[Toa Maximus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 07GT500 COBRA

Same. I always liked my Cobra troop divisions based on environment rather than weapon specialty.

I think a grenade trooper isn't the worst idea, but Frag Viper is one of those designs where you keep the specialty and the helmet and move on from there. I'd tweak the colors so he could fit in the Alley Vipers amd make both fit in more.

[Bryon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mister Hiss

I may be the minority but Frag Viper does nothing for me.

Agreed. '89 enemy figures suffered from dumb color choices. However, many of them had great designs and most of them did come with some pretty cool gear. All things considered, here's how I would rank them:

Night-Viper > Alley-Viper > TARGAT > Annihilator > Gnawgahyde > HEAT Viper > Frag-Viper.

The Brown/Blue combo is UGLY, though the V2 club camo version isn't much better, due to the hideous shade of brown. From a battle standpoint, the sash seems stupid. The weapons are cool, I guess.

[Toa Maximus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bryon

The Brown/Blue combo is UGLY, though the V2 club camo version isn't much better, due to the hideous shade of brown. From a battle standpoint, the sash seems stupid. The weapons are cool, I guess.

It'd be so much better to make him blue and orange if they want to stay close to the original. Just make him part of the ALley Viper squad.

[Snake Pants]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toa Maximus

It'd be so much better to make him blue and orange if they want to stay close to the original. Just make him part of the ALley Viper squad.

There's two Alley Viper squads atm. And I'm hoping we'll get one more.

(I am fully aware that this is not the correct usage of the word "squad")

[Bryon]

I like the idea of orange instead of brown. And then give him a blue grenade strap across his chest (like the grenade strap on '85 Snake-Eyes).

They could also make one in green and black to go with the Night Vipers. Black head like the V2 club design.

[Cobra Agent 66]

I think Frag Viper and HEAT Viper are two figures that didn't age well but could really be awesome with a Classified upgrade. I've always liked the HEAT Viper uniform and helmet, just not the ridiculously big launcher with the ridiculously small rockets. And who TF is gonna wear rockets strapped to their ankles on a battlefield?

As for Frag, I always liked the uniform, the helmet and the colors, but again, the weapon and his submachine gun I didn't like. A simple multi-shot grenade launcher ala Poncho in Predator would have been fine. Hardball had a badass weapon and backpack!

[SuburbanHell]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeffrozup

100% said this from the beginning. The deluxe and pet prices are ridiculous. Very few of the figures in those prices have justified the cost. We got Mindbender, Chuckles and OAMCC all cheaper than a pet figure and just a couple dollars more than a deluxe.

If the deluxe are going to stay $35 and pets $45 the regular figures should go to $30 to justify the higher priced tier ones.

What worries me more is Hasbro reading us coming to a consensus here and thinking "ok we can charge more for the OAMCC/Mindbender/Chuckles level since they're valuing those more and this way we can keep the pet prices where they are."

[SuburbanHell]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mister Hiss

I may be the minority but Frag Viper does nothing for me.

I may join you in that minority, and hearing Darklon is coming makes me wonder how much time I have left with the line, I think I came to the realization, if they keep those bizarre neon color schemes, that when they've filled the majority of my previous collection, the floodgates are going to start drying up for me as I pass on more and more figures from the 90/91-94 period. I didn't just age out of the line back then, the line also got "weird" for me.

That said, I honestly had no interest in Road Pig as I didn't have him before, but I really liked what they did with him so they still have a chance to turn it around for me, at the same time, however, I don't know how much that will ring true when they start showing off the Eco Warriors, Mega Marines, Star Brigade, etc.

[SuburbanHell]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bryon

Agreed. '89 enemy figures suffered from dumb color choices. However, many of them had great designs and most of them did come with some pretty cool gear. All things considered, here's how I would rank them:

Night-Viper > Alley-Viper > TARGAT > Annihilator > Gnawgahyde > HEAT Viper > Frag-Viper.

The Brown/Blue combo is UGLY, though the V2 club camo version isn't much better, due to the hideous shade of brown. From a battle standpoint, the sash seems stupid. The weapons are cool, I guess.

Absolutely agree on color choices, but also bad head/body sculpts not helping back then, so my ranking of the 89 bad guys would go:

Gnawgahyde > TARGAT > Annihilator > Night-Viper > Alley-Viper > HEAT Viper > Frag-Viper

The various vipers after 88/89 started being real hard sells for me.

[Spidermaniac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuburbanHell

I may join you in that minority, and hearing Darklon is coming makes me wonder how much time I have left with the line, I think I came to the realization, if they keep those bizarre neon color schemes, that when they've filled the majority of my previous collection, the floodgates are going to start drying up for me as I pass on more and more figures from the 90/91-94 period. I didn't just age out of the line back then, the line also got "weird" for me.

That said, I honestly had no interest in Road Pig as I didn't have him before, but I really liked what they did with him so they still have a chance to turn it around for me, at the same time, however, I don't know how much that will ring true when they start showing off the Eco Warriors, Mega Marines, Star Brigade, etc.

I'm an 82 to 87 guy and like the Cobra Officer/Trooper types better than the Vipers, so I'm also likely a pass on the Frag Viper. But, that being said, it's clear that troop builders of any type sell well and help keep the line going, and I'm happy to see them reaching out to a wider arc of Joe fandom and building the biggest fan base possible.

Also, selfishly, I'm all for them. Dipping into all of the specialized Viper Corps is a line extender and improves the chances of Hasbro keeping things rolling and maybe getting to some of the more obscure characters that I would be interested in. If Super Trooper, Ice Cream Soldier, and H.E.A.T. Viper help subsidize Short Fuze, Crystal Ball, and Airtight, I say keep 'em coming.

Honestly, as long as there are at least one or two figures per wave that pander to my nostalgia, I'm happy. I'm not a completionist.