G.I. Joe Pursuit of Cobra: Jungle Viper

Presenting the Cobra Jungle Viper! Released late this 2010 as part of Wave 2 of the G.I. Joe POC series, the Jungle Viper retails in the Philippine Black Market - as it has yet to be released in the malls - depending upon who you ask - between PhP 650 to PhP 1,200. 

The collector card on the back reads: "Jungle-Vipers are Cobra troopers with special training as silent marksmen. Their opti-camo ghillie suits have digitized camouflage blades, which makes them disappear from any detection devices. They also use multi-visual image systems that give them wide visual displays of surrounding territory." 

So he's not the  bird-man that he initially appears to look like. Those "wings" are all part of his special ghillie suit (To the uninitiated, a ghillie suit is a parka like netting worn by snipers that covers them from head to toe. Snipers attach local foliage to the suit to blend in with their surroundings. The result is the ability to move into position and stay hidden when required). When I first saw the model, I thought that he was an updated version of Raptor - the Cobra genius accountant who could... well... talk to birds so he dressed up as a bird. 

Apparently he's not. He's a jungle sniper.

Which is where it starts to go downhill

Take only what you need

Picture this: You are an elite a jungle-sniper. Your goal is to slice a path through the humid, rain soaked, insect infested dense overgrowth of a jungle - quietly, leaving absolutely no trace that you've been there and survive for days alone waiting for the perfect target to come across.

Now look to the left. That's what you bring with you? A skin-tight suit with light armor, a pair of wings and a sniper-rifle (Skulker-JS High Powered Jungle Series Marksman Rifle) that has a barrel long enough to snag everywhere with a cartridge that tells me that this guy is hunting tanks not people.

Say hello to my friends

No water, nothing to cut foliage. No survival equipment or rations. He doesn't even carry any extra ammunition for the Skulker. The ammunition pouches on his chest are for a rifle that requires a much smaller cartridge than what the Skulker uses. In fact the only things that makes sense in his equipment are the two smaller pistols - that he, finally, has a measly two spare clips for.

It makes more sense for him to use the shorter - non suppressed version of the Skulker (Though it's still too bulky which would be more practical for Jungle travel - and shuck the wings and light armor. I'd replace the wings and light armor (You're not supposed to get into a firefight anyway as a sniper) with survival gear, a more traditional ghillie suit, a big knife and - in this case - the expanded suppressor barrel of the Skulker (Below)

Whatever happened to using a practical rifle, with a shot-gun back-up? Even the optics extension of the Jungle Viper is a bit off. I assume it's somehow tied into the rifle's sights electronically so he doesn't have to aim over the rifle - he can't anyway given the location of the clip - I've never seen a sniper rifle with a clip where a sight should be. And to top it all off, the ghillie suit does not protect his back. The blades will make him invisible from the front, but anyone who chances upon him from behind - or above - has him dead cold.

Transform!!!

So we have to change the concept of why you need someone like a Jungle Viper. Given his gear and equipment, the only way he becomes deadly is as a picket sniper. He's not a hunter, he's a sentry. He's like Japanese snipers hiding in coconut trees in WW2.  People resigned to eventually being discovered and killed - but they'll take as many as they can with them before they go - including vehicles. Picture a island - or in the G.I. Joe world - Jungle base. Every 8 or so hours, a Jungle Viper leaves the base to replace another Jungle Viper hiding out as one of the - if not the - first lines of defense for the base - silent killers who can stop tanks at range.

Worst case scenario for them would be to be overrun which would force them to abandon their ghillie suits, optics and suppressor and fight a retreating action back to the base with a rifle that makes a hell of a lot of noise and produces a lot of damage. When their ammo runs out, they simply cut and run. When they get back tot he base, they pick up more conventional weapons - that explains the ammunition on their chest.

If you put him in this light, he's actually pretty cool. Dead, but cool.