[Josh Z]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yeet

Pretty sure they saved the viper for 86 as that year was in many ways a refresh/soft reboot of the brand. A new roster of characters that replace the old crew (Hawk?s return to replace Duke, Serpentor replacing CC, Leatherneck replacing Gung Ho, Dialtone and Breaker, Wetsuit and Torpedo, Mindbender and Destro, new Dreadnoks, the list goes on and on). Even the card art explosion, the file cards, and the GI Joe logo changed. The viper replacing the trooper as well as the cobra soldiers having the viper suffix is probably the most distinct representation of this change.

Makes sense, but how did the Tele-Viper slip through in '85?

Just seems odd to have a specialty Viper released on its own a year before the Viper concept was established.

[DarthBrett]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josh Z

Speaking of which, how odd is it that the Tele-Viper came out a year before the regular basic Viper?

Hasbro must have been planning the whole "Viper" roster as early as 1985. Did the basic infantry Viper get pushed back for some reason?

Yeah, I always thought it was kind of neat that he was the very first Cobra designated as a "Viper". Maybe the Hasbro Joe team at the time loved the idea so much that they decided to continue with the 'Viper' designation for most Cobras in '86. They obviously didn't always stick with the "Vipers" naming obviously (B.A.T., Sea Slug, W.O.R.M.S., etc.) but seemed to mostly stick with that naming for Cobra troops from there on out.

I always loved finding little things like that just from observations.

Other things I have noticed over the years - Hasbro started really basing a lot of the Joe figures' likenesses on real Hasbro employees starting in 1986 (Dial-Tone, Leatherneck, Lift-Ticket, Cross-Country, Slip-Stream)

In 1989 they also started making more Joes from Rhode Island, which seemed very lazy to me. Never liked that really and would have preferred they made more of them from other regions.

[Lava Patrol]

Cool to see how this post has evolved and grown . Anyway, my surplus Vapor is in the selling stash, and I am looking for Air Vipers.

About Rock Viper, I always dubbed him "the Mountaineer" because the original name seemed lame to me. I remembered the cartoon appearing many of them, so I knew it was a trooper, but as it was unthinkable to have more than one, he was an absolute individual.

When I started collecting, I wondered about cutting the mustache, or painting it another colour, but didnt proceed due to too many other projects XD. I know see it as a requirement, like the Napoleonic regiments were either mustache, or a certain height or facial hair was required. Something of their pride in coming from Switzerland originally or basically or something like this, I have always thought.

Aero Viper I only have one, indeed would bother me a bit to have two with the identical goatee, as this I see it absolutely as a own personal choice. Maybe I would change the head or repaint him.

Another odd questions;

if there are many WORMS, are all condecorated? do Hasbro gave you as a figure the best WORMS with many medals? hence, we must surely cut off those medals to the extra troops right? .

Do you need as many Ice Vipers as Wolfs has, or are they mechanized and hence needed for all arctic cobra land vehicles? might they operate arctic sea vehicles as well as they have training of Eel? I ask this question as just recently I got a third Ice Viper, but only plan to keep one Wolf as I dont have space for another one.

Sci-Fi, yes, we know he is a character. But the filecard says "Laser Trooper". And his head covers much of his face, might exist more laser troopers? do any UK comic feature more than one "laser trooper"? in my case, I keep 3 of them, as for me Sci-Fi is more the v2 version, as is the one I saw more in the catalogues (my first was the white, but I hated the name, so always named him another thing, Tchaikovsky for some reason).

Do you armybuilderize Wet-Suit? I do, as a Scuba trooper. I was having my second thoughts about it, but then I saw a Sunbow episode where you could see 5 or 6 with the same suit. I am wondering if maybe making him unmasked, as he often appeared in Sunbow, to separate him and naming him leader.

And as other odd armybuildings I do, I consider Ozone v1 the true Ozone, and the v2 Star Brigades as Space troopers, considering GI Joe would need a green shirt in outer space.

[CapBritain]

There are multiple WOLFs in the comics, each operated by an Ice-Viper.

There's only one Sci-Fi. I only see the Steel Brigade as an army builder for ARAH Joes.

I have v1 and v4 Wet Suit, but to me, V1 is Wet-Suit and V4 is another SEAL called Neptune. Similarly, I have Ace v2 as my Skystriker backseater Warbird, Shockwave v2 as a second SWAT guy called Siren, Dusty v3 as another desert ops guy called Dune Runner, and v3 and v4 Duke as another pair of desert troopers called Sand Panther and Sand Fox.

[Josh Z]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CapBritain

I have v1 and v4 Wet Suit, but to me, V1 is Wet-Suit and V4 is another SEAL called Neptune. Similarly, I have Ace v2 as my Skystriker backseater Warbird, Shockwave v2 as a second SWAT guy called Siren, Dusty v3 as another desert ops guy called Dune Runner, and v3 and v4 Duke as another pair of desert troopers called Sand Panther and Sand Fox.

And Snake Eyes v2 and v3 as additional black-clad, masked ninja commandos called Dice Game and Crapshoot?

[IzzyTipsy]

Only Joe Army Builders are Steel Brigade and Grunt. And I guess some of the GI Joe Troopers in the ME era.

[CG Steve]

I never thought of this as a kid. I honestly don't even think I thought of them as an "army" per se. I did not have multiples of any figure.

I had the Hammerhead when it came out but looking at that box art someone posted made me laugh. They just placed characters in that thing that made no sense whatsoever. Obviously I get it was for product advertising but no less insane to have Range Vipers, etc. in the underwater setting.

Then again, even though the Marvel comics were more "serious" for a time than the cartoon, they had the oddest Cobra troops in certain situations or out of their respective specialty elements quite often.

[THEDARKONE508]

It makes sense because some kids would have some of the figures and they're saying "hey kids and parents your guys go on this."

[CapBritain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josh Z

And Snake Eyes v2 and v3 as additional black-clad, masked ninja commandos called Dice Game and Crapshoot?

I only have v2 and whilst I did have 2 as a kid as my parents inadvertently bought two at the same time, I never used him when playing and I sold him off in 2009 after switching his one arm for the same one on the other figure as both had a broke thumb, but on opposite arms. And even as a pre-teen when v3 came out over here, I didn't want another Snake Eyes.

[Sean_C]

The Vipers thing was Hama's idea, he had trouble coming up with codenames for Cobra troops and suggested they could be __-Viper to Hasbro. I guess Tele-Viper was the first one he got stumped on.

Vapor and Decimator can be seen as individuals of their units, they aren't characters per se. If they are, their file cards say nothing about their personalities. Compare that to Copperhead and Wild Weasel. Though, if you want evidence of a vague personality file card, Metal-Head...mostly it's all about his gear. The quote at the bottom gives him some personality, but just as easily could've been reworded, like other odd enemy troopers, to make "Metal-Heads" as Destro's Anti-Tank "Specialists." (Of course his distinct face wouldn't make sense...oh, hi, Rock-Viper!)