HISS Driver (1983)
There aren’t many GI Joe figures that made it through to this day from my original childhood collection. I was much more conscientious with Star Wars in that respect, maintaining all of my original toys. The Joes and Cobras unfortunately fell by the wayside, for the most part. I had thought that the only figures that survived the teenage-years purge were ’85 Snake Eyes and ’87 Cobra Commander. I kept those two because they were just too dang cool looking to part with. Much to my surprise I recently re-discovered this HISS Driver, who was in pieces. I guess his o-ring snapped and his component parts were mixed among several boxes of junk. As you can see, his chest logo is long gone (no surprise) and his chest apparently fell victim to the business end of a dart. Sadly, I do remember this bout of destructiveness. In fact, a worse fate befell all of my Masters of the Universe figures, as a friend and I took to a bit of batting practice with them in my folks’ basement. Yeah, not proud of that.
It’s interesting to take a look at the warts-and-all condition of playthings past, and to also reflect on well the figures stand the test of time. Aside from said damage and some other paint wear, this figure looks fairly decent. Kudos to Hasbro for making tough toys. The 80s and 90s Joes aren’t turning into sticky goo like some of Kenner’s Star Wars figures. It appears as if the Hasbro team beat Kenner in the future longevity of plastic, after wresting control of the boys toys aisle itself away from them in the 80s.
As the first Cobra driver figure, the HISS driver is a unique departure from the usual Cobra trooper. Clad primarily in red, he stands out from the ground forces. The helmet and boots, along with the chest plate gave me a stormtrooper vibe, particularly when compared to the utilitarian look of Cobra’s 1982-83 infantry. The HISS driver looms as high tech as his tank.
Considering how good the rest of the figure is, you could invest in a Black Major reconstruction kit. It would replace the chest and you’ve got a very useful figure. (Though, you lose the nostalgic connection.)
I like this guy’s helmet and his weirdo fetish ball boots. He looks much nicer than the 25th Anniversary version did. I have some ARAHC Laser Vipers manning my only HISS, but I might need to track one of these fellas down.
I like the dart damage; it’s like he got shot but his armor saved him! The HISS driver is a necessity if you’ve got a bunch of tanks, but it’s not a figure I’m crazy about. Like the TeleViper, he fills a role and that’s about it. His bright red looks great inside the black tank, but I rarely used him outside it. And I’ve never understood the thigh-high boots; is there a military precedent for this look?
High boots like were worn by soldiers but probably no more recently than the Napoleonic era.
The symbol wore of so easily that mine almost never left their cockpits. If the tank was hit, they died with it. In that sense they were a bad figure. all because of that fragile logo.
It’s odd they were all given the rank of 0-4….an operator of a two man light tank is a major? Really?
Despite being the 6 or 7th enemy figure in the ARAH line and driver of the most iconic Cobra ground vehicle, they’ve been obscure in media. Rarely appearing in the comic, and once operating “SNAP” (FANG) copters and another time as Crimson Guardsmen. Their cartoon moments were blink and you’ll miss them scenes.
The HISS Tank is iconic, but I’ve never liked the Driver figure.
I have some chest sticker logos you can restore him with. Let me know if you want some Rob, I’ll ship them over.
rubenldm@rocketmail.com
Love your blog.