1992 Parasite
90‘s GI Joe vehicles were often not on the same level of quality as 90‘s GI Joe figures, at least in my opinion. Certain vehicle options were quite poor, or questionably designed in a way you never saw from the vehicles we got in the 80‘s. One very underrated gem amidst all of this however, is the Cobra Parasite. It’s a simple vehicle, but it’s nicely sized and has a ton of play value, enough that’s hard to believe it shares a release year with the RAT, at the very least.
The Cobra Parasite is basically a Cobra APC, and it does a good job of being a go-to party wagon for your 90‘s Cobras. It fills a similar role to the HISS II, and in comparison to that vehicle, the Parasite feels far more basic and simple. However, it overall does the job a lot better, as while it lacks the fancy railing and more detailed construction, it makes up for it by featuring a more spacious troop bay, which can carry 6 figures as opposed to the HISS II’s 4.
One little gimmick that’s often ignored is the top-mounted catapult. I really hate this part of the vehicle, so I can see why it’s usually given no attention. It works in the same way as the Incinerator’s catapult, though oddly enough I don’t think they really share any tooling. The worst thing about it is that it looks completely tacked on, and just detracts from the vehicle’s overall shape, which is quite pleasing otherwise.
The Parasite has an interesting look that I feel is pretty well in line with a lot of Cobra vehicle designs. It has a very angular geometry that fits in nicely with any of the HISS tanks, or other boxy ground vehicles like the Maggot. One flaw that might irk a good number of folks is that the driver is totally exposed in the front turret. It’s a little goofy, but it’s also in line with most other prominent Cobra vehicles, which typically provide their pilots little in the way of protection.
Fun-fact, did you know the wheels on the Parasite are shared with at least two other vehicles? Both the Hammerhead and the Blockbuster use the same wheels as the Parasite. It’s probably another way Hasbro was cheaping out at the time, but it’s actually kind of interesting since I don’t think I’ve ever seen too many people notice this.
The worst thing about the Parasite is by far it’s colors. They’re not only bright, they’re an obnoxious mixture of orange and purple, which clashes with almost everything. It would look a lot better even if it were just solid purple, but the orange is really hard to take seriously whenever you see it. A lot of GI Joe fans have breathed life into this vehicle by giving it a quick coat of paint, which can really show how much potential this vehicle has (see the links below). Sadly, Hasbro never brought this vehicle back in any way, and a repaint in the 2000’s could’ve been pretty popular if they did it right.
The price that Parasites go for now shows almost no consistency, and seems like another indicator of the current collecting bubble. Every now and then, a Parasite will hit some absolutely stupid price, like $40. Most of the time, they go between $10 and $25, which is already a pretty wide price range. Before the era of the COVID collector, these routinely went for dirt, and it was easy to get a complete one for no more than $15. It’s a very common vehicle and I think it’ll return to the $15 price tag before too long.
The Viper Pit 