Cobra Night Attack 4-WD Stinger (1984)
My most vivid memory of the Stinger goes back to a friend’s birthday party back in the summer of 1984. At the time, I had amassed a few early figures and some of the first and second series vehicles, including the original VAMP. My friend made out like a bandit for this birthday; the VAMP Mark II and Stinger were among the Joe gifts. Everybody ooh-ed and ahh-ed when they saw the two vehicles. I had no idea these were out at the time, and instantly wanted to get both myself.
While the VAMP II had some nicely upgraded components like a roof and doors, and the missile launcher, the Stinger was a notch above in my eyes. First off, Cobra finally had a comparable fast-attack ground vehicle to combat the Joes. I liked the HISS tank, but never saw it as an equivalent to the VAMP. With the Stinger, I saw Cobra with an edge. Their new ride netted them missiles, a roof and doors–gull-wing no less! Most impressively however, a couple of extra troopers could hang out on the rear bumper’s deck plate. Granted, the guys would get fried during a missile launch, but let’s suspend our adult disbelief.
The Stinger driver was as big a draw for me as the vehicle itself. Something about the simple repaint of the Cobra Officer mold appealed to me. I’ve covered it in a previous post, and it remains one of my favorite Cobra troops. He certainly looked great contrasted against his all-black ride.
As a kid, the Stinger didn’t do it for me. I didn’t like missiles as they were overly finite weapons whereas guns could shoot forever. My memory of it is playing in my aunt and uncle’s backyard flower garden while my older cousin and her friend made fun of me from her bedroom window. That might have colored my opinion of it more than anything else….
Now, though, the Stinger is great. The simple black design and ’84 release date really fit well with the classic Cobra that is my favorite. Why, oh why, didn’t Hasbro use this mold in some different colors other than the ’98 repaint.
Didn’t they mod it to make the Desert Striker and Toy R Us VAMP?
Yeah, I’d rather have had more Stingers than either of those.
It seemed kinda lazy for Cobra to be using the same brand of utility vehicle, but the comic did it first when they went to Libya abduct Scar-Face. In a weird way the Canadian Cobra Vamp makes a comic appearance. I guess that exclusive vehicle appeared before that comic did. Most of us in the USA were unaware of it.
Anyway, the Stinger became as iconic a Cobra vehicle as the Joe VAMP’s.
”I can understand your feelings towards the 84′ Cobra Stinger Jeep.I never had much interest in it either.After the missiles were used up , you had to scoot out of danger , or get blown up with the jeep. A relative of mine, told me that since Hasbro owns the exclusive rights to make copies of this item, The mold was repeatedly used always for Both G.I.Joe /Cobra future jeeps.”
”Regardless of anyone’s opinion of the 1984 Cobra Stinger Jeep, as an original sweet ride ,or, a remake for the 1986 Dreadnok Ground Assault set with the remake Ram motorcycle,All will agree this cobra assault jeep came out when Cobra needed it badly.”
My favorite Joe or Cobra vehicle ever since I first got mine back in ’85. Even though I agree with Mike about the missiles vs. guns, the Scorpion motif in a motor pool of otherwise mostly snake motifs & those gull-wing doors set it apart, while the flat black colorway kept it cohesive to its faction + the box art was some of the best, especially the driver’s two handed death grip on the wheel and equally deathly stare in that painting. He is also my favorite “nameless” Cobra figure. I still treasure my original beat-up duo, 31 years later.
Cobra icon.
Why is the black/red/grey color scheme so cool? I had one Stinger as a teen, and I painted it with mud on the tires and neon headlights & taillights. Lost that one, but I’ve got a few now. I like to add a VAMP cannon to give Cobra some variety.
The previous owner of my stinger tried to repair it with superglue
The Stinger’s an awesome little vehicle. The Joe team should steal one and paint it up like a tiger. That would be so bad ass.
It was odd that the Tiger Sting was actually the original VAMP with the VAMP MK II’s add-ons. But IITC, that’s how the VAMP MK2 was released in South America, too.