The 2009 G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra movie figures set a new standard in the line with great detail, a load of accessories and excellent packaging.
Continuing this is the new line from Hasbro for The Pursuit of Cobra.

The Pursuit of Cobra line gives more of a realistic feel to the classic characters with the inclusion of new Joes and Cobras. The line appears more than realistic though, for the first time Cobra Command seems to outweigh the Joes. The “army” appears to be far stronger than being just a bunch of nameless, faceless scrubs for the Joes to beat-up, kill or just simply defeat in numbers.

Starting with Alley Viper a very popular army builder whom is constantly sold out. (I got mine and then looked at the site again after my order was processed and it was sold out–he has been sold out for a very long time now)

Alley Viper includes a huge arsenal of equipment including removable body armor, helmet with visor, helmet with goggles, gas mask, shield, baton, machine gun and backpack with removable grappling gun. Also included is a figure stand with 2 foot pegs with his name on the front.
Alley Viper is one of the best figures in the series and has great detail. The ID card on the back of the package gives a very basic description of the character but, those of us who remember him from the end of the 80’s know how much of a bad ass he is.

The second hardest figure to get is the Cobra Shock Trooper, he is comparable to the Cobra Trooper or Officer however, he isn’t a wimp like they are. The Shock Trooper can actually win a fight and not in a 10 against 1 situation–well, if they were the 1 and there were 10 Joes I’d feel sorry for the Joes.
Resembling a SWAT officer, the Cobra Shock Trooper is armed to the teeth, he includes removable body armor, a helmet with goggles and an attachable gas mask that makes him look–for lack of a better word, scary. The Shock Trooper also comes with a shot gun, machine gun with silver paint applications, a sub machine gun with red paint applications and a pistol.
The Cobra Shock Trooper has more though, he also includes a little radio that mounts to his armor, figure stand, a baton that zaps his victims with electricity, an awesome clear riot shield and the best piece of equipment since 1982–he has a sledge hammer! It COULD be for knocking down doors…nah! Maybe a little property damage…nah! I KNOW!!! Breaking Beach Head’s kneecaps…yeah, that’s the stuff! The description of the character on the back of the card pretty much tells a tale of how tough he can be, but I like to let the accessories speak louder than the words on the ID card.

Next and apparently readily available (suddenly) is Firefly, this is a cool version of the character, however the turn off is that he doesn’t include very much but, that’s OK, he is equipped well-enough.
Firefly has a very large back pack with 2 mountable sonic mines or we can just call them landmines and be done with it. He also has a machine gun, 2 pistols, 2 arm mounted plates of armor and 2 heads. One of Firefly’s heads is the standard and the other is a cool helmet with a great aesthetic. He has a stand also. The card on the back of the package has a good description, but it’s nothing special.

The best of the batch is the new Cobra Commander. Oddly enough, after being sold out for what felt like months, he is now available to all. The package stands out over all of the other figures by being backed in red with “Cobra” in place of “G.I. Joe”.
The back of the card has his ID, but also a note from the Commander himself explaining his intentions and introducing the Cobra organization. (I’ll join you in your bid for world conquest, I’ll either be an Alley Viper or Shock Trooper and Destro has to look the other way when I court his dear Baroness–my best friend will be Major Bludd {If they ever make him as a figure again!} [apparently I still have a little imagination left…])
The figure itself is a recolor of the movie figure with his armor being a chromed red with “CC-1” imprinted on it. He is wearing the same overcoat with a big Cobra symbol on the back and the lower body is pretty much the same in black. The head however, is a bit different than the see-through of the movie figure. The heads front plate is chromed and has the look of mesh screens where he would breath through. Fan sites of G.I. Joe say that the head is a new sculpt, but I looked at the TROC movie figure and the Pursuit of Cobra figure and the heads appear to be the same, just colored differently, but, what do I know, I don’t work for Hasbro.
Cobra Commander includes some decent weapons besides his stand. He has a pistol that mounts to the hole in his leg that the movie figures radio would post to, he also has a banner staff to show his Cobra pride and bludgeon enemies with and finally, the best weapon a Cobra Commander has ever come with–a tri-gun, a cannon, a kick-ass death device that makes him the leader of Cobra–not just words…but weapons!

The original version of the Pursuit of Cobra, Cobra Commander was the same figure but he was a mysterious mail away that was canceled in favor of this figure. The mail-away was packaged in a Rise of Cobra card and bubble and had the same print as the current figure. This was also packaged in a great mailing box and had a mini HISS tank included. This figure goes for about $100.00 on ebay and I really want one because it would be a crowning piece in my collection, I just don’t want to spend the money.

All right…I have one more, my single Joe, I picked up Snake Eyes because I figured it may have value one day–apparently its probably been over produced because it’s always available. There is a catch for me though, I took a look at it and the detail is great. Snake Eyes includes his sword, scabbard, machine gun, 2 Uzi’s and Timber–his wolf companion now sports 2 points of articulation which is really unbelievable! Timbers head and tail can be moved in what appears to be up or down–it’s a start and it’s never been done before to my knowledge, the sculpt is exceptional too.
I’m not a big fan of Snake Eyes, but this is a pretty cool figure.

All in all, I’ve bought all the figures that I wanted, however, I’m hoping for a good Baroness and Scarlett, maybe even Lady Jaye. At the moment I’m not sure if any of them are coming out if at all, but I hope so and I hope they are good molds and of great quality like the rest of the figures.

G.I. Joe: The Pursuit of Cobra is starting to look like a great new line of figures and an awesome way to reboot the property for a new generation.

There are the die-hard fans that only like and want the originals and then there are fans who only want the new. I’m in the middle and like both versions and styles however, I believe that the detail and articulation the new figures possess are far better than the stiff, standard detail of the originals. The proof on that is in the female characters, for once the women look like women and not drag queens.

Fans of G.I. Joe; let’s hope that Hasbro continues to satisfy, they have stiff competition in Mattel and their Masters of the Universe Classics and Hasbro’s current line of Transformers is not selling too well–or if it is, I personally don’t care for them.

GRADE: A

Also, see my articles on Zartan and Jungle Viper. I may have jumped the gun on saying that Cobra Commander and Firefly were impossible to get at the time, so I’ll change that to Alley Viper followed by the Cobra Shock Trooper.

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