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08-16-2020, 10:55 AM | #1 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Boston
Posts: 1,357
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I have several 1982 and 1983 Cobra Troopers in my collection, some straight-arm and some swivel-arm. I also have two 1983 Viper Pilots, which are the same figure aside from the color of the Cobra emblem on the chest. I freely admit that none of these are 100% "pure" original. Over the years, I had to replace body parts when thumbs or crotches broke, or other damage was suffered. Other than the chest, I can't be sure how much of the Viper Pilots actually came from the original Viper Pilot or have substituted Cobra Trooper body parts.
Currently, YoJoe has this to say about variations to the Cobra Trooper: "When the new version of Cobra was released in 1983, the straight-arms were replaced with arms that could swivel at the bicep. Also, the date stamp on the figure was changed from '1982' to '82-83.' Lastly, the color of the eyes was changed to black." This implies that all 1982 straight-arm figures had the reddish-brown eyes and all 1983 swivel-arm figures had black eyes. I'm not sure that's correct. Attached is a photo of some of my Cobra Trooper heads, and you can see several variations in skin color as well as eye color. Some of the neck pegs are marked with the numbers 1, 2, or 3, while others have no number. That alone implies at least four distinct molds (that appear to look identical in sculpting aside from the peg). The two #1s have different paint from each other (one with brown/red eyes and one with black), and the two with no numbers are also different shades in both skin and eyes. Different paint shades from different production batches would not surprise me, especially for this era. For years, I believed that both the red/brown and the black eyes variations were present on both the straight-arm and swivel-arm versions. I found an archive version of the YoJoe page that even suggests as much: https://web.archive.org/web/20020124...82/cobra.shtml That page must have been revised later, perhaps because more information came to light. But I don't find the current, abbreviated notation to be very helpful, and I can't understand why they removed the head photos. Do we have any G.I. Joe historians here who know more about the history of the different Cobra Trooper head variations? Last edited by Josh Z; 11-05-2022 at 03:24 PM.. |
08-16-2020, 12:12 PM | #2 |
Laser Trooper
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: new york
Posts: 892
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just goin by memory, i think the 4 brown eyes heads are troopers. the 3rd one looks like an officers head and i think the last ,one could be a viper pilot
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08-16-2020, 12:59 PM | #3 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Boston
Posts: 1,357
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Quote:
Last edited by Josh Z; 11-05-2022 at 03:24 PM.. |
08-16-2020, 01:28 PM | #4 |
Laser Trooper
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: new york
Posts: 892
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right, forgot about the V
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08-16-2020, 01:34 PM | #5 |
Laser Trooper
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: new york
Posts: 892
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ill say then the middle one is for a swivel arm cobra soldier. most of my straight arm ones have those brown eyes.
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08-17-2020, 02:45 PM | #6 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Boston
Posts: 1,357
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I'm really curious what the 1, 2, and 3 on the neck represented.
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08-17-2020, 04:23 PM | #7 |
Hisstank.Com General
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Brooklyn NY!
Posts: 5,239
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So despite me being there and owning all of these in 82/83 I'm not a pro at this stuff. With that being said I have never seen a straight arm Cobra Soldier with anything but redish brown eyes/brows and even though the officer was darker it wasn't as crispt black as the 83 release were. The officer's eyes in 82 has a haziness to it. IF you found crisp black eyes on 82 cobra figures my wager would be someone rebuilt them using 83 heads without realizing the difference. Unless you're finding them on cared figures? see my 82 collection link below.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/131988...h/42663099755/
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08-17-2020, 04:38 PM | #8 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Boston
Posts: 1,357
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Quote:
So despite me being there and owning all of these in 82/83 I'm not a pro at this stuff. With that being said I have never seen a straight arm Cobra Soldier with anything but redish brown eyes/brows and even though the officer was darker it wasn't as crispt black as the 83 release were. The officer's eyes in 82 has a haziness to it. IF you found crisp black eyes on 82 cobra figures my wager would be someone rebuilt them using 83 heads without realizing the difference. Unless you're finding them on cared figures? see my 82 collection link below.
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