When the first factory custom Cobra Troopers appeared, there was one, single design that I wanted to see: an homage to the Brazilian Cobra Soldado. The brighter blue on that figure was always visually distinctive and appealing. It's a rare situation where the different color was still a perfect match for Joe figures. Finally, in 2017, we got the first Soldado release. The blue isn't a 100% match for the real figure from Brazil. But, it works well enough. And, it remains one of my favorite Cobra Trooper repaints.
The two best early Brazilian repaints were the Cobra De Aco and the Soldado. (Though, Athena is pretty good, too.) But, they were both straight arms. Making them useless as toys. While we're still waiting for a proper, swivel arm De Aco, this 2017 figure finally gave us a swivel arm Cobra Soldado. I've never understood the appeal of straight arm figures. I find them useless and don't even collect them. So, having a swivel arm Soldado finally gave me the enemy force I'd been craving to battle against my later Brazilian Joes.
There's not a ton of content on this figure out there. Like most of the late 2010's factory customs, the content of his release era has been buried by the algorithms and few people still use him. Some of the photos are of later edition Soldados who came out in the 2020's. They are equally nice. After checking these guys out, let me know in the comments which repaint of the Cobra Trooper is your personal favorite.
2017 Cobra Soldado by gen_liederkranz
2017 Cobra Soldado by sintechness
2017 Cobra Soldado by hobieshinobi
2017 Cobra Soldado by slipstream80
2017 Cobra Soldado by sintechness
I have a 2017 Soldado with a red "Mickey Mouse"-style sigil. The stamp on the butt says 2017 but the figure's left foot is badly turned inward, which I thought was an issue with the earlier Trooper mold that should have been fixed by then. (I also have some 2021 Troopers whose feet are aligned properly.)
ReplyDelete