30th Anniversary Cobra Trooper

by KansasBrawler

Nothing beats the simplicity of your basic Cobra blueshirt, and we saw a lot of variations on that theme during the 25th Anniversary line. I think that’s pretty great…but the body desperately needed an update as the line moved along. The Resolute Cobra Trooper was good because its mold wasn’t badly dated, but at the same time, it didn’t have the simplicity of the original Cobra Trooper design. I liked the first 25th Anniversary Cobra Trooper, but as the line advanced, that mold’s flaws (like those of the original 25th Anniversary Snake Eyes) became a bit more apparent compared to what else was being released. During Pursuit of Cobra, we didn’t really see an update of the basic Cobra trooper. However, in the 30th Anniversary line, we saw the return of the Cobra Trooper both in a standard form and the more animated Renegades style. Today, we’ll be looking at the standard Cobra Trooper from the 30th Anniversary line.

This mold is really everything I want from your basic Cobra Trooper. It’s not too fancy, yet it really gets the job done. His torso and arms come from the really nice Pursuit of Cobra Shock Trooper (and have the added benefit of looking different since its previous owner was equipped with a very nice vest that covers most of the mold), his legs come from the really great second Pursuit of Cobra Desert Battle Snake Eyes and his head comes from the Resolute Cobra Trooper. This is a nice, basic look that definitely nails the paramilitary look. The paint scheme is also very simple yet effective with Cobra blue almost everywhere but some black added to accent the legs. Honestly, the only gripe I have about his paint scheme is that the legs seem a bit busier than the upper body. With all the pouches on the Snake Eyes legs, color-wise he looks a little unbalanced with just straight blue arms with black gloves. Had they been able to paint either the sleeve pockets or the elbow pads with some black, I think it would have really helped balance out the figure’s colors a bit. However, when you look at the weapons, I think you’ll see where a little bit more of the paint budget went to.

While the 25th Cobra Trooper came with a simple weapon kit to reflect his origins, the 30th Anniversary Cobra Trooper gets a lot better equipment. Starting off with what they share, he wears the same webgear and the Druganov sniper rifle. However, he also gets the helmet that came with the Resolute Cobra Trooper, the Cobra Bazooka Trooper’s RPG and Desert Snake Eyes’ pistol, two silencers and boot knife. Full disclosure, at some point while he was manning the rear guns of the Crimson HISS Tank, his boot knife must have popped out, since that’s about the only place it could be and I’m pretty sure I hear it rattling around in there, so I still have the knife, it’s just impossible to get at. This gear makes a lot of sense for a Cobra Trooper. He’s got a nice rifle for long range, a pistol and knife for close-quarters combat and an RPG to deal with Joe armor. However, I would have preferred that the Druganov be swapped out for an AK-47. The Druganov is a nice throwback to the original Cobra Trooper, but there’s something a bit more iconic about an AK-47 when in the hands of a terrorist trooper. The RPG and the Druganov also get paint applications, adding some brown to the stock and handle of the rifle and the main body of the RPG and a different brown for the grenade itself. These colors really make his weapons stand out on the shelf since very few weapons get added colors. His final accessory is as much of a head-scratcher as it was when we first saw it with Pursuit of Cobra Dusty…a coil of razor wire. It’s done nicely enough, but at the same time, I just really don’t understand why it’s there. He really can’t interact with it that much and honestly, if it came down to this or another gun for costing out the figure’s accessories, give me an AK any day.

The 30th Anniversary version of the Cobra Trooper really shows how far the line has come in five short years. The Cobra Trooper look really comes together here and it’s got a lot more poseability than its counterpart of five years ago. If the Joe line can continue to create such high quality figures without having to invest tooling dollars on every figure, I think the brand is still going to have the legs to go on well beyond Retaliation. The Hasbro team really hit their stride during the end of the Pursuit of Cobra and the 30th Anniversary line and honestly, despite a few missteps during Retaliation, they haven’t stepped off that badly. Hopefully, as they take the brand in another new direction following the movie line, we’ll see the lessons they’ve learned applied and we’ll continue seeing good, basic figures like the Cobra Trooper right alongside amazing figures that require a little more investment to make.