(Every so often Chris steals the keyboard away and dives right in a review. That’s fine by me as I get to be the snarky member of this dynamic duo this time around. Of course, since he’s taking the lead that technically makes him “Batman” and I’m stuck with Burt Ward’s costume. *SHUDDER*)

Billed as “based on the cartoon characters”, the Lab Rats are about homage to the Sunbow cartoon as the Rise of Cobra Commander was to his ARAH counterpart---basically name only.  However, despite the obvious differences in appearance, these characters do nicely fill in the void of Cobra’s nameless, faceless scientists, and taken outside of his function in this con set, he does add a lot of production value for diorama stories, or as “base builders” on any number of Cobra’s high tech projects.

To the best of my knowledge the Lab Rats are based on the “faceless Cobra scientists” from the Sunbow season 1 episode “Eau de Cobra.” Personally, I’m all in favor of the Club producing more of the background cartoon characters as we’ve pretty much exhausted the ARAH roster of character that still need generation 3 updates.

The Lab Rat is composed of the Ultimate Cobra Commander’s body and arms, Rise of Cobra Storm Shadow’s legs, Dr. Rex’s lab coat, and the Pursuit of Cobra Dusty alternate head.  While the coat and head offer a somewhat interesting mix of a HAZMAT suit, the figure is not without flaws.  The first detraction is the use of Cobra Commander’s uniform.  That is a pretty signature and iconic look, and with all the other choices of parts out there the Club could use, it boggles my mind the head snake’s body was the best they could do.  The Storm Shadow legs are also a problem, as they look very casual and very non-HAZMAT---like the Lab Rats are wearing blue jeans.

Duh! It’s “Casual Friday” at ARBCO labs when jeans are acceptable work attire. We’re just lucky that it wasn’t “Hawaiian Shirt Day” otherwise some Chuckles parts would have been thrown in for good measure. Hmm… on second thought, that’s an idea I can TOTALLY live with!

With no new parts, and an iffy part selection on top of that, I’m starting to get the vibe that this figure really wasn’t worth the price tag.  In fact, it screams “Dollar General” to me.  Herr Doktor Meyer, were you satisfied with the parts, or were you also in the camp that felt the construction was inadequate and not enough band for the buck?

I love the concept of mad scientists and super-science gone wrong. It totally appeals to the sci-fi fan in me. However, I think you’re totally on the money with your assessment of the Lab Rats. The concept is good but the execution just feels like a “Lazy Boy Custom” to me. The use of the Cobra Commander torso is part of what kills it for me. You don’t use parts from your enemy forces supreme commander to build figures of “low level flunkey X”.

Okay, so maybe the uniform wasn’t the best choice, but how does the color stack up?  Not well I’m afraid.  Maybe, just maybe if the Club had picked a darker (or even lighter blue) it could have worked, but as it stands, it looks too much like Cobra Commander’s hues, so in essence, this figure looks too much like Cobra Commander in a lab coat.  The bland and minimal coloring also take this figure down a third notch by making it look plain and generic.  Sure, we get the nice little “ARBCO” anagram, but that is wholly wasted with a giant glaring Cobra insignia on his uniform, so whatever civilian disguise is utterly wasted by him wearing his emblem.   Yeah, yeah, some might say this harkens back to the Renegades cartoon where people don’t necessarily know Cobra is evil, but I still cry foul on this.  Fred, do you find merit in what I say, or am I off my rocker?

We have rocking chairs here? Awesome! My legs are getting tired!

Once again, I tend to agree. This figure really just looks too much like “Lab Coat Cobra Commander” as opposed to “faceless Cobra Scientist #7.” Perhaps if a different torso with different paint apps were used it wouldn’t be so bad. Plus, there’s the whole “ARBCO/Cobra” logo dichotomy that throws this entire design off for me. It’s hard for ARBCO to masquerade as a civilian company when its lab techs are wearing prominent Cobra sigils!

Since they are not front line fighters, the Lab Rats don’t come with an abundance of weapons.  In fact, they don’t come with any.  This is compensated by more practical items for what you’d expect a lab tech to carry.  I do think the time 25 th time bomb repainted as a “computer” was a bit of a stretch, especially when we had dedicated laptops released in the RoC line.  Those would have been a more realistic choice.

• Lab Coat
• Carry Case
• Compound Z canisters
• Compound Z injector
• Stand
• Lab Coat
• Filecard

Despite the glaring flaws of this figure, I still feel he’s worth a purchase, and here’s why: With the exception of Dr. Mindbender (and perhaps the awfully designed Hot Wire if you want to get really technical), we haven’t gotten a strong representation of Cobra’s scientist cadre.  That is unacceptable, especially given Cobra’s penchant for the high-tech, and kidnapping leaders in the scientific field.  These figures while boring and arguably inappropriately uniformed, are still the best we’ll get because Hasbro will likely never make them; and they at least fill in the key role of being the guys back at the Terror Drome giving Cobra its technological and biological advantages without being laden in heavy armor or battlefield gear that would make them impractical if not in combat.

Mark this day down in your calendars kids—it’s the day that I’m the one of this duo telling you NOT to buy a figure. The Lab Rat is one of those support characters that I always wanted as a kid. Sunbow was great at just whipping up an animated support character whenever the story need arose but those characters were never released in plastic form. As such, this figure should have been a no-brainer “YES!” endorsement from me. However, the fact that the lab coat renders him pretty much immobile from the waist down kills it for me. Combine this with my inability to look at this figure and NOT see Cobra Commander in a lab coat and you have a figure that I could have easily passed over. Sadly my OCD kicked in and I had to pick up a pair of these guys to complete the set. However, these were some of the very last figures I snagged with good reason. He’s a “pass” for this Joe fan.

The Bottom Line: A solid concept that is marred by flawed execution, the Lab Rat comes across more as a “quick and easy custom” than he does a premium convention figure. An easy pass in my book.