Flamethrower troopers of one sort or another have been around for decades, perhaps longer. It would not surprise me to learn that the ancient legions of Rome probably had some form of flame-using soldiers in their vast armies.

The G.I.Joe Team introduced its first flamethrower trooper, Blowtorch, in 1984, and its second, Charbroil, in 1988. Just to be on the safe side, they brought a firefighting specialist, Barbecue, onto the team in 1985,

So why in the world did it take Cobra nine years, until 1991, to bring in a cadre of flamethrower troopers? I mean, did they really think the Dreadnok named Torch could get it all done for them? Does Cobra Commander have a phobia about open flame? (if so, I can relate -- I pretty much do myself).

Whatever the case, Cobra took its sweet time developing a flamethrower specialist troop division. Fortunately, once they did, the end result was a pretty cool figure.

Now, you might think that Cobra, with its habit of naming many of their troopers, "Fill-in-the-blank"-Vipers, would name these guys Fire-Vipers, or Flame-Vipers, or something along those lines. But apparently the Cobra Quartermaster in charge of Trooper Specialty Names decided to do something a little different. They were named INCINERATORS.

Okay, it's not particularly Cobra-sounding. There's nothing really all that reptilian about it. On the other hand, it's one word, it's to the point, there's no mistaking the definition of the term, and it gets the job done. It works.

And the Cobra Incinerator was one of the cooler -- no pun intended -- figures to join the ranks of Cobra. Yes, he's fairly brightly dressed, as was typical for the time period when getting into the later years of the original run of the Real American Hero. On the other hand, he can get away with it. He's a flamethrower trooper. For someone like that, orange and red works.

Besides, he's still not as brightly dressed as Blowtorch. His uniform stands out in just about any crowd.

The Incinerator uniform is described on the character file card as an outfit that "encases" the wearers "head to toe in fire-resistant, air-conditioned fighting suits", adding that Incinerators can take the heat as well as dish it out. In other words, once these guys set fire to something, they're likely to hang around and watch it burn for a while. I'm surprised their accessories didn't include marshmallows.

The figure design and level of detail are superb. The helmet is silver with a red visor. The chest and back are a thickly padded red, and the sleeves and trousers are orange, with a very intricate sculpted pattern in them that almost looks scaly and is clearly designed to look like highly protective fireproof material. The Incinerator has two ridged, silver straps over his chest, with a Cobra emblem sculpted into the center. The figure has a thick silver belt, and ridged silver lines running down the outside of the legs and down his arms. While not specified as such, it wouldn't surprise me if this is part of the cooling system.

The gloves of the Incinerator are red, and the boots are silver, with black feet. A somewhat unusual color choice given that the rest of the figure is orange, red, or silver, and it seems to me that black isn't the best color to wear around open flame. Black absorbs heat. But maybe red looked a little silly during the design process.

One sort of gets the impression from the second paragraph of the file card that Incinerators probably aren't the most welcome company in a group setting -- not that most Cobras would be. The paragraph reads, in part, that G.I.Joes who have encountered Incinerator troopers report that "if the wind is right, you can smell them - a pungent whiff of gas, charcoal, and hot metal..." Yeah, that'd liven up a party.

These guys aren't even good for the environment. The file card reports that these highly trained arson specialists are "equipped with with state-of-the-art fluorocarbon propellant flame projectors, which not only spew burning streams of jellied gasoline, they also destroy the ozone layer!" Make your own Al Gore joke here...

Okay, so they're terrorists, arsonists, and they're bad for the environment. They still look cool as heck, and they're one of the more impressive and nicely detailed additions to the ranks of Cobra in the original line, and are a personal favorite of mine -- despite my personal fear of fire. I hope you've enjoyed this look at the COBRA INCINERATOR!