Once upon a time, Hasbro did little with the classic Cobra Trooper mold. Just as collectors had given up hope we'd ever seen another retail release of the mold, Hasbro dropped a little surprise into the first round of DTC releases: the Cobra Night Watch.
Ostensibly, the Night Watch is just different enough to be useful. But, also just different enough to not really go with anything. Below, you'll find a nice mix of modern uses of the figures as well as some thoughts on the figure back when it was first released. In the 18 years since this figure appeared, though, the multitudes of Black Major Cobra Trooper repaints have rendered the Night Watch kind of moot. There are plenty of factory customs that now are better night themed figures and also better blend with Night Vipers, the Stinger and other Cobras that fit the nighttime theme.
But, these figures are still useful, even if they are not the cheap army builders that they were even just a few years ago. You can check out all the links to see a nice array of ways that collectors have used these figures.
2005 Night Watch Trooper Profile
2005 Night Watch Trooper by andrey_collector
2005 Night Watch Trooper by Dreadnok Dread
2005 Night Watch Trooper by gijoekorea
2005 Night Watch review at JoeBattleLines.com
2005 Night Watch Trooper by thedustinmccoy
2005 Night Watch Trooper by gigamach
2005 Night Watch Trooper by megastorm
2005 Night Watch Trooper by yotothejoe
2005 Night Watch review at General's Joes Reborn
2005 Night Watch Trooper by Slipstream80
2005 Night Watch Trooper by gen_liederkranz
2005 Night Watch Trooper at JoeADay.com
Something about the eyes, or the color... have zero interest in these.
ReplyDeleteThe night theme was hindering. Taking dio shots at a night? Also, it just made everyone say "WHERE'S NIGHT VIPER?"
ReplyDeleteIgnoring that they are fine. The camo is of debatable worth. I don't hate it, but I'm not sure traditional camo work well on the Trooper mold. It was better they did not use it on the torsos.
Weapons were mixed bag, the rifles weren't a good fit for vintage hands, even soft ones. No packs.
I'll repeat about the weird fickleness I noticed from certain army builder collectors with Night Watch. They'd sell off the dark skinned trooper, because they think Cobra is racist, I guess. Some would sell the officer with the gold logo for some reason, I heard some dislikes of the purple shoulder detail...yeah, a small amount of purple to make a fuss about. Like the Cobra Infantry set, some would talk themselves out of 1/3rd (or even half of the Cobra Infantry set) of a pure army builder pack. Whatever, I got some cheap figures off ebay because of it, when things were cheap.
The one with the purple and gold trimmings is my favorite of the set
ReplyDelete