Cobra Flight Pod With Tele-Viper G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary Review

[Shogi]

The Cobra Flight Pod (Also known as a Trubble Bubble) has always been one of my favorite small Cobra vehicles. So I had pretty high expectations for this vehicle.

Most of the updates to this vehicle seem to be purely for structural purposes. First thing you notice is that the seat has a figure clip now instead of a back peg. This is a necessary change due to the new construction of the 25th figures. One of two changes that are hard to see is that the connectors that hook the turbines to the Trubble Bubble has been changed from a single slot to a peg/hole combo. The thrusters hold on a lot better now than the original ones did. The second unseen change is that the area where the controls connect to the seat has been changed to allow the handle to swing out a lot further than the original. Also, a few of the gauges have been removed from the control panel and the handles now have a ridged grip. The cannon has been bulked up a lot to prevent breakage. I have so many vintage Trubble Bubbles with broken cannons, so this is a very welcome change. This brings us to the only aesthetic addition, the hoses that connect from the cannon to the body of the Trubble Bubble. They don't get in the way of the driver's legs and they add a little bit of newness to the vehicle. The missiles are a little more rounded on the nose now, but look to be the same.

Overall, this is a better, more durable version of a classic favorite. There aren't really any new surprises, but they're not really needed either.


Vehicle Rating: 8 out of 10

[Shogi]

The Tele-Viper is one of my favorite troop builders, so like with the Trubble Bubble, there were some expectations for this figure to live up to.

The body is a repainted Viper body with a new head, vest and belt. Since they reused the Viper's boots on this figure, it doesn't look exactly like the original, but I feel this can be explained away with the idea that the Tele-Viper starts out as a Viper, then graduates to tele-communications. So the base uniform could be the same with a few changes. A lot of people will probably have problems with the fact that the Tele-Viper has the same hands as the Viper. I think this is a plus not a negative. For one thing, it allows the Tele-Viper to have his hands on the controls of the Trubble Bubble in a natural position. For those that don't want him in the driver's seat, the hand positioning is perfect for someone who's typing on a keyboard, which should be something Tele-Vipers do often.

The new head is a great sculpt that has all the looks of the original, but is slimmed down a bit now and given some attitude. The vest has one flaw to it, the connector that holds both sides together is a little bulky and makes one side of the vest stick out a bit. The new belt looks just like the original's belt. The Tele-Viper comes with a Cobra Stand with his name on it.

This figure is a great homage to the original. The Viper boots don't distract enough to bother me and the paint apps are dead on.


Figure Rating: 8 ½ out of 10

[arch2b]

very nice presentation. i laways enjoy your work/sharing.

the applied stickers on all mine look to be done by a 4 yr old. the cobra emblem on the visor bublle looks terrible with the creases/folds due to curvature. both the cobra emblems on the turbines were applied near the bottom on mine making it impossible to apply the approriate stickers below them. it's not easy to remove them without damaging them.

i don't care for this televiper. asthetically it just doesn't work for me, the awful viper hands aside. i'll wait for what i'm sure will be another release which will hopefully be corrected, but i doubt it. they still haev not corrected the trooper...

[Syn3sthesia]

Thanks for the review. You know out of all the vehicles this one and the Ram stickers were so bad I returned the damn thing. And all of the ones I seen are pretty bad too.

[Darth Jay]

This is the only one I haven't been able to find ANYWHERE... lots of VAMP's and Serpentor packs and even a HISS tank... but none of these...

[popsicleviper]

This is the only one I haven't been able to find ANYWHERE... lots of VAMP's and Serpentor packs and even a HISS tank... but none of these...

Well if you want to order online, amazon has them for $14.99!
And Free shipping when you spend at least $25.

[primenemesis]

Well if you want to order online, amazon has them for $14.99!
And Free shipping when you spend at least $25.

shameless plug. that's awesome ha ha.

where is the televipers cobra symbol?

[RATFINK]

The only thing that sucks is that I have to buy 3 or 4 of the same just to get more then 1 bubble trouble wish they would just put 2 bubble troubles in the same box!

[Shogi]

shameless plug. that's awesome ha ha.

where is the televipers cobra symbol?

I believe that's what thebelt buckle is supposed to be, They don't have them on the shoulders anymore

[Deceptichage]

Where was the knife for the Tele-viper? All I had in mine was the stand and the other stuff that came with the RAM,

[jeremywatts]

Same here mine had no knives anywhere. Opened up 3 packs of them and I have searched all the packaging and nothing.

[Hicks_Royel]

Maybe I overlooked it in the review, but the new design of the thrusters allows for them to be attached as a backpack to the Figures. Not a practical application, but neat all the same...

...I guess the same can be said for attaching the bubble itself to a figure's back, as well.

[Darth Jay]

Well if you want to order online, amazon has them for $14.99!
And Free shipping when you spend at least $25.

Thanks. Just bought it with a second HISS tank (love the HISS tank drivers, especially the blue one). I owe you one or something.

[MTN]

Aw man that tele-viper looks awesome. I really hope I can get my hands on one.

[Shogi]

Where was the knife for the Tele-viper? All I had in mine was the stand and the other stuff that came with the RAM,

Same here mine had no knives anywhere. Opened up 3 packs of them and I have searched all the packaging and nothing.

I had both Stands and 2 Knives in the little bag of accessories

[Deceptichage]

I just opened up another box and the plastic bag had 2 stands (Breaker and Televiper), one gun and helemt. No knives. I wonder if yours had extra accessories?

[Shogi]

I just opened up another box and the plastic bag had 2 stands (Breaker and Televiper), one gun and helemt. No knives. I wonder if yours had extra accessories?

Ya know what? I think I screwed up here and got the Armadillo/Air Chariot accessories mixed up with the RAM/Bubble set DOH!

[Snow cat]

My first and favorite set.

[spiderpumpkin]

Nice pictures and reviews.

The Trouble Bubble is awesome and very well updated. I'm glad they went with the waist clip instead of a 25th back peg on the seat. This way new and old figures can man the Flight Pod.

The Tele-Viper head sculpt and vest are cool. The Viper hands are horrible.

[primenemesis]

I believe that's what thebelt buckle is supposed to be, They don't have them on the shoulders anymore

i don't like it i like the nice smaller size cobra emblems.

[Deceptichage]

Ya know what? I think I screwed up here and got the Armadillo/Air Chariot accessories mixed up with the RAM/Bubble set DOH!


Aah! I have that set as well, but haven't opened it yet. If I had, I may have noticed that.

[sweeper]

It appears you can remove the figure clip. There's a little screw behind the seat. I'm thinking the gray part might be able to pop out from the white, if done carefully!

[sweeper]

I tried it today, it does pop out. Easily, just give it a tug. The gray part is held in by two pegs the same way the jet pack is. I took the clip out of mine so I could display it with an '84 Firefly. So if you want to put 80's Joes in the Trouble Bubble you can! I'm glad it came apart like Legos n' didn't have any glue holding it together.

For the missile stickers that pop up. I strap them down with those little clear rubberbands. I did the same thing with my AWE Striker stickers on the roll bars. That should help to shape the stickers after a couple months.