G.I. Joe Classified Series Techno-Viper review

Cobra Commander needs to make sure he’s got a Viper for every occasion. The Techno-Viper is basically Cobra’s jack-of-all trade class of Viper. They handle a little bit of everything and make for formidable, competent fighters against the Joes.

I always considered the Techno-Viper one of the last few essential Viper classes simply because they had such a cool color scheme. And with the Joes destroying so much Cobra vehicles and bases, having a mechanic/enforcer character, they’re probably some of the more popular Cobras.

I’m not sure how far I’ll be going in army building him, but I’m already starting out with two. Let’s see if that was a good call or if I need to calls MARS and tell them to halt production on the Techno-Viper.

Package:  We’re back in the window package era again thankfully.  No more worrying about stolen weapons or lousy paintjobs. It’s definitely more impressive with this load out of accessories all laid out

The back features the dynamic rendered art that previously was on the front. Not a ton of Easter Eggs here although is that destroyed tank a MOBAT???

On the skill chart code, The Techno Viper scored 1s in siegecraft and explosives and 2s in mechanical engineering and melee weapons.

Likeness: The Techno-Viper has such a cool design. It starts with the helmet, which gives him the look of a character that would be fit in just fine as a Stormtrooper variant. Or as a Decepticon.

All of the paneling was sculpted right down to small rivets. I love the eye slots, which go a long way to enhancing that sinister vibe.

Then he’s got a layered shell piece that expands away from his mouth leading to a grill-piece/vent mouth.

Cobra made sure to pad out the Techno-Viper, which is beefy thanks to the bulkier outfit and armored elements. There’s piping around the left shoulder and side. It also pops back up around the wrist connecting to ports in the gauntlet.

The RAH design had slim shoulder pads. They’re still here but beefed up for their CS version with much more intricate details. The same is true for the gauntlets, which have LED readouts printed to keep the Techno-Viper apprised of everything in the field.

I can’t place the pants. Originally, I thought he shared parts with the Mole Rat figure, but I don’t see any reuse here. Techno-Viper has kneepads, which are molded black. The connector pin is also black, which makes for a bad visual. This was a self-imposed issue as the RAH figure just had purple pants.

His boots have solid detail as well with their curved, wrapped appearance.

Paint: Techno-Viper has a fantastic color scheme with the mix of dark and lighter purple with black and silver accents.

All of the silver parts, including the big Cobra logo on the chest piece, came out very clean. From a distance, the chest piece looks black. You’ll need direct light to see it’s just a darker shade of purple. These shades of purple and black play very nicely against the helmet.

There was only one place with some paint that was slightly out a place with the yellow in his eye slots. And even then it was very minor. My second one had some issues with the helmet with a decent amount of silver scrapes.

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Scale:  Like most heavily geared up figures, the Techno-Viper is thicker and wider compared to the standard Joe/Cobra. Techno-Viper isn’t towering over anyone though.

Articulation: Even with all the bulky gear, Techno-Viper moves smoothly.

His joints aren’t too stiff or overly loose. That makes it pretty easy to hit all of the standard attack, aiming and repair work poses.

The only catch here is he’s a tad top heavy so you’ll want to lock him into that sweet balance spot. He’ll hold those poses just fine, but he will topple over if you don’t find that point.

The Techno-Viper has:

• head
• neck
• shoulders (butterfly)
• elbow (double-jointed)
• gauntlets
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• mid-torso
• torso
• waist
• hips (ball-jointed)
• drop down hips
• knees (double-jointed)
• ankles

Accessories: The Techno-Viper is loaded up with a pretty heavy roll-out of gear befitting his specialty. At this point, the CS team is largely trying to duplicate and upgrade the equipment that came with the Real American Hero figure.

First up is the field backpack.

Just like the RAH version, it’s sizable with three slots for the Techno-Viper’s equipment. Two canisters are at the pack base. Just on the outside is a fan vent.

To upgrade from the original, the vent has some silver paint and the canisters are painted purple.

There’s a long silver connector hose that links up to the right side of the pack. One very cool part of this is it matches the sculpt along the right gauntlet to convey that the hose is wrapped along his arm.

The tube can also connect to the pack’s left side in case you want to switch out which hand he’s holding the power wrench, claw and hammer. Each of these tools have great symmetry with similar bases. Would Cobra grab these from Lowe’s or Home Depot?

To give him some new tech, Techno-Viper also has a red attachable holographic projection. This plugs into either gauntlet.

His main weapon is a phase-pulse plasma rifle. Considering the Techno-Viper might be operating around sensitive and volatile equipment it makes sense that his big gun would have controllable ammo. It’s very nicely detailed matching up almost exactly like the RAH weapon.

For closer combat, he’s got a small pistol. The detail on this is crazy from the barrel, body and grip. This would be the main weapon for some figures. It plugs in easily in the holster.

And the best thing is he can hold all off his gear.

Worth It? The Techno-Viper is $24.99. With the gear and new sculpted parts, no issue from me with the price point. I’d love a deal where I could pay full price for one and with each army builder, knock another couple dollars off.

Rating: 10 out of 10

The only thing taking this down oh so slightly — not enough to lower the score — is the missed opportunity for more Python Patrol branding. The logo is great and it would have been nice to see it pop on some other elements specifically the backpack.

Where to Get It?  Techno-Viper is available right now on Amazon. I ordered him from Entertainment Earth.

As an Amazon Associate and Entertainment Earth affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.