Now, some amongst ye might consider the whole "zombie thing" a bit overdone these days. Mmmm...true...even I kinda feel that way a bit. Seems everywhere you go you see something zombie-related. I mean, I guess zombies never really went away in pop culture when you think about it. Well, when I heard that Hasbro was making a zombie character for G.I. Joe, I knew I had to have it...well...several! Too bad the figure seems to have gotten a really crappy release. Like I said before: so hard to find!
Here it is carded, front and back:
The packaging style is pretty much standard. The 80s era small-scale Joes had a similar packaging style all the way into the 90s. The early 2000s saw a lot of two-packs, but around the time of the 25th Anniversary, the traditional packaging style came back. You have the brand logo, a big illustration of the character to entice you, and the off-center blister bubble with the figure and accessories. Around back, you get the classic clip-and-save file card.
The figure itself rocks! I knew that before I ever even got any! Here he is freed from his paper and plastic prison:
The figure is your classic zombie. I'm not sure if it is meant to be truly undead. I'm assuming, due to the bio, the Zombie Vipers are essentially mutants. Apparently, they are Cobra troops exposed to a mysterious substance called Compound Z. We first heard of this as a sort of teaser with the Hazard Viper...a creepy, evil haz-mat guy that carried around case full of blue canisters of the vile substance. I don't think any of the comics or the new cartoon ever touched upon this...yet.
I assume Hasbro didn't go with the classic rotted, gory flesh since these would ideally be on toy shelves at Wal-Mart, Target, and such...and I don't think that'd fly. Instead, the zombies still appear to be decayed, yet their exposed veins and muscle are bluish...assumed to be saturated with Compound Z. The detail on these guys are great...mottled skin with bubbling blisters, veins sticking out, matted hair, rotted teeth, even the top of the skull is sort of ripped off! The hands are not sculpted to hold guns or knives, like most Joes. Instead they are gnarled, scraping claws. Almost all newer style Joes have removeable armor or web gear. Aside from the evidence of a tattered jumpsuit, this guy's harness straps are ripped and frayed. You can take this off and see the big Cobra insignia on Zombie Viper's chest more clearly...he's also got smaller ones on his upper arms.
Zombie Viper comes with a dome-like helmet with little vents on the sides and a grill on the front...it has several holes in the back for hoses to hook up to. Yep, around the back of his web gear harness, you can see four holes where canisters of Compound Z can plug into. Originally and whatever show or convention these first got shown off at, they had numerous canisters plugged into the back of the figure and hooked up to the helmet. The figure only comes with one. If you you blow your money like a nut job, and troop build...you can relive this old promise! Looks awesome with multiple Compound Z bulbs plugged it. You really can't do four since the helmet has only three holes and the tube would never reach from the bottom port. You also get alternate tendril arms...a nice touch. I'm not a huge gamer, but this makes me think of something out of Resident Evil. This also goes hand-in-hand with my mutant zombie theory. I guess something truly dead couldn't grow, huh? I like to pretend that the mutant tentacles are a result of pumping these boys up with tones of the compound. Just pop off the humanoid lower arms and attach the tentacle ones. The little chunks of tattered sleeves are actually separate, so careful you don't loose 'em! The hands and arms look as if they've been stretched out and eventually started to morph into squid-like tentacles. The flesh seems to rip as it stretches. So cool...what detail!
Now, one other great thing about these...you can put gear on from other figures...paintless customization! This way, if you want zombified Joes instead of just Cobra troops, you can live your dreams. You can also just pop the zombie noggins on other figure bodies and make up zombified guys that way.
I've army built with many of the Cobra troop types...I absolutely HAD to have at least six of these! What kind of zombie hoard has, like, two measly zombies?
Deep down, some sick part of me wants more! I know toy companies like to re-release stuff and repaint figures, so I'm hoping we might get a new paint deco (and possibly a modified sculpt) after the new movie stuff...hey, I guy can dream!
I found some dumb LED finger light in a drawer and figured I screw around with it. Dude...check it! Ahhh...mood lighting...for the zombie awakening!
Well, that's enough of that...time for beddy-bye!
Edited by countzackula, 21 February 2012 - 08:30 PM.
