Rarities - 2004 Comic Pack Cobra Trooper (Alternate Head)

In 2004, Hasbro resculpted a Cobra Trooper.  4 of them were then released as part of a Toys R Us 6 figure pack.  For $20, you got an army in a box.  Later in the year, Hasbro announced a new product: Comic Book packs.  For $10, you'd get three classic Joe figures and a reprinted issue of the Marvel Comic.  It was a novel idea and made for great products.  When the first images of the figures dropped, collectors were ecstatic.  Most of the designs looked like renditions of the characters they had always wanted.  Sadly, the Comic Packs were not a retail success.  Part of that was too much repetition in the early packs.  The other was collector malaise was setting in after a solid three year of brand growth.  

Lost in the details of the actual figures, though, was that the Cobra Trooper from the first Comic Pack had changed.  The pre-production images had shown the Trooper using the mold from the Toys R Us pack.  It made sense as Hasbro had spent the money to resculpt the new figure.  But, upon release, the actual figure brought back the classic chest and head from the original, 1983 Cobra Trooper.

Supposedly, Hasbro had found the mold for the original Cobra Trooper and Officer.  They were a bit sketchy on the details.  But, we now had the original head back after more than 20 years.  The story went that the TRU mold wasn't in the same factory as the Cobra Commander and Baroness molds.  But, there were many stories that Hasbro never verified or denied.  The end result, though, was a new parts combination for the Cobra Trooper that hadn't been released before and would return in the 2005 Night Watch set, too.  The 2004 Cobra Trooper and Officer parts combo would never appear again.  An odd fate for what was Hasbro's most successful Toys R Us exclusive set.

Personally, I never cared for this Comic Pack Trooper.  While the colors weren't terrible, his accessories were.  And, I have never liked Cobra Troopers with bare hands.  The Comic Pack Cobra Officer, who uses the same color scheme as this Trooper, is one of my favorite army builders of that era.  The difference being and appropriate rifle and gloved hands.  Little details go a long way.  The promo photo also shows two weapons that didn't end up being included with the pack: the 2 1992 Shockwave rifles posed with the Baroness and Trooper.  The production Baroness also included a knife that's not shown in the promo photo.

I do think the TRU Trooper mold was better than the mold used for the production Trooper.  The smooth arms and large waist didn't do the figure any favors.  The TRU Trooper used bulkier Thunder arms and a waist that was designed for the figure's legs.  In this case, the pre-production mold would have been better.  I'm not sure I'd still have any of them.  But, it would have been a better figure than the original mold based figure.