Man I was 12 years-old in 1989...perhaps kinda old to still be playing with my GI Joe's with my younger 9 year-old brother. I don't regret it for a minute. Another thing: we still have EVERYTHING (each grenade even) to this day - you can play, and play on - and still collect for 30 years to come into the Future. 😉
Always liked the Frag very cool figure very cool assessories it also looks great when you have a cobra vehicle with a couple Frags hanging of the sides
This was when cobra was getting very high tech and sophisticated within the rank and file soldiers. If you use your imagination a small team of these guys could cause a lot of trouble in a surprise attack. I always thought destro was coming up with new ways to strike terror and fear in an opponent. A squad of these fragments viper could toss grenades at a target, and if the grenade had a remote detonator and even if it was covered with a layer of soft foam could really be a nasty and even a distracting attention target. Larry hama could only give you the basic back story of a character, it was up to the kids who watched action movies, tv shows and read books to do the rest.
Much like yourself, I always did my best to figure out the realworld equalivent of my joes weapons. In frag vipers case, i pretended the feed tube would lay the grenades in a way the ring hit a catch when loaded and the spoon would lay on a track that guided it down the basket. The fork at the end acted as both a drop for the spoon and defensive spikes for hand to hand combat
I always loved this figure as being born in the Basque Country in north Spain and loved playing the game with some people in New York City years later.
There’s an enemy on stage 2-1 of the G.I. Joe NES game that also looks like the Frag-Viper. He looks like he has the cesta and uses it to throw an endless supply of grenades (until you blast him to hell). Love the NES game! It’s one of my favorites.
I could accept Frag-Viper as an fantasy Cobra troop had they at least given him a better color scheme. The body sculpt could stand for improvement though. I'd have no problem pretending the weapon would function - I'd like to imagine he'd be proficient at landing his frags precisely where he wanted. He makes me think of the Hunters from Halo. As he is I would choose the armaments over the figure.
In the interest of fairness... If in a skirmish (Especially at night), this guy would be a major advantage. If he can get the range of a launcher, without the muzzle flash, he'd (Or a small team of him) be raining fire down on GI Joe so hard and fast, they wouldn't know what hit them. Then, when they recover, due to a lack of muzzle flash or arcing... They wouldn't be able to find him (Or any of the team) to prevent the next wave of grenades. Strategically speaking, you'd pretty much have to take the L and perform a tactical withdrawel. Whereas someone like Hardball... That first shot makes him a huge target and he'd have to fire and move, fire and move, fire and move. He'd constantly be scrambling. Yet the Frag Viper can actually stay in his place while launching off, again and again and again. So who do you focus on, the Vipers firing at you, or trying to find the silent ones dropping hell on you from a distance? Also... Perhaps the "belts" being sashes is a means for him to lessen his weight so as to not throw him off balance when trying to launch the grenades in such a way.
ROTFLMBO!!!! Tron had Jai-Lai in it too. It would be cool if the Frag-Vipers were also meant to catch battlefield grenades and throw them back. If you watch The Substitute, you will see how ineffective the sport actually is in a combat situation. Lol! Great review. I can see it now. Cobra soldiers are dug in deep. GI Joe has them pinned down. The order is given for the Frag-Vipers to take out the front line of the Joe team. They stand up, bright orange jumpsuit, grenade loaded and primed, about to throw...Low-Light takes them out like shooting ducks at the fair. Live grenades fall into the Cobra trenches, nobody else knows how to throw them as the "that's not my department" mentality has taken over the ranks of Cobra. Boom. GI Joe wins the day, Yo-Joe! Ex-Cobra troopers found jobs all over the country in Wal-mart and Home Depot, as they too employ the "not my department" strategies.
I loved this figure. It's actually my favorite viper variation. I imagined the mask had a range finder, heat vision and night vision all to assist in making the perfect throw. And it was also a gas mask as you said for when he used gas grenades. I never thought about the safety lever, but what I did notice as a kid was that the hose diameter was much smaller than than the grenades, so how did they ever pass through? I moved on to modern figures, and even though these came out as part of a Joecon set, I sought out 4 of them so I could have a squad, because I just had to have this one in my collection.
I don't know why, but I loved this figure. Also as a Spaniard kid I was intrigued by the jai alai connection. My main problem: the accessories, especially the grenades, were small and easy to loose
I could see the grenade thrower thingy working better if there were something on the bottom of the back pack to feed it without the supply hose. Just lift it up to the dispenser, have a part that holds the grenade while it is having the timer set, then feed it out and throw it. Probably how I would have imagined it as a kid, because unless you were Airtight, or a diver, I hated hoses attached to figures.knob on the helmet probably would have been snipped off too. I look at every "viper" as an individual die to monetary constraints when I was a kid. I only had one of anything, and every viper got it's own backstory and personality. Even my B.A.T. was basically the C3 P0 of Cobra to me!lol! Thank you so much for sharing with us! Mila, it's ok about wanting to chew on toys! You should have seen some of my He Man figures hands!lol
Awesome job B. Again you gave me food for thought. It never dawned on me, about the spoon on the grenades. I always pretended that there was a trigger in the cesta, that when pulled, it loaded a grenade. You really dissected this one.
HCC nice review ans thumbs up. I think you hit on why Cobra is always on the losing side, too much specialization. Also those specialized troops waste a lot of resources. Come on, a guy with a special grenade thrower, an urban assault troop wearing bright orange, a guy dressed like the Creature from the Black Lagoon, madness. Don't get me wrong I love all these figs, but just makes you wonder what they are smoking in Cobra R&D. 🤣
So, with your mention of the "Mosquito" looking helmet, I am wondering if this could be perhaps a retooled mold for a previous concepted Cobra La soldier or pilot, similar to the Royal Guard figure, In fact, I can honestly really see these as the Royal Guard Pilots, if they would make the colors different and give them some more Cobra La Bio looking rifle as seen in the movie. BTW - I had this figure as a kid, and that "Claw" was also a good melee weapon in my eyes too, and my rival for him was actually Captian Gridiron.
i had this guy as a kid, not my fav but i didnt hate him either. Now looking back on him as an adult collector thru ur vid....he is simultaneously WEIRDER and COOLER than i remember. an above average mid tier figure! also, what the hell was happening with the cobra vipers of this era :-D lol i cant tell if they are specialized soldiers or guys that got lost from a Halloween party!
Can't say I was ever a fan of grenades in these toys. They're too small, easy to lose, and quite frankly, when I wanted a character to be chucking a grenade, I'd just pretend he had one.
I think the frog Viper is mint to blow into the backpack like a manual pneumatic system. Maybe he changes the intensity of his blows to release the handle on the grenade?
I think this guy and Urban Viper would be a great team for building and room clearing between the grenades and shields. I don't know who else to put in the four man stack though for Cobra. Wasn't there a Viper that used a flamethrower?
Great review! Loved it. Don’t be to hard on yourself about that armadillo. I sent it to you be cause it would have just got destroyed at my house anyways. All is good!
You got into my era now, I loved this review and loved this figure. I always thought about them sneaking up and just lobbing grenades from the darkness lol. I may be wrong but in the comic wasn't a Frag Viper with the Alley Viper that used the little girl to draw out I believe Sneak Peek and kill him?
Very nice review. That poor dog was just defending your home against that invading tank. Being able to fire grenades without creating sound indicate where it comes from is something that suits a stealth based terror organization like COBRA or Nod or what have you. The three grenades on top can be reserve grenades that he can throw manually if his cesta breaks down the grenades inside the pack is perfectly round to my eye. You can switch around the tubes place on the pack to make him having the cesta in his other hand? As for the figure itself he looks like he is part of another evil organization he just dont fit the Cobra style. He looks just so diffrent. Maybe he and maggot driver was part of another concept once upon a time and it got incorporated into the Cobra line?
This was a very strange figure. Maybe when he threw those grenades he can blow them up remotely just using the mask and his voice. Like metal head. The ones on his back pack should be perfectly round and the ones outside are ones to be thrown by hand. These guys should be out with the night vipers. That's who I would pair them up with. Maybe the helmet also had night vision and gas mask like you said. They can be assorted grenades and not just explosives but various sorts of gases.
I used this figure mostly as turret fillers. If the vehicles had a spot to fill. Its definitely a weird concept. But I figure this guy can be used as a explosive expert. If he needed to launch his grenade. He would attach that thing. But it would have been better if these grenades pop from the backpack and just catch them as they come out from the side where the hose pops out. Like that you can arm it. Then either launch it or just throw it. To me this just looks like the Hydro viper. A design meant to be part of CobraLa army if it would have caught on. But then they just mechanized it not to lose the design. It's the only reason to me for the alien look to it.
Looking at his comic appearances, it's a shame they didn't use the nice orange-blue he's colored with, first he's colored red and a medium blue, and then the orange is right, but the blue is washed out and dark! The blue sashes and cables making up his LBE...if you can call it that, are pretty odd. Not sure what the logic was behind that. I like the jai alai grenade throwing device, with variable fusing and range finding via his helmet, he could rain death on enemy infantry much better than more conventional grenade launchers, since he could fuze them already cooked, landing in ideal positions...that is, if he could stay inconspicuous enough to avoid getting a grenade at his feet first. So maybe a repaint *is* in order. How about cobra blue jumpsuit, red sashes/straps, and black helmet, and silver helmet lenses, HCC? ;D The Vipers of this era were getting pretty weird, but this guy works for me.
I'm lucky I've got 2 dogs but they're both chihuawas (or however you spell it my auto-correct isn't helping me and I'm too lazy to look it up). We can't even get them to play with dog toys, they're scared of basically any object other than their food and water bowls so they're no danger to my collection.
In the G.I.joe Comics they mock Cobra uniform low quality all the time. Heck a major plot element in the Larry Hama IDW G.I.Joe was because Toxic Viper helmets was just so damn crap in terms of quality.
I agree. I can suspend reality for the weapons. They are pretty cool, even if they are not realistic. The figure itself. never cared for it. They died a lot back in the day.
Great review! I'm not a big fan of this figure. I never owned it as a kid, and even passed it up for other G.I. Joe figures on the pegs. I don't like the uniform color.Instead of that ugly burnt orange color, why didn't they use camouflage? I would've probably bought this figure if it would've been black and gray or green, brown, and black camouflage.
I give you a major nod on mentioning the basque people as I am on I was born in the bay of biscay but moved to New York City as a kid in 1979 Northern Spain is Besutiful and here’s to A Free Basque Country in the future
Jai alai "Pelotas" fly at between 150 and 200 MPH into a wall where the goat leather splits all the time deforming the ball so odd shaped grenades would be no problem. Also, the game must be played right-handed because there is no right side wall on the court. The game was huge in Florida in the 80s. It was featured every week in the opening credits of Miami Vice. Chuckles was suspected to be inspired by Miami Vice but I'm pretty sure Larry Hama did RnR in Hawaii and it might have been more a Magnum P.I. thing. I actually think a DVD commentary said that Hama had some issues with some Austrailian sailors in Hawaii which is why so many cobras are from Austrailia. Don't know if The Doughnut King in New South Wales grape soda or not.
Agreed - we used to have a professional league where I live, and the commercials on TV always pronounced it that way. Not expert myself - but every time HCC said it I wanted to bop him on the nose with a newspaper ;)
Hi there is is missing Silver Cobra symbol on chest of your Frag Viper , my kid version was in brown version . Any way this back pack is too easy to blow like flamer botle specialist . These grenade thower was weird for my but maybe was becosse I had head to many details . Helmet is OK . Range finder well we live now in times when you can have implants for eyes for 60000 $ so who knows also VR hwlmets are real no ... :P By the way name of your friend is : " Master Czajnik " - Czajnik is that thing where you cook water for tea ... : ) Cha - j nik . Chaj is also tea in Russian ...
I used to like the frags, but now, looking at it... it s pretty much useless.... it does nt look good, the head tube seems a waste, the color scheme is awckward, the best I can say is that it is original, the range viper can do everything much better. good work Commander!
I've had my fair share of chew-happy dogs as a kid! My currents ones only chew on food. The only fear i have is my Maltese peeing in it if left on the floor
The basic concept is good, which would make him a type of soldier actually used in warfare, that being a grenadier, but the glove is a silly gimmick that couldn't possibly work. It would've been better and more realistic if they'd armed him with a sci-fi version of the M16 with M203.
I believe the sport is pronounced High-alai. I can understand why you didn't give this figure both barrels. You were trying to make an apology. I put this figure firmly in the Basement of the Bottom row with Cobra La & the Falconer.
Ahora a poner una lavadora, luego hacer la cama, luego tirar la basura, luego limpiar el suelo, luego ordenar la ropa, luego ducharme vestirme e ir a pillar, luego volver y ponerme a hacer tarea como un loco, mientras voy fumando. Al lío.
Great Review, I am not a fan of this figure. His job is something everybody in boot camp is taught. I think Hasbro just dropped the ball on this one or in this case dropped the grenade.
I Like the Helmet, it's weird . But the color of the uniform; Not classic Cobra blue, not Crimson Guard Red, not camouflage for Jungle, Desert, Arctic, or Night ops. Uniform just doesn't work for me. He needs a repaint.
It is funny, I see a lot of comments about how people really liked the figure, alternate uses for, real world application. I started in 82 at nine years old. Was pretty much done in 86. I kept an eye on pegs and thought, geez, what happened to all of the great figures. I could not imagine playing without V1.5 or Ver2 Snake Eyes, Ver1 Storm Shadow, a chrome dome Cobra Commander, or a hooded Cobra Commander. A Chrome Destro and Baroness were a must! It is kind of like with Star Wars: Kid 1: I have Han in Bespin, Bespin Luke, and Chewbacca, who do you have? Kid 2: I have Death Squad Commander, a Death Star Droid, and Lobot. Kid 1: Dude...I am sorry. Here, take my X-Wing, it has shields. Kid 2: Do you want to play with my Twin Pod Cloud Car? Kid 1: (SMH) Kid 2 is all the kids who got into GI Joe too late. At least Kenner, after all the movies were done, started to issue POTF figures, with coins. Better versions of original figures, with original clothing styles. Hasbro made the Ice Cream Soldier!
Man I was 12 years-old in 1989...perhaps kinda old to still be playing with my GI Joe's with my younger 9 year-old brother. I don't regret it for a minute. Another thing: we still have EVERYTHING (each grenade even) to this day - you can play, and play on - and still collect for 30 years to come into the Future. 😉
Beautiful action figure I stoped playing with G.I.Joe before 1988😮.
So, witch version of Fred are you?
Always liked the Frag very cool figure very cool assessories it also looks great when you have a cobra vehicle with a couple Frags hanging of the sides
This was when cobra was getting very high tech and sophisticated within the rank and file soldiers. If you use your imagination a small team of these guys could cause a lot of trouble in a surprise attack. I always thought destro was coming up with new ways to strike terror and fear in an opponent. A squad of these fragments viper could toss grenades at a target, and if the grenade had a remote detonator and even if it was covered with a layer of soft foam could really be a nasty and even a distracting attention target. Larry hama could only give you the basic back story of a character, it was up to the kids who watched action movies, tv shows and read books to do the rest.
Frag-Viper was a middle of the road from 1989. I did like the grenades and gun, the figure was wierd
Much like yourself, I always did my best to figure out the realworld equalivent of my joes weapons. In frag vipers case, i pretended the feed tube would lay the grenades in a way the ring hit a catch when loaded and the spoon would lay on a track that guided it down the basket. The fork at the end acted as both a drop for the spoon and defensive spikes for hand to hand combat
I always loved this figure as being born in the Basque Country in north Spain and loved playing the game with some people in New York City years later.
Cobra's personal lacrosse player...👍😂😂😂
Cesta Basca 😉
At the time I was determined to get all of the Vipers, and this was one.
A great army builder and a great review thanks for choosing this one
I remember getting this in a three pack with Scoop and Marauder Low Light. He was OKish, I used him as a co-driver for the Maggot.
I had this figure growing up and I always thought he was such a bizzare one
There’s an enemy on stage 2-1 of the G.I. Joe NES game that also looks like the Frag-Viper. He looks like he has the cesta and uses it to throw an endless supply of grenades (until you blast him to hell). Love the NES game! It’s one of my favorites.
Can you just imagine a field of these guys just chunking grenades everywhere? That would seriously be a bad situation.
I could accept Frag-Viper as an fantasy Cobra troop had they at least given him a better color scheme. The body sculpt could stand for improvement though. I'd have no problem pretending the weapon would function - I'd like to imagine he'd be proficient at landing his frags precisely where he wanted. He makes me think of the Hunters from Halo. As he is I would choose the armaments over the figure.
None of the concerns matter when you are a kid you just take it for face value and it's cool to imagine it all works
In the interest of fairness... If in a skirmish (Especially at night), this guy would be a major advantage. If he can get the range of a launcher, without the muzzle flash, he'd (Or a small team of him) be raining fire down on GI Joe so hard and fast, they wouldn't know what hit them. Then, when they recover, due to a lack of muzzle flash or arcing... They wouldn't be able to find him (Or any of the team) to prevent the next wave of grenades.
Strategically speaking, you'd pretty much have to take the L and perform a tactical withdrawel. Whereas someone like Hardball... That first shot makes him a huge target and he'd have to fire and move, fire and move, fire and move. He'd constantly be scrambling. Yet the Frag Viper can actually stay in his place while launching off, again and again and again. So who do you focus on, the Vipers firing at you, or trying to find the silent ones dropping hell on you from a distance?
Also... Perhaps the "belts" being sashes is a means for him to lessen his weight so as to not throw him off balance when trying to launch the grenades in such a way.
Man that's a gorgeous dog though, no way anyone could stay mad at a face like that
ROTFLMBO!!!! Tron had Jai-Lai in it too. It would be cool if the Frag-Vipers were also meant to catch battlefield grenades and throw them back. If you watch The Substitute, you will see how ineffective the sport actually is in a combat situation. Lol!
Great review. I can see it now. Cobra soldiers are dug in deep. GI Joe has them pinned down. The order is given for the Frag-Vipers to take out the front line of the Joe team. They stand up, bright orange jumpsuit, grenade loaded and primed, about to throw...Low-Light takes them out like shooting ducks at the fair. Live grenades fall into the Cobra trenches, nobody else knows how to throw them as the "that's not my department" mentality has taken over the ranks of Cobra. Boom. GI Joe wins the day, Yo-Joe!
Ex-Cobra troopers found jobs all over the country in Wal-mart and Home Depot, as they too employ the "not my department" strategies.
I loved this figure. It's actually my favorite viper variation. I imagined the mask had a range finder, heat vision and night vision all to assist in making the perfect throw. And it was also a gas mask as you said for when he used gas grenades. I never thought about the safety lever, but what I did notice as a kid was that the hose diameter was much smaller than than the grenades, so how did they ever pass through? I moved on to modern figures, and even though these came out as part of a Joecon set, I sought out 4 of them so I could have a squad, because I just had to have this one in my collection.
I don't know why, but I loved this figure. Also as a Spaniard kid I was intrigued by the jai alai connection. My main problem: the accessories, especially the grenades, were small and easy to loose
That was a pretty awesome thumbnail image. Very nice!
My favourite Viper, well-armed AF !!!
Frag-Viper's backpack would be more dangerous than carrying a flamethrower with a full tank of fuel...scary!
I could see the grenade thrower thingy working better if there were something on the bottom of the back pack to feed it without the supply hose. Just lift it up to the dispenser, have a part that holds the grenade while it is having the timer set, then feed it out and throw it. Probably how I would have imagined it as a kid, because unless you were Airtight, or a diver, I hated hoses attached to figures.knob on the helmet probably would have been snipped off too. I look at every "viper" as an individual die to monetary constraints when I was a kid. I only had one of anything, and every viper got it's own backstory and personality. Even my B.A.T. was basically the C3 P0 of Cobra to me!lol! Thank you so much for sharing with us! Mila, it's ok about wanting to chew on toys! You should have seen some of my He Man figures hands!lol
Delvis 78 or just give him a giant Pez dispenser
It's pronounced "Hi-Ly"
I scrolled down to see how many people said that. Lol
+Brandon Moore how about that old opening sequence from Miami Vice 👍
YES! I grew up in West Palm Beach and heard the jingle so much as a kid.
Awesome job B. Again you gave me food for thought. It never dawned on me, about the spoon on the grenades. I always pretended that there was a trigger in the cesta, that when pulled, it loaded a grenade. You really dissected this one.
Over thought, I think. It's a toy. Just enjoy it.
HCC nice review ans thumbs up. I think you hit on why Cobra is always on the losing side, too much specialization. Also those specialized troops waste a lot of resources. Come on, a guy with a special grenade thrower, an urban assault troop wearing bright orange, a guy dressed like the Creature from the Black Lagoon, madness. Don't get me wrong I love all these figs, but just makes you wonder what they are smoking in Cobra R&D. 🤣
LOL true that
I agree, you could make them menacing, cool, evil, and practical! But, SOMEONE needed to run out the stock of puke-purple and don't-hit-me-orange.
So, with your mention of the "Mosquito" looking helmet, I am wondering if this could be perhaps a retooled mold for a previous concepted Cobra La soldier or pilot, similar to the Royal Guard figure, In fact, I can honestly really see these as the Royal Guard Pilots, if they would make the colors different and give them some more Cobra La Bio looking rifle as seen in the movie.
BTW - I had this figure as a kid, and that "Claw" was also a good melee weapon in my eyes too, and my rival for him was actually Captian Gridiron.
i had this guy as a kid, not my fav but i didnt hate him either. Now looking back on him as an adult collector thru ur vid....he is simultaneously WEIRDER and COOLER than i remember. an above average mid tier figure! also, what the hell was happening with the cobra vipers of this era :-D lol i cant tell if they are specialized soldiers or guys that got lost from a Halloween party!
I hear ya man! My favorites are: 01. Tele-Viper 02. Viper 03. Techno-Viper... I dunno after that though! :D
I had the Laser Viper (my favorite) and Flack Viper.
Can't say I was ever a fan of grenades in these toys. They're too small, easy to lose, and quite frankly, when I wanted a character to be chucking a grenade, I'd just pretend he had one.
I think the loose nades are cool so long as one is careful - if lost ya can always go back to pretending anywayz! :D
Reminds me of one of those chuck it launchers dog walkers use!
I liked the frag viper. Interesting figure.
ya know...he actually looks reasonable when u have him standing next to figures like girdiron and the hydro viper.
maybe if you turn the backpack sideways, it can be a gravity-feed system
I think the frog Viper is mint to blow into the backpack like a manual pneumatic system. Maybe he changes the intensity of his blows to release the handle on the grenade?
Sorry, frag viper
I think this guy and Urban Viper would be a great team for building and room clearing between the grenades and shields. I don't know who else to put in the four man stack though for Cobra. Wasn't there a Viper that used a flamethrower?
Video game fellas are Cobra La insectiod Royal Guards ...
my two favorites were alley viper and techno viper.
Great review! Loved it. Don’t be to hard on yourself about that armadillo. I sent it to you be cause it would have just got destroyed at my house anyways. All is good!
You got into my era now, I loved this review and loved this figure. I always thought about them sneaking up and just lobbing grenades from the darkness lol. I may be wrong but in the comic wasn't a Frag Viper with the Alley Viper that used the little girl to draw out I believe Sneak Peek and kill him?
ahh you forgot downtown, the go joe motar man.
Short Fuze: mortar man, 1982.
Very nice review. That poor dog was just defending your home against that invading tank.
Being able to fire grenades without creating sound indicate where it comes from is something that suits a stealth based terror organization like COBRA or Nod or what have you. The three grenades on top can be reserve grenades that he can throw manually if his cesta breaks down the grenades inside the pack is perfectly round to my eye. You can switch around the tubes place on the pack to make him having the cesta in his other hand?
As for the figure itself he looks like he is part of another evil organization he just dont fit the Cobra style. He looks just so diffrent. Maybe he and maggot driver was part of another concept once upon a time and it got incorporated into the Cobra line?
This was a very strange figure. Maybe when he threw those grenades he can blow them up remotely just using the mask and his voice. Like metal head. The ones on his back pack should be perfectly round and the ones outside are ones to be thrown by hand. These guys should be out with the night vipers. That's who I would pair them up with. Maybe the helmet also had night vision and gas mask like you said. They can be assorted grenades and not just explosives but various sorts of gases.
Cobra really liked hoses.
I used this figure mostly as turret fillers. If the vehicles had a spot to fill. Its definitely a weird concept. But I figure this guy can be used as a explosive expert. If he needed to launch his grenade. He would attach that thing. But it would have been better if these grenades pop from the backpack and just catch them as they come out from the side where the hose pops out. Like that you can arm it. Then either launch it or just throw it. To me this just looks like the Hydro viper. A design meant to be part of CobraLa army if it would have caught on. But then they just mechanized it not to lose the design. It's the only reason to me for the alien look to it.
Looking at his comic appearances, it's a shame they didn't use the nice orange-blue he's colored with, first he's colored red and a medium blue, and then the orange is right, but the blue is washed out and dark! The blue sashes and cables making up his LBE...if you can call it that, are pretty odd. Not sure what the logic was behind that. I like the jai alai grenade throwing device, with variable fusing and range finding via his helmet, he could rain death on enemy infantry much better than more conventional grenade launchers, since he could fuze them already cooked, landing in ideal positions...that is, if he could stay inconspicuous enough to avoid getting a grenade at his feet first. So maybe a repaint *is* in order. How about cobra blue jumpsuit, red sashes/straps, and black helmet, and silver helmet lenses, HCC? ;D The Vipers of this era were getting pretty weird, but this guy works for me.
I'm lucky I've got 2 dogs but they're both chihuawas (or however you spell it my auto-correct isn't helping me and I'm too lazy to look it up). We can't even get them to play with dog toys, they're scared of basically any object other than their food and water bowls so they're no danger to my collection.
1986guy just say Taco Bell dog. We gotcha!lol
Just wondering HOW the dog got to the tank....
Or have we now learned NOT to use wet dog food as realistic "mud" for action shots? ;)
the helmet looks like a grey alien.
In the G.I.joe Comics they mock Cobra uniform low quality all the time. Heck a major plot element in the Larry Hama IDW G.I.Joe was because Toxic Viper helmets was just so damn crap in terms of quality.
Bob Smith yep they called them the leaky suit brigade.
Commander, you forgot about the appearance by the Frag-Viper in issue #113 involving him and an Alley-Viper being the cause of Sneak Peek's death
I've never really been a fan of the figure. I don't really mind the weird weapons but I don't love the colors or the sculpt.
I agree. I can suspend reality for the weapons. They are pretty cool, even if they are not realistic. The figure itself. never cared for it. They died a lot back in the day.
Great review! I'm not a big fan of this figure. I never owned it as a kid, and even passed it up for other G.I. Joe figures on the pegs. I don't like the uniform color.Instead of that ugly burnt orange color, why didn't they use camouflage? I would've probably bought this figure if it would've been black and gray or green, brown, and black camouflage.
I give you a major nod on mentioning the basque people as I am on I was born in the bay of biscay but moved to New York City as a kid in 1979 Northern Spain is Besutiful and here’s to A Free Basque Country in the future
Jai alai "Pelotas" fly at between 150 and 200 MPH into a wall where the goat leather splits all the time deforming the ball so odd shaped grenades would be no problem. Also, the game must be played right-handed because there is no right side wall on the court. The game was huge in Florida in the 80s. It was featured every week in the opening credits of Miami Vice. Chuckles was suspected to be inspired by Miami Vice but I'm pretty sure Larry Hama did RnR in Hawaii and it might have been more a Magnum P.I. thing. I actually think a DVD commentary said that Hama had some issues with some Austrailian sailors in Hawaii which is why so many cobras are from Austrailia. Don't know if The Doughnut King in New South Wales grape soda or not.
I believe it's pronounced "high-lie"
Agreed - we used to have a professional league where I live, and the commercials on TV always pronounced it that way. Not expert myself - but every time HCC said it I wanted to bop him on the nose with a newspaper ;)
At least the cat seems to want to help with the reviews. :)
That tragic cry🤣
Hi there is is missing Silver Cobra symbol on chest of your Frag Viper , my kid version was in brown version . Any way this back pack is too easy to blow like flamer botle specialist . These grenade thower was weird for my but maybe was becosse I had head to many details . Helmet is OK . Range finder well we live now in times when you can have implants for eyes for 60000 $ so who knows also VR hwlmets are real no ... :P By the way name of your friend is : " Master Czajnik " - Czajnik is that thing where you cook water for tea ... : ) Cha - j nik . Chaj is also tea in Russian ...
He has a cool gun and his grenade thrower was cool. Grenade thrower or claw?
Great vídeo!!!! Basque country belongs to Spain, it's a spanish territory.
Regards!
These years Frag Viper chooses to play pickle ball!
I'm pretty sure the enemy you identified in the 1991 NES game was a Cobra-La Royal Guard, not a Frag Viper.
Frag-Viper might be ambidextrous.
The box art is great! Makes him look inhuman, and insectlike. The figure looks like a bad interpretation of the sick box art.
I used to like the frags, but now, looking at it...
it s pretty much useless....
it does nt look good, the head tube seems a waste, the color scheme is awckward,
the best I can say is that it is original, the range viper can do everything much better.
good work Commander!
I like this one nice work a
I think I had that one but I lost all the grenades on like the first or second day I had him
This character was fragging ridiculous.
The audio just lacks , ya know?
I've had my fair share of chew-happy dogs as a kid! My currents ones only chew on food. The only fear i have is my Maltese peeing in it if left on the floor
M203's are not loud when they launch grenades; it sounds like a big pringles can being popped.
What was thumbnail review you mentioned at the end, and can we see it?
I was expecting all sorts of Tron references in the comments; am I the only one who remembers the game Flynn was forced to play?
Hcc788 are there any modern character you wish were release in the vintage toyline?
@HoodedCobraCommander788 is Formbx257 okay he hasnt done a review in a month? Just hoping he is in good health.
The basic concept is good, which would make him a type of soldier actually used in warfare, that being a grenadier, but the glove is a silly gimmick that couldn't possibly work. It would've been better and more realistic if they'd armed him with a sci-fi version of the M16 with M203.
FYI: I'm 5 years late but it's pronounced, "high-uh-lie." J's tend to have very different pronunciations in Spanish than English.
Oh do you sell t shirts? I'd love to have a black and red cobra t shirt like yours 😀😀😀
Bad dog. No biscuit!!!
Dogs eat everything in sight, my dog ate one accessory from Marauderinc and I learned my lesson
All dogs are named stew.
To Jeron :D
Seriously, even a single shot M-79 40mm grenade launcher would be more useful than the Frag Viper :p
Cobra put a hit contract on your dog.
I believe the sport is pronounced High-alai. I can understand why you didn't give this figure both barrels. You were trying to make an apology. I put this figure firmly in the Basement of the Bottom row with Cobra La & the Falconer.
The costume color is kinda meh, but I really like the Jai-Alai concept.
Ahora a poner una lavadora, luego hacer la cama, luego tirar la basura, luego limpiar el suelo, luego ordenar la ropa, luego ducharme vestirme e ir a pillar, luego volver y ponerme a hacer tarea como un loco, mientras voy fumando. Al lío.
Great Review, I am not a fan of this figure. His job is something everybody in boot camp is taught. I think Hasbro just dropped the ball on this one or in this case dropped the grenade.
I Like the Helmet, it's weird . But the color of the uniform; Not classic Cobra blue, not Crimson Guard Red, not camouflage for Jungle, Desert, Arctic, or Night ops. Uniform just doesn't work for me. He needs a repaint.
range viper was OD prob in my top 5 figures i played with, frag for me was meh
It is funny, I see a lot of comments about how people really liked the figure, alternate uses for, real world application. I started in 82 at nine years old. Was pretty much done in 86. I kept an eye on pegs and thought, geez, what happened to all of the great figures. I could not imagine playing without V1.5 or Ver2 Snake Eyes, Ver1 Storm Shadow, a chrome dome Cobra Commander, or a hooded Cobra Commander. A Chrome Destro and Baroness were a must! It is kind of like with Star Wars:
Kid 1: I have Han in Bespin, Bespin Luke, and Chewbacca, who do you have?
Kid 2: I have Death Squad Commander, a Death Star Droid, and Lobot.
Kid 1: Dude...I am sorry. Here, take my X-Wing, it has shields.
Kid 2: Do you want to play with my Twin Pod Cloud Car?
Kid 1: (SMH)
Kid 2 is all the kids who got into GI Joe too late. At least Kenner, after all the movies were done, started to issue POTF figures, with coins. Better versions of original figures, with original clothing styles. Hasbro made the Ice Cream Soldier!
my dog ate one of my stormtroopers once
Mosquitos are the most dangerous animal because they kill more humans then any other animal. Mosquito Viper.
What's the sorry song? I like old standart jazz.
Patsy Cline: Crazy is her best song if you ask me... Old country blues are the best eh... Enjoy :)
Brent Clouda thank's!
That's a skeet thrower
It's a back scratcher.
Frag-Viper drank the blood from the remains of his victims;-p
el pais vasco ES españa no esta en la frontera , pertenece a España, como Idaho a eeuu