Lately, I’ve been thinking a fair amount about figures that were darlings of the early 2000s, that have had a real paradigm shift in how they’re viewed currently, I’m not really sure what spurred it on, but it probably has something to do with opening a bin of figures that featured a 2001 Rock Viper.
The South American G.I. Joe concepts that took on with the domestic fanbase, seemed to come about in two major phases, the first being the COBRA De Aço, Mortal, Glenda, Ninja Ku types, they were new takes on recognizable molds, and they were expensive on the aftermarket, so they became ingrained in the common collector’s conscious, plus some of them had appeared pre-internet in the G.I. Joe 30th Salute trading card set. The second phase of collectors lusting over specific few South American releases, came about mainly from Mike T.’s early 2000s profiles on figures like the Flying Scorpion. Which tended to skew somewhat off the beaten path from the earlier phase of desirable figures, as they were often repaints of hated molds (Dee Jay), or ideas that were pretty much non-factors (Sky Patrol, or Python Patrol), but the profiles were well written, especially in comparison to a lot of the book report quality writing online at the time, and he had pictures of the figures in action. If a figure is shown in a photo, doing something, it tends to convince people they should probably own it.
With the disintegration of a good chunk of pre-web 2.0 internet, or the last decade or so, this has kind of become a lost historical anecdote, but what’s always been the thing that confirmed this mindset to me, was that Modern Era Convention Exclusive Sets, would bust out figures representing the characters that got profiled.
One of the figures that got it’s profile raised significantly, was Relampago, the Python Patrol repaint of Rip Cord. It was relatively unknown at the time it got profiled, and was one of the staples of people’s foreign figure wantlists for a long time afterwards. He’d show up in photos and customs often too, and probably more so than the Python Patrol Airborne repaint, Gathilo. A lot of this is due to the very favourable views the fanbase had on Rip Cord in the early 2000s, the 1984 figure was both well done and attainable for everyone that he was capable of widespread appeal.
However in the last decade or so, the fortunes have reversed and he’s now the lesser seen of the two Brazilian Python exclusive characters, though a lot of that probably has to do with the fact that the Grey on Grey Python Patrol scheme went out, when the majority of the Factory Customs focused on the Python Copperhead colour scheme.
When Estrela was looking to fill out the Força Naja figure assortment, they turned to two molds that had a fairly long and productive life in South America, Rip Cord and Airborne, and in doing so, they found themselves creating brand new characters. Airborne was given the Python Copperhead colour scheme (Even though Python Copperhead was in the same assortment!), and Rip Cord got a significantly modified Python Tele Viper based scheme. Both figures worked surprisingly well, forming figures that were unique, while also being familiar enough to look like they could work as releases in the traditional domestic G.I. Joe line.
Taking the Rip Cord mold, casting it in a really dark grey, which wasn’t seen often in the joe line, and tying it into the ’85-86 based Python Scheme with the yellow cuffs and maroon highlights gave the figure a significant departure from what the image of the mold generally conjured up mentally. The plainness of the mold, is also something that helps the diamond Python Patrol pattern really stand out, when applied to it. Unlike Gathilo which was pretty by the numbers Paint App replacement, Relampago was far more of a design built from the ground up, while also working around the Python Patrol design’s parameters.
Since the mold didn’t really fit in with the domestic Python figures he shared a design with, nor did it fit with the design of the Python figures his mold was contemporaries of, it left Relampago somewhat capable of being viewed apart from the Python sub team. He wouldn’t be mistaken for Rip Cord, but he didn’t have to be around other Python figures to not look out of place, something that can’t be said about the majority of sub team figures, except maybe Night Force Crazylegs.
Initially, I used Relampago as some low-level COBRA assassin, I didn’t have any grey Python figures, so he was capable of standing by himself. Since he’s a figure from Brazil, he’s not one I like to put most accessories in the hands of, and really the only one that fit his hands without causing undue worry was the COBRA Soldier dragonuv sniper rifle, so that was his role. Around the time I got the figure, there was still remnants of the SpyTroops era character “Blackout” having some cache with the fanbase, and since Relampago had reddish hair too, it was kind of fitting he’d be a sniper, wouldn’t be the same character or anything, but the nod was intentional.
I wound up getting bored with that idea pretty quickly, while Relampago wasn’t going to be someone of any great importance in anything COBRA related, the figure was still a little too good to be wasted on the low-level thug with a gun character he’d had thrust upon him. I just kind of stopped using him, outside of the occasional photo. The figure was good, but pretty much irrelevant.
The irrelevancy disappeared in 2021, when The Black Major brought the COBRA Soldier mold back with a vengeance. While there were a lot of different colourings of the mold, the two that stuck out the most, were the Swamp, and the grey Python Patrol. Both designs were traditional, but also something that hadn’t been seen before. I know some people question the need for a COBRA designed after each and every colour scheme used during the vintage run, but the two aforementioned really did scratch an itch. The grey Python troopers wound up giving Relampago a new lease on life in my collection, as he was capable of having a group of figures that matched up with him.
Python Patrol, has become a real fan favourite in recent times. It was irrelevant for a long time, and had so many different iterations that didn’t really help it’s case. The 2003 Python Patrol set, which was based upon the vintage vehicle colour scheme, gave the concept a renewed interest, and the colouring was popular, but it didn’t get any true follow up and it died with the rest of the repaint era, condemned to obscurity. The two vintage colourings have made a comeback via the factory customs, with the green generally getting more time to shine, but the grey Python Figures, which are fewer and far between are generally really good, if not better figures than the green Pythons. Some of that is that while the greys usually don’t match the vintage figures, the difference isn’t as pronounced compared to the greens, and occasionally some of the greens, like the W.O.R.M.S. are so close that it makes the other factory customs look worse in comparison.
Python Patrol is one of those G.I. Joe concepts that’s really not much more than “for show”, the designs are nice, but the “stealth” idea doesn’t really work well in any form of execution, at least from a figure perspective. The vehicles being radar reflective is a neat concept, and would be important, specifically the ASP. Again, though, it’s a concept that works on paper, but no in the thrilling world of 3 3/4″ inch action figures. I really like the figures, and am fairly good at coming up with workable reasons for most designs, but the Python Patrol really doesn’t get much farther than “auxillary force that falls under the command of Zartan”. Better than nothing, I guess.
I like the Relampago figure, but of the two Joes repainted into Python Patrol guys, it’s definitely the weaker one. If I hadn’t been dogmatically only into collecting the 82 through 84 swivel neck style figures for the majority of the 2000s and 2010s, I probably wouldn’t have bothered to get one. The design is good, and it works well on the Rip Cord mold, but Rip Cord was a figure that in many ways was made by the parachute harness, which this figure didn’t include. Still, the colourscheme and design is almost strong enough to overcome that.
While, the figure now having some contemporary molds in the same design, gives it a new lease on life, Relampago still has to overcome the fact he was a figure I owned for over a decade before he became truly useful. A figure that was kind of destined to be “forever a bridesmaid and never a bride”, doesn’t overcome that overnight, and in some ways it’s a little too late in the game for me to truly give Relampago the new look the figure probably deserves. Being a Rip Cord repaint doesn’t help, either, as that’s a mold that in some ways has been hurt by aspects out of it’s control, as the stupidity of the fanbase around Black Ripcord, and then when he finally got rehabilitated into existence again, he’s saddled with being part of the Retro Skystriker that didn’t satisfy the O-Ring enthusiast. Nothing was kind to Rip Cord or Relampago by default, after 2007, which is a shame because it was amongst the most popular figures and characters of the early 2000s.