Cobra Trooper (2013 Kre-O)
The Kre-O figures are some of the most fun I’ve had with GI Joe in a long while. They blend nostalgia with a sense of building set fun to create a highly addictive and enjoyably innocent set of toys. The Cobra Trooper figure distills what makes this series so enjoyable.
The hallmarks of the classic figure are represented in fine fashion on a figure whose details exist mostly in two dimensions. The designers could have gone the easy way, and just made a generic looking digures in a blue uniform, but they took the extra steps to put in most all of the little details from the classic toy’s uniform. From the chest straps, complete with the funky small gun and distinctive patterns, to the buttoned up turned down collar, this really looks like the original Cobra reimagined as a blocky building set figure.
The only old figure bit missing is the Dragunov rifle, replaced with something that looks closer to the Cobra Officer’s AK-47. It’s not a huge deal, as the trooper is still a very cool homage to the early Cobras. For a new bit of weaponry, he’s been given an old style pineapple grenade. Here’s hoping we get a repaint as the Viper glider pilot.
I haven’t yet opened all my new Kreo stuff but from what I can see there are a number of blueshirts in the first wave and they all appear to have differences in web gear and/or Cobra emblem colors, love the lengths they have gone to to give it that old school vibe!
Great Idea, nice new kind of LEGO!
The rifle is an AK-47 with his silencer.
Gotta say, I love the grenades. I haven’t gotten any of the blindbagged stuff yet, but I picked up the Cobra Armored Assault and the Thunderwave at Toys ‘R’ Us (since at least as of early last week ALL Kre-o was buy one get one 50% off) and when I started building the Armored Assault I had to stop for a second to giggle at an in-scale, securely holdable grenade for a Lego-style figure. I was originally just gonna pick those two up as a lark, but between them (and your great reviews) I may have to try and shift a little more of the toy budget to support this awesome Kre-o stuff.
If there is a Kre-o viper glider atleast it will be easier to fix than the origonal