Action Figure: 2 1/2 out of 4
Big Boa was a strange case, being a very clunky figure. He was not an outright zero like Raptor, but he also wasn't as scary as Croc Master. His design put him in the middle spectrum of goofball 1987 villains.
The accessories were boxing gloves and the punching bag, and the intended play pattern was a fist fight/drop down boxing matches with Joes either or the trainees he's breaking in. The boxing gear was fine, but not earth-shattering accessories, and didn't have much use outside of a gym or ring sitting.
The helmet was odd. Some characters in Cobra should be masked; others were more suited unmasked. It was spiked, heavy-looking, and has a red visor, as well as provided breathing system. I would soon think of Bane, even though he came later in the 90s in DC Comic's Batman IP. Both characters ended up having slight commonalities as muscle-bound brutes, but also as intelligent enemies.
With Big Boa, as a kid, I reasoned the mask was to give him protection against his trainees or fighting Joes bare-knuckled, but it was disappointing in any case because I wanted him boxing, and the helmet was too much of an advantage. That impacted play patterns for me because it had to hurt whomever was punching him.
The bright red and blue colors would work better as heroic tones. I thought of Rocky or Apollo and flashy boxing trunks. Big Boa's colors were eye-catching, but was he a celebrity boxer showman? He felt like someone who never made it to the top and certainly would not be a fan favorite in the boxing world. His color choices were not great for a villain.
The best part of the figure was that he is physically imposing. As a kid, a simple play pattern was mashing figures together, fighting, so Big Boa worked in that regard. The worst part was the red spiked chest straps, which have outright S&M visuals, off-putting, gross, and always made me think of Coach Schneider and his death scene from A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge.
Big Boa ended up firmly a mixed bag type of figure. Some of the visuals and designs were strange, but he did have muscles, and that counted for something. I was able to roll with pretty much any G.I. Joe action figure I owned, good, bad, or in between. Nothing about Big Boa was a deal breaker.
Training Cobra Forces: G.I. Joe had Beachhead and Sgt. Slaughter. It makes sense that Cobra would need their own trainer and drill instructor.
In an early episode, Countdown for Zartan, we saw Storm Shadow and the Dreadnoks providing instruction to Cobra trainees with not much success. That always struck with me in any case, and that episode informed my use of Big Boa. Big Boa was the first basis of indoctrination for any trainee in my world.
The toyline in 1987 had an expansion of Cobra with strange hyper sci-fi weaponry, and the Techno-Viper as a stand-out Viper, Cobra's tech guys. The toyline reflected an IP status that couldn't go with. I was loyal to Sunbow, and I didn't have the money for all of that stuff anyway.
On the heels of G.I. Joe The Movie, much of Cobra's leadership died, Cobra Island was destroyed, Cobra La as well, with Serpentor defeated, Cobra Commander mutated as a snake. The idea of Cobra at the top of its game didn't appeal to me.
This was also a good explanation of my Cobra command and its minions, figures I did not have on hand, as many would be lost, broken, or stolen. Whoever was not accounted for simply died in G.I. Joe The Movie.
Cobra was able to create space for something more refined and dangerous. G.I. Joe wouldn't know where they were anymore with Cobra Island gone, and Cobra's terrorism became less bombastic. They went back to the old school of kidnapping, stealing secrets, robbery, and striking industry, attacking G.I. Joe bases (part of that had to do with my inability as a kid to come up with great take-over-the-world schemes).
Big Boa trained up leaner, more adaptive forces to reflect a Cobra that was changing. What my Cobra forces lacked in overwhelming manpower, they made the greater whole of those who believed in the Cobra cause.
The trainees were taught with the promise of riches, power, and a better world under Cobra: Big Boa fostered that the proto evil that existed in the early days, those files cards of Cobra, Cobra Officer, and Cobra Commander, enemies of freedom and the American way of life. Yet, there was no loyalty to people within Cobra. In the season one episode, Memories of Mara, Mara said to the Dredknoks, "There are no friends in Cobra, only convenient alliances."
Even as a child, not knowing anything about the proposal, that it fell through, I thought of Rocky with Big Boa. But there was no Rocky action figure, so that was out window.
Then there is William "The Refrigerator" Perry, who was the next celebrity G.I. Joe after Sgt. Slaughter. The Fridge had not much lore standing, but any mail-away Joe figure got attention from me, so he would go up against Big Boa from time to time. The Fridge was another ace-in-the-hole type character, who'd pop up and clean house when G.I. Joe needed someone who could just cut through Cobra forces and agents quickly (or I needed to simply end an adventure to go do homework, eat dinner, what have you).
The commercial even had The Fridge whacking Big Boa with his football on a string. Ouch!
Certainly, any G.I. Joe I had with muscles would go up against Big Boa, and Fridge had his times, but with due respect, I was more loyal to the Sarge.
It was Sgt. Slaughter and Renegades, who were many times the center of Big Boa's contempt and anger. Sarge and the Renegades got focused play time, as they operated outside of typical G.I. Joe command and did a lot of dirty work. So, their play use in turn would prop up anyone who opposed them.
Mercer asserted his conscience, rejected Cobra's ideology from within, and broke free, flipping sides. That was something Big Boa never could tolerate within my adventures, as he was fanatically loyal to the Cobra cause and wanted all his trainees to be as well.
Mercer was not just a deserter and traitor; his continued presence as a Renegade undercut everything Big Boa taught and showed any Cobra that they don't just have to remain with them. These themes were explored in several episodes of the cartoon: The Rotten Egg and Not a Ghost of a Chance In the Presence of Mine Enemies (got the wrong episode, of things I've seen countless times, I'm getting old, lol).
Another aspect of my Big Boa/Mercer feud was trust. Mercer was an outsider even among Red Dog and Taurus.
Mercer's past created tension within G.I. Joe. Could they trust Mercer, given his old allies and entanglements within Cobra? Big Boa and other Cobras were all too willing to try to make Mercer look sketchy and distrustful, and also attempt to pressure him to change sides once again.
Sgt. Slaughter himself was a great rival, as he and Big Boa were nothing alike as trainers. The Sarge pushed Joes hard and wanted them to overcome through perseverance. His core training method was encouragement through grit and growing a sense of camaraderie. The result is a G.I. Joe soldier who was team-oriented, morally grounded, and committed to fighting for freedom, a cause greater than themselves.
Big Boa, elsewhere, trained his men with obedience to the Cobra cause in mind. His core training method was brutality, fear, and pain. Intimidation and humiliation were the way he operated. Be it out in the field or deep in a secret Cobra base, he was brutal and unforgiving.
Adventures: Many, many times Big Boa would be knocked on his ass thanks to Sarge. The mask didn't matter, Slaughter would go straight for him in a knock-down fight, and he'd win and win and win again. It was also a big deal that it'd happen in front of Cobra Vipers, to drive home which way was better.
Big Boa was usually around, either as a heavy muscle to guard Cobra Commander or some other Cobra high up or with a group of mix match lot of different kinds of Vipers was training (a kid, I did rarely had more than one of the same Viper, so it visually was not great, but hey, I was a child very little pocket money). Wherever, whatever 'base' my Cobra forces hid out in, he'd be there, and his bright look made him stand out.
He wasn't too involved in Cobra power plays outright, but he did have the ear of the troops themselves, so that made him a valuable ally within Cobra. I always found him more loyal to Cobra Commander himself, given the release of Battle Armor Cobra Commander the same year.
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