Cobra Moray (2002)
There weren’t too many laser-focused homage type figures in the first series of Joe’s 2002 relaunch. Old faves like Duke, Snake Eyes, Cobra Commander and Destro incorporated some elements of their former selves, but also diverged in new, and sometimes interesting ways. The Moray took cues from the vintage Eels, but injected a modern style that continues to impress me.
It’s another 2002 figure that sadly didn’t get an o-ring refit. Although that’s a real shame, I still think the Moray stands out among his peers. The only real issue with it is the lack of newly created weapons, but that’s easily remedied, especially if you’re like me, and have a stash of extra armaments lying about.
I’ve always been wowed by the number and quality of the paint apps on this figure. Like other figures in the series, there’s even an attempt at creating texture with strategic use of both gloss and flat paint. The different textures and layers going on are quite impressive, and this remains one of my favorite figures of its time. Even the later o-ring Cobra divers like the Electric EEL, pale in comparison to the high level of detail and effective design present on this earlier figure.
Now that I’m taking a fresh look at the 2002 series, I have to wonder how much of its design was influenced by the success of the relaunched Star Wars line. Although Star Wars had by this time shed its early beefed-up proportions, it still had a more toylike feel than what developed a few years later and continues today. When considered in that sense, one could say that Joe and Star Wars continue to run along a sort of parallel line. Both are even flirting with limited articulation these days.
The Moray was hands down my favorite early new sculpt figure. It was so great that even as a T-crotch figure, it got a lot of use. It just looks so imposing and impressive. It’s everything I want in a Cobra trooper. I’d love to see Hasbro do something with the Moray design sometime in the future. It’s too great a figure to be left languishing in new sculpt limbo, never to receive love from Joe fans again.
Speaking of Star Wars, this Moray looks more like Darth Vader in a scuba outfit. 😮
I’m thinking they should’ve stuck the Eel harpoon gun here instead of the Sonic Fighters Major Bludd gun. I wonder why they included it in the first place? Or why the heck they named this trooper after a vehicle….
Love the color scheme, and the details on the oxygen tank chest piece thingy.
Is that helmet removable?
To me he looks like he ought to be flying a Tie fighter
It is so weird to see things come full circle with figures going back to a mere five points of articulation. Everything from the 70’s through the 90’s suddenly doesn’t seem so dated.
I’m glad that Hasbro didn’t borrow the pre-posing from Star Wars along with the limited articulation because their Episode II era stuff was pretty horrible. It would have tanked with G.I. Joe as a concept the way Extreme did earlier.
As for the Cobra Moray himself, he does look more menacing than the original Eels. Maybe along the line of the sort of villain that James Bond would fight. He certainly has a movie feel about him.
@Acer
They were probably trying not to lose another copyrighted name. Hasbro had established that precedent in the vintage line after they named the Tiger Rat pilot Skystriker.
@Clutch
Or the reverse when they named a certain 1990 snow vehicle after the Battle Force 2000 member Avalanche.
@Acer & Clutch
And don’t forget Armadillo, the Rolling Thunder driving minitank or Night Adder, the aircraft dog-handler…
One planned 1995 Battle Corps Rangers item was a Cobra boat named “Eel”. The scorpion jeep was bad enough since it was a desert vehicle.
Moray was not my ideal enemy frogman but he had a cool comic book villain design. An o-ring version would’ve been nice, nicer than the awkward Electric EEL mold with its pencil neck.
If they’d stuck with o-ring from the start, I think the whole era would’ve been better received. There were some good character designs failed by toy designs.
I’d like to see a Modern era version of him…