2005 Cobra Night Watch Trooper
Uncharacteristically for a 2000‘s GI Joe item, the entire Cobra Night Watch set is an example of a good idea with mostly good execution. In a time pretty long before TBM, Hasbro put out a set of Cobra Troopers and Officers in unique colors to represent a niche role. It’s something collectors wanted enough to make the aforementioned bootlegs extremely viable, though for whatever reason, Hasbro really only every touched the idea with this set.
Seventeen years later, I feel these are still holding up very well, even with so many excellent TBM Troopers floating around. That could always change, as the biceps on mine are a slightly different hue from the forearms. At the moment, that doesn’t bother me too much, though I’d absolutely hate for these to suddenly join the ranks of spontaneously discolored 2000‘s figures. Other than that bit of paranoia, they’re still a set of figures with great decos that maintain most of the classic Trooper sculpt, which is enough for me to like ‘em a lot.
In their original six-pack, you got four troopers and two different Squad Leaders, AKA: Cobra Officers. Of the Troopers, most were the same although one switches the normal Caucasian skin-tone for African, just like the other army-builder sets before this. Because I acquired my set piecemeal, I never got the black one since someone routinely bid-sniped me on every single auction I’ve ever tried for. I figured one day my patience would pay off and I’d complete my set, but instead everyone randomly became a toy collector and prices doubled.
Overall, the figures have a nice paint scheme. There’s camo on the pants and helmet, extra color on parts of the webgear, additional Cobra and Night Watch markings on their helmets and biceps. They did a good job of bringing out the little details on the sculpt, and it’s right at the perfect amount of paint before they’d start to look busy. If anything, the markings on the sides of the helmet might have been a bit too much, but it always feels a little unfair to fault a toy for having too much paint.
Like many of the Cobras from their time period, they feature V1 Roadblock’s arms and waist in lieu of the ‘83 Cobra’s. It makes them look a little chunky, but I don’t mind it much. The original lower arms were apparently still floating around, since Hasbro used them for the comic-pack Trooper, though this guy replaced them for Roadblock’s entire arm. Looking back, I sort of find it weird Hasbro switched the arms around for every Cobra Trooper they released back then (the Infantry Forces used Thunder’s arms), you’d think they would have settled on one replacement like they did with all the Viper repaints from back then.
Their accessories aren’t great, but they work. Included is the super generic ‘03 Overkill knife and Sand Viper’s G36 rifle, which was also the gun for nearly every other Joe and Cobra released between ‘03 and ‘05. Thanks to the pliable thumbs, the figures can at least use this gear, but it really does not do them justice. Then again, I suppose I should just give them credit for including guns at all, as Hasbro could’ve tossed in a bunch of ninja weapons like they did with the Shadow Guard.
Night Watch Troopers go between $10 and $20, with the accessories not playing a huge factor in that value. Even if you buy them in lots or the complete set, they tend to always average around $20 each, so when you occasionally get them for less, you’re doing good. These have always been pretty popular, so that’s not really surprising. $20 still feels like a lot for an ‘05 figure to me, but that’s in line with what a bootleg Cobra will cost you, so it makes sense.
I think all the 2000’s figures are discoloring. The upper arms are the worst offenders and most of mine are now darker than the rest of the arm.
Black Major kind of made this figure obsolete since he made tons of better colors that were about the same price back in the early 2010’s. I don’t mind these guys. But, I just don’t use them very often any longer since there are others.
The Night aspect limits them as intended, but does that matter? Why two night cobra packs, Hasbro, but no jungle, desert or arctic?
I’d say they are better than factory customs because of pliable hands. But the Roadblock waist make the trooper legs manspread a little, the officer doesn’t have that problem. And the weapons are not great. Skimpy accessories for the set, honestly. And two were sound attack years after that gimmick ended. This was supposedly a mistake, but also proof of how little Hasbro gave a damn.
“the Infantry Forces used Thunder’s arms” Did it or was that a recast part like the rest of the infantry forces molds? And there was the idea those molds were lost/trapped somewhere…except Urban Strike and comic pack Scrap-Irons use them and the Infantry legs.
Once Modern become the thing, Hasbro didn’t give two craps about milking ARAH molds anymore. And a lot of fans didn’t. The great “I’m dumping everything for 25th” wave meant you could get some bargins. I picked up a few Night Watchers I didn’t “need” at the time, the gold logo officer being unpopular amongst some fans for reasons that I cannot grasp. (I know some one is reading this “R DEY 4 SELL NOW?” and I’m like, if I wanted to cash out, I wouldn’t go through social media.)
*insert rant about how collecting sucks now and how stuff from thar era ages badly*