Impel Trading Cards 4 – 7

Card number 4 in the series is the Sludge Viper.

Producing methane gas is the final step in the decomposition of biomass. So does this mean that the Sludge Vipers are decomposing inside their suit or are they just farting a lot in there? To have an unlimited ammo supply, Cobra chefs must have created the ultimate union soup with beans and Cobra Cola especially for these Vipers.

Next up is Clean Sweep.

Originally Clean Sweep was designated to be Anti-Tox. The action figure comes with a water shooting robot and has parts of color-changing paint that – uh – changes color whet it gets wet. The figure also came with one of the most impressive mustaches ever to be found on an action figure. Who said Nigel Mansell? Also, can anyone tell me how you move like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs?

Card numer 6 is up, the Cobra Septic Tank.

The anti-ECO equivalent of the HISS tank has an unlimited supply of sludge to fire at the Joes. I guess there are a lot of Sludge Vipers in the back enjoying their Cobra Soup… I could make some jokes on the Pit and a the Septic Tank, but let’s not get into that. Fact is that although this Eco-Warriors series is very colorful and is sometimes frowned upon by the collectors, I like the design of the tank and think it works great in the setting.

Okay, time for card 7. Here is Ozone.

I’m kinda missing the ninja of the team. But hey, at least Ozone got to be an astronaut on the next sub-team of the Joes, the Star Brigade. As they did with Cesspool, and with a few other characters, Ozone was named after David Kunitz, a member of the G.I. Joe design team working for Hasbro at the time of this figure’s release.

All in all, the Eco Warriors are a colorful bunch that heralded the nineties G.I.Joe line and defined the rest of the line. The wacky colors, strange accessories and just plain weird stuff. But hey, if you’re a fan, you stick by. For better or worse, through Sludge and Monstro-Vipers, till the DEF and Ninja Force comes and beyond. Oh and the Mega Marines.

Anyway, feel free to link this page to friends and family, heck even to people you don’t really like. If you have suggestions or remarks, leave a comment below or tweet me @EuropeanJoes.

DISCLAIMER All these cards are in my private collection and were scanned by myself. I don’t hold the rights on the card art or any text displayed on the cards.

Impel Trading Cards 1 – 3

To start this series, we’ll take a look at the first 3 cards from the 1991 Impel series. The first 7 cards of this set are displaying the Eco-Warriors subseries of G.I. Joe. It seems like a strange way to have these cards as first in the series, considering the popularity of the other characters (Snake Eyes, Cobra Commander, Scarlett, …). At the time however, these figures were just released and

The first card is Cobra member Cesspool.

The card art of this entire series is new (apart from the comic book covers on later cards) and I have to say that it looks pretty damn good. The use of vibrant colors may be a bit too much on the actual figures, on these cards it just looks good. Although the figure was released with a full cover helmet, the card art here shows Cesspool’s disfigured face

The back of the cards represent a somewhat smaller version of the file cards on the back of the figure’s cards. Notable here is that Cesspool’s file name is Vincent D’Alleva. That was the name of the Hasbro Executive overlooking the G.I. Joe franchise. Not much love for the boss if you ask me.

Next up is Flint.

The Eco Warriors needed a leader and I guess Flint takes the job personally. I, personally, think he was suckered in. Again, the figure does not do justice to the card art. He does seem to be pointing one way and shooting the other, so probably shooting some Cobra’s and giving battle field instructions to the other Eco Warriors.

The final card for today is Toxo-Viper II.

I must admit that the original 1988 Toxo-Viper (I guess they’ll be called Toxo-Viper I now), is one of my all-time favorite figures. I guess to me they have a Steampunk kinda vibe which I like. This 2.0 version doesn’t have the same impact on me. They are expendable for the Cobra High Command (leaky suit brigade anyone?) and I share that sentiment with CC.

Feel free to link this page to friends and family, heck even to people you don’t really like. If you have suggestions or remarks, leave a comment below or tweet me @EuropeanJoes.

DISCLAIMER All these cards are in my private collection and were scanned by myself. I don’t hold the rights on the card art or any text displayed on the cards.

 

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