![]() ![]() for that Terror in the Tundra mail-away :Ī light blue original 1982 straight-arm (or swivel-arm 1983-1985) Cobra Soldier in light blue!īut also still get the light blue 1984 Storm shadow / Cobra Ninja Viper. THAT would have been cool to get here in the U.S. We only saw a light blue 1982 straight-arm Cobra Soldier produced by Estrela in a foreign release. Thank goodness for Hasbro Canada’s 1983 Cobra Officers in baggies!Īnd the 1986 “Original Team” mail-away with a Cobra Officer!Īnd the 1992 Chinese reissue of the 1983 Commander!īack in the 90’s when I first saw the 1992 “Terror in the Tundra” mail-away ads with the Cobra Ninja Viper, the blue coloring made me think of a lighter blue version of 1983 Cobra Soldier. In 1985 they were still crankin’ these basic enemy soldiers out of the factory to stores in the U.S.īoth the 1982 / 83 Cobra Commander and Officer were discontinued for U.S. There on the backs of the ’85 lineup, you can see this Cobra renamed “Cobra Soldier” in the same group as the 1985 Crimson Guard, etc.! This 1982 / 1983 Cobra soldier must have been pretty popular for Hasbro to still have been selling it individually on cards up until the 1985 series of G.I. ![]() I did amass quite a few of these guys in their later multi-pack and comic pack iterations, and they do look quite impressive en masse. As a Star Wars kid, I only had a couple of Stormtroopers. Even before my fascination with GI Joe, I wasn’t an army builder. I was usually playing with Cobra Commander, Destro, Major Bludd and later Zartan, Firefly and Storm Shadow as my Cobra forces. The few basic troopers I had seemed to suffice. Plus, I would have rather used my limited funds to pick up the good guys and bigger baddies. ![]() Ten year old Rob had more interest in playing with his toys than lining them up in formation. I guess the army building concept escaped me. My collection of named Cobra characters surpassed the troops within a couple of years. I never had very many Cobra troopers as a kid. Seems like an expensive kind of uniform for Cobra to manufacture, not to mention weird. The arms are also interesting in that they don’t appear to have gloves, but rather are one long sleeve with gloves attached. Maybe the guesomeness of the wire as a weapon is the reason the arms haven’t been reused since. There just haven’t been enough villain toys made with weapons used to strangle their opponents. That was a little disappointing, because I really like the little details of the spare rounds (I’m assuming they fit the weapon that’s on his right chest strap) and especially the garotte wire on the right bicep. The mold made appearances later in a troop builder and comic pack, but never with the entire original arms. Pointless? Pretty much, but I felt like mentioning it anyway. ![]() Of course, the Cobra Officer also had the same code name. Although, the early file cards were odd in that the figure’s specialty was displayed on the tab rather than the code name. Wait a minute, isn’t the code name Cobra? Not according to the file card. I’ve covered the weird and the wild over the last year and a half, but somehow this guy hadn’t fallen under my gaze till now. Well, here it is folks, the original Cobra trooper. ![]()
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