Abutre Negro - Random Photos of the Day

My foray into Brazilian figures was entirely driven by the Cobra Flying Scorpion.  It was a figure that, once I was aware of its existence, I had to own.  And, in the 21 years since then, the Flying Scorpion has appeared time and time again on this site.  I get him out relatively often for a super fragile figure.  And, there's a lot of different photo shoots in which he plays a central part.  Lost in the personal appeal that the Flying Scorpion holds for me, though, is that his Cobra team mate in the Brazilian Sky Patrol might actually be a better figure.  And, while I've owned the Abutre Negro figure almost as long as I've had a Flying Scorpion, he is used infrequently and takes an undeserved back seat the primary Estrela figure in my collection.

The Abutre Negro is black, silver and red.  The color scheme works with classic Cobras as well as later Cobra releases.  Originally, I matched him up with the 1988 Destro and team.  As Iron Grenadiers have lost prominence in my collection, though, this figure finds himself more on his own.  As a kitbash, the figure is well done.  Cesspool's chest is one that should have had more uses in the Cobra ranks.  And, Dee Jay's head recolored not only gives the figure a completely different look but also gives a bit of disguising face covering that was common on most Cobras.  In short, if you found this figure in the 1990's, there is nothing about it that suggests anything other than these parts were meant to work together to create this character.

Oddly, though, this figure remains pretty obscure in my collection.  I've only photographed him once since 2012.  Which seems odd since the figure is so well done.  I just haven't had occasion to get him out and use him as often as his quality demands.  Part of that was that I rarely use aircraft in photos.  The other part is that I'm hesitant to attempt to pose him too much in fear of the brittle crotch and thumbs getting broken.  I opened my figure straight off the card back in 2002.  So, he's always been more of a collectible than a plaything.  Hopefully, I can get some more photos of him in the coming years.

One point of interest to me is that I refer to the Flying Scorpion by the English translation of his Brazilian name of Escorpiao Voador.  Yet, for the Abutre Negro, I refer to him by his Brazilian name instead of the translation of Black Vulture of Black Buzzard.  I assume it's just laziness since Escorpioa Voador is more of a mouthful than Abutre Negro.  But, also, in my collection the Flying Scorpion figure is a different character.  So, I really only ever refer to him by his proper name in collecting forums.

So, yeah, Abutre Negros are stupidly expensive.  Patrulha do Ar figures were among the first Brazilian figures to be readily available in the US.  But, they quickly disappeared by the early 2000's.  And, as wave after wave of Brazilian Python Patrol and Tiger Force figures showed up in the 2010's, the Estrela Sky Patrol figures remained relatively scarce.  As they were late releases, it's likely that the stock that was common in the late 1990's and early 2000's was overstock that was purchased by dealers and resellers and few of them were actually toys.  (Much like the 1994 figures in the US.)  So, now you'll pay well over $200 for a mint loose and complete Abutre Negro.  It's a lot and probably more than the pleasure of owning the figure is worth.

I hope that at some point the Pulse collection will move away from straight vintage homages and into more unique territory.  Producing a figure like this would be a strong way to get collectors something they wanted while not straying too far from purpose of the line.  I doubt it will happen, though, as releases have been too sparse so far for them to get into any deep cuts.