but we can adapt it justice is fairness fairness is the product of a reasonable review I hope my reviews whether I have a positive or negative opinion of the subject is at least fair people can sometimes mistake fairness for being overly positive or just kind of being in the middle like fairness is in the middle between the extremes of positivity and negativity but that's not quite how it works fairness is not just a set of coordinates between two extremes fairness is reached through reason you reach a reasonable opinion by weighing the evidence by fairly evaluating all of the information available and reaching a conclusion that logically follows from that evidence there can be great differences in how we evaluate evidence how we weigh evidence how we interpret certain facts reasonable people can disagree that being said that is why I not only accept but invite disagreement especially reasonable disagreement we should be able to talk about these things have discussions and have different opinions about the same subject even with the same set of facts yes I must express an opinion I must take a position my reviews are not just advertisements for the subject also I will not pretend to be outraged when I'm not just to exploit some popular opinion my reviews will hopefully be fair that's what I will strive to do and sometimes that means I will agree with you sometimes it means that I won't sometimes it means I will be outraged and sometimes I just won't be but whatever opinion I come up with whatever position I take I will always be honest with you about the reasons and that's what you will get here and if that's something that appeals to you in relation to G.I. Joe and Cobra I hope you will stick with us I hope you enjoyed my review of the Viper and this walk through the park on this very hot day I just thought it would be nice to get out for a bit and just have a nice chat if you enjoyed the video please consider giving it a thumbs up check the website hcc788.com for more Cobra Convergence presenters throughout the entire month of July we've got some great people participating this year you don't want to miss any of those in fact the names of the Cobra Convergence presenters coming up this week will be on your screen right now you can find me on social media on Facebook and Twitter and if you'd like to support the channel Patreon is a great way to do that you can get some special perks like early access you can get your name in videos like the names you see scrolling on the screen right now we still have a lot of Cobra Convergence coming up so I will see you soon until then remember only Cobra is Cobra