G.i. Joe Classified #147 S.A.W. Vipers
S.A.W. (Semi-Automatic Weapons)-Vipers are the Cobra army’s heavy machine gunners. While they are one of Cobra’s most elite shock troopers, one particular SAW-Viper stands out notoriously in the history of the G.i. Joe comic books from Marvel Comics, responsible for the execution of several captured Joes such as Doc, Thunder, Crankcase and Heavy Metal.
His helmet is removable, as well as his armored collar.
Really cool detail to see here, there’s a headset sculpted into the right side of his head, this is a throwback to the original vintage figure’s design.
S.A.W.-Viper comes with a sidearm and knife that can be sheathed on his lower back.
S.A.W.-Viper comes with his backpack.
There’s a hook here for holding up the Light Machine Gun.
The S.A.W.-Viper’s main weapon, the Light Machine Gun. Capable of firing 500-1000 rounds of ammunition per minute.
The Hasbro design team took some liberties here and decided to add-in a chainsaw on the weapon’s underside. Lol… I love it!
The ammo belt feeds into the backpack.
Aside from their weapon’s insane rate of fire, the S.A.W.-Viper’s helmet also has an auto-ranging optical sighting system, complete with infrared night vision capabilities. Nothing can slip past them!
Overall, pretty good. For an army builder figure, this guy certainly looks great in numbers thanks to the impressive looking LMGs, so we do get a sense of them being the “heavy weapons” guys in the Cobra ranks.
While I’m glad they didn’t go with the Modern Era 3.75” scale color scheme (more purple than violet), a part of me wishes the design team went with the classic look for this character instead of this overly-armored aesthetic. I’m not a fan of all this bulk. I also wish they gave the helmet more sculpting detail than what we got here. The helmet design looks very, very uninspired.
Funfact: In the G.i. Joe setting, S.A.W. means “Semi-Automatic Weapons”, but in the real-world setting, it stands for “Squad Automatic Weapons”.
Hasbro’s oddball pre-order codename for the Saw Viper was “Maggie”, the baby daughter from The Simpsons cartoons.
Gold
