GI Joe 25th Anniversary: Cobra Range-Viper (Defense of Cobra Island)

In 2009 Hasbro released a very cool box set of GI Joe action figures called Defense of Cobra Island. This 7 figure set included the likes of Night Creeper, B.A.T., Lamprey, Dr. Mindbender, Air-Viper and an Alley-Viper. Of course many fans were quick to buy multiples of these box sets so they could bolster their Cobra troops.

Like with most GI Joe toys, he was originally packaged with several weapons and accessories. I'm missing his tripod for the grenade launcher, a black rifle and his backpack.

His helmet has a skull like look, but since the details are painted blue its hard to tell unless you are upclose. Hasbro went with a masked look underneath the helmet and if I'm being honest, I prefer this look more than I do the helmet.

I feel that Hasbro was really starting to hit their stride with Joe figures during this time and this Range-Viper is a good example of their work.

GI Joe 25th Anniversary: Croc Master

I always gravitated to the bad guys of any toy series I was interested to. May have been the Mutants from Thundercats, the Decepticons from Transformers or in this case, Cobra from GI Joe. While I look back on some of the Cobra characters and their action figures from the original A Real American Hero series and laugh (Raptor), there is one that always stood out to be as a pretty bad a type character...

...Cobra's Croc Master! What kid from the 80's would have wanted the figure of a guy that wrestles and trains alligators and crocodiles. Better yet, he came packaged with a crocodile! Sorry Snake Eyes; sorry Spearhead...your animal partners just can't complete w/ Croc Master!

The 25th Anniversary version of the character looks fantastic. Not much was changed to the overall costume, just updated. He has a six shooter pistol holstered on his left leg that he can wield, but I prefer the look of his Indian Jones like whip.

One of best features of this updated Croc Master is the fact that he comes with an updated crocodile toy. This thing has a good amount of detail sculpted right into the figure. The top of the mouth is hinged so it can open and close. The chain leash could be a little longer, but hey I can't complain too much from this release.

Since the 25th Anniversary version was released, this same figure has been used twice. He swapped his normal olive green shirt for a yellow shirt in the Pursuit of Cobra series. The figure would later be used in a 2 pack celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the brand, only this time in red. Even the crocodile was cast in red!

I get that some of the Cobra characters got to be a little far fetched, but Croc Master always seemed to be one of the more grounded characters and one that I could see a terrorist organization that hid in the Everglades employing. No matter which version of this figure you pick up, it's a great addition to your Cobra army.

GI Joe 25th Anniversary: Storm Shadow

Storm Shadow has been one of the most prominent characters in very variation of the GI Joe franchise. There are more action figures of this character than I can shake a stick at. While some are better than others, his classic look has always been a favorite of mine.

For the 25th Anniversary of the line, Hasbro re-created many of the classic Joe & Cobra characters, giving them a fresh and modern look. As you can see the designers didn't stray too far from his classic A Real American Hero design. Sadly I no longer own any of my childhood Joe toys so there won't be any comparison pictures here.

Hasbro wasn't shy when it came to the accessory / weapons department with the 25th Anniversary figures. Storm Shadow come with two swords, a bow, removable webgear (can hold both swords) and an action figure stand.

The 25th Anniversary version of Storm Shadow was first offered in a 5 figure box set alongside Cobra Commander, Destro, the Baroness and a Cobra Trooper. He was later packaged on a blister card with art work very reminiscent to his ARAH packaging.

Storm Shadow is one of the most iconic Cobra characters and I personally love the update he received here. Not hard to find on the secondary market, or expensive; this is a figure that belongs in your modern Joe collection.

GI Joe 25th Anniversary: Chuckles (Assault on Cobra Island)

In 2009 Hasbro released two very popular GI Joe multi-packs, one of which was Assault on Cobra Island. This set featured 7 Joes, one of which was Chuckles.

By the time the multi-packs started being released, I had already started to back off buying every single 25th Anniversary Joe release. I was focusing more on collecting the Cobra characters so I passed up this set...though it wouldn't be long before I regretted that decision and started to pick up a few of the figures.

My first introduction to the character, like many others, was in the animated GI Joe movie. Chuckles had a rather small role in the movie, but being one of the new recruits that Beachhead was put in charge of getting combat ready, many fans remember him. If not for that, then perhaps when he grabbed a missile off the side of a HAVOC vehicle and threw, yes threw it at one of the Cobra-La enemies!

This is the 2nd version of Chuckles and the sculpters did a good job with him. He's got his trademark Hawaiian style shirt and olive paints. He didn't come with a lot of accessories, but it's almost as if he doesn't need them. I should mention mine is missing the small hand gun (and figure stand). This is because the display rack I used to have on my wall for select Joe figures fell off the wall, scattering figures and accessories all over the place. I've since sold the figure in the great GI Joe purge.

Great figure, even better multi-pack set he was apart of. Highly worth the purchase if you can find him for a decent price.

GI Joe 25th Anniversary: Cobra B.A.T. (Battle Android Trooper)

The 25th Anniversary series of G.I. Joe brought forth a lot of great modern updates to many characters, but one that has always stood out to me was the new Battle Android Trooper...or B.A.T.

I never was much into army building or troop building certain characters, but I found myself buying multiples of this figure for many reasons. For starters its a great sculpt, from it's head down to it's feet. Just take a look at the details on the exposed machine bits. Another reason I felt compelled to buy multiples were because of the included accessories. I could essentially customize the figures so I had different looking B.A.T.s. Simply pop off the hand just below the wrist and you could insert one of the many weapons included.

Not my favorite weapon, but this claw gives the B.A.T. and edge when it comes to hand-to-hand combat.

If Firefly or the Dreadnok Torch wasn't around, this handy attachment gave any B.A.T. a nice flamethrower to keep the Joes at bay with.

I imagine this drill bit attachment to be more of a tool than a weapon, but I guess what's stopping the B.A.T. from drilling through a Joe's armor?

Hasbro went on to use this mold a few different times and each time it was a winner. I've since sold off most of my loose 25th collection, but I have one 25th B.A.T. still carded up on my wall at home. Hands down one of the best figures in the entire 25th Anniversary G.I. Joe series.

GI Joe 25th Anniversary: Cobra Sting Raider

One of the dilemmas I had with the original line of G.I. Joe toys growing up wasn't the cost of the toys necessarily, it was the size of the toys - vehicles in particular.  Let's not kid ourselves.  As cool as some of the action figures were, the vehicles and play sets are what made the Joe line of toys so much fun.

Over the last 15 or so years I've been able to acquire a lot of these bulky toys I never owned as a kid.  My favorite purchase was a near complete Terror Drome from an old BigBadToyStore vintage clearance sale.  As with many things I've collected over the years space is always a very valuable commodity and something that I don't always have a lot of.  As I've grown older and shifted my focus back to Transformers, I still have a special place for certain G.I. Joe toys and this is one of them.

I bought nearly everything released in the 25th Anniversary series of G.I. Joe.  In fact I have all but 3 of the 25th Anniversary Cobra figures, sealed on card, hanging on the wall effectively making a wall paper like border across the top.  While I've liquidated much of the loose stuff recently, I decided to hold onto the Cobra Sting Raider...better known as the Water Moccasin.  I can remember getting the Joe's Killer W.H.A.L.E. vehicle for Christmas one year and always wanting a cobra watercraft to pit against the big hovercraft.  When the Water Moccasin was released I instantly asked my parents for it.  A couple of good report cards later and it was all mine.

Despite the name change (legal reasons I assume), the new Cobra Sting Raider retains pretty much everything I can remember about the old Water Moccasin.  Most importantly the driver figure was still included and the same great character, Copperhead!

Copperhead was one of my all time favorite Cobra characters, though I'm not entirely sure why.  Perhaps it was the teal and neon green colored outfit, or the cool looking helmet.  Whatever the reasons I love the new updated 25th Anniversary figure.  Most of the old vehicle driver didn't come with accessories, or at least not weapons.  This new Copperhead however comes packaged with a menacing shotgun.  Now he doesn't have to be inside his watercraft to be armed so watch out Joes!

I really can't find any major differences with the vehicle itself over the original.  The fan propeller still spins via a small wheel, there are compartments on each side towards the rear, same clear removable canopy on the cockpit, 360 degree rotating gunner's seat, side cannons and even the small torpedo sled underneath the watercraft.  This is a very fun and what I liked about it as a kid and to this day is it's size.  It isn't too small (as it can carry an additional 3 figures), but it isn't too big either.  Honestly I don't understand how full on Joe collectors have enough room to display their collections as large as some of the toys are.  That said this is an excellent walk down memory lane toy and one that should be easily attainable on the secondary market.