S.A.W.-Viper

Saw Vipers? Of course I saw Vipers, every time I looked at the ranks! The S.A.W.-Viper is equipped with a gyro-stabilized, cryogenically-cooled M267 scoped with an infrared night-vision, auto-ranging, optical sighting system. It’s nothing for him to zone-in on a flea nestled in heavy brush over 800 yards away in pitch darkness and pick it off in one shot! For close-quarters combat, they switch tactics and employ their chainsaw bayonet. Most of that is from the original 1990 filecard, but it has been given a few little tweaks to update it for the Classified figure, so that's nice (even if it's only available in the marketing copy and not actually presented directly to fans anywhere). The packaging tells us "SAW" stands for Semi-Automatic Weapon, whereas a real military SAW is a "Squad Automatic Weapon"; the same thing was true for the Generation 1 release, so it may be an old mistake, or it may simply be a knowing reference to an old mistake. Up to you. Like most Cobra troops, the SAW-Viper was not an individual, but a job: there were lots of them. In honor of that, this figure has a removable helmet, but underneath it he's wearing a tight black ski mask that exposes his eyes and mouth. There's also a silver earpiece microphone reaching down his cheek, which spices things up just enough to make this interesting even without the big purple dome covering him. Like Tripwire, the SAW-Viper has been given bigger, bulkier armor than his vintage version, but you can remove some of it for a more classic look if you want. His thick vest is a separate piece over some sculpted torso, but the only way you could remove it would be to pop the arms out at the shoulders, so that ain't happenin'. The pauldrons and vambraces can be taken off, with some work, and the thick collar around his neck doesn't actually attach to the figure in any way at all, so it's likely to fall off on its own if he's not wearing the helmet. There's a clear difference in appearance between the figure with armor on or off, so you'll have some potential variety if you decide to army-build them. Like we said, the original SAW-Viper came out in 1990, which is when neon started to come into the line - thus, his purple-and-magenta colorscheme. It's not quite as bright, 35 years later, favoring more of a plum color that looks more suitable. There are black straps and pads on the armor that tie it in with his undersuit, and the glaring green on his belt and visor pop really nicely agsint the otherwise-dark colors. It's possible to update those weird old toys and make them look pretty solid today! I never had any SAW-Viper figure before, so I didn't know they were meant to be night troopers - that's why I was so surprised when I looked at their stats on the box and found them to be Marksman 1, Heavy Weapons 2, Stealth 1, and Night Combat 3. They could have done Environmental Specialist: Night for the Role, and possibly Infiltration or Siegecraft for the Skill, but this works well enough. He's got the usual articulation: barbell head, ball-jointed neck, swivel/?hinge shoulders on pectoral hinges, swivel biceps, double-hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, hinged chest, balljointed waist, hips that are a balljoint mounted on a hinge, swivel thighs, double-hinged knees, swivel ankles, and swivel/hinge feet. The G1 SAW-Viper was notorious for his giant gun: Hasbro accidentally produced it at two-up size instead of shrinking it down like they meant to. That's not an issue this time, but his gun is still pretty distinctive. It's a made-up type, with a blocky body, and angled grip and a carrying handle almost like a minigun. It appears to have two ammo sources: an attached ammo box, and a silver belt that feeds from the side of the gun to his backpack (that piece being reused from last year's Tiger Force Roadblock exclusive, which is why it has a peg that doesn't have a corresponding hole on this gun). However, while the real-world M249 SAW is air-cooled, the fictional M267 SAW is cryo-cooled, so why assume those are both sources of ammo, when it's possible he's like Baze Malbus and the backpack is just storing all the gun's support tech? That's not an ammo belt, it's an insulated hose that's keeping his gun from overheating! He has a pistol and a knife that can both be carried even when he's not using them, and, really leaning into the name, Hasbro has pulled a Marcus Fenix and given this gun a chainsaw bayonet! It's removable, allowing him to use it as a handheld weapon of last resort. The SAW-Viper got a very memorable moment in the Real American Hero comics: during the book's "Operation Desert Storm" stand-in, a group of Joes were captured while sabotaging Terror Dromes; not wanting the hassle or attention of having prisoners, Cobra Commander gave the order to "get rid of them"; he meant take their weapons and let them go, but it was interpretted as "kill them," and when all the other Vipers were reluctant to do it, a SAW-Viper volunteered in exchange for two months' bonus pay. The first Joe he killed was Doc, and the character photo on the back of this package features Doc's helmet laying empty on the ground. As far as Easter eggs go, that's dark! I didn't plan to get the Classified SAW-Viper, but it turns out to be a nice update of a so-so old design. -- 04/11/25 What do you think is the deal with the double-ammo design? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.