For my money, the greatest army builder set that Hasbro has released since 1994 was the 1998 Cobra Infantry Team.  It featured only army builders in classic colors, great accessories and all for a bargain price.  Since then, Hasbro has tried many other army builder ideas but all have fallen just short of the brilliance that was their first attempt.  This isn't to say they are bad, but, from a pure army building perspective, they failed to live up to the standard set by the original. The Python Patrol featured colors that were too offbeat.  The Cobra Infantry 6 pack came close but just loses out to these figures due to the horrid accessories in the Toys R Us exclusive set.  The Urban, Ninja and Crimson Guard set all featured too many characters to be in contention.  The Night Watch was also close, but lost on mold choice and, again, lesser accessories.  The Viper Pit got the accessories right, but the lack or originality coupled with the poor quality of the figures still gives this original Cobra Infantry Team the edge.

This figure holds a special place in my collection for a couple of different reasons.  First off, back in late 1998 when I first acquired it, he was among a very small group of Joe figures that comprised my collection.  This lead to the figure getting lots of use as he was, basically, the entire sum of my Cobra collection at that time.  The other reason why I'm fond of this figure is because of the circumstances surrounding the first time I found it at retail.  I distinctly remember the Saturday in December of 1998.  I was moving apartments at the time and took a break when it started raining.  My roommate and I went to get lunch and I stopped in a local Toys R Us.  There, I found most of the packs and then proceeded to stand in a very long line to buy them.  The other reason I remember this day so vividly, though, is because it was that night that I first met my wife.  So, I associate this figure with great memories all around.

The 1998 Joe figure sets actually shipped on at least 3 distinct occassions.  The first shipments appeared in very late 1998.  These were readily available for about 6 weeks before 1999 began.  By '99, though, Hasbro had shifted their production facilities away from Joe and were fully focused on producing massive amounts of Episode I product.  In the summer of '99, though, Hasbro was able to sqeeze in another full production run of the '98 Joe figure sets.  Again, these weren't terribly difficult to find, but the Infanty set and the Cobra Polar Assault did sell out again in another 6 or 8 weeks.  But, if collectors had missed both of these opportunities, Hasbro came through again in late 1999 and produced one last allotment of these figures for the Christmas holidays.  Again, if you were hitting retail during this 6 to 8 week period the Cobra Infantry was not hard to find.  But, if you missed these sets all three times, you were then out of luck. 

The '98 Cobras actually feature the most intricate paint masks of any Viper molds released in modern times.  In fact, they are actually more intricate than even the 2002 Convention Vipers.  Their one fatal flaw is the lack of a Cobra sigil.  As I've said before, though, I don't consider that a terrible thing.  Cobra would not, necessarily, want to advertise their soldiers when they invade foreign lands.  While it would be nice to have a sigil, it's not something that ruins the figure for me.  What is interesting to me, though, is that Hasbro moved to such bland paint masks for its later retail release Vipers.  The '98 paint masks had already been created (which is the most expensive part of the process) and had proven to work.  As such, it didn't make much sense for the later Vipers to feature such reduced paint applications.  I have a feeling that was done to make the Convention figures more special and Hasbro also realized that collectors would buy any Viper mold: regardless of how little effort Hasbro put into the figure.  (Though it is odd that the Viper Pit with the solid accessories, colors and paint masks are warming the pegs at a greater rate than any other modern Viper.)

If you look at this figure, you can really start to appreciate the detail that went into it.  The figure only really features 5 colors: grey, silver, gold, black and flesh, but the small details that had paint applications make the figure much more visually interesting.  If you look closely, you can see that the figure's wrist gauntlets actually feature not one color, but two.  They are thinly lined with gold.  The figure's sidearm also features a differently colored pistol than holster.  The figure even features a thin band of silver ringing his collar: separating the head from the torso.  It is these small details that that set the '98 figures apart from the multitude of later Viper mold releases.  It makes this figure look like more a leader since his uniform isn't as bland.  It is also one of the reasons why this figure has remained popular despite the fact that Hasbro has subsequently released a large number of Viper molds.

The other area where the '98 figures succeeded was with their accessories.  All of the '98 Cobra Infantry figures featured the standard rifle with removable stock, full field backpack, combat pistol and a black battle stand.  While not the traditional Viper accessories (the entire accessory complement was a repaint of that originally included with the 1991 Dusty figure) they perfectly fit the figure's purpose.  These were truely the accessories of a field infantry soldier.  There was no need to look beyond what was included with the figure to give him fitting accessories.  It was perfect right out of the package. 

In my collection, this figure serves a few distinct purposes.  He may simply act as an officer to the younger blue Vipers.  He may also act as a night attack squad that supports Night Vipers.  Or, he may join in urban assault squads as his grey meshes well with the black Urban Alley Viper.  Many collectors used the figure as a Stinger Driver or night assault figure.  But, mostly, I use the figure as the officer for which he was intended.  However, my Cobra Officers are not officers in the traditional military sense.  Sure, they do lead lesser skilled or experienced troops into battle and can be the hard task masters.  But, they are chosen more for these qualities than anything else.  Cobra Officers are often men who rose from the ranks out of the run of the mill Viper corps.  They don't, necessarily, have any special education, though that may be their gateway to bigger and better things.  (If you want to be a Crimson Guard in my Joeverse, you have to have a college degree at least.)  They act more as enlisted commanders rather than full fledged, decision making officers.  To give the Officer recruits the hard edge they need to discipline an unruly cast that makes up the Viper Corps, the final initiation rite into officerhood is for the new officer to kill a Viper from the officer's own unit.  It creates the detachment necessary for an officer to do his job, but also showcases the ruthlessness that Cobra espouses in their lowest ranks.  It also gives the lower Vipers more respect for the Officers since they know what the officer had to do to achieve his position.

Due to this requirement, the Cobra Officer rank is often as high as most recruits can get in Cobra.  There are alternate career paths that avoid this pratfall and allow for Cobras to be better accepted in western society.  As such, I see the Cobra Officers as more of the sergeants of the Cobra ranks.  They keep the rank and file in line, carry out their duty with ruthless precision, but lack the real critical thinking skills to move on to battlefield planning or any position beyond leading a group of less than two dozen men.  This makes them especially dangerous foes, as they have little regard for any life...even that of the men in their command.  In fact, it is well known that a good officer will sacrifice his men if it means the success of the mission.  As such, these aren't enemies who are welcome sights on the battlefield. 

It's hard to believe that back in '98/'99 I bought 5 Cobra Infantry sets and not only had one of the larger armies around but also could not fathom how I could ever need any more of them than that.  Back then, armies were smaller and more diverse.  As such, I didn't even think about buying more than I had and ended up leaving dozens of these sets on the shelves.  I did, though, pick up a couple of extra sets at Christmas in '99.  I was planning to sell them in the first half of 2000.  I fully expected the sets to appreciate to about $20/set and figured I might as well make a little money.  For whatever reason, though, I never got around to selling my extra sets.  This proved rather fortuitous.  In 2001 and 2002, I simply had no money to buy Joes.  (I made a bad life choice and have just now, finally, recovered from it.)  As such, I had no means to acquire any new foreign Joes that were becoming available and fascinating me at the time.  However, it turned out that both Brazilian and European collectors were very willing to part with high quality native figures in exchange for Cobra Infantry Teams.  You see, by that time, these sets were easily fetching $50 on Ebay with some going as high as $70 on a routine basis.  As I only had $10 in each set, I was able to trade very well for the vast majority of my foreign Joe collection. 

The Viper mold was used only by Hasbro in 1986, 1989 and 1990.  The legs, though, were separated from the figure in 1993 when they were used with the '93 Dr. Mindbender.  This would not be of significance except for the fact that the '93 Dr. Mindbender mold was sent to Brazil sometime around 1994 and did not come back.  This left the Viper's original legs lost.  Hasbro, though, came up with a solid solution when they wanted to resurrect the figure in 1997.  The combined two of the most popular army builders of all time and combined the Viper torso, head and arms with the V1 BAT legs.  These legs are substantially skinnier than the original Viper legs, but have never really bothered me all that much.  (Though, Funskool removed the copyright information from the BAT legs so the backside of all modern Vipers is a bit odd.)  This newly amagamated Viper was released in 1997, in 2 colors in 1998, in 2 retail colors in 2002 as well as 2 convention colors.  (The Crimson and Fuscia Vipers do rival these '98's in terms of accessories, quality and design.  Shame they are so expensive these days.)  The mold was then released 3 times in 2003.  None of these various color schemes were spectacular though many were solid.  But, fans were a bit sick of the mold in late 2003 and Hasbro did not dust it off again until late 2006 when they remolded the original Viper thighs and created a third Viper construction type in the highly anticipated but poorly recieved Viper Pit set.  This is a mold that Hasbro will dust off at any time they want to get collector attention and it is likely that if we ever see the return of ARAH-style Joes to retail, the Viper mold will be among the first molds to appear.

Production wise, this figure is definitely rarer than all the post '99 Joes that were released at retail.  (With the exception of Wave V of the ARAHC figures.)  But, it isn't nearly as rare as many people might want you to think.  These were readily available at retail during three distinct periods of time and many collectors had a chance to acquire many of them.  Plus, as the army building craze started to crescendo, many savvy collectors bought up the surplus Infantry Teams when they still sold in the $15-$20 range.  Nowadays, this figure will set you back approximately $20 for a nice mint, complete with filecard specimen.  MOC, you can get them for about the same price per figure and sometimes even less.  Every now and then, this figure does see a drop in popularity and if you take advantage of that, you can get some good deals.  Personally, I would not pay that for this figure any more, but I also have many which I purchased at retail so that certainly shapes my view of the figure quite a bit.  Overall, this is still one of the most distinctive colorings of the Viper mold and is a great way to accentuate your Cobra armies.

Alpine has long been one of my favorite obscure Joe figures.  He was one of the first few figures I purchased in 1985 and, as such, I still have many fond memories of playing with the figure in my childhood home.  As he was never re-released, though, my exposure to the figure has been diminshed over time.  Once I acquired a new version early in my collecting days, the figure simply hasn't been high on my use list.  That has recently changed, though.  The acquisition of a foreign version of Alpine has rejuvenated my interest in the character and brought that figure into a place of prominence in my collection.  That foreign version is the subject of this week's profile: the Argentine exclusive Risco.Risco is very similar to the US version of Alpine.  He features slightly brighter green plastic on his upper body and lacks paint details on his upper arms.  He is missing a few accessories that were included with Alpine, but is otherwise remarkably similar to his American counterpart.  Hasbro was very careful with many of their Joe characters.  As such, they controlled the look of those figures in releases the world over.  It kept a consistent look across the brand and ensured that things like the comic or cartoon could be used in various countries as a cross sell for the figures since Hasbro could guarantee the toys would match the character's media appearances.  As such, you find that the vast majority of foreign figures are nearly identical to their American counterparts.  Of course, collectors have flocked to the figures that are more famously different than the toys offered in the US.  I've grown to appreciate the subtle differences in figures like Risco, though.  The slight nuances in color or paint applications really makes a figure stand out and helps to mature a collection overall.

Alpine's accessories are among the most fun pieces of equipment ever released in the line.  Risco, though, did not include all of them.  Risco only comes with 1 of the grappling hooks and does not include the rope that made Alpine so much fun.  Oddly, the second hook and the rope appeared with the Brazilian Everest figure that was released subsequently to Risco.  The other odd thing about Risco is that he features a unique file name.  Instead of Albert M. Pine, Risco's real name is Arthur Gray.  There is no explanation given, though I'm sure the pun of Alpine's real name would have been lost when translated to Spanish.

The character of the G.I. Joe Mountain Climber was originally intended to be a 1984 figure release.  The production art that exists for this character shows a head very similar to Alpine's but using Scrap Iron's body.  In fact, on the Scrap Iron figure, you still see the remnants of his origins as a mountain climber.  On the figure's leg, he has climbing pitons that were part of the Joe Mountain Climber's original design.  Why was this concept abandoned, though?  There really is no evidence and we are left to conjecture.  Perhaps Hasbro needed another Cobra for the 1984 assortment and quickly drew up Scrap Iron and just used the body parts they had already scupted.  Maybe Hasbro looked at Alpine's artwork and realized that the ball headed joint that was to debut in 1985 was a better fit for a mountain climbing character whose head would tend to be tilted up.  As such, they put the design on hold and whipped up Scrap Iron's head very quickly (which would explain it's odd look) and threw it onto the previously sculpted body so they would not waste their work.  Whatever the reason, it remains one of the many mysteries of the original Joe line.

Risco is also of very high quality.  While the early Argentine figures suffered from poor quality at best, Plastirama had refined their production by the time of Risco's release and the figure has very tight paint masks and is made of higher quality materials.  (The same can not be said of the card and bubble stock, though.)  I was pleasantly surprised by Risco's quality as he is one of the few, later Argentine figures in my collection.  He is not quite up to American standards, but will still fit in nicely with a collection of American figures.

Alpine holds many fond memories for me.  I still remember cold, early March afternoons in 1985 when I took Alpine and my new Cobra Eel outside to play on the small hill in front of my parent's home.  Alpine always used his ropes to escape the spears fired by Eels submerged in the sidewalk "river".  The grappling hooks stuck nicely in the soft mud created by the early spring thaw.  Later in the summer, the figure climbed the limestone walls that surrounded the front stairway of my Grandfather's Buffalo, NY home.  He braved the gunfire hailed down on him by Scrap Iron and the Crimson Guards as he navigated the sheer incline.  When the '85 Snake Eyes came home, Alpine joined Bazooka, Footloose and Airtight as the Joes who were chosen to accompany that figure's first mission.  They sat atop the Bridge Layer as they rode to the Cobra outpost.  By winter, the figure joined Frostbite in the Snow Cat as they chased Snow Serpents out of the forest of newly planted pine trees in wilds of my childhood backyard.  He was a figure for whom I was always able to find a use.  Every mission needed a guy who could climb up on top of something. 

The other memory I have of Alpine is more of an observation on the vintage Joe line as a whole.  While all the Joe figures released had a military slant to them, it was figures like Alpine, Torpedo, Ace, Doc, Ripcord and many others that made the line much more than the simple group of green army men which were the line's beginnings.  You see, with figures like those, I didn't need to go outside of the Joe world when I wanted a play pattern that moved away from strictly military themes.  Ace could be an astronaut in any world.  Rather than having to dust off some Fisher-Price diver family, I could have Torpedo and Wet-Suit combs the depths of the neighborhood pool where they could fight off plastic sharks and squid or search for buried treasure.  Snow Job could be a world class downhill skier who was simply racing in the Alps.  Barbeque could be a firefighter rescuing Sylvanian Families from any toy house.  Alpine could climb any mountain to rescue an injured skydiver.  The result was the Joe line became self contained.  While it meshed with other toy lines of the day, it also stood on its own and gave kids figures that they could use in any storyline they could imagine.  I think that, above all, was what created the brand loyalty to the Joe line and was an integral part of why the line had such an amazing retail run.  Kids only had to buy G.I. Joe figures to be able to have any adventure they wanted.  It's an idea that is unlikely to be repeated but shows the foresight and deep understanding the original Joe design had of their audience.

It is those memories that make this figure interesting to me.  His great sculpt, solid colors and incredible accessories make the figure collectible, but the memories I hold of Alpine are why a figure like Risco holds such cachet for me.  You see, I have several Alpine figures.  With the acquisition of each, I failed to find the sense of excitement that had as a child.  These were simply upgrades since I still had my childhood Alpine figures.  (Yes, I had 2 Alpines as a kid.  After I lost my original's gun, I purchased a second.  It was great to have your own income as a kid since you could do things like that without your parents giving you grief over buying something you already owned.)  Risco, though, is something new and exciting.  It's like adding Alpine to my collection all over again.  Maybe that's the reason why I like foreign Joes so much.  They bring me back to those fond memories of childhood where I'd spend weeks dreaming up uses for figures I had yet to find for sale.  While I would never go back to those days, it is fun to reminisce about them.  Figures like Risco allow me a nice escape in my current world to stop and reflect on good times.  It is a nice respite in an otherwise busy world.

The Alpine mold was released in the US in 1985 and 1986.  After that, it appeared as Risco in the late '80's.  From there, the mold went to Brazil where it was released as Everest.  After that, the mold has disappeared.  Everest's contemporaries featured 4 popular molds that have never reappeared and 2 that later surfaced in India: but only after Estrela had used them again to produce the Slaughters Marauders figures.  As such, it is likely that Alpine mold is lost for good.  My feelings on this are split.  I'd love to see an Alpine figure that did away with the white t-shirt underneath his heavy coat and that better matched the unique rock formations in my geographical area.  But, I would hate to see the mold dusted off and released with minimal paint applications and missing his trademark accessories.  As that is the more likely way Alpine would return, I'm happy to see the mold remain lost for the time being.

A few years ago, Ebay was flooded with carded Riscos.  He was part of the assortments of Plastirama figures that had been found in a warehouse in Argentina and heavily imported into the US.  At the time, you could easily acquire the figure for under $10 shipped.  Now, though, Riscos have largely dried up.  You don't see them for sale nearly as often as you used to.  However, that does not mean the price has increased.  While some of the once common Argentine figures have experienced drastic price climbs when they disappeared, Risco is still very affordable and, when they do appear, they rarely sell for more than $15 shipped for a MOC figure.  For that price, this figure is a no brainer.  He's a great way to offer some variety for fans of the Alpine character and doubles as a conversation piece that makes for nice background filler.  Cheap foreign exclusives are always of interest to me and the day will come when more collectors feel the same.  The downside is that when that happens, it will become very difficult to find the foreign exclusives for cheap.  So, now is the time to make figures like Risco a part of your collection.







]]> G.I. Joe Profiles http://ugolino.joecustoms.com/index.php?itemid=55 Thu, 22 Feb 2007 13:59:34 -0500