Three of the Best by Hasbro

Without a doubt, Hasbro has done some excellent work with G.I. Joe figures recently. There have been a few misses, but there have been a great many hits.

These three figures stand out to me as easily being in the top 5 GI Joe figures sold this year.

The Cobra Viper gets an incredible redesign into the 30th Anniversary line. A great update for one of my all time favorite Cobra troop builders. These guys were the shit for me back in 1986. I had around 25-26 of the originals. I have one left, the rest got sold on eBay and helped us out of a rough financial patch.

Hasbro's update of the Viper primarily uses pieces from previous figures. I don't know if anything is new for this guy. I think the head is a correction for the "Hall of Fame" exclusive Viper over that 25th Anniversary nightmare (except for the vest). Everything else comes from Pursuit of Cobra figures and everything works great together.

I am up to 9 Vipers right now. I really think I should just stop there. Seriously, how many more do I really need? (25 - 9 = ? No, don't do the math...)

I really had no use for the original version of these guys. Premiering in 1982 along with the original GI Joe figures, the Cobra Troopers were the nameless, faceless soldiers of Cobra Commander. And like many of the early figures, not really the best sculpted figures. True, they were some of the first and sculpting did improve, but the basic Cobra Trooper was never really revisited in the o-ring years.

Along comes the 25th Anniversary line and the troopers get a new sculpt makeover. In my mind, not much better than their original o-ring counterparts. Awkward limbs, bald heads... Ugh.

This was a learning curve for Hasbro and they responded soon after with a vengeance. Again, here is a figure almost completely made of parts from other figures. Maybe all reused parts - I'm not that clever.

And the Trooper kicks serious ass. A little short in the accessory department, but I can come up with extra weapons. These Troopers are awesome!

I'm up to 12 now. STOP THE MADNESS!!

And of course Snake Eyes. It took Hasbro 54 tries to make the perfect Snake Eyes and they finally got it right.

The level of detail on this figure is exceptional. There is a temple Guardian version and the Renegades version out there after this guy. Who cares? This is THE Snake Eyes figure. Even non GI Joe collectors can appreciate just how bad-ass this figure is.

And with two head sculpts, you get your choice of which version of Snake Eyes that you would like. Me? I like the commando goggles over the ninja visor. I prefer Snake Eyes as a Commando w/ Ninja training as opposed to a Ninja w/ some commando training.

100% perfect? Figure - yes. Gear - almost. The swords don't quite fit in his hands. The explosive pack, while a cool nod to version 1, is almost useless. There is still plenty of extra gear out there that can make up for any perceived deficiencies in weapons.

Hasbro has done an incredible job with these 3 figures and with several others. Stay tuned! I'll check out some more soon.