I never saw any trooper or cobra soldier wearing those harness body packs in the cartoon or the comics.

I'd say it's just a more realistic update of the web gear the original toy troopers and officers had.

I'd say it's just a more realistic update of the web gear the original toy troopers and officers had.

I agree with Dakemesh. It's just a 25th version of the originals. And keep two things in mind:

1) The Cobra troopers and officers in the comics and cartoons did generally wear some sort of combat harness or load-bearing equipment (LBE), even if they didn't always look exactly the same as the other or the figures.

2) Originally, the comic and cartoon designs for the characters were taken from the figures, not the other way around, so it would be the cartoons and comics that would be "wrong" if they didn't match what the figures looked like. But there are tons of examples of the cartoon/comic versions of characters and equipment looking different than the toys. Artistic freedom is alive and well!

That and to create a generic soldier body, probably. It's cheaper to make new web gear than it is to create a whole new torso, so "new" figures could be made cheaper by just creating new harnesses or gear for them. This line is made with multiple mold re-uses in mind.

I agree with everything said above and would only add the following... Because without the webbing the torso looks stupid.