For every hero, there is a villain, or at least there should be. The 1980's G.I Joe reboot, A Real American Hero, wasn't originally going to have an offensive force to fight against. Originally, Hasbro wanted the Joes to fight other companies toylines like Star Wars. I can imagine the epic battles between the Joes and the evil forces of Lego Castle. When Marvel, who was working with Hasbro to develop a comic series to tell the toyline's story, told them "No", a random idea resulted in the creation of the Joes, now infamous villains. Cobra, "a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world"... it was the 80's, terrorism wasn't immediately associated with radicalized Muslims flying planes into buildings and bombing places in the general culture that's quick to label anything and everything in black and white. Well, now that I've probably pissed a lot of people off with that comment, let me quit when I'm behind and review that one time Starscream was the leader of an army and why it was probably for the best that he never gets to lead the Decepticons, Cobra Commander.
For this review, I'll be looking at two versions of the Commander. The general retail release Commander, which has a darker, more realistic colour palette, and the Hasbro Pulse exclusive Regal Cobra Commander, boasting a brighter cartoon and 80's toy accurate colour scheme. There is a third out there that was a San Diego Comic-Con exclusive before COVID happened. It became a Hasbro Pulse exclusive with more accessories and a different colour scheme, going for a mix of black, red and gold. Due to the fact that shipping is a problem, and I'd rather not spend triple digits on a $40 figure, we're not covering it in this review, ok? Ok.
I'll quickly touch on the articulation, as while it's similar to Duke's from back in February, both versions I have seem to suffer from different quality control issues. On the regular retail version, the hinge in the shoulders to help bring the arms closer to each other rarely wants to stay in any position other than getting the arms in closer, especially the left shoulder, though thankfully, the Epaulette does hide that. When using some of the accessories, you don't even notice it. The Regal variant doesn't have that issue in the shoulders, but the ab crunch ratchet is uncomfortably stiff and does not feel good to use, at least on my copy. If you ever wanted an example of how the QC is in the Classified line and how varied it can be, that should give you an idea when comparing two versions of the moulds. One minor note that may or may not be quality control, the rubber sashes and Epaulette are noticeably looser on the regular retail copy than the Regal version. However, I don't know which one should be correct in terms of application.
The sculpting and paintwork on both figures give Cobra Commander a very ornate. It's fitting for a character that is so over the top in terms of personality (at least going off the 80's cartoon), and the Military General Dress Uniform fits this personality perfectly. The dark blue and black colours make up most of the colour on the figure on the regular retail release, with beautifully contrasted accents done in silver, gold, and dark red paint. I love how the snake motif is integrated into the sculpting without overpowering the look. It's on the strapping and Epaulette, the sheath for the sword, the black patches on the coat (not counting the gauntlets) and red striping on the pants. Enough for it to be noticeable, but grounded enough to have it still be a realistic-looking uniform. Regal Commander shares this aspect with the sculpting, but it's harder to notice on him due to the brighter colours. Everything that was dark blue on the regular version is now a more brilliant blue, in line with the 80's look. The black patches on the coat, the red striping, and the black gauntlets and boots have all been swapped out for dark blue. Anything that was silver (except for the visor) is now gold, giving him more of a presence due to how loud the colours are compared to the general retail version. The only complaint I have with the paint is that the gold doesn't look as durable or as well applied as the silver, but even the silver on the regular retail version has some issues when it came to the application, mainly the front of the left shoulder.
I love the head sculpts on both of them. There's enough detail to make it look visually interesting, without things being distracting, like many of the designs from Rise of Cobra. It's a shame that he doesn't come with an alternate head to look like the Hooded Cobra Commander in any version of the figure, but the accessories he does come with are good enough. While I wish he came with the sceptre as Snake Supreme does, both figures come with a handgun that's sculpted beautifully while still keeping the snake theme toned down. Due to both guns only being one colour, the snake detailing looks more like ornate detailing, which fits the figure as a whole. The same thing sadly can't be said for the sword. Both figures come with an elaborate dress sword that, while the blade looks solid and formidable if you dare try to put it into his right hand, something I haven't tried to do, the Cobra head for a sword hilt stands out badly against the rest of the figure's more toned down snake aesthetic. I wouldn't mind as much if he came with the sceptre, but as it is, it looks awkward. Unlike all the other figures released so far, Cobra Commander comes with four hands, two left hands and two right hands. For the left hand, you have a fist or an open hand that could be either a "resting comfortably hand", "resting on sword hand", or an "I'm going to rule the world!" acting hand. You have a trigger finger grip hand that will hold the gun and a pointing hand on the right. These hands sell the figure. He's surprisingly expressive purely because of the hands for a guy with a mirror for a face. It would have been nice for the figure to come with a version of each position for both hands. It would be excessive for a figure to be released with eight hands, but the possibility for photos and displays would be worth the CAD file mirroring required to pull it off. I hope to have some picture tests in a new photo set up on my twitter feed sometime during the week.
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| "Decepticons! Megatron has fallen! I, Cobra Commander, am your new leader!... Wait, wrong series, but you should make that red, white and blue jet with the beautiful voice your new leader!" |
Like with Duke, Cobra Commander is a nice modernization of the original character. But unlike Duke, the sci-fi elements don't clash as hard against the design, partly because Cobra always had one foot in sci-fi and didn't need to get around the logic loophole of realistic, modern army people using space guns. While Duke can look a bit too generic as a general army person at times, this is unmistakeably the Commander. Both the regular and Regal versions have their unique charm, and both are worth picking up, depending on your preference.
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