Head, torso, arms, upper legs, backpack: Retaliation Crimson Guard
Lower Legs, belt, rifle: 25th Crimson Guard

The Crimson Guard is probably my favorite Cobra troop. The 1986 Viper, Snow Serpent and Iron Grenadier are up there too, but the CG is the one that I dreamed of army building as a kid. Everything about the original figure is awesome, from the dark red uniform, the cool helmet, the ceremonial gold details and the rifle.

I have been hoping that Hasbro would release an ultimate vintage-accurate Crimson Guard, but that has not happened. The 25th was a decent start. However, the skinny legs, simian helmet and washed-out red hue weakened it. In the Retaliation Ultimate wave, we got a different version. The helmet and the red were improved. However, the lower legs and knees were changed for weaker ones.

I decided to combine both figures to attempt to improve them. My goal was make a figure that was heavily inspired by the vintage figure. Because I'm a bit crazy when it comes to army-building, I had enough parts to make 21 figures. I set them up in 4 rows of 5, that left one to transform into an officer.