Crimson Guard Commander (1993)
I’ve said it before, and I hate to sound like a broken record (oh, wow, I just totally dated myself there) but here’s a great mold that cries out for a modified color scheme. I should qualify that by pointing out that it just needs one of its colors changed. If that face plate and the other highlights were any other color but yellow, I think the CG Commander could have been as big a hit with collectors as the Headhunters, another excellent late line mold. Like that figure, it has a strong aesthetic that reminds me of earlier Cobras.
As far as its function within Cobra, the CG Commander is a blank slate, since the figure wasn’t featured in any media of the time. The file card presents it as an elite officer within the Guard, and like the rank and file CGs, is loyal strictly to Cobra Commander himself. I think it makes a nice squad level leader, much like the Cobra Officer of old. Then again, the moniker of Crimson Guard Commander was previously reserved for Tomax and Xamot, so the role of high level command could also fit. Like quite a few of the late line Cobras, the CG Commander is a trooper that can fill a number of uses in a collection.
I gotta look for one of these, it’s probably the most symmetrical figure in the entire 1993 line.
I never really cared for the chest. It always looked funny to me. I was going to say why, then I realized that I’m not really sure…
I think it’s the “TM” next to the sigil.
It’s a nice sculpt but I’ve always thought that this figure looked more like Cobra Commander than anyone else. I once thought up a backstory where one of the Twins was killed and the other secretly took up a nameless Crimson Guard Commander identity in order to take control of Cobra through their Elite Guard division. Ironically enough, IDW has recently taken the Twins in a similar direction.
ARGH!
😉
Yeah that TM symbol is absolutely hilarious. This figure is one of the reasons I collect the post 1990 figures very sparingly,
The Twins are savvy business people. Of course they would have had CC copyright and trademark the Cobra logo! 😉
wax cobra seal… open the letter!
holy shiznit, that IS actually a trademark TM on the chest plate.
that’s damn funny right there
There’s some Destro in this mold. Why does a CG commander have wrist rockets?
The helmet dome is more like a Viper than a CG.
Has a Cobra trademarked collector’s plate strapped to his chest.
You need only look to the immortal Outrider to see how changing the yellow to silver made this figure remarkably better. This guy was used in Brazil at the same time as the Headhunters. So, when Hasbro found those molds, this guy was likely there, too. But, no repaint. At least we got a Crimson Firefly. I’m sure happy to have him over a properly done CG Commander.
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