Cobra H.I.S.S. (High Speed Sentry)
The HISS tank! I almost can’t believe I haven’t covered Cobra’s most famous and versatile ground vehicle after lo these almost eight years. It’s cliche to put this forth, but what can you say about this toy? I can think of a few things, and some are no quite sunshine memories and rainbow nostalgia.
The HISS was for me, until the Stinger showed up, the all-around Covra people-mover. It wasn’t just an attack tank in my Enemy Motor Pool. This thing was sleek enough to compete with the VAMP in getting around the battlefield. The fact that four figures could pile onto it put the HISS in the fast-attack category for me. That’s not to say I didn’t have a wish list for the tank.
As a comic fan, I yearned for a HISS that reflected the Marvel aesthetic. The comic HISS seemed much larger, accommodating two people in the cockpit. The canopy also opened from the bottom, which makes more sense in a real-world application than an opening glass cover. Even the rear of the vehicle was larger, as Hawk and Destro famously threw down in issue 16. We’d have to wait a few years until the HISS II to get these two features, but I’d still like to see a revisit of the first tank in a bit larger scale. Maybe HasLab can hook us up?
”The original Cobra H.I.S.S. was popular in its own right, until the new /improved model, Cobra H.I.S.S. 2 came along in 1989.I was never really much of a fan, of the G.I.Joe and Cobra vehicles, until,.. The 1986 Cobra Night Raven S3P Black Jet Spy Plane Vehicle came along, and is still very popular, among collectors, in its own right, even to this day.”
IMO Hiss tank is the most iconic Cobra vehicle. Maybe Trouble Bubble in second place?
Someone pointed out that Hasbro rarely, if ever, refers to the HISS V1 as a tank. They call it an attack vehicle. Yet, fans still point out the flaws of the HISS against an actual tank. What many people overlook, is the HIGH SPEED aspect, it can run circles around the MOBAT.
Even after altering the mold for 25th era, they never improved that big flaw, those thin, breakable tabs that hold the guns elevated.
I’m tired of them reinventing the HISS, maybe because the last all new vehicle was a vaguely movie-based HISS (a movie accurate one would’ve been great). Yet, if they could make one with the double cockpit and working treads…it could be great.
Well, I would prefer if they would just reissue the H.I.S.S. 2, molded in black(the way that it should have been done back in 1989). And also a snow version of it(molded in white), would also be really cool. It would go perfect on a display together with the H.I.S.S. 1 snow version that they released a few years ago.
Never had a HISS till the 25th version which I love.
This got another red Action Force recolour as The Hyena which looks fab.