The GI Joe Classified series will enter the Cobra-La end of the GI Joe pool with its SDCC exclusive “Once a Man” Cobra Commander. I happen to love the bizarre creature-organic leanings of these crazy cobra creatures, and I feel like the Classified series will be able to pack the carapace and scales of the Cobra character with tons of crunchy texture detail, so I’ve been looking forward to seeing what they’ll do What. Cobra Commander is our first real taste of this, so let’s check it out!
The cover of the box has a very cool illustration that is lenticular and can switch between CC’s three forms while giving us a look at Cobra-La’s main characters Golobulus and Nemesis. The clear cover adds Cobra Commander’s oft-repeated “I used to be a man!” reference to what’s on the back of the box, which is basically a non-raster version of the front illustration. There’s also a small action scene that shows a rendering of Cobra Commander captured on an open flap inside. Interestingly, they present him in his pre-mutation form in this box.
Cobra Commander comes with four hands (two fists, two triggers, one pointed, one open), two heads (snake and helmet), a knife, a gun, a backpack, a faceplate and a Snake figure.
Hand-held reusable, plugs securely into socket and is easily replaced. Cobra Commander has a variety of moves and can make many exaggerated gestures. The weapons are great for weapons players, and I do like seeing each character include fists. I really wish they had added a pair of mutant snake claws to the main body to enhance the scary feel of the mutant commander.
The knife fits nicely in a thigh sheath, while the blower style blaster fits nicely in a backpack holster.
The package is
I think they could have skipped the weapons and packaged this version of Cobra Commander since in the show he was already captured when he turned into a mutant, but I like the option of putting him in the scene rather than just reenacting the movie.
This mask is pretty neat because of the mysterious history of the Cobra Commander helmet, and it’s interesting to see the technology inside the mask. The mutated head has a beautiful and ferocious face, many scales of different shapes, countless mismatched eyes, and a row of huge mouth scales. It feels like his teeth are transforming into mouth scales. He’s pretty disgusting, but I would have loved it if he were sculpted with an open mouth, as that would be perfect for screaming his oft-repeated lines.
The form of the snake is also very interesting, borrowing the design from the cartoon and amplifying the details. He’s sculpted to be a bit curled so that he can wrap around a figure, but since there aren’t any joints other than the swivels on the arms, you’re stuck in one pose. Rotation at the waist can help.
The sculpting of this figure is excellent. Retro CC is a very nice looking figure, this figure reuses the head and waist of the body and comes with a brand new scaly torso and ripped shirt overlay. Characters with this kind of paint on their helmets have a cartoony CC feel to them. The shirt comes off easily, and what’s cool is that they even painted the same snake pattern on the back of his semi-transformed body that’s in his almost final form. Again, the proportions are very close to the cartoon look, adding depth, detail and overall great looks. This isn’t accurate as the movie version had a scaly crotch and a scaly leg, and while I wish there was a new lower leg part, I could live without the scaly crotch. The shirt is a little thicker than I would like, but I like the overall effect and I almost want to use this guy as my regular CC. He’s just cool.
The paint is really nice as there’s some shading on the mutated scales on his head and some nice color separation on the scales. I really wish the water from the snake’s head could reach the rest of the body as well. Articulation is excellent, with great range of motion in the waist, lower neck and head ball joints. Cobra Commander has:
- Rotate/articulate shoulders, hips, wrists and ankles
- Ball and socket head, neck and waist
- Rotate biceps, ankles and thighs
- Articulated mid-torso, dropped hips and thoraco-sphenoidal joint
I also like the forward range of motion of the ankles, although head movement is slightly hindered on the head of the helmet as it can hit a torn shirt. Even though he doesn’t have the hinge joints that I prefer, he can look up nicely with his snake head.
Overall, I really enjoyed this character. His sculpt is super flexible, sleek and has fun accessories. It’s almost too good to just be used for this one-off scene, I need to imagine some scenarios to use him more.
I do think he had a similar mutation when they removed his snake in the first DIC cartoon miniseries, so maybe that’s what he looked like outside of the battle armor. It also makes me hungry for more Cobra-themed stuff to go with him, and I can’t wait to get my hands on Immortal Nemesis and see how they execute Golobulus, Python, and the Royal Guard. I haven’t seen an official announcement of when he will be released, but since the Legends figure is scheduled to be released on August 5th at 5pm ET, I imagine this CC will follow suit.
