Cobra Commander Unofficial Minifigure

For over a year, I’ve been on a kick of buying knock-off minifigures via the direct-from-China website Aliexpress. There you can find all manner of not-quite-Lego minifigures for less than a dollar each. It’s crazy. While there are plenty of copyright infringing products to be found, there are also unique designs that the famous brick maker hasn’t, or most likely never will, produce. Cobra Commander is one of the latter. 

While we saw the Commander as well as many other Joe characters as part of Hasbro/Oxford’s Kre-O line, the thought of them in the more familiar Lego minifigure format is intriguing. It means that the Joes and Cobras could properly mingle among the thousands of other denizens of the world’s currently most popular movable figure format. Of course it’s only a pipe dream unless customizers make it happen. Most likely that is the source of the Commander’s design, as most of the custom figures produced have been cribbed from the efforts of customizers who sell via their own web sites or eBay. 

The print and plastic quality obviously aren’t up to Lego standards, but the figure functions well as a display piece and is definitely a conversation starter when placed among other more official minifigs.

The Commander is a more than fair representation of his original action figure, with appropriate details from his jacket design to chrome faceplate. The only detail lacking is his unique pistol-holster back design. But I can let that go if it means I can pick up a minifig CC for less than a buck.