 Another vintage GI Joe toy review, Halloween 2019 is upon us. I don't normally do holiday videos, but this week we're looking at a figure with a giant mutant scorpion. So that's sort of a Halloween video. I need to give a code name to two patrons, Greg Blanchett and Sean Lawrence. It's the first time I've done two code names in one video, but I've got a good reason for it. Greg and Sean are brothers from a different mother, and they are psychically connected. They feel each other's pain, they finish each other's sentences, and they insist that their action figures be in mint condition. Their code names are Greg Max and Sean Mott, the double mint twins. Thank you both for your support. This week we're looking at a 90s figure with a big fan following. The desert scorpion is undeniably a 90s figure. The design aesthetic fits with other Cobra army builders from the early 90s, like the Night Creeper and the second version of the Snow Serpent. This figure also proves that the 90s wasn't all bad. 1991 was a pretty good year overall. Hasbro put extra effort into this figure, let's see if it paid off. HCC788 presents the Desert Scorpion. This is Desert Scorpion, Cobra's Desert Trooper from 1991. This figure was available in 1991 only, it was discontinued for 1992. This is the only vintage version of Desert Scorpion, which is surprising since he is popular. There was a modern version released in 2013 as part of the GI Joe Collectors Club Figure Subscription Service. This was Cobra's first dedicated Desert Trooper. GI Joe had many Desert Troopers and vehicles before 1991, but Cobra would just deploy their standard vipers for Desert Missions. As for Cobra Desert Vehicles, you could think of the 1990 Cobra Rage as a Desert Vehicle. It was designated as an Urban Assault Vehicle, but it had sort of desert colors. For a true Cobra Desert Vehicle, you have to wait until 1994, the last year of the vintage era, they had the Scorpion. Surprisingly, this small vehicle had a sticker that labeled it the Desert Scorpion, the same name as the figure. The figure was not available when this vehicle was on the shelves. GI Joe's counterpart to Desert Scorpion was released the same year, Dusty v3 with his animal companion, Sandstorm. GI Joe had other Desert Troopers, but these two figures were released the same year. The usual naming convention for specialized Cobra Troopers is to add the Viper suffix to their specialty, for instance, Televipers, Technovipers, and Toxovipers. There are some exceptions, like the Eels and the Snow Serpents, and I'm glad they got away from the typical naming convention for the Desert Scorpion. I think the Viper tag can get a bit old, and I like to see them be a little more creative. Because of the Desert Scorpion, he had an accessory that I think inspired the name, and we will look at that momentarily. Let's look at Desert Scorpion's accessories, but before we look at individual accessories, I want to look at the backpack assembly. The backpack attaches multiple parts to this extending post. The assembly is surprisingly complex, so there are instructions printed on the card. Fully assembled, the backpack has two weapons, a missile and a gun, that fire over Desert Scorpion's head. And there is a black connecting hose that connects to the side of his head on the molded on helmet. I'm going to remove that for a moment so I can take the backpack off and we can take a closer look at it. When fully extended, this post on the top of the backpack will swivel 360 degrees, and it can be collapsed to make the backpack more compact. Attached to the post is a crossbar, and attached to the crossbar, there are three items. One is this black connecting hose, which can be removed. It pegs onto a small peg there. The other end goes to the figure's head, which we will show when we look at the figure. After removing that, we have two other pieces on that crossbar. We have a very small yellow missile, and that pegs on with a little slot, very small slot, that pegs onto the side. And then we have a removable submachine gun, and that can be taken off, and there's a hole on the crossbar for that. The crossbar itself can be taken off of the central post. The post has a hook that hooks onto the center of that crossbar. So as you can see, this is a lot of pieces, fit together in an amazingly complex way. The backpack itself is all black. It has some nice technical detail. It has a flat base, so I guess you could set it flat on the ground. But it doesn't necessarily have everything a Desert Trooper would need, like water. For example, Dusty, version one, GI Joe's Desert Trooper from 1985, on his backpack had double canteens. The submachine gun that fits on the backpack crossbar is small. It is an all black plastic. It has a magazine on top and a vented barrel shroud. It is not based on any real-world weapon as far as I know. And that grip will fit in the action figure's hand, so he can hold it like a normal weapon, and I prefer it this way. Before we move on and look at other accessories, and there are other accessories to look at, let's look at that backpack fully assembled one more time. They did not skimp on accessories, there's definitely a lot to it. Maybe too much. I find the backpack to be a little cumbersome, but kids at the time probably looked at it as a bonus. Desert Scorpion includes what the card contents call digger devices. There are two of them. They are in black plastic, and they attach to the figure's wrist by C-clips. They each have some technical detail on them. I do not understand how they are supposed to help him dig. How are they digging devices? For me, they just kind of get in the way, and I don't see what purpose they serve. If you're not a completist, this is an accessory you could just leave out. And finally, we get to what the card contents call the Pet Scorpion. It is black, it's made of soft, flexible plastic. It is a realistic scorpion, but it is way too big for the figure. It's closer to one-to-one scale with a real scorpion. So is this supposed to be a giant mutant scorpion? So why would it be a pet? I know a lot of G.I. Joe figures came with animal companions, but this one is a little harder to explain. I do think it is the reason this figure is called the Desert Scorpion and not the Desert Viper. Let's look at the articulation on Desert Scorpion. He had the articulation that was standard well before 1991, 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 his arm at the shoulder all the way around. He had a hinge at the elbow that allowed him to bend at the elbow about 90 degrees and a swivel at the bicep that allowed him to swivel his arm all the way around. 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. Let's take a look at the sculpt design and color of Desert Scorpion starting with his head and there is a lot going on with his head. He has a molded in brown helmet with an antenna on the right side. Be careful that could be easily broken off. He has a molded in yellow hockey style mask. He has red goggles and that just looks awesome. He has a molded in yellow band that goes all the way around his head and on the left side there is a peg and that is for the connector hose that connects to the backpack. That's not all. He also has a black havelock attached to the back of his head. I was going to call this color brown but in this light it's a bit shimmery and looks more like bronze and then on his neck all the way around even under the cloth we have a Caucasian flesh tone. I have to admire this helmet just for a moment. Look at all the different paint applications. Look at the different use of materials. Look at the antenna and the peg and the goggles. A lot of effort went into this head, the design and the manufacturing and I just think it's great. That cloth havelock is a callback to the first version of Dusty from 1985 which also had a cloth attachment on his non-removable helmet. Moving on to the chest. On his upper chest over his shoulders and on his upper back he has brown football style pads or armor and over that he has a black bandolier that goes over his left shoulder and under his right arm. On that black bandolier is a pair of orange grenades and some molded in what looks like ammunition and a pouch. There's another black strap that goes over his right shoulder and nothing attached to that. Then we have his uniform shirt color which is yellow. Once again I have to admire the number of paint applications on this torso. There are no unpainted details. Those orange grenades may seem kind of odd but it's the only spot of orange on this entire figure so Hasbro paid for an extra paint application just to give those grenades a different color. That is extra effort and expense and I have to give Hasbro kudos when they do that. Arms are bare in a Caucasian skin tone. They are sculpted to be extra muscular with a cobra tattoo on the right bicep. Desert scorpion is not an individual. He is a trooper and it would be kind of odd for all desert scorpion troopers to have the same tattoo unless maybe it's a requirement of the unit. We finish out looking at the arms by looking at his long brown gloves that cover his forearms and they have sculpted rings around them and that makes it a little easier to attach those digger devices. The waist piece is yellow with a very plain brown belt and I'm okay with the belt but using yellow the same color as the chest for the waist piece makes it kind of look like he's wearing his underwear on the outside. I would have gone with black like the rest of the legs. The upper legs are black and they look great. He has brown pads on the outside of his thighs and each side has a pair of pretty wide brown belts that go around the thighs to hold those pads on. Then on the right side just over that brown pad is a brown knife. We finish up looking at the legs by looking at his very tall brown boots with ridges that run down the entire length of the boot. It doesn't look very realistic but it just looks kind of cool. Cobra was never good at any kind of camouflage but even though this figure isn't perfectly desert camouflage it does have yellow which is probably as close as Cobra would get to a sandy brown. Then he has a dark brown and then he has black and really it's pretty good as far as Cobra camouflage goes. Let's take a look at Desert Scorpion's file card. It has his faction as Cobra. It has a portrait of Desert Scorpion here. A pretty good portrait I think. It has his codename as Desert Scorpion. He is the Cobra Desert Trooper. This top section has two paragraphs. The first says nobody volunteers to be a scorpion. It is a punishment given to under motivated vipers who refuse to follow orders. In order to survive they quickly learn to mimic the attack patterns of the venomous Desert Scorpions with which they live. Venomous and giant. Note this file card calls this trooper a scorpion not a desert scorpion. Second paragraph says after one year of unblemished service as a scorpion a Cobra trooper can be reinstated in the Viper Corps or whatever special force he originated from. A scorpion fights hard because he knows that if he messes up he'll go straight into Toxo Vipers the Cobra Hostile Environment Detachment better known as the Leaky Suit Brigade. This file card provides some insight into Cobra's hierarchy. We already knew Cobra troopers could become Cobra Frogmen, the eels, and then eventually become the elite snow serpents. Now we see there is an opposite career path. We already knew the Toxo Vipers was a punishment unit. Now we see there is an intermediate punishment for vipers that don't measure up. So bad vipers are assigned to the Desert Scorpions and must fight their way back onto their old units. Otherwise they are further punished by being made Toxo Vipers. That's not how I see the Desert Scorpion though. This figure is just too cool to be a bottom feeder. I want this guy to be an elite trooper more like the snow serpents. This bottom section says a scorpion prefers to be in the midst of fighting because it's safer than being in the garrison. In the field where the whole unit is under threat everybody pulls together because every trooper's life hinges on their combined firepower and team effort. In the barracks each scorpion thinks of himself as a desperate isolated individual surrounded by thieves, cutthroats, and scoundrels. And he's right. This file card paints a colorful, if not flattering picture of the Desert Scorpion, but I still would really like this guy to be an elite trooper and in my Cobra army that's what he would be. Looking at how the Desert Scorpion was used in G.I. Joe Media he appeared a few times in the geek era of the animated series but mostly as a generic trooper not many opportunities to shine there. As for the comic book series published by Marvel Comics I searched all the 1991 comic book issues which covered the Benzene War story arc, a war in a desert country. I did not see the Desert Scorpion, if he's there I missed him. It would have been the perfect time to introduce the Desert Scorpion. You see about every other Cobra trooper but the Desert Scorpion. Looking at the Desert Scorpion overall this figure is not perfect but it is really really good. The colors are good for a desert themed figure. A sandy tan color would have been better than the yellow but the yellow is acceptable next to the black and the brown. There's a lot of color depth on this figure with well painted details. The helmet and mask look cool. The yellow underwear is a little off putting but I can forgive it because the rest of the figure looks good. The accessories are the biggest problem. The giant scorpion doesn't make a lot of sense. The backpack is intricate and delicate but it's not what I would expect for a Desert Trooper. A Desert Trooper needs extra water and survival gear. The Desert Scorpion doesn't have that. The digger devices are annoying. Leave those off. The machine pistol is okay. That's probably the best accessory. The most important thing is the Desert Scorpion finally gets Cobra a Desert Specialist. GI Joe has covered that environment for years. Cobra was late to the party but they arrived in style and that was my review of the Desert Scorpion. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you to the Double Mint Twins. Your support means a lot to me. This is a special occasion. The godfather of GI Joe on YouTube, FormBX257, is celebrating 10 years on YouTube. He is an idol of mine and I'm going to do something to celebrate. If you haven't seen FormBX257's videos on YouTube, I highly recommend you check them out. 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