Flak Viper - Where in the World

There are figures of which I am an irrational fan.  The Flak Viper is one such figure.  In the early and mid 1990's, the Flak Viper mocked me from the cardback of every figure I was able to find at retail.  I could not find him anywhere.  As Joe disappeared, I figured my chances of ever owning the figure were gone.  Fortunately, that was not the case and I was able to build a nice army of Flak Vipers as a collector.  But, the figure still fascinates me.  I can't get enough of the mold and love all his color combinations.  The two vintage releases and the two repaint era releases offer two very different takes on the mold.

The Flak Viper mold debuted in 1992.  It and the 1993 repaint are well done.  But, they are also identifiable as originating in the 1990's.  The two 2000's repaints, though, avoided many of the trappings of army builder repaints from that time.  Usually, Hasbro overdid it and the repaints were good, but had some minor issues that prevented them from becoming iconic.  But, with the Flak Viper repaints, Hasbro kept it simple and there's a Cobra blue and black repaint along with a desert themed figure.  They are well done.  

The first release of the Flak Viper is the 1992.  The debut of the sculpt showcased solid design and decent gear.  The primary colors are a bright blue and green.  They are offset with a grey sash and pants.  

The following year, Hasbro repainted the figure.  The base of the figure is the same.  However, the blue highlights have been replaced with orange. While the figure is bright, the orange is kind of fun.  This is my favorite version of the figure just because it's odd, bright and unique.  

The Flak Viper had another use in 1993.  Toys R Us got an exclusive set of Dino Hunters figures.  It was an absurd idea but capitalized on Jurassic Park. The Flak Viper's contribution is that his backpack was modified with holes that allowed it to be held by a mount.  The pack was colored in light grey.  You can still find the packs matched up with Flak Vipers from time to time.  Though, it was much more common a few years ago.  

In late 1994 or early 1995, Hasbro used parts of the Flak Viper again.  This time, the Street Fighter Movie Edition M. Bison figure included a silver version of the Flak Viper's rifle.  The silver was a cool look and a great color for the weapon.  It wasn't really a nice match for the 1992 or 1993 figures.  But, it turned out to be a great match for the later uses of the mold.

The Flak Viper mold then disappeared for a decade.  In 2004, the entire Flak Viper mold appeared in the Cobra Urban Strike set: this time under the name of Nullifier.  This figure is colored in Cobra blue with black and brown leather highlights.  It's the best paint job on this mold.  It's only drawback was the lame accessories.  The figure didn't include any of his original gear and only came with generic weapons from the 2000's.

In 2006, the final version of the Flak Viper appeared in an Operation Flaming Moth set.  This desert version was a nicely done update to the Flak Viper and was the type of repaint that made sense for Hasbro to do.  While not as nice as the 2004 release, the desert version is useful in it's own right.  The best thing about this version was the return of the full complement of Flak Viper accessories.  The black rifle and pack are also great since they work with the 2004 version, too.

The Flak Viper never got exclusive use anywhere else in the world.  The 1992 Flak Viper was released in Europe on exclusive cardbacks.  The figure is the same, though.  The Flak Viper mold is relatively unique in that it's a mold whose potential was fulfilled.  

1993 Dino Hunters Ambush

Years ago, I briefly profiled the Dino Hunter Low Light figure.  Really, that review was posted as a novelty to showcase a rare figure that was heavily a product of its time.  That Low Light had a set-mate, though, that was also included with the playset: Ambush.  Ambush is a bit more low profile than Low Light in terms of characterization and collector popularity.  But, the figure released with the Dino Hunters set is almost excellent.  There is one glaring flaw, though, that is the same one that afflicted Low Light: a glaring use of bright, neon paint.  That alone renders the figure nearly useless and something most collectors will only seek for completion.

If you look at this figure, the base colors are very strong.  An olive green shirt with black sleeves and tan pants all add up to a pretty good start.  The tan helmet and dark green weapons are nice complements to the figure.  Most of the details, though, are left relatively unpainted as was the Hasbro norm at the time.  The real issue, though, is the neon orange bandoleers, grenades and belt.  The orange is just too much of a contrast with the rest of the figure.  As such, that's really the only impression that's left: the figure is bright.  Even though the reality of the figure is a solid base, the offending neon negates it and renders the figure largely useless.

The existence of the Dino Hunters set is really just a testament to how popular Jurassic Park had become in 1993.  At the time of the movies release, I was in the UK, France and Spain.  By the time I returned to the United States, the fad had largely passed by.  But, the cultural mark of the franchise had been felt across multiple platforms and Joe was no exception.  The set was hastily thrown together as a Toys R Us exclusive with Low-Light, Ambush, a cheap, plastic dinosaur and a repained Desert Fox that featured a retooled gun that would shoot a net to catch the dinosaur.  Done in better colors, the jeep and figures might have been a fun addition to the Joe line.  Who wouldn't want a net that would shoot out and catch Cobras?  But, the late release date, cheesy concept and poor colors really doomed the set to obscurity.

This figure really has no role in my collection. Occasionally, I pop him into the HQ as a new take on Ambush. But, that's fairly rare since his colors really clash with the classics from the '80s. The orange does give the figure some visual panache. It doesn't make him useable, but the figure does stand out in a display. However, I can't really find any other niche that fits this Ambush figure. He's a rarity and an oddity that will catch someone's eye when they peruse a collection. But trying to use him can be tough.

The Ambush mold has had a good life.  After it's use in 1990 and 1993, Hasbro dusted it off and produced the quality Sidetrack figure in 2001.  From there, the mold went over to India where the head was used on the amazing Funskool Big Brawler.  After that, the mold was returned to Hasbro where parts of it were used for various ARAH style figure releases until the line's demise.  It would have been nice to see Ambush repainted into maybe and Arctic theme or in a woodsy cammo pattern.  But, the original figure and Sidetrack are pretty good figures that leave the mold's legacy intact.

Dino Hunters figures are hard to find and expensive.  While not the $50 figures they were a few years ago, mint and complete versions still run in the $30 range.  That's a lot to pay for a neon rendition of a mold that is readily available with better accessories and much better colors for less than 1/3 the price.  But, as a novelty, the figure has some merit.  The neon is very '90's and the Dinosaur aspect is so 1993 specific that the figure retains some camp value.  The figure does have decent base colors, though, and can be forgiven more easily than many other 1993 repaints.  If not for the completist aspect, I would not have this figure.  But, it's still something different that will catch someone's eye since you don't see him all that often.  So, there is additional value in the figure for that reason alone.

1993 Dino Hunters Low-Light

In the late spring of 1993, I headed off to England. I left three days after I got home from school and wouldn't come back for almost 3 months. While I was overseas, I picked up an occasional USA Today and saw articles talking about this new movie that was causing waves back in the States: Jurassic Park. It was not released in Europe while I was there, though, so there was no international hype surrounding it. Also, these were the days before graphics capable browsers, cheap PCs and the ubiquitous internet. I knew little about the movie. When I returned to the States, the phenomenon was over. Shortly after my return, a friend and I went to see Jurassic Park at the dollar theatre. Frankly, I felt I paid $1.00 too much for that piece of tripe. I thought the movie awful. Somewhere, there is a computer wallpaper done by someone at Lucas studios saying "Plot does matter." in the same style as the Godzilla posters. While I'll leave it up to you to decide if the saying should have applied to Episode I, it certainly did apply to Jurassic Park. Had the movie a good story behind it, characters you could actually care about or were interesting, or anything other than some poorly contrived computer generated dinosaurs, I might have felt differently. The point of all this is that dinosaurs were hot. Kids wanted them in any form they could get. How did Hasbro respond? By making the truly terrible Dino Hunters playset.

This playset is terrible. Apparently, Cobra has created some dinosaurs to use as weapons or some other lame concept. It appears that Cobra, though, only managed to create color blind dinosaurs, as the two figures the Joes sent to capture the mighty beasts were decked out in a nice array of bright, neon colors. (Just what you'd want to wear as you go traipsing through the jungle.) The worst part about this whole debacle is that they bastardized two figure molds that were actually very nice to begin with: the 1991 Low Light and the 1990 Ambush. In my profile of the 1991 Low Light, you can tell that he is one of my favorite figures. I use him in just about every scenario. This Dino Hunters version, though, will probably never be released from his baggie prison. He is just too awful a figure for which to ever have any use. Had they kept Low Light's features dark, and recolored the neon yellow chest and arms into a nice cammo pattern, this figure could actually be a very nice update to the original. Alas, in 1993, sound decisions were not being made in regards to the Joe line. Instead of nice combat troops, we got neon colored dinosaur hunters.

There really isn't too much to say about this guy. He is one of the less often seen Joe figures, but that's only because his color scheme is so bad. Normally, I like neon figures. This guy, though, just doesn't do it for me. His specialty requires the dark colors of his original version. If he were an astronaut, I'd think the color scheme nice. I think Hasbro had a surplus of this colored neon yellow plastic. They recast Deep Six in it. They also gave it to this guy. In 1993, there was no rationale behind Hasbro's treatment of the Joe line. Truthfully, I think it was the 1993 fares that killed the line off. 1994 was a last ditch attempt to save it, but the Hasbro-Kenner merger put an end to what could have been a Joe Renaissance. Alas, what might have been....

As this guy is in a laughable playset that was only available at Toys R Us for a limited time, he is tough, tough, tough to find. Beware, as his visor, unlike the 1991 version's, does not have red paint on it. His weapon tree was also available with a few other figures. Needless to say, an unsuspecting collector can be easily duped into spending quite a bit of money for a figure that is not complete with his original accessories. That being said, this guy does command a premium. However, I picked up this MIB specimen for under $15.00 shipped. Many kids had this figure, as toys with dinosaurs did sell well, but that is why so many specimens on the second hand market are broken, loose, incomplete, and have extensive play wear. This is one of those figures that many collectors put off buying. He is hard to find, expensive to get complete, and not very cool. Were I not a completist, there is no way I would have ever purchased this figure. As it stands now, the only use I will ever get from him is this page. I have never found most of the expensive Joes to be worth the money. You get the ability to say you have these hard to find figures, but they are so expensive that you are almost afraid to play with them. When I break a $2.50 figure, I don't feel bad. When I break one that will cost $15.00-$20.00 to replace, I'm a little more upset. This guy: he's an interesting figure that speaks much for the pop culture of the time in which he was released. Is he worth the money? I'd have to say, no.

Do you have a Dino Hunters Ambush for trade? If so,email me.