2022 Cobra Officer

We were introduced to these new Cobra Officers in late February of 2022.  Four months and change later, the figures are now showing up in mailboxes all over North America.  The general sentiment on the figures is that they're good enough.  They are solid homages with good paint, proper colors and hands that don't turn to dust when you affix a weapon to them.  Beyond the softer plastic, though, they don't offer anything that we haven't had for the past 39 years.  But, in terms of the basic blue Cobra army builders, that's OK.  The originals are fragile and prone to discoloration.  So, having a chance at some new figures in brilliant, out the package blue is a fantastic opportunity.  In the past 12 years, we've had tons of factory custom Cobra Troopers.  So, this new Cobra Officer is more interesting to me since he's not a figure that's ever played a serious role in my collection and there hasn't been a solid influx of high quality Officers since Hasbro Canada in 1999.

For me, though, the Officer isn't a figure that has a huge childhood connection.  While we had one, he never got much use.  It was the Cobra Trooper who was the faceless legion of Cobra cannon fodder.  And, for many years, I just considered the two figures to be interchangeable.  As I moved towards being a collector, I managed to get a perfect Cobra Officer early in my acquisition phase.  With him in hand, I never really sought out too many more.  I'd take then when they came with a large lot.  But, usually, the figures featured broken thumbs, broken crotches or, most often, damaged silver Cobra sigils.  As we know from the Viper Pilot and Hiss Driver, silver Cobra logos in the vintage line were notoriously difficult to keep mint.  Just storing a silver logo figure loose with other figures could seriously damage it.  So, when it was time to downsize, all my Officers sans the perfect one were let go.  I kept most of my Cobra Troopers as I prefer that mold.  And, the Officer fell to the wayside once again.

With this new release, I'm still unsure of the impact this new Officer will have on my collection.  It's amazing to see the bright, vibrant Cobra blue on the figure.  The paint masks are crisp.  And, the silver logo is factory fresh.  I'll have to store this figure in such a way that the logo stays that way, though!  So, it's possible that you might see the Officer more and more.  As I don't have to worry about broken thumbs, it opens up a realm of posability options that I don't have with my vintage figure.  

The Cobra Officer does have a major flaw.  For some reason, the pegs behind his knee are too large.  This means that the Officer can not bend his knees at right angles like we are accustomed to all Joe figures being able to do.  It's a pretty major design flaw.  You can fix it with a bit of shaving the plastic.  You'll remember the 2006 Viper Pit having a lot of problems with molded pieces not fitting correctly and requiring post acquisition fixes.  Those figures, though, cost less than $3.50 each at retail.  I paid $21 for this Cobra Officer.  And, for a premium price, I do want to see premium quality.  And, this one issue is enough to make this figure seem vastly overpriced.  I expect to see it corrected on the Stinger Driver that will be released later this year.  

The other oddity is the box art.  The artist swapped the weapons with the Trooper and Officer.  So, the silver logo-ed Officer is carrying the Dragunov sniper rifle instead of his iconic AK-47.  While it might make sense to make this switch, it's not carried over to the figures.  So, we now have the Snake Eyes/Stormshadow box art that features the 1985 Snake Eyes look while the figure is based on the 1982 and we have these swapped rifles on the Trooper/Officer.  It's a small thing.  And, I HATE all the extra cardboard involved in getting these figures shipped to my home and into my collection.  But, for a line that's squarely aimed at adult collectors, getting little things like that right helps solidify that the people behind the line take it seriously.

This two figure set also included a bundle of extra weapons in addition to the rifles that are individually carded with the figures.  These are welcome additions to help grow an arsenal, especially as vintage accessories now command exorbitant prices.  There are two bundles packed in the extra box section below the main box.  (There's a lot of boxes if you order this set.)  One includes a mortar, mortar bi-pod, bazooka and figure stand.  The other includes an M-16, M-32, Rock and Roll's M-60 and bi-pod, a figure stand and a new weapon that's the Officer's AK-47 but with the stock and barrel cut off.  It looks like a broken accessory and I'd have much preferred another full AK.  The bazooka is also missing the sight.  Again, this makes it look broken since so many bazookas left on the market have the sight broken off.  The interesting thing about this gear complement, though, is that each weapon was included with either a Trooper or Officer at some point or place during the 1980's.  The J.C. Penney 3 pack included a bazooka and mortar with the Trooper and Officer.  The M-32 was included with the Estrela Cobra Officer from Brazil.  The M-60 and M-16 was packaged with the Cobra Soldado in Brazil.  

We know of one coming repaint of this mold already: the upcoming Stinger Driver.  Maybe, there will be more.  I'd love a Crimson Stinger with a red driver.  But, honestly, the Officer mold isn't as tired out as the Trooper mold and still has some possibilities for repaints.  Just a red masked Cobra Officer would be enough to get me to buy a few more.  And, if we'd see a multi-colored army building pack, I'd get behind that.  My dream, of course, would be to finally see a real Scarface figure.  I'd love a set of him and Dr. Venom.  My only hope for that lies in the fact that Hasbro has made "retro" figures for Star Wars that are compatible with vintage Kenner figures.  The Joe line needs something new to accompany the homages that we're getting.  Otherwise, it's going to be the ARAHC or Comic Packs all over again.

Oddly, the Cobra Trooper/Officer set hasn't sold out.  So, you can buy it for $41.99 right now.  At $21 per figure, it's a tough pill to army build.  But, you can not get any high quality Cobra Officers with the silver logo anywhere near that these days.  So, if the Officer is a figure you care about, you can snag them from Hasbro.  I'd love an option to get some extra figures in baggies for a cheaper price so that army building is feasible.  But, right now, Hasbro seems content to focus on the younger collectors who really want boxed and carded toys instead of loose items for display.  I don't see that changing much.  Maybe we'll get an army builder set like they do for Star Wars.  But, those don't break down to under retail despite the packaging savings.  So, we're going to pay for new troops regardless of their sales strategy.  But, this Officer is an excellent replacement/upgrade for the vintage figure.  It's probably superior just due to the softer plastic.  So, I do recommend picking one up.