Hazard Viper
Handling dangerous chemicals can be fun. I’m sure that’s how the Hazard Viper recruiting poster reads. The Hazard Viper is obviously a troop engaged in chemical or biological warfare for Cobra. It’s actually pretty cool they went more real world with him than fantasy.
Appearance:
The HV is essentially a guy in chemical suit. And not jut one of the little Tyvek ones you can buy at Lowes. This is the real deal. It’s very bulky and reminds me of some of the heavy duty industrial gear I’ve seen over the years.
Of course, it’s decked out with some extra pouches and armor plating. The pouches even have large closure flaps on them, which would be needed with gloved hands. The pouches also have the Cobra logo on them so we know which side he’s on.
Speaking of the hands, I really like the way the cuffs were done going into the hands. The most important thing about this kind of a suit is that every thing is sealed. It baffles me why the ankles wouldn’t have been done the same way.
Speaking of sealing, the coat piece is fitted with a collar to seal it to his mask. It’s great to see another head under the gas mask. It’s got an orange ski mask that is a look typical to most Cobra figures. I do wonder why he would want to wear this. It has to be really hot in this suit, I’d have rather seen a realistic sweaty unmasked head. Even Lego did that with their Haz Mat Guy.
The mask it self is one of the coolest parts of this figure. It perfectly portrays the scary looks of these types of masks. It locks into the seal pretty well, too. I really love the way the orange hood was sculpted to portray the elastic closure.
Fun:
To feed fresh air into the mask are two canisters with short hoses on them. There’s even a decal painted on them that looks like a logo and some printing. I have to say well done. These things just really help add to the real world look of this guy.
For his pack, this guys has a squirting gimmick. two tanks with a button in between them. It’s a little bulk, but really, everything here is a little bulky. The permanently attached hose from the pack slides into the back of a rife that has hole through it. Essentially we have to assume he has some sort of bio weapon he’s spraying from that thing.
In addition to the rifle, he has another gun that looks like some sort of injector or something with tanks on it. It’s a unique look for a unique figure.
To further arm himself, the Hazard Viper comes with two pistols. It used to be these things were really plain, but Hasbro has came a long way with them. Nothing new, but nice little pieces. The downside? There’s nowhere to put them. No holsters, and you have to think they would be hard to use with those gloved hands.
He also comes with a great repaint of a Rise of Cobra piece. A briefcase with three canisters that originally came with the Doctor figure. Here it is in orange with blue canisters. The canister have a neat little hybrid of a biohazard and Cobra logo on them. We are to assume this is compound Z.
Overall:
I was talking to my friend Tom the other day about this figure, and we both shared a similar opinion. He’d be a figure that you might want one or two of in your collection, but he’s not really an army builder. (If you are Joe fan, you should follow Tom on Twitter.)
He’s bulky, and due to that bulk his motion is limited. If you’ve ever spent time in this kind of safety gear, you will know that this is real world. The more stuff you have on, the harder it is to move.
In short, the Hazard Viper is one of those great figures that is very specialized. He’s got a great set of gear, but he won’t look right in every display.
Engineernerd Score: 93/100
Category: Featured, GI Joe, Toy Reviews
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He’s a great-looking figure but I wasn’t a fan of his hands (which didn’t seem particularly useful when it came to holding the case) and the leg articulation range (or lack of) was a bit annoying but that aside, he’s a pretty neat-looking figure.
I agree I’d love to see more range. However, I’m somewhat okay with it since It’s probably fairly real world.
Their inability to sit down does kind of bug me but then again, why would anyone be riding around in one of these suits? I like the approach towards a semi-realistic design and in reality, these suits are probably too hot and cumbersome to wear for an extended period of time.
He’s not a hugely practical figure to army build with but I appreciate the uniqueness they’re going for. I’ve got two of these guys and a Volcano Viper, the figure that they’re mostly sourced from, and I think I’m OK for now. Typically I try to get at least 4 of most random army builders, depending on how much they show up; sometimes, if I’m a big fan of the design like with the Techno-Viper, Snow Serpent, or BAT, I’ll get more than that. Think I’m up to 3, 6 and 8 respectively.
Hasbro did a good job with getting these guys out there too; I was worried him and the Techno-Viper would be a pain to find, the way the first Steel Brigade from POC was, but I’ve seen both of them pretty consistently after the first month or so of them showing up.