Although the 2000-2002 years of G.I.Joe could certainly be regarded as a mixed bag, some interesting items and characters did emerge from those years. Although no completely new molds were created, a fair number of new characters were created through the use of new head molds, parts mixing, and recolorations. One of my personal favorites is the Cobra Sub-Viper.

The Sub-Viper is a recoloration of the Cobra Sludge-Viper, who was offered as part of the first year of Eco-Warriors. The Sub-Viper was packaged with the Cobra Wave Crusher vehicle.

The Wave Crusher itself was a recoloration of the Cobra SHARC, a "Flying Submarine" first released in 1984. The vehicle got the designation of "flying submarine" when during a "product testing" sessions with kids, Hasbro testers noticed that kids thought the prototype vehicle was an aircraft, and in their pretend scenarios used it as such. Since the diving figure of Deep Six had already been worked out, some creative nomenclature had to be developed.

There's no indication that the Wave Crusher is supposed to be able to fly. In fact, the basic description of the vehicle on the package box indicates that it was intended as a deep submersible -- period. "In the murky stillness of the deep blue sea, Cobra prepares to attack from beneath the unforgiving ocean depths..." The package illustration shows it skimming across the surface of the water, but nothing really airborne.

Now, as to the Sub-Viper: I always rather liked the Sludge-Viper from which this came. I thought it was an excellent design caught up in an admittedly rather silly concept. But the Sub-Viper goes a few steps further by actually being a better color scheme than the Sludge-Viper, and not being trapped in the absurdity of the Eco-Warriors.

The figure's uniform is an entirely appropriate Cobra Blue. The helmet, chestplate, and most of the details are silver. The boots are black. The Cobra "biohazard" symbol that was on the chestplate of the original Sludge-Viper is gone, and the straight Cobra insignia is emblazoned on the front of the helmet instead. It's a good place for it, too.

And although this figure's design might not have originally been intended for a trooper with something of an underwater specialty, the design works well in that respect nevertheless. The uniform is all-covering. The helmet's visor is read, perhaps allowing him better vision underwater. The mouthpiece could be a breathing unit should he need to leave the vehicle, and the details on the chestplate could, with a bit of a stretch, be a limited time oxygen canister.

The Sub-Viper's file card lists him as having "Underwater Demolitions" as his specialty, but also indicates that "Pressure sensitive breathing techniques" and "Aquatic Assault and Firearms" are among his special training, so the Sub-Vipers technically don't need the Wave Crusher vehicle to cause trouble underwater.

The file card goes on to say that Sub-Vipers "would rather spend time in the dark, muddy, frigid temperatures of the ocean depths than on dry land. They are specially trained to remain motionless for hours, then attack their target and move out within 10 seconds." They're also expert at planting explosives in a harbor filled with G.I.Joe craft, then taunting the Joe Team's shore patrol into a chase. Then -- BOOM! The file card concludes that this is just a little reminder to the G.I.Joe Team that a Sub-Viper may be all wet, but that's when he's the most dangerous.

Okay, so he's not someone you want to invite to your next pool party. Even so, I believe that the Sub-Viper is one very cool and very impressive figure, and from a fairly short time period within the history of G.I.Joe, that odd period between the 1998-98 Toys "R" Us run, and the full relaunch and introduction of the newsculpts in 2002, that gets glossed over and overlooked all too much. The 2000-2002 line had its peculiarities, certainly, but there was also some cool stuff in there that deserves more attention and respect than it tends to get.

And I think that includes the COBRA SUB-VIPER. I hope you have enjoyed this profile of this too-little-known Cobra Trooper!