Cobra Power Fighter (1994)
Has it been that long since I covered a vehicle? I had almost forgotten that I was also covering them as part of this grand experiment in nerdery. At the same time, I noticed that this marks the 200th review. Wow. It’s all been such a blur, I almost missed it.
The last year of the original RAH line released a grand total of six vehicles, only one of which was bigger than mid-sized. That’s a sad testament to the flagging end of a line that at its height was an absolute toy juggernaut. Two of the 1994 vehicles were mechs, a concept that would be revisited in the 2000’s.
The two Power Fighters mechs were part of the Star Brigade sub-line, but honestly could be used within a terrestrial scenario as well. In fact, the exposed driver wouldn’t exactly fare too well in the vacuum of space. No big deal–exposed pilots and drivers are business as usual in the Joe universe. I shouldn’t say completely exposed, as at least the pilot’s head and feet will be safe in a firefight.
Detail abounds in the sculpt, with the appropriate amount of the little knobbly bits and panels that one expects to see on a piece of sci-fi hardware. The mech is also armed to the teeth, with ranged weapons including a tri-barreled laser and a missile launcher, as well as an awesome melee weapon in the form of a big honkin’ chainsaw. If you want to fight up close and nasty in space, I can’t think of a better implement of destruction.
A repainted Techno-Viper pilots this mountain of mechanized mayhem. It makes sense to put Cobra’s tech specialists at the helm of advanced robotic combat suits. The figure sports the usual Techno-Viper purple, with gold highlights. The color scheme is unusually restrained for the late line.
The back of the box and the file card depict the mech with a totally different color scheme and paint detail, as well as a Techno-Viper with bright yellow in place of gold, so it looks like we dodged a neon bullet with this figure.
Happy 200th review! Yeah, RAH was basically competing with Exo-Squad by this point. That Techno-Viper is a bit lackluster given that the original remains a classic. I was barely noticing the line at this point and it kind of went out with a whimper before the switch to Sgt. Savage.
The end of ARAH, but I like this version of the Techno-Vipers.
I had the GI Joe power fighter, and was still a kid when it came out. I loved Gears and the power armor… they hung out in the Crusader’s loading bay, waiting to be unloaded on unsuspecting neon Cobra Star Brigade troopers at Ron Paul/Duke’s command.
Great times for GI Joe, if you ask me.
He makes a good leader for original Techno-Vipers.
I had everything from this year except the Power Fighters. I don’t recall ever seeing them at retail, and it seems I wasn’t alone there considering how expensive these things can be!