2000 Cobra Commander

There are, as of the end of 2019, 56 different versions of Cobra Commander that were released by Hasbro.  There's a handful of international versions, too.  In short, Cobra Commander is one of the most popular characters who is represented by action figures in the history of the Joe line.  (And, likely, any toy line.)  

Yes, I started writing this profile in 2019.  It's sat in drafts for 8 years.  In that time, I can't imagine how many more Cobra Commanders have been released.  Hasbro gave us two o-ring versions in 2022 and 2023.  The Super7 ReAction line had a ton.  Classified has produced countless Commander variants.  Factory Custom makers got into the Cobra Commander business and made at least 50 versions themselves.  The, the ReAction+ line has also fallen in love with the character and released an overabundance of Cobra Commander designs.  We're almost at a point where just a Cobra Commander collection would be an entire shelving unit of display space.  And, yet, we don't seem to tire of the character.

As the titular villain in the G.I.Joe saga, though, that makes sense.  You can't really have a story without the main bad guy.  So, always having a figure of him available is just good practice.  The fact that the character's main design happens to be pretty cool certainly helps.  The Commander is a classic mix of comic book super villain and military strongman.  He has a dressy uniform that's topped by the battle helmet or classic hood.  You need only look at him to know he's the bad guy.  And, for a kid's toy line, that visual reference was all that was needed to create an iconic image.

When Hasbro looked to bring the G.I. Joe line back to full retail in 2000, Cobra Commander was a mandatory member of the initial wave.  Unfortunately, back in 1997, Hasbro had learned that the near perfect 1983 Cobra Commander figure mold was no longer viable.  Back then, they scrambled and released the Battle Armor version to get the character into the Toys R Us exclusive line.  Wanting a more classic look for the Commander for a fuller retail launch, though, left Hasbro with few options.  The 1991 mold was enjoying a great life in India.  The 1987 had just been used.  This left Hasbro with just the Talking Battle Commander/1993 Cobra Commander mold.  But, that happens to be an amazing sculpt for the character that hearkens back to his original designs.  So, it became the mold of choice to represent the Commander at the retail relaunch.

Packed with a 1984 Baroness figure that was now named Chameleon, Cobra Commander was shipped 3 to a case in the first wave...making him very abundant.  Hasbro assumed that collectors would go ga-ga over the new Baroness while also appreciating the Cobra Commander.  And, they weren't really wrong.  While the two pack did back up at retail in late 2000 and was often the last pack available on the shelves, it was all gone from retail by early 2001.  Despite collector reticence at post 1990 molds, the community generally accepted the new version of the Commander.  The appreciated the color and found the mold good enough, especially when used among later figures.  

Where this figure shines is the paint applications.  The 2000 ARAHC releases featured paint masks that would come to be considered Convention quality.  Hasbro spent money to paint the figures up correctly.  And, that quality allows the figures to have more resonance, today.  Hasbro started skimping on retail paint applications in 2002.  But, figures released before that, like this Commander, retain many of the trappings of vintage Hasbro releases.  The body is cast in a Cobra blue and features silver and red highlights.  It's a definite improvement over the 1993 paint masks.  And it allows you to see all the sculpted details that Hasbro baked into the figure.  The result is a visual treat that looks like a vintage figure but has the coloring of a collector themed release.  You'll even see a great little detail where the Commander's neck is painted red.  A small, unnecessary touch that adds to much depth to the figure.  It could be argued that this is the best Cobra Commander figure Hasbro ever did...except for one horrible design choice.

The 1992 Talking Battle Commander figures all featured flat backs.  This was done to accommodate the screwed on, oversized sonic backpacks.  In 1993, though, Hasbro sculpted a proper back piece for the Cobra Commander so that he could be a standard carded figure.  For some reason, though, the 2000 figure features the flat, 1992 back instead of the proper 1993.  The result is that the figure is out of sorts with his contemporaries.  From the front, he's fine.  But, as soon as even a small portion of the back becomes visible, you realize that something is drastically amiss.  No explanation was ever given by Hasbro as to why this back was used in 2000 and continued to be used through the figure's final appearance in 2005.  At least the 2003 convention release and the 2005 Processional figures had capes to hide the mis-shapen piece.  But, it's a glaring miss on an otherwise impeccable figure that takes it from one of the best figures of the repaint era to just another figure that you can probably skip over.

The rest of the figure is solid.  There are some who don't like the shorter hood.  But, the later Comic Pack release showed that even a longer hood wasn't a guaranteed improvement.  But, the sculpting bears strong resemblance to the Cobra Commander's first appearance in the comic in 1982.  He's a dead ringer for the Cobra Commander who appears on the cover of G.I. Joe #100.  In short, he's about as iconic a look as you can get for Cobra Commander.  But, that kind of makes sense, given his 1992 release date.  1992 was a reboot year for Joe with many classic characters returning to the line.  Gung Ho, Wild Bill, Destro, Cutter and Spirit were just some examples of classic characters who were designed for a 1992 release and who got figures very true to their characters.  So, the Commander being among was Hasbro's way of keeping him as the main bad guy for a new generation of kids.

Cobra Commander's gear is terrible.  Really, really terrible.  All of the gear is recycled from the 1992 Talking Battle Commanders figure.  And, you can see what they were attempting to do back then.  The missile launcher has removable missiles and even features a blast shield (realism that could be missing from some Joe toys) to protect the shooter.  But, the practicality of the design is lost and the weapon doesn't really look good at a 3 3/4" scale toy level.  The other rifle is, again, too large.  It's a big, bulky weapon that is difficult for the figure to hold and looks out of place.  Were it scaled smaller or even included a stock, the weapon might have merit.  But, you really need a spare 1987 Cobra Commander pistol to make this figure work.  (The 1983 "hairdryer" accessory is really too small for this bulkier 1992 sculpt.)  I'm more lenient on poor gear for a figure like the Commander since he's not someone who's out on the front lines.  But, if a figure is going to include gear, at least make it something worthwhile.

The upside is that there is a nice amount of 2000's era Cobra Commander accessories to supplement this figure.  The classic hair-dryer gun was released with several different figures in the repaint era.  The 1987 Cobra Commander pistol also saw release in a nice silver color.  Both are good alternate accessories for this 2000 version.  And, if you want to hide the flat back (and, you do!), the cape from the 2005 Imperial Processional Cobra Commander works perfectly for this blue version, too.  With that gear, the figure really stands out and looks like the Commander should.

I see this figure as the logical placeholder/replacement for the 1984 Hooded Cobra Commander figure.  When I'm using figures that were released prior to 1986, the Hooded Cobra Commander is a perfect companion piece.  He's skinny, frail and in proportion to the figures of that era.  But, when I want to use figures from later in the line, it is this sculpt of the Commander that is my go-to.  The bulkier sculpt is more in line with later figures...but keeps the classic Commander look.  So, you can have a standard Cobra army, just using later figures.  It's a fun way to keep some consistency within Cobra and gives me a nice, alternate look for the faction.  I've long loved the 1993 Cobra Commander and have made a case that it's the best Cobra Commander figure.  If this 2000 figure had the proper back, though, he would be the undisputed king of the character's figures.  Even with the poor back piece, he's in the running for the best since he does photograph well.

This mold was used a lot.  The initial, flat back release occurred in 1992 with the Talking Battle Commanders.  In 1993, Hasbro fixed the back and gave a black version a full retail release.  It's one of the highlights of the 1993 line.  Sadly, the flat back returned in 2000 and remained with the figure's releases.  In 2003, a version of this Commander was released in the Convention set.  It's a solid figure.  And, it was given a cape to hide the poor back piece.  In 2004, the body mold was used in the first Comic Pack.  But, that figure got a new head.  The new head and 1992 body then appeared in the 2005 Imperial Processional pack and then again as a clear "holographic" figure in a DTC Comic Pack.  (There is an alternate Imperial Processional Cobra Commander, too.  It's extremely rare, though and wasn't ever really available from Asian sellers.  You'll see it in a Rarities post next June.)  That was the end of Hasbro releases.  However, in 2020 or so, Black Major resurrected the head for inclusion with his Worms figures.  The head made for some fun new takes on the Commander before being retired.  

This Cobra Commander is, simply put, not popular.  The figure was overpacked in Wave I of the ARAHC cases at 3 sets per case.  This lead to oversupply in 2000 that still manifests itself 20+ years later.  While Cobra Commander was discontinued after Wave I, the huge oversupply kept him available for a long time.  Even when the Baroness mold was hard to get, this figure remained cheap.  Today, loose mint and complete figures sell for a couple of bucks.  Dealers charge $5-$7 just because it's not worth their time to deal with them for any less.  You can get carded versions with Chameleon for $10 and even less if you are patient.  This is a pittance for two figures of the quality of this Cobra Commander and Chameleon.  This version does have limitations.  But, those are easy to forgive for a dollar or two.  

1994 Windchill - Random Photos of the Day

The last couple of years have been pretty good when it comes to getting pics of my Joes out in the snow.  While I'm not a huge fan of snow, in general, I will take it for getting some fun winter operations photos.  I've had occasion to really showcase the 1994 Windchill.  I only wish that my Blockbuster had fared as well as Windchill did in the years since I bought them at retail.  The Blockbuster's turned into a yellow mess: as you can see in the photos below.  But, Windchilll remains fun as ever.

To me, the 1994 Windchill was an all new figure.  I had stopped collecting by 1989 and wasn't really aware that the original Windchill figure even existed.  To this day, I consider this 1994 figure to be his definitive release.  Something about the green upper body spoke to me.  The contrast between the dark green and bleached white pants made him compelling.  And, he's remained one of my preferred arctic figures ever since.

You don't see this guy all that often.  Despite large amounts of overstock figures making their way into the collecting community and Windchill remaining a very cheap acquisition to this day, no one really uses him.  If you don't have a connection to him like I do, there's no real reason to dig him out.  But, I still find him fun and had a good time getting him out into the snow these past couple of years.

Feel free to share figures that are your personal obscurity in the comments.

1994 Shadow Ninja Night Creeper - Around The Web

I like the 1993 Night Creeper mold.  I think it's just a weird, fun look that translates well into a toy.  They are great foils for Ninja Force Joes and remain one of my preferred enemies in photos of '90's Joes.  The 1994 Shadow Ninja repaint is also a strong figure.  Sadly, it is made of extremely brittle plastic and is nearly impossible to use without breaking the thumbs.  In addition, the plastic discolors very easily and most of the loose figures you see have a yellow tinge to them that doesn't go away when you try to refresh the colors in ice water.

Because of this, it's tough to put together a nice army of the 1994 versions.  They've also kind of disappeared as the ubiquitous lots of cheap Shadow Ninjas that used to sit unsold on Ebay for a couple of bucks per figure are long gone.  The upside is that army building is somewhat passe, these days.  But, that doesn't sate my desire to have a few more of these Shadow Ninja Night Creepers as an alternate look for the character.

I do wish we'd gotten at least one more repaint of this mold.  The sculpt's proximity to the Flak Viper kind of makes me want one in 1992 Flak Viper colors.  I think that would be fun.  That will never happen.  And, even the resurgence of Ninja Force as a marketing focus for Hasbro and Super7 is unlikely to result in a solidly repainted version of this figure in 3 3/4" form.

So, enjoy some of the content on this figure that you can find around the web.  I found more on this guy than I have on more popular figures.  But, I dug pretty deep to find everything I could about this guy.  So, the results are more a function of effort than the figure's actual popularity.

1994 Shadow Ninja Night Creeper Profile

1994 Shadow Ninja Night Creeper Toys R Us Advertisement

1994 Shadow Ninja Night Creeper by thedustinmccoy

1994 Shadow Ninja Night Creeper by gen_liederkranz

1994 Shadow Ninja Night Creeper by nightforcetunnelrat

1994 Shadow Ninja Night Creeper at Mike's Collection

1994 Shadow Ninja Night Creeper by thedustinmccoy

1994 Shadow Ninja Night Creeper by tiffstasfigas

1994 Shadow Ninja Night Creeper by gen_liederkranz

1994 Shadow Ninja Night Creeper by viper_space

1994 Shadow Ninja Night Creeper by toy_haven_aka_patch

1994 Shadow Ninja Night Creeper by Gen _Liederkranz

1993 Eel - Around The Web

The 1985 Eel is one of the best figures in the history of the G.I. Joe line.  Because of this, his follow up design that was released in 1992 is often denigrated as it's so different from the classic look.  But, the 1992 figure is a strong design on its own.  The 1993 repaint is not really better or worse than the 1992.  It's missing a paint application and has very different weapons.  But, that allows it to be used either in conjunction with the 1992 figure or as a separate unit of Cobra's frogmen.

I like the purple 1993 version, though, just because it's not a figure you see all that often.  Despite that, I've been able to find some decent content featuring him.  He's never going to replace the 1985 Eel in collector's minds.  But, he can be a fun figure that really works well with his contemporaries.

I haven't done much with him for quite a while.  I need to get them out again this fall and get at least one more in action shot of these Eels either working with the Bugg or taking out some Joes.  They work really well in those contexts.  Until then, enjoy all the creators below:

1993 Eel Profile

1993 Eel by Relena_Warcraft

1993 Eel by thedustinmccoy

1993 Eel by gijoe_c4_panama

1993 Eel by thedustinmccoy

1993 Eel by Joerizzo2025

1993 Eel by yojoe_collectibles

1993 Eel by gijoe_c4_panama

1993 Eel by thedustinmccoy

1993 Eel by fun_time_at_serpentorslair

1993 Eel by thedustinmccoy

1991 Tracker

Tracker is one of those figures that you don't think to use all that often.  But, when you do dig him out, you find a figure who is way better than his color scheme would suggest.  Tracker was often mentioned as one of the 1990's figures who most needed a repaint.  In recent years, though, collectors have warmed to the original figure.  And, he's become a relatively expensive addition to a collection.  I've had the figure since the late 1990's.  And, really, haven't used him as much as I should have.  But, in the last 10 years, I've found him a fun subject for photos.  He can be outfitted with a variety of non-traditional gear that makes him far more interesting than many of his contemporaries.

But, if you're going to be objective about the Tracker mold, it has some warts.  The red and yellow color scheme is the most glaring issue.  But, his sculpt has some limitations.  His weird moon-boots are the most glaring problem and are difficult to unsee once they've been pointed out.  The fact that he's wearing white popcorn shinguards doesn't help the overall appearance of his lower legs.  These are the most glaring issues and can call the whole figure into question.  After them, though, the figure improves substantially.

The rest of Tracker's body sculpting is very strong.  It's not too big and features tremendous details hidden throughout the various parts.  He has one of the better sculpted heads of his era, too.  It's both distinctive and non-descript at the same time.  This allows you to use it for customs.  But, also makes it distinctly Tracker's.  It's a weird trick to pull off.  But, Hasbro managed to do it a lot in 1990 and 1991. It sits perfectly on his chest.  Tracker has a lot of blank space on his torso.  But, it works.  Sometimes, less is more and Hasbro was a master at making a figure with the just right amount of detailing. 

Tracker's calling card is his gear.  Like many figures from the 1990/1991 timeframe, he includes a massive amount of accessories.  The hallmark piece is the rubber raft.  Instead of being molded plastic like the Night Landing or the 1989 Stalker's kayak, Tracker's raft has an air tube and is inflatable.  I've never had one that was really able to hold the air for very long.  Usually, the stopper pops out and the thing deflates.  But, the idea of the raft was strong and it's a fun inclusion.  To go with the raft, Tracker includes two orange oars.  They are difficult for him to hold in realistic positions.  But, they look great.  He was one of the earlier figures to include a battle stand, too.  He also has a weird visor that he wears.  It's black and works well with the figure.  But, I'm not really sure of it's real purpose.  It's one of those bizarre accessories that works, even though you're not really sure how it would function in the real world.

Tracker was also the origination of the MP-5 inspired rifle that would become ubiquitous with 1993 and 1994 figures.  I've written about how it's one  of my favorite accessories in the line.  I have a goal to be able to give a version of it to every single 1993 figure release.  (It's not a serious goal.  Though, I'm closer than I thought I would be.)  It works perfectly with Tracker, even though it's orange.  Since it's so available in black, though, it's easy to outfit Tracker with a differently colored version to give him a little, subtle difference from the real release.  Back in the late 1990's, this rifle was the only real reason anyone paid attention to Tracker.  But, it was enough to get collectors to come around on his sculpt and ask for a repaint.

Another fun aspect of Tracker, is that he works with a plethora of accessories form other 1990-1992 figures.  Helmets, hats, backpacks, airmasks and other gear all fits on him much more seamlessly than it tends to on most figures.  If you scour the photos on this site, you'll find Tracker with a variety of accessories from other figures.  You'll even seen my favorite alternate, the 1991 Eco Warrior Flint helmet, posed on the the figure in one of the photos below.  It's one of those little things that makes Tracker fun for me.  You can configure him in different ways for different purposes.  And, that versatility helps to offset any limitations caused by the maroon and yellow.

Tracker was criminally underused.  The 1991 figure just saw a single year of production.  From there, Tracker was supposed to go to the Brazil.  He appeared in a Brazilian catalog and his art even appeared on Brazilian cardbacks.  But, Correnteza was never actually released.  Tracker did make his way to India, though.  There, Funskool started releasing him around 1999 or 2000.  The figure is similar to the Hasbro version.  He has a yellow or red accessory variant on his gun and paddles.  The Funskool figure's visor is blue.  His raft is, too.  Despite the fact that the Funskool version was available from U.S. based dealers for years, he's gotten expensive.  

In 2003, Hasbro got the mold back and promptly released it in the 2004 Toys R Us exclusive Night Force set.  This character was originally planned as a Tracker release in a nice palette of green and white.  But, Hasbro changed him to Action Man and released an orange vested figure with black pants.  It's a nice figure.  But, it's not a great Tracker.  Fortunately, the actual Night Force Tracker figure was available from Asia for a bit.  He's gotten scarce these days.  We never got a full retail release of a nice Tracker repaint.  It's an unfortunate result for a mold with more potential that was unrealized.

Trackers are stupidly expensive.  Dealers will try to convince you that a mint and complete version is a $60 figure.  But, those don't sell.  You will see some dealer stock move at $50.  But, left to his own devices, Tracker is a $30-$40 figure.  The bulk of the value seems to be in his visor, though.  You can get figures with a rifle and paddle for about $15.  The raft will run another $5 or so.  It's tough to find a visor without the rest of the figure, too.  But, mint and complete Trackers aren't all that rare.  They're just still commanding a premium these days.