GI Joe:Retaliation Cobra Trooper

I was really planning on disliking this figure. I've seen pictures of it and was not very impressed. Something about it just really looked goofy. Yeah, the parachute looked great, but was it really worth it to buy this figure based on the parachute?

Wess beat this guy up pretty well in his review as well. Not a lot going for the guy.

Seriously, when you compare this figure to the 30th Cobra Trooper or Viper, the RET trooper comes up lacking.

Well, I saw one at a local Walmart and decided to give him a shot. Damn, this is one goofy figure, right?

I mean, just look at him with his big goofy helmet. C'mon, man! Just so dorky looking.

As I usually do and have done since i bought my first 3 3/4" GI Joe some 30 years ago, I opened him up in my car. That's like a tradition with me now. Yeah, I could have waited to get an in-package picture, but nope, can't do it. 

The parachute is really well done. When I got home, the first thing that I did was to fold up the chute and toss him up into the air. Good canopy and he floated to earth - kind of quickly for the scale. But it worked and I smiled like a little kid!

So is there any hope for the figure? That helmet, man, that helmet is just so big and awkward looking.

Well, take it off, you doofus!
And we have a winner.

This head sculpt is just so simple and yet so awesome. The crisp color of the goggle color, sharp detailing with the black paint. It just really looks cool.

There is still something a little bit off - the color of the web gear. Cobra blue, right? Yeah, I guess, but I would rather have darker web gear.

Without the web gear, the trooper continues to be surprising. The overall sculpt of the figure is very simple and yet it works. 

So who or what does this character become? Once a GI Joe figure enters my world, I can redefine it however I choose. yeah, officially, this a RET Cobra trooper, but not to me. There is something more to this figure.

He seems to become an individual character or maybe a specific type of viper, rather than just a plain Cobra trooper.

There is something about this figure and his "look". He's just cool. I never thought that I would say this about this figure.

I like him. He looks like a bad ass to me.

Maybe Firefly's high tech protege? 

Look at these two pictures - cool on the left, dork on the right. The helmet is no longer an issue for me with this figure. Into the parts bin.

I tried out a couple differnt types of web gear and I think I'm going more toward the very early web gear used with a Snake Eyes figure. Cool simplicity.

C'mon, check him out. Isn't he really just a pretty cool figure?

I still don't know where he falls in the ranks of the Cobra heirarchy, but I like him. Will I troop build him? Maybe. Just a few. I think that these guys could become a very specialized trype of Cobra trooper.

Yeah, the parachute is pretty fun and the web gear is well done. Even the odd rifle is nice. Excellent flat black on that one, Hasbro. Thanks for not making blue weapons on this guy.

The true "coolness" of the figure lies when all the gear has been stripped away and you have been left with just a slick simple figure.

If you want to bitch about the prices of the figures, don't. I don't want to hear it. Don't buy them. Save them for me.