Viper (CW)

Viper is a Decepticon from the Generation 1 continuity family.

He's come to vipe your vindows.

Viper is well named. Among his very "serpentine" qualities are attacks and transformations that hit like the lightning fast strike of a cobra. His venomous bite often takes the form of a barrage of lethal acid pellets. Yet an even better word to describe him would be "Toxic." Viper's personality is so destructively malevolent that just being around him negatively affects the mental health of his allies as well as his enemies. This emotional collateral damage concerns the "mad, bad, and dangerous to know" Viper not at all.

Sometimes he is a tough drone airframe carrying a healthy supply of firepower into battle.

Fiction

Transformers vs. G.I. Joe

Viper, the "DeceptiCobra Alliance Incarnate", joined Starscream in attacking a group of Joes searching for Omega Supreme. The two jets were defeated when Omega turned out to be the very road below them, which coiled up and grabbed them out of the air. Pax Megatronus

Games

Transformers: Battle Tactics

Watch out, XCOM!

Viper participated in battles against a variety of opponents, both Autobots and Decepticons. Sometimes there were many of him! He was a Common character who could be recruited after collecting 24 units of Cybermetal. Transformers: Battle Tactics

Transformers: Earth Wars

During "Operation Snakebite" Sideswipe embarked on a covert-operation that discovered an entire military base of suspicious origin, cut off from the world. However, his recklessness left a trail, and an unforeseen threat soon followed: Viper. The Autobots knew little about this new enemy, but it seemed like the Decepticons had made an alliance with someone…

Toys

Generations

So, after all this time, Cobra was hiding their own Transformer?!

• Decepticon Viper (Legends class, 2015)

Part of wave 3 of Combiner Wars Legends class, Viper is a retool of Powerglide, transforming into a modified-for-legal-reasons approximation of an A-10 Thunderbolt II assault plane. He can also transform into a multi-barreled cannon that can be held by larger toys.

Viper's deco is an overt homage to the Cobra Rattler from G.I. Joe, including two Cobra insignias (with integrated Decepticon insignia, no less), and the "ZØ6" marking of Rattler pilot Wild Weasel's personal Rattler on his right wing. His new face is even styled after Wild Weasel's flight mask.

His packaging identifies him as an adjunct to Galvatronus.

The mold was redecoed to make Adventure Dogfight.

Notes

• Viper appeared in the Battle Tactics game before his toy was announced, leading some to believe he was an original character to the game. That didn't last long.
• When introduced at Toy Fair 2015, Viper was referred to as a "generic" style Transformer (i.e. fully-sentient, but with a shared design, such as Omnicons or Vehicons). This characterization is intended to facilitate army-building, recalling his namesake.
• Viper's product description on Hasbro's website describes him as having robot, jet, and "quick-strike drone" modes, presumably the result of some inexplicable misinterpretation of his gun mode.
• Viper's individual character bio comes from the Earth Wars video game "Operation Snakebite" event.
• The line used to describe Viper in that bio "mad, bad, and dangerous to know" is a famous historical description of the English Romantic Poet and rebellious, pro-Satan bad-boy, Lord Byron.