2011 was a great year for G.I. Joe. They pushed, detail, articulation and accessories further than they’ve ever gone before. On top of giving us great versions of classic characters they also developed a few new concepts. One of which is the Zombie Viper. They are Cobra Soldiers that have been exposed to Compound Z, a new bio weapon that has been developed by Cobra. The filecard toned down the “undead corpse” angle to make it a little more digest-able for parents and kiddies, but it doesn’t bother me, I kinda like that they aren’t just regular bloody zombies.
In my little Joe-verse I call them Bio-Vipers (and nod to G.I. Joe Renegades). They are Cobra soldiers that have died in the line of duty, their blood is replaced with a transfusion of Compound Z, which re-animates their bodies into an aggressive bio-weapon. Generally, enough of their brain remains to tap into their allegiance to Cobra. The helmut has three main purposes. It acts as basic mind control to point them in the right direction during battle, it can deliver additional doses of Z to trigger a mutation and it also protects against headshots which are the Bio-Vipers only significant weakness. Any physical damage during battle creates an instant mutation that heals the wound and grows the body beyond it’s initial form.
I was going to stay away from things like monsters and robots with my Joe collecting, but these dudes really sparked my imagination. To wrangle my Zombie Vipers I want to alter my 4 Volcano-Vipers and call them Toxo-Vipers (make them some new hands and a few other details) and make an updated custom Cesspool to lead them. That should make for a pretty impressive bio-weapon squad if I do say so myself!