Plastirama produced a large number of figures and vehicles for their exclusive Comandos Heroicos line in Argentina. The figures were almost exclusively repaints of 1985 and prior molds. But, there were a few oddballs (like Sgt. Slaughter and Crazylegs) who broke that pattern. The same was true for their vehicles. The majority of Plastirama vehicles were released in the earliest years of the Joe line by Hasbro. But, Plastirama did have a few vehicles from later in the 1980's that saw a production release. One is the 1988 Cobra Adder.
The Adder is odd as it's one of those vehicles released in 1988 that looks like it would have been a 1986 release. The design is sleek and fun and the colors match up with more traditional Cobra vehicles and figures. The 1988 line was bizarre for a lot of reasons. So, the Adder being more in line with earlier releases has left it a vehicle that collectors tend to enjoy. How it ended up in Argentina, though, is anybody's guess.
As for the vehicle, it's not materially different from the Hasbro release. There are slight nuances to the colors that make the vehicle distinctive. But, it would easily integrate with a group of Hasbro Adders or other vehicles of similar colors. This is likely why it was largely ignored when Plastirama vehicle overstock was widely available.
The Plastirama release uses the same box artwork as the Hasbro release. So, kids in Argentina could buy a vehicle that showcased a character (Road Pig) that was not released there. This wasn't the first time this happened. And, it doesn't seem to be too big of a deal. However, in 2022, Hasbro can not put any figures on their Star Wars Vintage Collection boxes that they have not actually released. So, in the modern context, showcasing characters that consumers could not buy is a bit of a novelty. But, the box art was likely reused to save money. The main difference, aside from the crappy cardboard, is the Plastirama logo on the box.
The toy itself isn't that far removed from the Hasbro release. Plastirama didn't tend to radically repaint their vehicles like they were wont to do with figures. So, while this exclusive Adder does have a color variant from the Hasbro release, it's not drastic enough to really attract collector attention. The Plastirama version is a slightly lighter blue than the Hasbro toy.
Overall, the Plastirama Adder isn't the most interesting piece. But, it shows some of the oddity of the Plastirama line since it's such a late mold for them.
What's funny is that parts of the box art were redrawn/altered, noticeably Roadpig's face. But also the Cobra logo, too, seems almost horned.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, it has the explosion, not the US digital explosion, background.