 the Hoodicobra Commander 788 here, and I wanted to do a short midweek video for Cobra Month, but rather than do a quick shot of something, I thought I might try doing an instructional video. I wanted to show you how you can tell the difference between a genuine vintage 1983 Cobra soldier versus a modern reproduction. You can find these often listed on eBay under the black major, and at first glance it looks very similar to the vintage Cobra soldier. It looks so similar that it would be very easily to mistake one for the other. You might think you have a vintage Cobra soldier, but you might in fact have a modern reproduction. These are usually listed as custom figures, and you might consider them counterfeit, and really they kind of are counterfeit, but I don't think they're necessarily bad. They are usually a little cheaper than the vintage figure, so it's a cheaper way to army build these figures. So if you want a lot of Cobra soldiers and you want to spend less money, you might pick up a few reproductions, and if you know what to look for, you won't be fooled into thinking you're getting a vintage figure if you're not. Let's start by looking at the surface of the figure, and this is the vintage Cobra soldier from 1983, the swivel arm version, and this is the reproduction, and I'm going to keep the vintage version on this side and the reproduction version on this side so they don't get mixed up. First thing to notice is the Cobra symbol on the vintage figure is a deeper darker blood red, and the one on the reproduction figure is lighter, brighter, and stands out more. Also, take note that the shoulder rivets on the vintage figure are blue, and the head of the rivet is facing the front of the action figure. On the reproduction figure, those rivets are silver, and the head of the rivets are usually on the back. This may be a little more difficult to see, but on the waist piece above the black belt, there is some blue plastic exposed that is masked off in the paint application, but on the reproduction figure that is not masked, so the black paint goes clear up to the top of the waist piece. So that is another small difference that you can look for. The date stamp on bows are the same, which I think is really unfortunate because that's probably the first place a novice collector is going to look to see if they have a real figure that was made in 1982 or 1983. But unfortunately, the reproduction also says copyright 8283 Hasbro made in Hong Kong. If you have a chance to compare the two in person, the plastic feels different. The plastic on the vintage figure just feels a bit higher quality than on the reproduction. Also, on all the reproduction figures that I have owned, the joints have been very loose, much looser than you would typically see on a vintage figure, although that's not a dead giveaway because there are some vintage figures that have super loose joints. So you might still have a vintage figure if your figure has loose joints, but it does seem to be a common problem with the reproduction figures that those joints are just really, really loose. The black paint on the reproduction figure appears to have more of a matte finish, whereas the black paint on the vintage figure seems to be a bit more glossy. I've also noticed on the vintage figure on the left side of the torso, there is a little nub where the plastic was attached to the sprue. And that seems to be missing on the reproduction figure. Those are the main differences I've noticed on the surface of the figures. Now I'm going to take each one apart, again, keeping the parts on separate sides of the table so I don't get them mixed up. And we're going to see if we can see any differences on the inside of the figures. I'm going to use my trusty land tech screwdriver, which is the screwdriver I always use to work on my action figures. Now, you do not have to use a land tech screwdriver like this. You can use a screwdriver from any voice and data productions distributor. Take a look at the screws. The these are the screws from the vintage figure. And these are the screws from the modern reproduction figure. That's a leg screw and a back screw. That's a leg screw and a back screw. And as you can see, the screws from the modern reproduction figure are flat on the end and the screws for the vintage figure are pointed. This is the inside of the chest and the back for each figure. And as you can see, the inside of the chest and the back for the reproduction figure are very plain, very simple, really nothing extra in there at all. Whereas the inside of the chest and back for the vintage figure has a bit more to it, you know, a few extra ribbings in there and a few extra pegs. So that's quite a bit more inside the vintage figure. Finally, I took apart one leg on each figure just to see if there are any differences on the inside of the legs. And there are, first of all, in the reproduction figure, the peg that goes into the knee is much smaller. Also, it's very plain on the inside in that cavity on the vintage figure. That peg is much more substantial, probably accounting for the much tighter joints and there's a little bit of marking there on the inside of the cavity inside the leg. That was my comparison between a genuine vintage 1983 Cobra soldier and a modern reproduction. I hope you found it informative. This should not be considered a definitive guide because there could be other types of reproductions out there. Also, if someone really wanted to counterfeit these, they could eliminate some of the differences and make it harder to tell them apart. But this video provides a few clues to spot this type of reproduction. And you may prefer a reproduction figure over the vintage figure. If you're thinking about army building, that's up to you. But it's always a good idea to know what you're getting. Thanks for watching and I'll see you for the next review video as Cobra Month rolls on.