Cobra Liquidator
By Past Nastification
Based on the real world Saab Draken, the Cobra Liquidator is also close in design to the Cobra jet flown by Major Bludd in the opening scene of Sunbow’s The MASS Device. It was probably a coincidence that Hasbro chose to source the Draken as a Cobra Jet, as Sunbow had nothing to do with the GI Joe property since 1987.
If one embraces the Liquidator as being the same jet used in Sunbow, then it was the first toy representation of the first animated Cobra jet. The first Cobra jet ever would be a MIG 21, glimpsed sitting on an airfield in Marvel’s GI Joe #1 before Short-Fuze blew it up.
The Liquidator was released late in the original ARAH run. Yojoe.com lists it as a 1992 vehicle, but the date stamps reads 1991. I’m not sure which is correct (it’s possible that it was released a year after it was produced). If it was released in 1992, then it holds the distinction of being the one of the last three jets in the original ARAH run based on a real world vehicles. The other two appear to be the 1992 Storm Eagle, modeled after the Northrop YF-23 and the 1993 Ghoststriker X16, which is modeled after the General Dynamics F16. Most of the vehicles at the time were far removed from actual ones, and even the more plausible ones were poisoned with ridiculous color schemes.
Molded in flat black and well detailed, the Liquidator was the last good entry into the Cobra arsenal. It is a solid-but-flawed effort. It was based in reality, something desperately needed in the last years of the original ARAH run. With its hyper-detailing, including some texturized surfaces, it has the look/feel of an ’82-‘84 vehicle. The canopy had blueish-teal tint, giving it just enough artistic vibe to feel like a Cobra vehicle (although red would have been even better). Even the paper stickers on the vehicle don’t look out of place due to the flat finish on the plastic.
The Liquidator is surprisingly durable, unlike the Sky Striker, Rattler, Conquest, or the Night Raven. Those all shed small parts and pop apart at the edges over time. The durability is shockingly tied to the lower quality of the toy. Unlike earlier GI Joe aircraft, the vertical fin and the nosecone are not separate pieces that snap onto the frame- they’re part of it. There are no removable engine covers or a cockpit seat to lose. The missiles for this particular Liquidator were lost somewhere along the way. Aside from the cockpit hinge, landing gear/tires, and the handle (yes, there’s a handle) there are no working parts. The simple production is visible, but not enough to make it look like a cheaper GI Joe knock off by companies like Processed Plastics. Fortunately, Hasbro stuck with a rigid plastic to make the parts and this prevented it from having a “discount toy” feel.
The Liquidator does an astounding job of taking the minimalistic construction designs of smaller companies and merging it with the non-flimsy plastic production used by Hasbro. This is a great approach that Hasbro should have employed more often as the line started to weaken. Hasbro did do this with some vehicles, like the Cobra Rat, but would then use bad color choices to offset the good use of sturdier plastics.
The Liquidator is a good vehicle, but not a great one. It has a very unnecessary gimmick. The entire toy is a watergun, hence the name, with a flip down handle built into the bottom of the aircraft. The “business end” of the watergun, fortunately, is discreetly hidden as the under-the-nose gun. It blends in just fine. Sadly, the handle can’t be ignored when flipped up into the body because it’s orange. Orange. Likewise, the landing gear and wheels are yellow. Yellow. Had the orange and yellow been flat black more collectors would notice this vehicle’s attributes.
The colors are irritating, but jets can’t fly without pilots. The Liquidator lacked a pilot. Without spending a dime on tooling or sculpting, this would have been a perfect opportunity for Hasbro to re-release Wild Weasel in Cobra blue or flat black or charcoal grey. Maybe mix in different arms or legs to alter the figure a bit. The figure could have been Wild Weasel himself or identified as a generic Air Viper troop builder. In the images a Funskool Wild Weasel is shown to give a sense of what an altered one might have looked like if included.
As frustrating as the missing pilot, the handle, and the colors are, they aren’t what hurt the design the most. It’s the scale. Most GI Joe vehicles based on real world ones have been somewhat under-scaled. Given size limitations, this is reasonable. But the Liquidator (and its sister vehicle the GI Joe Storm Eagle) isn’t even near 1:18th scale. It’s closer to 1:24th and looks better with a MASK or an Eagle Force figure standing next to it. 
The scale is so bad that a standard ARAH figure’s eyeline is above the top of the canopy if standing next to the aircraft. Like looking across the top of a car. Longer landing gear would have been an acceptable cheat to make the Liquidator appear larger than it is. The scale distortion also affected the cockpit/seat shape. Instead of a seat, the cockpit holds a series of four head-to-toe slots (think parallel 2”x4” ’s) that roughly create a shape looking like an extended lounge chair. The “seat” is tilted backwards to cram the figure in a compressed area.
Overlooking scale and a few blindingly bright color pops, the otherwise realistic Liquidator felt out of place among the sillier vehicles that came out late in the original ARAH run. The line was suffering, but it’s nice to see that someone at Hasbro was still fighting the good fight.
Aside from the water gun gimmick, I’ve always liked the Liquidator.
You had me sold until you showed the the photo of the pilot in the cockpit. For me, having a cool cockpit is paramount to the quality of the aircraft. So, this one fails pretty badly.
Otherwise, it’s a solid toy for such a late release.
What’s really goofy is the box art shows the Liquidator being piloted by Talking battle Commander Cobra Commander. Not even possible without removing the not-really-intended-to-be-removed backpack that’s screwed on him. Likewise, the Storm Eagle showed Battle Commander Hawk piloting it. (And it’s cockpit is just as bad)
I just decided to display my 1992 ATFs (the only good vehicles from 1992, really) and the storm eagle (XF-23) has the smallest cockpit in the line, in fact I tried fitting my gen hawk in there and his broad shoulders and beefy arms wont allow it at all. I had to swap the arms with my 86 hawk so the cockpit canopy would close and stay shut (the color difference isnt obvious because of the tint.)
Nice write up!
Great article, I always saw the Mass Device jet as the MiG 21.
Saab Draken/The U.S .Delta Dart Series.It would probably be a best seller,If it would be as big ,as the 1983 G.I.Joe Skystriker/The Cobra Rattler ,with Conquest X-30 rolling wheels.”
On the subject of toy jets; the TRU in my town has ALL military toys marked down by 50%. It seems kids don’t want toy jets anymore
I like this toy and would love to use it as Cobra’s primary fighter. But I despise the cockpit! Really, couldn’t Hasbro have found a way to integrate all the goofiness and keep at least a minimal cockpit like the BF2K Vector? The Liquidator and Storm Eagle cockpits are almost afterthoughts to the vehicle design.
It’s a 1992 release. Some 1992 items appeared in late fall 1991, like the first half of the basic figures and the Rat and Barracuda, but are still from the 1992 series.
Technically, Sunbow was still making animation for GI JOE tv ads through 1990.
If it had a pilot, they’d have probably gone post 1984 style figure. The last hurrah of swivel neck figures was in 1989 with Python Patrol and Slaughter’s Marauders. So, more likely Strato-Viper or Aero-Viper or Vapor repaint.
I got my liquidator in christmas of 1991, can confirm. Alot of the 1992 stuff was released late 1991 and was out by the end of 92.
I would like to know more about the behind the scene development stages of the Liquidator and Storm Eagle. Being water fighters, and maybe the Barracuda and Shark 9000 could be a part of this, I have to wonder if these were to be part of Eco-Warriors at some stage?
With the AH-74 Apache being borrowed from an existing toy line, was there ever a water-fighter jet line that these two jets were maybe borrowed from?
It’s not really the scale that creates the problem with the cockpit – the real Drakken is only 80% of the length of a Tomcat. It’s the design of the cockpit itself which creates the problem, with the wheel folding up directly under the pilot.
This awesome review makes me want to buy a bunch of those colorful Funskool Wild Weasels to pilot a bunch of Cobra Liquidators!
Great idea!
😀
Have to disagree that the Rattler isn’t based on an actual vehicle. It is very clearly an A-10 Warthog with one fewer engine.
Its based on the A-10 warthog with both engines moved up, one extra engine added to the tail, VTOL capability, and a cannon turret. Its based on it, but it is HEAVILY different.
Great and solid review of an OK toy.
The liquidator was a Saab drakken fighter, the jets flown by major bludd and his squadron at the opening for the mass device were actually Mirage F1s (dassault) a French fighter jet from the Cold War era.