Alley Viper (1994)
It’s time to blast back to one of the first figures I covered when I started this craziness back in 2011. Back then, I was just grabbing whatever figure struck my fancy and setting up photos in front of my old Missile Command HQ. Such an innocent time. Nowadays of course I have a much more sophisticated method, wherein I grab whatever figure strikes my fancy and set up photos in a booth. Totally different approach.
The original Alley Viper looms large in my memory as a figure that instantly intrigued me when I came back into Joe collecting in the early 90s. Coming from such a blind spot, I’d had no exposure to the troop, and wondered just what in the heck was up with a blue and orange urban ops unit. It was mysterious, yet the toyetic quality of the figure’s design and accessories just seemed to work together. The best I can muster in comparison was the feeling I had as a kid when first encountering figures on the pegs in 1983.
When the trooper came back during the Battle Corps series, I was all-in on picking up a squad of them, despite the new black and yellow color scheme. 1994 put the same mold back in a more familiar color scheme, and I couldn’t have loved it more. Add in a blue missile launcher and you’ve got me hooked for all time. Such an exciting toy to play with as well as photograph.
The ’94 Alley Viper may not be the most sensible of figures, but man is he fun and photogenic. Some might say there’s too much Playmates Ninja Turtles influence at work, but I say bring on the color. You can always give him some black weapons if you want to be a killjoy.
This figure, with the blue stripes on legs is somewhat rarer. I have this one carded. I find the concept of Alley Vipers kind of ludicrous for Cobra but most fans would disagree.
The stripes version still eludes me. I never found this figure at retail back in the ’90’s. I’m sure I’d have bought one since I picked up all the other neon figures.
I was never sure what alley vipers were supposed to do if they werent in Alleys lol, so I always used them as elite commandos. They were the best of the best and if they went in, GIJOE better look out.
I loved them in every color. It didnt matter. theyre like spartans in halo lol, every soldier gets to choose his own armor lol.
Besides, if you collect or play with toys, who cares about realism anyway? Bring on the shooting missile launchers! There was never any doubt who got hit when you shot those things when playing with friends.
I like the original visor and shield so much that I hold it against this guy for having different ones. Although objectively his Cobra shield and panther-like mask are just as cool. I guess we’re lucky to have so many iterations, we can choose our favorites.
Love this figure. I’m surprised they never did a modern take on this version of Alley Viper’s facemask.