Review – Pursuit of Cobra Steel Marauder
Everybody loves mechs. Well, almost everybody, anyway. If you’ve been living under a sci-fi rock for the past 30 years or so, mechs are robotic suits, usually anthropomorphic in design, that carry a human driver in them. There have been a lot of mech toys over the years, with some lines based exclusively around them. Robotech, BattleTech, and Exo-Squad are just some of the many. GI Joe has stayed away from mechs for the most part…though one of the most iconic original Cobra accessories, the SNAKE, is pretty much a mech…though on a smaller scale than most mechs. Other than the SNAKE, the only other mech in the original line was the giant 1993 Armor-Bot. Valor vs. Venom brought us the Defense Mech and the Pulverizer, which were very similar to Exo-Squad suits. The Sigma 6 line had some mechs, but they weren’t in the 3 ¾” size.
The Pursuit of Cobra line’s very first wave includes a pair of mechs…the Deviant for Cobra, and the Steel Marauder for GI Joe. The Steel Marauder isn’t huge for a mech…it’s only 3 ½ - 4 inches taller than the included driver, and only slightly taller than the old Defense Mech (not counting the DM’s antennae). However, the Steel Marauder is quite a bit wider, beefier, and more articulated than the Defense Mech. The SM and the DM do share a similar color scheme, as green, black, and gunmetal are prevalent on both mechs.
The Steel Marauder sits on a pair of 5-toed feet. The feet are quite wide and highly adjustable and provide a stable base for the mech on just about any terrain. As for the legs, imagine slightly bending your legs at the knees…the Marauder’s legs are locked in a similar position. The legs are thick, and combined with their wide stance give the Steel Marauder a powerful look. There are two large flexible hoses that run from the outer side of the “knees” to the back of the upper “thighs.” The legs attach to a large, er, waist, on top of which sits the main body of the mech. The main body consists mainly of the cockpit. The very front of the cockpit has a grab handle on it, to help the operator get in and out. There are two small cannons on either side of the lower cockpit that can be elevated and depressed individually. The black canopy is curved sleekly in front and sharply angled to the sides, and kind of resembles the canopy of an AH-64 Apache. There’s plenty of articulation in this body. The feet, hips, shoulders, and arms are all adjustable in multiple directions, and the articulation in the waist means the cockpit/head can adjust up and down as well as rotate 360 degrees.
Lifting the canopy reveals the cockpit. I demand detail in my cockpits, and Hasbro really delivers in this area. There is some nice diamond plating in front of the main console, at the very front of the cockpit. I believe this was put there as a “step” that the operator can use after pulling himself up with the grab handle on the mech’s nose. The main console has a small central display, with hand controls on either side. The controls are attached to the main console with ball joints, giving them excellent maneuverability. The driver sits deep in the cockpit, leaving him well protected by the armor on both sides. The seat has some nice detail molded into its back. To distinguish the seat from the rest of the cockpit, it’s painted tan, while the rest of the cockpit is black and green. I love all the detail in this cockpit!
The real meat-and-potatoes of this toy comes in its arms. The right arm is a large black arm with four long gunmetal claws on its end. Pushing a yellow button on the rear of the arm snaps open the claws and releasing it snaps them closed. The left arm is a large Gatling-style missile launcher. Twisting a yellow knob on the rear of this arm turns the whole barrel assembly and fires one of the six yellow missiles that lock into the front of the barrel. Both of the arms are removable and can be interchanged with the arms from the Deviant, and presumably the arms from whatever future mechs Hasbro decides to release.
The Steel Marauder does come with a driver, named Kickstart. He’s a mix of parts from several different lines. The chest and torso are from 25th Duke, and the arms are from Resolute Duke. The vest is a repaint of the 25th Viper’s vest, and the helmet is a green repaint of the helmet included with RoC “Desert Ambush” Duke. For a mix of a bunch of parts from multiple lines, I think this figure looks pretty good, and I especially like the green/brown/black color scheme. I just have one question: why does the driver of a hyper advanced mech have to have night-vision goggles?
I really, really like the Steel Marauder. I like the color scheme, I love the articulation, I love the cockpit detail, I like the weaponry, and I love the big claw. My only complaints are the bright yellow missiles, knob for firing the missiles, and the button for operating the claw. On my Steel Marauder, the canopy comes off very easily. The canopy stays on well enough, but trying to raise it results in the whole thing coming off. Kickstart is a nice figure, but I think he has a stupid name. Oh, and I suggest placing the cockpit display stickers on the INSIDE of the canopy instead of the outside, like the instructions say. I just think it looks better.
There is one dirty little secret here. The Steel Marauder and the Deviant share the same legs, waist, and cockpit structure. The only differences are the arms and canopy cover, and the fact that the legs are attached reversed from the way they are on the Steel Marauder. While it’s somewhat disappointing that both mechs share so many basic parts, I applaud Hasbro for making enough changes to make both mechs distinct. At first glance, you’d never notice that the Steel Marauder and the Deviant share the same basic body.
I really like both the Steel Marauder and the Deviant. At a $20 price point, which puts them right in between the Alpha and Bravo, they’re not unreasonably priced. If you like GI Joe and you also like mechs, you can’t go wrong with either toy. I know some collectors prefer GI Joe more militarily realistic and don’t want the line to take a sci-fi turn. Honestly, I don’t really want it to either, but I certainly don’t mind a mech thrown into the line every now and then. I also want some more mechs to change out the arms with to create some more combinations! Whether you want mechs with your Joe is up to you, but I suggest you at least give the Steel Marauder and the Deviant a thorough look!
