Review – Conquest of Cobra Mountain!
The Highs:
1. Can be two bases in one!
2. Lots of play value
3. The Commander finally gets a throne
The Lows:
1. Not that nice for the price
2. Some odd features
3. Hard to keep tower in place
The Verdict:
A decent playset that pales in comparison to others in the Joe catalogue.
With the success of the Joe vs. Cobra line in the early 2000s evolving itself into the SpyTroops line, Joe fans started hoping for something not seen since the Toxo-Lab of 1992…a Cobra playset. It made sense, especially with Toys R Us selling a recolored version of the 1992 GI Joe Headquarters at the time. Hasbro delivered, and in keeping with the SpyTroops theme, made the headquarters a 2-in-1…depending on which flag was raised and sigil displayed, the headquarters could be either GI Joe or Cobra. The playset was Cobra Mountain, and it could be “conquered” and turned into a Joe HQ…hence the name, “Conquest of Cobra Mountain!”
According to YoJoe.com’s page on the playset, the base of Cobra Mountain is a heavily reworked mold from a Star Wars playset. There’s evidence of this, as there are what appear to be Battle Droid parts molded into the base. The playset consists of a base, doors and outer wall, flagpole, helipad, throne/control room with missile launcher, tower, and a jail cell. There are numerous features throughout, which I will detail as I progress through the review.
The outside of the Mountain basically consists of a curved wall. The sides of the wall are tan plastic molded to look like rock. On the right side of the Mountain (as viewed from the front) is a solid wall with a movable firing missile launcher stuck into it. There’s also a recessed oblong section in this wall with a small round recessed section above it. Press the round recessed section, and the section of wall collapses inward, with an opening large enough for figures to fit through. The left side of the mountain is mostly the same as the right, as it has its own missile launcher. The main difference here is that there is at least a window cut into this side. The middle of the base has a large flat area that is painted a silver/aluminum color made to look like it was cut into the rock. Both of the sides are protected from approach by coils of concertina wire attached to the base that stretch from the door frames to the edges. As for the doors, they are quite large. Framed in blue, the doors themselves are red and are made to interlock with each other. The area in front of the door is flat (with a honeycomb pattern etched into it) and painted silver to look like a metal floor was cut into the rock. This area both gives guards a place to stand and clearance for the doors to open.
Moving to the inside, the lower level features non-removable M-16s and what appears to be mortar shells in racks on both sides. Other than these, there’s not a whole lot of detail on the inner walls…just some vague objects molded into the wall that look like machinery but don’t even warrant a different paint color. In the floor on the left side (when facing the front) is a circular area with figure pegs that can…er…rotate. It spins via a gear on the back edge of the base. Yeah, I don’t know why that’s there, either. On the right side of the floor near the back are two panels with two footpegs apiece on them. Protruding from the edge of the floor next to them is a small rock-appearing formation that also has footpegs on it. Sliding the formation to either side makes the panels tilt up. Uhhh, again, I’m not sure why this is here. I can only assume it’s a way to knock your figures over. Or something.
We’ll move on to the upper level, which is honestly where most of the action is. Starting on the left side (facing forward) is the flagpole. There are interchangeable flags here, so whichever faction is controlling the mountain at a particular time can fly the appropriate flag. Moving to the right is the small helipad, which slide from side to side. The helipad is the right size for a FANG or a Flight Pod, and not much else. Good thing Cobra has some vehicles that can really take advantage of it! Honestly, with its close proximity to the throne room, I imagine it as holding Cobra Commander’s personal escape Flight Pod or FANG.
Continuing to the middle is the throne/control room. This room is basically a box with small control panels on either side. A flip-down ramp under the missile launcher hides the throne. There’s a slide-out floor on the rear edge of the throne/control room so that when the Commander is on his throne his subjects at least have a place to stand. As for the aforementioned missile launcher, it’s red and can rotate in a complete circle. There are three missiles in it, that fire when you push a button on the back corner of the launcher. The missiles fire in conjunction with how much pressure you put on the button. Also, the front of the missile launcher has a window that contains another clue for the faction controlling the Mountain…pushing the launcher down reveals the Joe logo, while releasing it with a small red button makes the Cobra logo appear.
Continuing to the right is a silver jail cell. This is one of the better constructed Joe jail cells out there, and has enough room for two or three figures inside. Figures can be dropped inside via a pair of spring-loaded trap doors on the top and released by sliding the floor of the cell to the rear. Not a bad feature, though its placement is kind of odd…but at least it’s not as fragile as the cells in the ’83 and ’92 Joe Headquarters!
The final feature up top is the large upper section of rock wall and the tower. The upper section of wall has another rack molded into it with more non-removable M-16s. There’s also a small window here, which would be perfect for snipers. The red tower features a crow’s nest that is accessed via a ladder leading down to the second floor near the jail cell. The crow’s nest has another weapon up here…a four-barreled missile launcher with a flip-up sight! Turning a knob on the launcher’s rear rotates the barrels and fires the missiles. There’s one more hidden feature here…the entire upper section of the wall is spring loaded. Push back on the radar dish that protrudes from the side of the large wall, and the upper section of wall will collapse forward…which will also collapse the hinged crow’s nest, sending its occupants flying. My only complaint with this feature is that the wall releases too easily. Moving or sometimes merely touching the playset will release the wall. So, don’t put any figures in the crow’s nest that you want to remain minty and undamaged, because more likely than not they will be sent flying unintentionally.
This isn’t a terrible playset by any means. Honestly, I think Hasbro made this more for kids than collectors, and in that sense it does have a ton of play value. Also true however is the fact that it does have a few odd features that don’t really make sense. Besides those odd features, why would anyone really want the Joes to actually “conquer” this thing anyway? They have a lot of playsets of their own that are far superior. That being said, I really like the helipad, throne room and the crow’s nest. As for the décor, the tan rock coupled with the red and blue accents look really nice and give the Mountain a Cobra feel. When this thing was new, you could pick it up for $25-30, which wasn’t a bad value at all. However, like other popular JvC/ST/VvV toys, there aren’t a lot of these hitting the secondary market these days. Most of the ones I’ve seen are still MIB, and prices for those range from $60-100. This is a decent playset, but there’s a heck of a lot of superior Joe toys that could be had for that amount of dough…or, you could put the money towards the only PROPER Cobra playset out there, the Terror Drome. The Conquest of Cobra Mountain isn’t a bad Joe playset by any means…but it pales in comparison to other Joe playset offerings from the past.
