Few weeks back I got the weird idea that why aren't there standard Cobra blue versions of the Desert Assault Troopers (Explosives Expert, Flamethrower, and Hazardous Environment).

I'm also kinda obsessed with the idea that a blue shirt is the entry rung of Cobra and should also have various divisions as blue shirts before moving up to more specialized units such as Vipers, or Incinerators etc.

This partly springs from the 1982 Cobra Trooper and Cobra Officer exclusives that came with other weapons...like the Machine Gunner, or Bazooka, or the officer with the mortar (more on that in another post as it's a whole other project I'm working on).

But I did a mock up of these three in blue and loved it...



So I did the real things...yes I made some changes from the art I mocked up...partly to keep things simple in painting...BUT I think the effect came out nicely none the less...

Cobra EOD Trooper (aka Explosive Expert)


Cobra Flamethrower Trooper


Cobra Hostile Environment Trooper

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I like these a lot.

Hasbro went down the path of making a this-viper and that-viper, but I always liked the proto-televipers in Marvel comics as a better example of how to expand off of the base Cobra soldier/officer.

The EOD Trooper is my favorite. The Hostile Environment has a great look, though I'm always frustrated that Hasbro didn't make the quilted torso pad as removable webgear, which would have hidden the mid-torso articulation point.

I'm with you on that quilted vest issue. It looks so weird split like that.

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