Two decades ago, Hasbro managed to convince the collecting community that most of the classic Joe molds were "lost". Usually, the culprit was that they were not returned from Brazil or India. In most cases, this excuse was pure bullshit designed to shut collectors up and get us to stop demanding figures that would have required Hasbro to spend extra effort to find and produce. One such case was the classic Cobra Trooper. It was, simply put, the most requested army builder from the turn of the century collector base. Hasbro, though, was able to put collectors off by saying the mold was gone. And, the blame for that went to the Brazilian Vibora figure.
The reason is that Vibora was a 1993 release in Brazil. And, Hasbro's line was that they had never gotten the molds back. So, collectors went without a Cobra Trooper and watched as Ebay prices for the (arguably) most desirable army builder of the time climbed higher and higher. In 2004, Hasbro remade the Cobra Trooper body and released it in a Toys R Us exclusive set that was amazingly received even though the weapons just sucked. Then, later in the year, Hasbro miraculously found the original Cobra Trooper mold and used it for the Comic Pack and Night Watch figures. Turns out, the molds were in Hasbro's possession but they just never looked for them. So, collectors didn't get repaints of Vibora's contemporaries like the 1987 Gung Ho, Voltar, Rampart and Hit and Run. Looking back, knowing the extent of the mold library that Hasbro actually did have, the collector themed releases of the era seem even more like antagonistic ploys that were meant to drive away adult collectors who demanded products that the Hasbro team of the time simply didn't want to make for what was later revealed to be rather selfish reasons.
All of this leads us to Vibora. At his core, this figure is the 1989 Python Officer. Only, he has slightly brighter paint and more brittle construction. Toss in some different accessories and you have a figure that's not really different enough from the Hasbro version to be a necessary addition to your collection. But, we know I'm a sucker for barely repaints that were released outside the U.S. So, Vibora was a quick target for me to add to my collection.
Back in the mid 2000's, carded Viboras were everywhere. So, I picked up a cheap one (a carded Vibora cost less than a mint and complete Python Officer) and promptly opened him up. In hand, the small differences between Vibora and the Python Officer became even less significant. The two figures were, basically, the same. And, as Python Officers were slowly becoming a more common army builder in my collection, I lost any real desire to develop Vibora as a stand alone character. So, the figure went into a plastic container and has rarely ventured out for any significant usage.
In the late 1990's and into the early 2000's, I was hell bent on creating new Cobra characters. This stemmed for a boring afternoon at work in the summer of 1994 where I dreamed up a new crop of Cobra leaders and wrote their info down on some index cards. As the 2000's turned to the 2010's, though, I had lost much of this zeal. My Joes had gone from a relic of childhood and turned into a full fledged collectible. I was less interested in retconning a figure into something of my design than I was just enjoying owning something foreign, bizarre or rare. Vibora fell into that time trap. He was among the last Brazilian exclusives to enter into my collection. I really wanted to do something with his character, though. I needed some figures that could represent very early Cobra operatives (like the bald or eye patch wearing Cobras from the first issues of the Marvel Comic) and Vibora was of the proper construction do fit that motif.
With the figure in hand, though, I simply couldn't come up with anything interesting for the character. I had little use for a figure who was the same as one of my preferred army builders. So, the development of Vibora's character was dropped and the figure just because a piece in my Brazilian trays of figures. It was a sad fate for him. But, he really didn't even get used with Gatilho and Relampago who were also early mold exclusives from Brazil. While he matched up with them, I preferred to use those figures with an army of Python Officers.
So, Vibora was lost for about a decade. In 2018, though, the character popped back up. Red Laser Army made a Vibora figure that was colored like this Brazilian release, but used the body mold from the classic 1983 Joe. This slight difference allowed Vibora to stand out as more of a character and he could be used to lead the Python Officers. I anxiously awaited the arrival of my Vibora so I could flesh out this character. When I got the figure, though, he had two right arms....rendering the figure useless. For whatever reason, Vibora is not meant to be in my collection. And, to this day, the character has not evolved because I can't seen to get a figure for him that works.
Vibora's gear is drastically different from any Cobra Trooper. He included a Hit and Run rifle. This seems like a great choice for Vibora. But, the handle will snap the brittle Brazilian plastic thumb and is, essentially, useless with the figure. He also includes the 1990 Range Viper grenade launcher. He did not include the grenade, though. So, the launcher is meant to represent a pistol of some sort. (You can see this on the card artwork.) Sadly, the thinner handle on this piece makes it somewhat useful for Vibora. He can hold it with no fear of thumb breakage. The final piece with Vibora was a repainted 1992 Destro disk launcher. The fact that this appeared in Brazil in 1993 is odd. Destro was one of the few figures from 1992 that didn't get a repaint in 1993. His launcher being sent to Brazil could mean his mold was, too. But, the entire figure and launcher was released in 1997. So, it seems more likely that there were multiple launcher molds with one going to Brazil and the other staying with the figure mold that would appear just 4 years after Vibora was released.
In the early 2000's, Vibora figures were very common. Many dealers had imported massive stock of them and could not move them for even $15 for a MOC figure. Then, even more stock was found and collectors were able to acquire cases of them for ridiculously cheap prices. Today, carded Viboras can be had cheaply. While you'll see some figures priced at $250 and even higher, you can buy carded figures for about $70 and even less if you pick up a couple of other figures with him. Loose figures, though, sell for around the same price just because they're harder to find than the carded samples. For the price, pick up a Red Laser Vibora and an extra Python Officer. You get the best of both worlds and will spend less.
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