Part of me really enjoys reviewing the COBRA's more than the Sigma 6 figures, simply because with the good guys, you know a lot about what you're going to get. It's a safe assumption that the basic figure itself will be similar, and it's really with the unique touches and accessories that you have to focus your attention. With the COBRA's, though, there really isn't an overall unifying theme and the COBRA's designs can kind of be more elaborate and "seat of the pants". Storm Shadow had some nice oriental feel to his figure and looked pretty drastically different than any of the other Wave 1 figures that accompanied him, and for better or worse, the same thing can be said of the Ninja B.A.T. Even though the robot was not close to as successful as Storm Shadow, you could at least appreciate that the basic figure itself was remarkably different, and thus had some interesting elements.

The same can definitely be said of COBRA Commander, and I'm quite happy to report that he is 150% more successful than the Ninja B.A.T., and even well above the level of Storm Shadow. His accessory compliment isn't the largest for a Commando Asst. figure, but the overall toy itself looks incredible and has some fantastic play value, which is all you can really ask for...after all, really how much gear does COBRA Commander usually cart around with him? Not to mention the fact that even though he doesn't come with a lot of accessories, the ones he does come with make a lot of sense and are pretty darn cool to boot.

First of all, the figure design is very "Sigma 6-like" with his thin waist, and exaggerated animated features. A lot of people have complaints about this look, but throughout the first few waves I have really learned to love it more and more, and COBRA Commander is just even more pronounced, but he still blends with the other figures nicely and just looks twisted and evil, as he should.

Hasbro went with sort of a combination of the hooded look and the battle mask version of this COBRA Commander, and I think ultimately combines the two pretty darn well. The hooded head sculpt has the cloth draped realistically and the animated features look very effective, with the narrow, menacing eyes and nicely draped wrinkles. The hood is short and not very dramatic, but that works perfectly, since the last time Hasbro tried to really make a dynamically sculpted hood (back in Valor Vs. Venom Wave 7) the result was less than asthetically pleasing. This looks very nice. I also really like how the hood is a different shade of blue than the rest of the figure, and it actually kind of reminds me of the old Sunbow toon where CC's hood was a different shade of blue than the rest of his uniform.

The Commander's helmet slides easily over his head and wraps around perfectly, nicely guarding his hooded melon, but with a very cool, almost Egyptian helmet design coming around to protect the front. It leaves his eyes and the very front of his hooded face exposed, but the amount of real estate that it covers and protects still makes it effective and it ends up looking very, very cool, even if it is a little bit different.

The rest of the figure is sculpted wonderfully, too, with sleek, yet somewhat bulky body armor throughout the figure on his torso, arms, and legs. It's almost odd, because his upper legs, underneath the armor, it almost looks like the Sigma 6 uniform design, but that design is common enough so that it doesn't come across as looking to strange, and actually looks pretty cool. I really dig the way the armor is sculpted on the figure overall, with some nice bulky, exaggerated parts, but without losing any of the articulation or sleek styling. It's very, very effective. There's also a nice ornamental "loincloth" type thing which further gives an ancient Egyptian feel to the figure, but works really well.

Hasbro did feel the need to add some "play features" to the figure, and unfortunately, like the Ninja B.A.T., this feature does inhibit the figure's basic articulation, although not as dramatically as it does with the B.A.T. It's a "Battle Damage" chestplate in much the same vein as the He-Man/Skeletor figures back in the day, and honestly, it does kind of hurt the overall feel of the toy somewhat. First of all, the Commander loses the mid-torso joint that the other figures have, I would imagine, to accomodate the functionality of this feature inside his torso. Also, I find the rotating chest plate very hard to work with, and it can be a challenge simply to reset it to the proper COBRA symbol that I prefer. If there is a locking mechanism it doesn't work all that great, and it can take a few tries to get it back to what passes for "normal". This takes away some points from the figure, but ultimately that is a somewhat minor complaint in the grand scheme of things.

The overall colors of the figure work to near perfection as well. The different shades of dark blue with just the right red and gold accents really bring COBRA Commander to life and immediately make you think of the character he is supposed to represent. With the hood, the faceless battle helmet, the golden shoulder braids, you instantly get a COBRA Commander vibe, even in the Sigma 6 style.

The figure is just topped off to perfection by the large, crimson hued cape that drapes over his shoulders and hangs pretty low on the figure. It's a thin cloth, but is locked in tight in the shoulders (with glue, so it is not removable) and hangs pretty realistically. Cloth capes have a very mixed success rate on the 3 3/4" figures, but here at the larger scale it really looks nice and I love it because it's an effective cape, but does not affect the articulation or movement of the figure at all. It also has a nice large COBRA symbol on the back of it, which is a very cool feature.

I have already seen some complaints about the accessory compliment for COBRA Commander as well, but I gotta say, I disagree...I really think he comes with the perfect allotment of accessories, especially since the Commander isn't really known for toting that much stuff around.

First of all, the obvious...he comes with a great looking fangblade staff and nice COBRA shield. The shield is HUGE and whips out some nasty looking spikes, to make it a decent offensive weapon as well as a great defensive one. His staff is a little short, but it is very nicely detailed, and I dig the venom-like blades that extend from the snake's mouth. The tiny missiles slide in pretty smoothly and shoot out well. His knife is neat, too, although somewhat understated...but what really shines in his arsenal is his pistol and arm gauntlets. These componants are all pretty minor and nondescript, but are insanely effective. The arm gauntlets are so subtle that a lot of people didn't even notice them, but they clip on easily and the machine gun mounts are beautifully detailed and look great. The pistol is very easily concealed, but makes for an excellent somewhat futuristic weapon that still retains some nice realistic aspects and treads the line between authenticity and fantasy perfectly.

Altogether, this figure really represents the best of COBRA Commander. A dramatic, regal styling, with some over the top theatrics and a great assortment of snake motif weaponry. This guy looks like he'd fit in perfectly as COBRA's leader in any universe, and the figure looks fantastic. He is far and away the best COBRA figure released, and right up there amongst the best figures released period. Just an awesome toy, and I cannot recommend it enough.