Cobra Commander (2008)
The 1987 battle armor Cobra Commander was one of only two figures from my youth that I kept. Why? I think because I had always been fascinated with not only a new version of the Commander, but the fact that he was wearing armor that made him more powerful. Of course, reading the comic and finding out that a different man was in the armor was disappointing. Even so, I still thought of the figure as representing the original Cobra Commander.
I wouldn’t say that the 1987 figure was lacking anything. I suppose if I had a wish for it back then, it would be for a removable helmet. In the 2000’s, a comic pack version of the mold gave the figure a new removable helmet with the comic character’s head underneath. This later 25th anniversary version also obliged with a removable helmet, but changed up the head underneath by keeping it masked. That was an appropriate move, since the RAH line never allowed us to see more than part of the original Commander’s face. It also meant that this figure didn’t have to be Fred VII. Fine by me. I couldn’t stand the guy.
The battle armor benefits from the more detailed modern sculpting and articulation, but it’s not all sunshine and roses. The legs are too thin and quite spindly considering they’re supposed to be armored. The canary legs don’t ruin the figure for me, but they sure do look odd compared to the more massive upper body. I don’t mean to beat up on the 25th anniversary line, but I found quite a few figures like this one almost eclipsed the original, but went just a bit wonky with poseability, proportion or fit and finish.
The legs don’t look that thin to me. And of course, towards the end of the 25th Anniversary line, a comic pack gave us a 25th Anniversary version of Fred VII in the armor, while the torso, arms, and upper legs were used for the 25th Anniversary Iron Grenadier.
I was never a fan of the battle armor. Give me the original CC in his helmet or hood any day. No Serpentor, no Fred VII, no Golobulus or Overlord, or any of that malarkey. Replacing the real deal has never quite worked has it?
That said, Hasbro was generous to offer both the classic and Fred version of Armored CC. Especially since Fred had already shown up in a comic pack. Someone at Hasbro must have been a huge fan of the armor years.
To me CC was always hooded so this armoured version never really worked until the comic pack Fred VII version which then had a canonical identity seperate from Cobra Commander.
Cool figure!
I’ll second that the legs don’t look out of proportion to the arms. In the photo, it’s the two nuts on the upper arms and the backpack that seem to make him look bigger up top.
I like this version, and the Fred VII version. I was a tad irked by the fact this time around the backpack was done upside down. On the original, the narrower end was positioned behind his head when clipped into CC’s back…However, its a great figure. I do wonder why they simply didn’t reuse the original pistol instead of making a new one that was far too out of scale with the figure and his holster…Apart from that, great figure I still like.