2002 Cobra Viper
The collecting community in the 2000‘s was all about army-builders; especially the coveted classic Cobra Troopers, BATs, and Viper. The first two I mentioned Hasbro struggled to deliver on, though Viper repaints were put out in numbers not too different from Firefly figures. This Viper was one of the first recolors after the Cobra Infantry Team in ‘98.
A lot of the appeal of this figure is lost now because of the subsequent repaints that came after him, and the availability of some more interesting factory customs. In it’s own right, this is a passable Viper repaint that I think looks pretty good for it’s lighter, desaturated greens compared to the similar olive one from 2003. Another thing that makes this repaint nice to me, is that Hasbro kept the visor silver rather than painting it some weird color like they did on the later repaints.
The paint masks are really questionable on this figure, particularly referring to his lower legs. Because the figure uses BAT legs instead of actual Viper legs, the designers decided to paint the entire lower leg piece, including the knee above the boot, solid grey. The idea was to simulate the look of the classic Viper’s knee-boots, but it really looks horrible here. On many of my figures I removed the paint on this part which improves the look slightly, though I hate doing mods like this.
Of course, the figure also suffers from all of the classic tooling issues that plague almost every Viper repaint post ‘97. That includes the tab on his neck that makes him permanently look down, and using BAT legs instead of Viper legs. The head tab doesn’t bother me that much, but it would’ve been nice if they could have removed it. Why is it that it’s always too expensive to remake lost molds, but they can modify a mold at a moment’s notice for an obscure set of reissues made in smaller numbers?
The Viper really suffers from the poor accessory choices you saw often in the 2000‘s. Included here is ‘84 Baroness’s gun, and the backpack from the SAW Viper; generic items used extensively in later 00‘s releases. I’ve really softened my views on the Baroness rifle in recent years, as it’s not really a terrible gun, but just an okay one that was really overused in this period. As a kid, it was my go-to weapon for the Python Tele-Viper, and it has the benefit of being a relatively easy weapon to hold. The SAW Viper backpack was also not that bad of a part, but really just didn’t feel appropriate here. Even among a catalog of parts Hasbro frequently used at the time, there were better items that could’ve been chosen for this figure.
In all of the uses of the Viper mold in the 2000‘s, I really like this one for it’s colors. The 2002 Crimson/Fuschia Viper is probably the best looking use of the mold, but it’s niche and expensive. Another blue recolor came out in ’02, which was pretty nice, but it was also very darkly colored and somewhat bland. Three more were released in separate colors under Spy Troops, which all looked a little phoned-in to me. Then you had the Viper Pit set come along in pseudo ‘86 colors, which had it’s own series of problems associated with it. Putting all that in context makes me realize that Hasbro never did anything very interesting or curious with the mold, despite that the Viper is ubiquitously popular and would’ve fit well into a TRU 6-pack. To a certain degree I’m glad we didn’t see it again though.
One of the last benefits you can attribute to this figure, is that it’s a common and relatively cheap Viper. They’re a little tedious to look for among so many Viper releases, but you can get them often with the Mirage he was packed with around $10, and if you look long enough, you can get this guy by himself for around $6 or $7. Even just a few years ago this was a cheap and fun figure you might get as a toss-in purchase, though it’s a little less often now with the current market.
The Viper Pit 