Every hero needs a villain and Cobra Commander is right up there with Skeletor, Mumm-Ra, and Megatron as one of the great, classic ’80s cartoon bad guys. A villain so epic, the G.I. Joe Classified line is releasing three versions in the first year of the line! Let’s look at their first take on the six inch scale Cobra Commander!
The first thing I noticed about this fine box art is that it really seems to match the color scheme of one of the upcoming variants, the regal version that was made available through the Pulse. It makes me wonder if the regal version was planned to be the original release all along.
The Commander comes with a gun, a sword, a right grip hand, a left claw hand, a right pointing hand and a left fist. The gun looks like a pirate’s flintlock pistol and sports and impressively detailed snake-themed motif throughout the design. These modern cobra types are not messing around when it comes to branding every aspect of their person and weaponry with snakes. I am impressed at how cleanly the detail pops on the weapon and I like that the grip hand has the up/down hinge, so he holds it well. I do kind of wish there was a holster for it, however.
The sword is also similarly snake-themed and has the overall feel of a cutlass, but with a lot of extra detail packed in. It fits securely in the scabbard attached to his belt and while I was at first taken aback by the pirate themed weapons, the sword has really grown on me. It definitely makes me think of a more ceremonial weapon you sometimes see on dress uniforms, but twisted and perverted into something grandiose, over dramatic, and a little silly. Perfect for Cobra Commander.
The alternate hand choices are also perfect for Cobra Commander. The guy gets up to a lot of ranting and raving, screaming orders, and passing blame onto subordinates and the pointing, claw hand, and fist are perfect for this. I think the claw hand is probably designed for holding the globe that comes with the SDCC version of CC, but I really like it for ranting and raving poses. I can just hear this guy screaming about how he’s going to CRUSH THE JOESSSSS when I look at him. It would have been nice to get a left weapon grip hand so he could wield both the gun and sword at the same time.
Sculpting on this guy is sssuper sharp and I feel like I’m discovering new, tiny snake details every time I look at the figure. The snakeskin texture is fairly prevalent in the scabbard and the costume trim, but I love that the buttons also kind of look like snake eyes and even the belt, which coils around his body, has a scale texture to it.
The build is perfect too, he just looks like a regular dude in a really elaborate uniform. The design of the uniform with it’s double breasted jacket and prominent buttons reminds me a bit of one of the early ’90s versions. One thing I don’t love is that his arms don’t want to lay flat at his sides, but that’s one of my figure pet peeves.
I also wanted him to be able to sit, but the cape and scabbard make that pretty tough. You can slide the belt/cape/scabbard piece off the body fairly easily, but it’s a little tough to stretch back on over the flared ends of his jacket. I was a little scared I was going to rip the belt when I did it. The jacket tail even has a bit of a forked tongue look to it and I have to think CC spent a lot of time working with the tailor on that one. At any rate, with the belt off, he can sit better. The jacket tails get in the way a little bit, but you can tuck those under so he sits okay. Unfortunately, I think the 3D printed throne I bought is a little too small. Oh, well.
Articulation matches up with the other Joes and CC has:
- Ball and socket waist, head, and neck
- Swivel/hinge shoulders, wrists, hips, and ankles
- Swivel biceps, thighs, and boots
- Hinged mid-torso, butterfly pecs, and neck
- Double hinged elbows and knees
- Drop-down hips
Cobra Commander moves pretty well, but his mid-torso ab hinge is really tight and looks a little awkward bent all the way forward or back. The jacket also impedes the waist ball joint a bit, so he’s a little stiffer than the rest of the figures in the line.
Paint is pretty good. While I would always prefer a mirrored vac metal look for the visor, this silver paint has a great shine to it. The costume details are pretty well-painted, with only a little slop on on of the buttons, otherwise it’s very clean work. The blue is a great match for those Cobra Island Troopers, so it would be a shame to not get a few more of those in their current color to go with their Commander.
Overall, I like this figure a lot. It took me a second to come on board with this costume design, but it feels right to me now that I have it in hand and I think the gaudy nature of this outfit really speaks to his character. He’s a little stiffer than the other figures in the line, but he gets into all the ranting, raving, and retreating poses I wanted.
