1984 Copperhead

When I look back at my Joe collecting adventure of the late 1990's, I rarely find a figure that was really important to me back then that I don't also still use fairly frequently, today.  Sure, some of them aren't nearly as important as they were back then.  But, I usually still use them with enough frequency that they appear in a variety of settings.  One figure, though, that has fallen through the cracks is the 1984 Copperhead figure.  I have no idea why.  Really, Copperhead is the most brightly colored Cobra released before 1986.  So, I should love him and use him all the time.  But, the character rarely appears in my photos.  

Part of this is that I only one of them left.  The other, though, was that, aside from his Water Moccasin, there wasn't much in the line that really blended with Copperhead's look.  Copperhead's origins in the  swamp, though, lead to him often being tied to Zartan.  The Swamp Skier matched Copperhead's colors.  So, Zartan and Copperhead being besties seemed logical enough.  The next best option was the 1986 Swampfire or the hard to find Sears Dreadnok Ground Assault vehicles.  And, through these, many collectors reinforced the association between Copperhead and the Dreadnoks.  And, to this day, you'll often see Copperhead among Zartan's minions.  In fact, Copperhead has found a bit of a second life as a Dreadnok or Dreadnok adjacent character in many collections.

I, though, was never a huge Dreadnok fan.  Instead, I made Copperhead more of a swamp based bounty hunter.  He worked for Cobra.  But, was far more dangerous than a run of the mill swamp scavenger.  He carried a lot of gear that made him intimidating.  And, he saved a cabal of Cobras from capture on more than one occasion when he was able to devise some genius way out of a hopeless situation.  But, that was the extent of Copperhead's value.  He wasn't into political intrigue.  And, he didn't really get involved in the Cobra politics and allegiances of the day.  He was a guy hired to do a job.  He did it well.  And, he then disappeared back into the swamp while he awaited his next pay day.  

When I was a kid, I took advantage of Copperhead's lack of accessories and outfitted him with some junk weapons that I had lying around.  Instead of Joe weapons, though, I found an odd combination of accessories from other toy lines.  The first was one of the weird backpacks from the A-Team figures.  There was one pack that was perfect for Copperhead.  All the packs were cast in red plastic with black, hard plastic straps that went over the figure's shoulders and around his waist.  It was a unique design.  But, I found one mold that fit Copperhead, nicely.  It had three missiles, bullets and 5 grenades sculpted on it.  I thought the gear fit with Copperhead.  Along with that, I had an old holster from the Endor Princess Leia figure.  The latch end of the belt, though, had broken off.  I was able, though, to affix it behind the straps of the backpack so that it appeared as a chest holster for Copperhead.  I had the Leia's Endor pistol, too.  And, it looked great with Copperhead.  This allowed the chest holster to actually work and brought a huge sense of depth to the figure.  So, my Copperhead found quite a bit of use with these accessories that made him more combat ready.

My childhood Water Moccasin was a piece of junk.  It was rare to get a poor quality controlled G.I. Joe toy.  But, my Moccasin was one.  The pieces didn't fit in several places.  And, it broke very quickly.  As such, it didn't get much use.  So, Copperhead's role of the driver wasn't all that important.  That allowed me to explore the figure on his own and never tied Copperhead to his role as a driver.  Since he never appeared in the comic, Copperhead was an easy character to create on my own.  I had no pre-conceived notions about the character that I had to reconcile with the gear and role I had given him.

And, this is the main reason Copperhead has disappeared from my collection.  He didn't have much in the way of characterization.  (I'm still unclear as to if he even appeared in the Marvel comic run.)  Without depictions, Copperhead just wasn't going to stick around.  So, he fell off my radar.  And, in the past two decades has really become an afterthought.  Even as I enjoyed the "Dreadnok" colored Eels and Cobra Troopers, it never really occurred to me to match them up with Copperhead.  I didn't see him as a leader.  Maybe that will change now that I have some figures to match up with him.  

Copperhead was, originally, only available as the Water Moccasin driver.  But, he then found a second life as a staple of the mail away Joe premiums that were offered by Hasbro direct.  Here, bagged figures were offered for many years.  In fact, you could still get bagged Copperheads from Hasbro Canada through 1999.  So, the figure is far more ubiquitous than you'd otherwise think.  And, due to the late date of his mail away offers, it's not uncommon to find a nice Copperhead among lots of otherwise, all 1990's era figures.  

There are a lot of Copperhead figures.  There are three variants of the original figure.  Below is the green and blue version.  It is the best version.  But, also the most common.  There are two other variants where the bright green on the helmet is just the same color as the rest of his helmet.  There are two shades of color on this variant.  These were earlier versions that were fixed to look better.  The mold was then used for the Python Patrol series in 1989 before going off to Brazil where the Python Patrol Copperhead was released again, but with extremely slight color variants from the Brazilian paint and plastic.  The figure never appeared again.  There was probably at least one nice repaint left in the mold as we did see a grey Python Patrol design as well as a red dominant figure that were released in later iterations of Joe figures.

Copperheads are not expensive.  At least, the green striped helmet versions aren't expensive.  Even with some notoriously common paint rubs, mint figures are still fairly ubiquitous.  The mail aways really solved the supply side of the issue with this figure.  You can get nicely conditioned figures for well under $20.  Most of them will even include a filecard.  There aren't many 1984 releases who go that cheaply.  And, best of all, Copperhead is worth it for that price.  He's a neat figure who now has lots of companion pieces to help make him useful.

1984 Copperhead - Around the Web

Copperhead is a fairly nice figure.  The bright colors work in the context of his specialty.  Here's some of the best content about him on the web.

Copperhead Profile

Copperhead and Water Moccasin - Video Review

Copperhead at JoeWiki

Copperhead at the Viper Pit

Copperhead at the Raging Fan Boy

Copperhead at JoeDios.com

Copperhead at AtticaGazette

1989 Python Patrol Copperhead

One of the very first figures I ever profiled in this site was the 1984 Copperhead. To this day, I view that figure as a unique character. However, in 1989, Hasbro released the same figure as a member of Python Patrol. While the other Python Patrol members were all army builders, Copperhead retained his vague individuality. However, I, and most other collectors, simply can't use the PP Copperhead as an individual. Despite their large-scale operations in the swamp, Cobra never had a real swamp trooper. With a little creative license, the Python Patrol Copperhead fills that void, nicely.

In my collection, this figure is an army-built swamp trooper. They are a specialized unit of Cobras who patrol the shallow canals, ditches and marshes of Cobra Island. They are trained not only in infantry techniques, but also in security, swamp warfare, tracking and survival. They are given the responsibility of sniffing out any intruders who manage to get past the Island's coastal defenses and attempt to infiltrate the Island itself. As my vision of Cobra Island has it now housing several high end casinos, the PP Copperheads are also responsible for ensuring that no drunken tourist wanders too far off the casino lots and ends up as alligator food. As such, this specialized unit reports directly to Croc Master.

In my opinion, the PP Copperhead works better in his colors than most of the other Python Patrol figures since the combination of green, black, yellow and red actually work for a swamp trooper. He also comes with nice accessories (black versions of the pack and M-203 that originally came with the V1 Leatherneck) that work with him even though they were originally meant for a Joe. This isn't to say the figure isn't bright. However, he is the type of bright that actually works. You can see from the photos below that the figure works in a lush setting. That is one area where the Joe line failed as it progressed. After a while, figures were bright for the sake of brightness. There are instances where brightness is warranted. Fortunately, the new Joe releases seem to be more in line with may of the older Joe figures in that regard. However, we are starting to see some odd colors creep into the line. At this point, they are still forgivable. How they proceed will determine if that remains to be true.

The Copperhead mold hasn't lead the interesting life of some others, but it is well-traveled enough. The figure was first released in the US in 1984. That figure was then also available via mail order in 1989. (It stands to reason that Hasbro either used the mold to create some overstock figures for the mail away or already had them left over from 1984/1985 to create this mail away figure. Bagged Copperheads were actually available as late as 1999 from Hasbro Canada. So, Hasbro probably just produced a large quantity of them and left them in a warehouse for years as overstock.) Then, this figure was released in 1989. Around 1990, the Copperhead mold appeared in Brazil. There, he was released in colors similar to this Python Patrol figure as Pantano. (Just a note, there were actually 2 figures named Pantano released in Brazil. One is the PP Copperhead and the other is made from the 1993 Iceberg mold. They are not the same character, though they share the same name. As if this all isn't confusing enough!) That was the last time this mold was in production. That begs the question: where is the mold now? While it's impossible to determine, a quick look at Pantano's contemporary releases might give us some clues. The Brazilian Python Patrol featured Pantano, Tocaia (PP Crimson Guard), Gatilho (PP Airborne) and Relampago (PP Ripcord). None of these molds have appeared anywhere since their release in Brazil. Among Pantano's other contemporaries, though, are a number of figures who have also subsequently appeared in India. The Pantano cardback features 21 figures. Of these, 10 have since been released by Funskool. None of them, with the exception of the V1 Low-Light have appeared in the US without also appearing in India. So, it really is impossible to determine the whereabouts of this mold. Most likely, it is still locked away in some warehouse down in Brazil. Regardless of it's location, though, I don't think many collectors would be excited about a repainted Copperhead. New sculpt, maybe, but this old mold doesn't offer much that hasn't already been exploited by the various color schemes.

One other interesting note about this figure. The Brazilian exclusive figure Gatilho uses his exact color scheme. In the second photo, you can see how the two figures match up near perfectly. My guess is that this was by design. Estrela was looking for a unique way to color a mold they had available and found that the PP Copperhead scheme looked good on Airborne.

In the late '90's, Python Patrol Copperhead figures were kind of tough to track down. At the time, the entire Python Patrol set wasn't all that common. You could get them haphazardly, but even a focused effort rarely would yield large quantities of Python Patrol figures in a short time. Now, things have changed a bit. While figures like the Viper still tend to be less common than many collectors would like, guys like Copperhead are now fairly available for decent prices. Mint and complete, you can easily acquire a Copperhead for under $12 or so. That's really not too bad a price for a nifty repaint of an obscure character. As this figure can be used as an army builder as well, the price just gets more attractive. I know that I'm happy with a few PP Copperheads roaming the swamps and waterways of my collection.

1984 Copperhead

In 1983, the G.I. Joe line began to diversify from it's purely military beginnings. The team got a few specialists and the toy line we all love really began. 1984 continued this trend with what I call the "Swamp Year". Six months of the comic were primarily set in the swamp. The Joes got the incredible hovercraft and the S.H.A.R.C. while Cobra got Zartan and the Water Moccasin. The pilot of the Water Moccasin, Copperhead, is a truly unsung figure. If he was ever introduced in the comic, it was long after all the other toys from 1984 had been. Copperhead was one character that was never developed on any level of Joedom. He is as forgotten as they come. What's truly odd, though, is that the Water Moccasin is a highly regarded vehicle. How a vehicle remains popular while its driver anguishes in obscurity is beyond me.

Copperhead was one of my most used bad guys. I love the swamp. Most of my early play was centered around it. (My father, to this day, laments about how I dug a huge hole in our back yard and filled it with water just to have a swamp in which to play.) I made him a bounty hunter who worked for Cobra. I gave him tons of accessories and took him everywhere. In fact, I think my fascination with brightly colored figures stems from this original Copperhead. The bright greens and contrasting blacks made for an aesthetically pleasing figure that was just fun to own. My original Copperhead is in terrible shape. He is intact, but has almost no paint left. He shows all the wear that makes me want to keep him around. The one you see below is a recent purchase to allow my original to enjoy retirement.

As far as characterization, I never did too much with Copperhead. While he was fun to have around and use, he was never all that deep. Copperhead was what you saw: a soldier and fighter who was interested in a paycheck first and foremost. There was no time for morality or any other distraction in his pursuit of more cash. So, while the character was very good at fighting, he wasn't good at much else. He wasn't a Dreadnok by any means since he had some intelligence. But, Copperhead wasn't going to fly a Rattler, either.

The Copperhead mold hasn't lead the interesting life of some others, but it is well-traveled enough. The figure was first released in the US in 1984. That figure was then also available via mail order in 1989. (It stands to reason that Hasbro either used the mold to create some overstock figures for the mail away or already had them left over from 1984/1985 to create this mail away figure. Bagged Copperheads were actually available as late as 1999 from Hasbro Canada. So, Hasbro probably just produced a large quantity of them and left them in a warehouse for years as overstock.) Then, the Python Patrol figure was released in 1989.

Around 1990, the Copperhead mold appeared in Brazil. There, he was released in colors similar to this Python Patrol figure as Pantano. (Just a note, there were actually 2 figures named Pantano released in Brazil. One is the PP Copperhead and the other is made from the 1993 Iceberg mold. They are not the same character, though they share the same name. As if this all isn't confusing enough!) That was the last time this mold was in production. That begs the question: where is the mold now? While it's impossible to determine, a quick look at Pantano's contemporary releases might give us some clues. The Brazilian Python Patrol featured Pantano, Tocaia (PP Crimson Guard), Gatilho (PP Airborne) and Relampago (PP Ripcord). None of these molds have appeared anywhere since their release in Brazil. Among Pantano's other contemporaries, though, are a number of figures who have also subsequently appeared in India. The Pantano cardback features 21 figures. Of these, 10 have since been released by Funskool. None of them, with the exception of the V1 Low-Light have appeared in the US without also appearing in India. So, it really is impossible to determine the whereabouts of this mold. Most likely, it is still locked away in some warehouse down in Brazil. Regardless of it's location, though, I don't think many collectors would be excited about a repainted Copperhead. New sculpt, maybe, but this old mold doesn't offer much that hasn't already been exploited by the various color schemes.

Copperhead came in two distinct variations. The easy to find light green version is shown below. He also came in a darker green or blue color. This figure is, in my opinion, one of the 20 or 25 rarest Joes. I remember one of my friends having one, and seeing one in a store but being unable to convince my mother to purchase it for me just so I could get a figure I already had but with a different paint job. The blue gloves figure almost never appears for sale. He was only shipped in early releases of the Water Moccasin and was never available in any other avenue. He is an easily forgotten variation, though, and you don't see many people looking for the dark gloves version until one appears for sale. At that point, let the frenzy begin.

Copperheads aren't too tough to find. He was available for many years as a mail in and, in its day, the Water Moccasin was a very popular vehicle. Copperheads are a weird figure, though, in that the price fluctuates constantly. Sometimes, bagged specimens reach stratospheric heights. Other times, you can get them for nothing. Some people think this figure to be rarer since he is so old. Others know about his extended availability and won't pay outrageous sums for him. With this figure, especially, it is important to shop around before you buy one. Loose figures, though, tend to stay in the mid range. Since he had no accessories, Copperhead isn't as desirable as other, accessorized vehicle drivers from his era. However, it is hard to find a Copperhead with no paint blemishes. For some reason, his paint chips easily. Perhaps this is why the bagged figures can reach such a premium. Anyways, Copperhead is a fun figure to own, despite his lack of notoriety.