I’ll confess, I feel so guilty pushing new Classified releases to the head of the review line when I have so many older figures to look at here. But then again the new Cobra Ferrets rolled in this past weekend and how could I not? This Combat ATV was first introduced to the Cobra arsenal back in 1985, and was just another prime example of how many cool toys this line had that were still small and affordable. And by affordable I mean that if I was really good and tagged along with my Dad when he went to Sears on Saturday morning to get a tool, I might have a chance of talking him into getting me a FANG, a SNAKE Armor, a FERRET. or some other small vehicle. These were also featured several times in the Sunbow cartoon, which just made them all the more desirable, probably because of hidden subliminal messages.

And behold, the new Classified Ferret. No longer a little impulse item, this new Cobra ATV is scaled for the 6-inch line, is big enough to carry a couple of riders, and is bristling with weaponry. This release was a Hasbro Pulse Exclusive and sold out fairly quickly, and there is a Target Exclusive JOE version on the way. You get a colorful box with some great artwork and shots of the toy. And unlike the original RAH version, this one comes with a dedicated driver, The Cobra Ferret Scout, visible through a window panel on the front of the box. Oh, and hello! It’s a lady! The Ferret requires a bit of assembly, and make sure you take note of the direction of those tire treads, because once you put them on, they’re a bitch to take off again. I bought two and learned my lesson putting together the the first. Let’s start with the figure!

The Ferret Scout is a repaint of the Cobra Valkyries that came in a two-pack not that long ago. The previously black and blue fatigues are now light grey and dark grey, with some black, blue and trim added. It’s a rather unique deco that is very pleasing to the eye and maybe leans into an urban camo vibe for me. The belt, bicep strap, and holster rig are all borrowed directly from the Valkyrie, but an ankle sheath has been added to the left leg. There’s also an additional vest piece that’s worn by the figure providing a little armor to the vital bits, and stamped with a red Cobra emblem on the front.

The head is also borrowed from one of the noggins that came with the Valks, but it now includes a riding helmet. This piece is cast in soft plastic and encompasses the entire head with an opening for the eyes. The design is awesome, with a snakehead motif forming the top of the visor, complete with snake fangs, and a pair of painted fangs over the mouth guard. It fits the figure very well and it’s nice to have the option to remove it, rather than have a sculpted helmet head.

As for weapons, the Ferret Scout gets by with two automatic pistols and a combat knife. The combat knife is small and cast all in black plastic. It’s nothing special, but a nice addition, since the Valks didn’t come with one. No doubt useful for taking care of any JOE that jumps onto the Ferret, by stabbing them in the neck with it. Yeah, I went dark with that one! The pistols are the same pair that came with the Valks, with one worn in a cross-draw holster on the left hip and the other on the right thigh rig. These are also cast all in black and have sockets in the barrels for blast effect parts, although none are included with this set.

I really love this figure, which should come as no surprise, as I was a big fan of the Valks. The recolor and rework done here makes her stand out on her own and I think the overall design works wonderfully for a dedicated Ferret driver that we never got in the original RAH series. A rifle and some blast effect parts would have been cool, but I can always dig into my copious box of Classified accessories if I need to kit them out a bit more. Now, let’s move onto the Ferret itself!

As we’ve seen time and again, the Classified version takes the original RAH design and updates it for scale and maybe just a little bit of realism. The coloring remains blue and black with red trim and all the design beats are still here, from the side mounted rockets to the pivoting front guns, and the large side-mounted cannon. This new version feels a more chonky and durable, as it no longer has an exposed engine compartment where you could see through to the other side. You do, however, get some exposed sections of the engine, which are painted over in silver. There’s a ton of tampo’d lettering on this thing, many of which are lifted directly from the original toy, like the X02 under the steering column or the Caution Exhaust on the rear pipes. Even the tires are branded!

The front of the vehicle has a non-working winch, protected by a cage, the steering wheel has a detailed instrument panel and can turn, but it is not connected to the front wheels. You do, however, get working independent suspension in each wheel, which is very cool. The side rockets, originally called COM-BAT laser-seeking rockets, have the same weird double sided design, which I never really understood, and this new version looks even more confusing. Either way, these simply peg into the launch carrier and I’d nitpick about not getting a launch effect piece, but when the rocket has two nosecone and no exhaust, where would you even plug it in? I will say that the rockets are kind of rubbery, which is a bit disappointing.

The side cannon pegs into a clip, which in turn clips onto the cage, allowing you to mount it on either side of the vehicle. It also allows it to be easily removed for a figure to fire it when it’s off the vehicle. The system of attachment allows it to raise and lower as well as pivot. I’m thankful that you can remove the cannon by the peg attachment, because constantly removing and attaching that clip will probably cause stress to the plastic, so I don’t want to do that. .

Despite coming with just the one driver, the Ferret was always designed to carry two figures, and this one is no different. The gun hands do a good job grabbing the handlebars. I did find the leg placement a little awkward, but you can definitely make it work, and there’s no trouble getting a second figure on the back.

Of course, I always had my Crimson Twins riding the Ferret together when I was a kid! The Ferret was released at about the same time as the Tomax and Xamot set and it was colored to match their outfits, so I always assumed it was intended as their unofficial vehicle. I’m pretty sure I got the twins and the Ferret pretty close to each other and it was theirs from that moment on.

The Ferret sold for $55, placing it right in line with the Trouble Bubble and Televiper bundle, a set that I have yet to review here and I really need to remedy that! I’ve seen some complaints over the price, but with a bundled figure, I don’t think it’s that bad, although I did limit myself to just two, whereas I really wanted to pick up three. I guess I do have a little bit of willpower left. Either way, the Ferret sold out pretty quickly, and it seems to be going for around $80 to $100 on the second hand market. I haven’t seen anything from Hasbro about planning a restock, but Hasbro really needs to get on that, because I’d now that I’ve played around with it, I’d probably pick up a third. As I mentioned earlier, the mold has been recycled into the Target Exclusive GI JOE Tiger Paw. I generally skip the Tiger Force stuff, but I did break down and preorder that one, so maybe I spoke too soon about that willpower. And yeah, that one seems to have sold out too.

Even an evil organization like Cobra isn’t beyond the reach of having to take on a Diversity Compliance Specialist and as a result we get The Valkyries! That’s right, these Cobra reinforcements arrived over the weekend and I was very excited to take a look at them, so they got bumped to the head of the line. This is a two-pack of Cobra femme fatale troopers with lots of gear and effect parts. In the past, I went pretty nuts buying Cobra Troopers and Officers in this line, but I was able to limit myself to two of these sets for now and will pepper them throughout my Cobra forces. Let’s cue up some Wagner and take a look!

The Valks come in a fully enclosed box with some great renders on the front and a shot of all the accessories included. Inside, you get the figures on a cardboard tray as well as a cardboard footlocker containing paper baggies with all those pieces. There are a lot of tiny pieces in there, so be sure to check those bags thoroughly before pitching them!

Here are the ladies out of the box and geared up. These feature the same body sculpt with most of the blue fatigues being smooth with some rumples, and some sculpted panels on their hips. There’s textured reinforcement on the biceps and up around the shoulders and upper chest, along with a sculpted Cobra emblem. Each figure has high boots, as well as sculpted armor plates for their knees and forearms. One Valk has these pieces painted all black, while the other has some tan paint for the straps on her boots and forearms. They each also have a good bit of separately sculpted pieces, which include the right hip holster, the belt with left cross-draw holster, left bicep strap, and shoulder rigs with a a right side sheath. Thanks to pegs on the backpacks, each Valkyrie can store all their gear, which is always a big plus in my book.

The backpacks have some excellent sculpted detail, but I wish they stayed on a bit better. Also, I’ll concede that I was not a big fan of the tan coloring on the one figure when these were introduced, and I’m still not all that crazy about it. I kind of appreciate Hasbro wanting to offer a little color variety between the two figures, but maybe grey would have been a better way to go. Honestly, I would have been happier if they were both the same black. No, it’s not a dealbreaker for me, but I just like the look of the entirely black and blue uniform better. Apart from that, I think these figures look great and I’ll throw in some pictures at the end to show how well they mix with the other Classified Cobra Troopers.

The set includes a total of three heads and three removable helmets. The two regular heads have face masks and tight fitting hoods similar to the Classified Cobra Troopers. The only other difference here is the sculpt around the exposed eyes. These are not only unique sculpts but one has dark skin and one has light skin.

You also get a gasmask style head with a red visor, which looks pretty damn rad. I do wish we got some completely unmasked heads like Hasbro is doing with their female SHIELD pack in Marvel Legends. You can swap heads with those Marvel Legends figures, but these ball joints are smaller so a bit of putty will be needed to make the replacement noggins a tight fit.

I mentioned three helmets, and the third has a silver badge on the front. V for Valkyrie? I guess this one one works for if you want to make one of the ladies an officer. The three helmets stay on the figures pretty well, but I found that they could get lopsided pretty often and I’m sure that came across in a few of my pictures here.

For weapons, each figure comes with the same arsenal with one set cast in black and the other in tan plastic. Again, still not a big fan of the tan, but I’ll live with it. In total you get two knives, four pistols, two sub-machine guns, and two machine guns. We’ll start small and work our way up. First up is the cutlery and these are pretty standard fighting knives with the blades painted silver and the hilts either black or tan. They’re fine, but not as impressive as some of the other blades we’ve seen recently. The right hand seems to hold them better than the left, even though both hands are designed for the guns.

The automatic pistols are a matched pair for each figure and these are pretty nice. They’re not too chunky and not too small. You get some nice detail in the sculpt and they fit well in either the hands or the holsters. In theory I really like the inclusion of the cross-draw holster, but in practice t doesn’t make much sense since the right hand would obviously just draw the weapon from the right holster.

I like the machine guns a lot. You get a pretty simple grease-gun style sub-machine gun with a removable stick magazine. This one has a flared muzzle and a scope. The scope seems like an odd choice for this kind of weapon, but it’s still a great design that reminds me a bit of the weapon design the Cobra troops often carried in the Sunbow cartoon. The alternative is an automatic rifle with an under the barrel grenade launcher. This is another excellent sculpt and you get a removable magazine as well. And yes, I I still think the scope should have been sculpted on this one.

Finally, the set includes a whole bunch of effect parts for the weapons. I think we’ve seen all of these before, and they tend to vary in how they look. Not that I’m complaining. I’ll take as many of these as I can get. All of the weapons have holes in their barrels and these parts just peg in. Some are designed to peg together for different combinations, and I particularly love the smoking barrel pieces. My only complaint here is that I couldn’t really make one work with the grenade launcher.

After the great Cobra Eel debackle, it’s nice to see that Hasbro is still capable of making good decisions with troop builders. Selling these in two-packs and making them easy to get is a great idea and it’s going to be tough to stick to just two. Not that I have much of a choice, as these did sell out. Hopefully Hasbro will do a restock, especially if they like money. Sure, Hasbro Pulse isn’t my first choice for online shopping, and I tend to stick to them only for exclusives like this, but I’ll admit that they’ve been pretty good about getting figures out and delivered in a timely manner. The price was $55, and that feels about right considering how many extras are included.