Rise of Cobra Law & Order

By KansasBrawler

As I’ve mentioned before, the Rise of Cobra troop builder set made a lot of changes to a lot of fan favorite Joes. However, Law wasn’t one of them. Yes, he was in fatigues instead of his more personalized uniform, but this modern Law really wasn’t all that different from the vintage figure. They were both MPs with canine partners. As such, many people, myself included, say that Law was the most successful figure out of the set.

Law’s construction is pretty simple. From the neck down, this figure uses the same body as Rise of Cobra Zartan. It’s a nice, generic set of BDUs and is a great base for a military police man. The molded in arm band is even quite similar to what MPs wear on their BDUs when they’re on duty. Up top, Law gets shares the same head as 25th Anniversary Dusty. It’s a fairly generic head, but since I don’t have that particular figure, it works okay for Law since he doesn’t look like anyone else on my shelf. I still wish the modern Law figures had a bit of Kirk Bozigian in them, but as it stands, this is a nice look for Law. It’s nothing flashy, but in the real world, MPs don’t look all that different from the rest of the soldiers on base, so it’s a smart call.

Law’s look is a fairly big departure from his vintage figure, overall. However, that didn’t seem to hurt him in the eyes of collectors as much as it did for the other members of the Joe troop builder set. The basic desert camouflage works well for an MP and the camouflage tampo is very cleanly applied. While I’d guess that the black arm band is real world accurate, I do think it would look better done in brown just because I’ve never thought brown and black mesh that well. Law’s boots are a light tan, which is a pretty common color for desert combat boots. The paint work on Law’s skin is a bit thickly applied, though it’s serviceable. The head avoids that problem because it’s molded out of Caucasian skin tone-colored plastic, which means there is a bit of a color mismatch, though it’s not nearly as noticeable as it is on other figures because there’s not a lot of exposed skin on the figure and most of the exposed painted skin isn’t right up against the head that’s molded out of skin tone plastic instead. Law’s hair color is cleanly applied and there’s no slop on this figure. With such a simple deco, it’s nice that the paint is applied so well.

Out of all the figures in the troop builder set, Law is probably the best equipped. Law has equipment for both combat duty and guard duty. For combat duty, I equip him with the standard Rise of Cobra FN2000 and the riot shield we first saw with Widescope back during the Joe Vs. Cobra era. It’s a solid piece, though it is a little more realistic than the rest of the Rise of Cobra gear, so it doesn’t quite mesh with the rest of the look. I also use the MP helmet with the large face shield when paired with this gear. All this gear really makes Law look like he’s ready for heavy combat. When I put him on guard duty, I equip him with the 25th Anniversary Alley Viper night stick and Order. Order is the same mold from back in the day but with a better paint job. Order is a bit darker than before, but it still works. The leash is the same mold as the one used with the vintage Law and Order, as well. Without Order, Law would be a pretty generic trooper, but with his dog, it’s clear who this is supposed to represent.

Law is a pretty big departure from his vintage look, but I really do like how much he looks like an actual MP. It’s not the Law I remember from KansasBrother’s Joe collection, but it’s still a decent take on him. I really liked Mutt as a kid and I think it was because he looked like an actual K-9 officer. Law’s look was okay, but I always thought he looked a bit casual for a. military police officer on duty. This version of Law and Order fit my conception of a military police officer a bit better than other versions, so I’m okay with the different look. Yes, he’s been eclipsed by the Renegades version, but this was a solid entry for the time and since he look so generic, if you were inclined to do diostories with Joes, you don’t even have to use him as Law. He’s perfectly usable as scene filler, so it’s nice that since Hasbro has released a better version of this character, this one still has its uses.