[Review] G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra Tiger Snake (Rip Attack Vehicle)

The Rip Attack Vehicles are one of the last Rise of Cobra toys released by Hasbro prior to the shift to the Pursuit of Cobra line. Like the 5th wave of ROC toys, the Rip Attack Vehicles already carry the environment-specific themes that would later be a staple in the POC line.

 

These Rip Attack Vehicles are powered  by a ripcord system in which the ripcord is threaded through one of the wheels. The vehicle is placed on the launcher, the ripcord is then pulled to make the threaded wheel spin (rev), and while the threaded wheel is spinning, the trigger on the launcher is pulled to release the vehicle. Note that the vehicle can not be launched until the launcher is resting on a flat surface.

Obviously, these products are geared towards kids, not collectors. But as a G.I. Joe fan, I felt that I owe it to myself to own at least one of each of these toys. I waited and waited for these toys to become available locally till I almost forgot that they ever existed. Until one day, fellow TS118 members began reporting that Toy Kingdom has put them, along with some other ROC toys that were never released locally, on sale without ever releasing them at their SRPs. A mad scramble ensued but I was fortunate enough to grab one of each of these Rip Attack Vehicles (along with the amazing Ninja Battles set, though I failed to get an Attack on the Pit set) when I went to Manila two weeks later.

Aside from the launcher and the ripcord, the Tiger Snake comes with a removable side-mounted weapon, a Street-Viper figure, and the said character's requisite filecard. 

The Street-Viper is nothing but an Elite-Viper minus the backpack and the weapons. There are no actual differences between the Street-Viper figure and the Elite-Viper figure, not even paint applications, making me wonder why they even bothered to change the figure's name. The Street-Viper figure doesn't come with any accessories except for a removable vest/armor, and an empty holster.

The Tiger Snake is a low-profile, three-wheeled (well, kind of...), single-seater attack vehicle designed for urban assaults. As such, it is part of Cobra's City Strike team. It looks fast, but it doesn't look mean, even with those nasty-looking plows in front of the vehicle. To position the figure inside, the roll bar can be lifted to access the cockpit. The low ceiling of the vehicle makes it hard to put the figure inside, though. The cockpit features a very tiny steering wheel that really looks toyish. 

The Tiger Snake actually has four wheels. The rear wheel (which is threaded) and the tiny front wheel are the functional wheels, while the two front wheels work only as stabilizers. All four wheels roll freely.

For 300 bucks, the Tiger Snake is a good buy. You get a tiny vehicle that can literally be played with, and a figure that is quite good in  itself. It can go with your other Cobra vehicles, especially with it's color scheme, and it has great army-building potential. It's definitely an item worth it's price. But if you think that it's good to have an army of Tiger Snakes, save your dough until you see the Jet Storm Cycle...