 I struggled writing this episode. I had a hard time thinking of what I would say about this toy, but I was shocked while researching the Cobra Imp to discover the meaning of life. Hello everybody hooded Cobra Commander 788 here. This is the show where we review every vintage GI Joe toy from 1982 to 1994. The meaning of life. That's right. I discovered it while researching the Cobra Imp and I'm going to tell you what the meaning of life is at the end of this video. But first we must go on a journey. A journey of a very ordinary review of a mediocre toy vehicle. HCC 788 presents the meaning of life and the Cobra Imp. This is the Cobra Imp from 1988. This vehicle was first introduced in 1988 and was also available in 1989. It was discontinued for 1990. It did not include an action figure driver. This is the only version of the Cobra Imp in the vintage era. The word imp means a small demon which aptly describes its small size and reddish color. The blueprints have an acronym for imp. It says infrared imaging programmable imp missile. Given that the purpose of these missiles is to disperse mines. I'm not sure that description makes a lot of sense. This is not an anti aircraft or anti armor missile system. This is a mine deployment system. The missiles split apart to spread anti tank mines. This is not unheard of in real military weaponry. For example, the Chinese type 84 scatterable anti tank mines uses 122 millimeter rockets to deploy mines. It doesn't work exactly the same way as the Cobra Imp, but it's the same general idea. There are other vehicles with a similar color scheme to the Cobra Imp. For example, the 1985 Cobra Moray, the 1986 Cobra Firebat, the 1987 Cobra Jetpack and the 1990 Cobra Piranha. These are all Cobra vehicles, so this is definitely a Cobra color scheme. Cobra is known for blue, black and red, but they also embraced the combination of dark red, gray and yellow. Who would be the opponent of the Cobra Imp on the GI Joe team? Well, I don't think the Joe's would necessarily attack the Imp itself. Rather, they would want to defuse the mines that are dispersed by the Imp, and there are several Joe's that would be attached with that. First of all, from 1983 tripwire, of course, and from 1987 tunnel rat with his specialty as explosive ordinance disposal and then 1988 light foot. In addition, they had a vehicle specifically for this purpose, the 1985 bomb disposal. Let's take a look at the parts and the features of the Cobra Imp. Let's look at the body, which is detailed, very highly detailed and angular, and it's in this dark red color. I would call this color a maroon, but what would you call this color? I've seen it described as maroon, burgundy and red. It's a bit too dark to describe as pure red. It's not as dark as what most color palettes show as maroon, and it's not purple enough to be burgundy. It's close to vermilion, but it doesn't exactly match that either. What would you call this? The front of the vehicle has these triangle armor sections at obtuse angles. It also has these clips, which serve to add more detail to the front end, so I really don't mind the visible clips. Also, it has some textured weld lines, and that is interesting and unique. It doesn't just have armor panel lines. It has a bit of texture there. It also has a yellow emblem right in the center, and this is the older Cobra emblem with the fewer ribs. I don't know why they use one Cobra emblem over another, but if you're observant, you will notice a difference sometimes between the Cobra emblems on the vehicles and the figures. On the lower part of the front, there's this sticker with black lines, and that's probably supposed to be a vent. On the side, there is a yellow Cobra EMP sticker, and some black kill marks. The kill marks are on the other side too. And on the port side, there is a red Cobra emblem just below the yellow machine gun. There is this yellow machine gun on the port side of the cockpit. It is mounted on the body. It is made of yellow plastic. There is a grip on one side. It's a very simplistic design. It will swivel. In fact, it'll swivel all the way around, but there's no elevation. The blueprints call this a short throw 50 caliber spring mounted machine gun, but the box calls it a rotating laser gun. The prototype photo on the box shows vent holes on the barrel shroud and a grip at the back. Those are not present on the production toy. At the front top, we have this control panel. It looks like it has a screen and some instruments. It's molded onto the body, so it's the same color as the body. There's not a lot to it. The control panel is outside of the cockpit, which doesn't seem very safe for the driver. Now we have the cockpit itself. It is a single seat with an open top, just an opening right there to put an action figure. There is a seat down there with a little bit of texture in the bottom, but not much. There really is not very much to it. The blueprints call this an ingress slash egress operations seating area, which just means it lets you in and out. Who should drive the Cobra M since it did not include an action figure? Well, the box art and the comic book and a lot of collectors use the 1988 toxo viper. And you know, why not? He can fit right down in there. That's not really his job, but what else are you going to do with them? You can just stick them in there. That's fine. On each side, we have these tread pieces, these very large tread pieces that pretty much take up the entire side of the vehicle. They are in black plastic. They are also highly detailed. And given how much real estate they take up, they need to be really well done, because this is really all the imp has going on the sides. So the detail is really necessary on these really large treads. They are just solid black plastic. They're not real treads. The vehicle does not roll on these. If you look at the underside of the vehicle, you can see how the Cobra Imp really rolls. It has these yellow wheels with axles. It also has a cavity for the driver's seat and some additional detail on the underside of the vehicle. I do like getting detail on the underside of vehicles. That's a nice bonus. Next, we get to the most important part of the vehicle, the missile launcher rack. It is very large. It takes up almost the entire top of the vehicle. It is hinged at the back and it will elevate with a ratchet. It will hold in place because it has these yellow support arms with teeth and that will hold it in place when you move it up and down. It doesn't have a great range of motion. That's about it. The lowest level is not flat. These missiles are meant to be fired up at an arch to deploy mines over a target area. On the missile rack, we have three large missiles in silver plastic. They slot onto the rack with these tabs on the top and bottom fin. These red stickers are meant to be on top so the bottom fin can slot in like that so you can put the missiles on or fire them off. These missiles are all identical. The blueprints call these infrared imaging programmable imp missiles. I'm not sure what the infrared imaging would be used for. These are not meant to target objects. They're meant to target areas for the dispersal of mines. The box for the Cobra Imp calls these ambush missiles. These missiles are surprisingly complex. It's a two-stage missile. The missile tip will detach and the back part of the missile can disperse these yellow ring-shaped mines and these mines are the real payload of these missiles. Each missile has eight yellow mines. They are yellow plastic rings. There is no name for them on the blueprints. The box calls them land mines. With this size, they are more likely anti-tank mines. These mines are often missing. They are meant to be widely dispersed so they could be easily lost. This is the most challenging part of getting a complete imp is making sure you have all these little yellow plastic mines. These missiles are intended for the dispersal of mines, but you don't have to use them for that. When they're fully assembled, they look like just big missiles, so you could use them as anti-aircraft missiles or something like that. With the missiles out of the way, you can see some of the engine detail under the missile rack. This is usually covered up, which is too bad because it's really nice and impressive detail. At the very back, there's this platform with a bit of texture and two foot pegs. So you can attach a couple extra action figures, but there's not much clearance for those foot pegs, so they're really hard to use. It might not be worth even having them, but if you can squeeze them on there, you can sort of hold two more action figures on there. Yeah, that doesn't work very well. Plus, they're ready to have their faces blasted off when the missiles launch. They obstruct the missile rack elevation too. They're just in the way. Yeah, this is not a convenient place for foot pegs. Finally, on that back platform, there is a toe hitch, but there's not very much clearance for that toe hitch either, so that would be difficult to use. And Cobra didn't really have anything to toe in 1988 anyway. The imp is not a front line fighting vehicle. The only gun is more likely for defense. The missiles are not meant to shoot down planes or tanks, though you could use them for that. They're used to disperse mines. The mines are the real weapons on this thing. So would your play pattern include the mines or would you use the Cobra imp just as a missile firing tank? While looking at the various aspects of the Cobra imp, we have already seen the components of the meaning of life. Have you already figured out what it is? Wait till the end of the video to find out. Looking at how the Cobra imp was used in G.I. Joe Media, it was only animated for commercials. It did not appear in the animated series. In the comic book series published by Marvel Comics, it appeared in issue number 87 in the Assault on Destro's Castle. This was the first appearance as far as I can tell. At least, I didn't see any earlier appearances when I flipped through the comics. I didn't see any later appearances either. If it did have later appearances, I think it's fair to say that the Cobra imp was not a major player in the Cobra arsenal. Looking at the Cobra imp overall, it's difficult to say anything about this vehicle. It's not great. It's not terrible. It certainly does exist in three dimensions, doesn't it? This is not a front line assault vehicle. The gun is probably for defense. The three big missiles are not for shooting at planes or tanks. They are for dispersing mines. The colors match other Cobra vehicles. It wouldn't be a great color scheme for G.I. Joe, but it works fine for Cobra. It's not my favorite Cobra color scheme, but it's not the worst either. It exists. It doesn't include a driver. A driver action figure may have really added something, but it doesn't have that. Or you could look at it as it doesn't include a driver, but it does include an empty seat. It holds only one action figure well and two other action figures poorly. It doesn't have any opening doors or hatches or covers. It just is what it is. The three big missiles are big. You could take down some G.I. Joe sky strikers with those, but they're not really meant for that. It has mines. They are small. At least they're yellow, so maybe they won't be too easy to lose. Unless you drop one in your bowl of Cheerios, that's a trip to the hospital. In conclusion, the Cobra Imp is a totally fine vehicle that is okay in every respect and entirely adequate. That was my review of the Cobra Imp. I hope you enjoyed it. Yes, I will give the meaning of life at the end of this video, but before I do that, I'd like to say if you liked the video, please give it a thumbs up on YouTube, subscribe to the YouTube channel, find me on social media, and check out my website, HCC788.com. Cobra Convergence 7 is coming up and announcements will be on the website. You don't want to miss that. Thanks as always to my patrons who allow me to continue doing this. If you'd like to support the channel, Patreon is a great way to do it. You can get some special perks and you can even get your name in videos like the names you see scrolling on the screen right now. Now we are at the end of the video and it's time for me to show you the meaning of life and yet there is nothing here. I have no meaning of life at the end of this video. Now this may make you angry. This may make you think that was a waste of time. This whole thing was just padding to prolong the misery. That was pointless and to that I respond, you see, I did show you the meaning of life at the end of the video after all. Thank you for staying to the very, very end of the video just in case I had something to add about the meaning of life, but nope, I still have nothing. You know what, check the comments section. I'll bet there are a lot of people who have a lot of ideas about it there.