Cobra HISS Tank

Cobra's iconic battle tank gets a make-over for the Pursuit of Cobra line. The classic look of the HISS tank is basically preserved with angle of the treads and the jet black body. This thing is pretty surprising with it's size, especially being packed into a relatively small box.

The side profile highlights the sleek styling of the hull, reminiscent of a high tech flying craft. While it makes for a great toy, with loads of play value, a 1/1 scaled version would be a bit impractical - much like most GI Joe/Cobra vehicles. I think that it looks just fine all hunkered down and ready to fight.

A push of a button on the top allows for the main body to pop up for a higher firing elevation. Cool feature, but a couple grenades tossed in by some Joes will slow the HISS down a little!

The driver? Crap. Using the HISS driver head and Armored Cobra Commander's body and minimal paint apps, the driver is just weak. He is also molded with softer plastic and just doesn't have the feel of a single-carded GI Joe figure.

I redid the driver, using the helmet on a red Resolute Cobra trooper. Looks better to me!

I rarely saw the HISS tank at the regular big box retailer and when I did, I was hesitant, not wanting to pay that price. Apparently that was a sentiment shared by many Joe collectors. The big box chains were still suffering from the curse of Rise of Cobra toys, some stores carrying inventory long after the DVD of the movie had been released.

Secondary retail stores such as Ross, Marshall's, TJ Maxx, even Family Dollar, picked up inventory at a discounted rate and passed the savings along to Joe fans everywhere. Rise of Cobra figures and vehicles could be found at deep discounts. 25th anniversary figures were $3.00 - $4.00. Fun times for GI Joe fans!

I was fortunate enough to pick up this HISS tank and the new VAMP from Ross for the low price of $11.99 each. Plus there have been unreleased big box store exclusives that are only showing up at the retail discounters. I don't know what that means from the whole retail sales and profit model, but it's pretty dang cool for toy fans.

Oh yeah, it has a sheet-load of stickers, too! Definitely need the reading glasses for this mission!