Sky Patrol Steel Brigade - Red Laser Army

I'm not a great fan of the Steel Brigade.  But, every now and then, a repaint of a bad figure or bad idea comes along that redeems the figure or character in my eyes.  In 2017, this occurred with a Red Laser Army release of the Steel Brigade done in up in a combo of silverish grey and blue.  This "Sky Patrol" version of the anonymous Joe army builder was a new look for the character and created a striking color contrast that really worked with the mold.  The colors matched up well enough with vintage Sky Patrol figures and created a great little subset of figures with which a Sky Patrol army could be built.  While this figure hasn't removed the stigma of Steel Brigade in general, it has allowed me an opportunity to enjoy the mold more so than I have with most other repaints.

Sky Patrol has also long been a concept to which I've been cool.  Even during my heyday of buying Joes, I only ever got a couple of the figures.  Now, I have just two of them.  It was never a subset that really clicked for me.  And, I'm not a big fan of the Steel Brigade, either.  Yet, together, the concepts mesh extremely well.  The idea of support troops for a unit that I kind of see as ancillary to G.I. Joe rather than integrated within it works for me.  

Somehow, the Steel Brigade mold ended up being released by both Black Major and Red Laser.  Each made different color schemes.  So, that created a wide variety for the character.  In very short order, there were desert, arctic, black, blue and even Action Force Steel Brigade figures released.  The plethora of army building options allowed collectors to fill out their Steel Brigade armies.  Some were great repaints.  Others were just OK.  Personally, I found this blue and silver version to be the most compelling.  The colors aren't often seen in the Joe line.  And, the Sky Patrol figures that debuted the color scheme no longer call my collection home.  So, the colors were even more unique to me.

When I first saw this Sky Patrol rendition of the Steel Brigade, my first thought was that they'd make a solid crew for the Tomahawk.  The blue and silver shouldn't work with the brown helicopter.  But, that was my main thought about usage for the figures.  I suspect that the connection was just a manifestation of my desire to use the Tomahawk more.  But, with the figures in hand, I still didn't do anything with the Tomahawk.  Even today, I have yet to put it together, again.  I will do it at some point.  And, then, I'll finally take photos of the iconic chopper with their crew.  Until then, I often look at these Steel Brigade figures with grandiose ideas in my head.  And, I then utterly fail to properly showcase how cool the figures are in any attempt at photos.  

Sadly, these Steel Brigade figures suffer from a design flaw.  The hands are extremely small.  So small that they won't really hold the rifles without either modifying the rifle or modifying the hands.  Both are bad options.  And, it really limits these figures since it's very difficult to get them to hold their weapons without risking thumb breakage.  Aside from that, though, the quality is very good.  The plastic is different from vintage and repaint era Hasbro plastic.  So, you'll notice it once in hand.  But, the joints are tight and the paint masks are crisp.  So, the these Steel Brigades work well in a collection.

The figures included a nice complement of accessories.  The coolest piece was the silver backpack.  It is a cool color that works perfectly with the figure.  He also includes a small pistol and knife.  I'm not 100% sure of the origin of these sculpts.  They are Joe-adjacent and not reproductions of vintage Joe gear.  The coup de gras, though, was the inclusion of a black Steel Brigade rifle.  This rifle was highly desired outside of the baby blue in which it debuted with Recoil back in 1989.  And, for the first decade of online Joe collecting, it was acquirable.  But, that had changed by 2017.  So, being able to acquire large quantities of properly colored versions of the weapon was the real value in the figure.  As the very common version "D" Steel Brigade was my entry point to the character, I only consider the Recoil weapon as the viable weapon for any Steel Brigades.  So, it's great to have it included with this version.

In the late 2010's, Black Major produced a dozen or so repaints of the Steel Brigade.  Simultaneously, Red Laser Army released another 1/2 dozen, give or take, repaints of the mold.  Black Major's figures included an alternate, Airborne torso to help differentiate your armies.  The Red Laser figures, though, did not.  Black Major's figures also included an Airborne rifle while Red Laser Army included a more modernly sculpted pistol that didn't fit into the figure's hands.  Between the two factions, there were more than enough Steel Brigades to go around.  But, after the initial runs were completed, the molds disappeared from both sellers.  In 2023, Black Major brought the Steel Brigades back with a newly updated mold.  Again, many new repaints were produced.  The Airborne torso was gone.  But, the new figures filled in gaps that had been missing for nearly 40 years.  

Sadly, Sky Patrol Steel Brigade figures have pretty much dried up.  You could buy lots of three figures for $12 each for a long time.  But, those days are gone.  And, all of the Red Laser Steel Brigade flavors have gotten much harder to find.  You can expect to pay in excess of $30 for one of the figures these days.  The popularity of Steel Brigade in general, the high quality of this figure and the usefulness of this specialty within the Steel Brigade ranks all add up to a desirable acquisition for newer collectors.  It's really amazing to me how much the Joe world changed between 2017 and 2020.  That short span fundamentally altered the landscape of collecting from an affordable past time to a speculative collectible with a high cost of entry.  It's too bad.  Because, figures like this Steel Brigade were designed to be an affordable way to build the army you always wanted as a kid.  Now, they're single purchases that get tucked away in drawers or boxes and check off a box on a spreadsheet.  It's fun to recall these days of Red Laser Army as they speak to a simpler time in the collecting world.  I think this figure represents the innocence of that era and the potential that still existed in the line.

 

2000 Firefly - Around The Web

This was an emergency replacement of another post.  That one will go up in two weeks.  I searched for an antithesis to that, planned figure post and came up with this 2000 Firefly.  It's a classic mold done up in very traditional (though, not Cobra) colors.  In general, it's a strong version of Firefly.  In the fall of 2000, you could make the case it was the best Firefly.  Or, at least on par with the vintage version since it had all the cool accessories along with softer plastic hands.  But, no collector of that era actually made that argument.  The two main reasons were the paint wipes and the altered face mask.  For me, it was the ungloved hands that superseded the mask changes.  But, I was in the minority on that point.  

Fun fact: no two versions of this Firefly are the same.  The marbelized plastic that debuted in 2000 ensured that every figure had slight nuances.  And, you can even find major changes where a figure may have a brown head, green head or a balance of the two.  The same is true of the rest of the mold.  If you like the green, you can find a figure that features a lot of it.  The brown is similar.  If you're really ambitious, you could kitbash a nearly all green or all brown figure from a plethora of figures.  But, no one's really done that.

This Firefly is among the most used ARAHC figures from 2000 and 2001.  Since he's Firefly, you see him more often than other characters.  The colors and gear work to make a figure that fits into scenes just like the original, grey figure.  But, is also a better match for outdoor shots among the plants and trees.  So, check out the content below and let the creators know you stopped by.

2000 Firefly Profile

2000 Firefly by fosilru

2000 Firefly by themexicangriswolds

2000 Firefly  by Yo Valley Joe

2000 Firefly by instachampa

2000 Firefly by thedustinmccoy

2000 Firefly by thebackyardcommando

2000 Firefly by R.T.G.

2000 Firefly by thedustinmccoy

2000 Firefly by thebackyardcommando

2000 Firefly by toy_haven_aka_patch

2000 Firefly by mikesjoetography

2000 Firefly by strikeforce_codename

My Least Favorite Accessories

The Joe line is nothing but a string of classic, amazing toys.  There isn't a year of the vintage line that doesn't have a treasure or two.  And, frankly, the same is true of the repaint era.  But, mingled among the awesomeness of the designs are some duds.  And, they start from very early on.  So, this time around, I'll be looking at my least favorite accessories from the Joe line.  To be fair, I'm going to limit some of the JvC era weapons and gear.  Because, that time frame did get a lot wrong.  And, you'll see that some of my dislike of vintage weapons was reinforced and even augmented by those weapons overuse in the 2000's.  

1984 Baroness Rifle

So, I've disliked the Baroness' rifle since 1984.  When my younger brother got her in the early part of that year at a Value City Department store (I got Firefly!), I didn't know much about the character.  But, they had three new figures and he chose the Baroness over Roadlock.  (My youngest brother got Roadblock.)  When we got the figures home, Firefly's amazing gear amplified one of the best figures in the line.  Roadblock's gear was an amazing feat of engineering that magnified an otherwise mundane figure into an all time classic.  And Baroness' gear...well...it sucked.  Her overly large rifle simply didn't work.  And, it was just that it wouldn't fit with the slightly smaller female form used for the Baroness.  It didn't fit any other figure, either.  From the small handle to the oversized stock, the gun was simply not one that worked well with any figure.  And, when you contrast this to how amazing the rifle looked on the Baroness cart art, it was impossible to reconcile the differences.  What should have been awesome was just worthless in actual plastic form.  And, when the comparisons that circumstances dictated would be against Firefly and Roadblock gear: Baroness' rifle simply stood no chance.

As her gun wasn't up to snuff, the Baroness figure fell to a similar fate in my collection.  Back in the mid 1980's, it wasn't common to have extra accessories lying around.  So, it wasn't like I could give the figure a spare Destro pistol.  Battle Gear did help this...to a point.  But, I never liked the pairing of the blue pistols from the 1984 Battle Gear set with the all black Baroness figure.  Plus, since her rifle stretched out her hands, she couldn't even hold the Destro pistol.  So, the Baroness became an afterthought.

Fast forward to the repaint era.  The first two uses of the Baroness mold included her classic weapon.  And, I'm OK with this.  While the rifle sucks, it was iconic to the Baroness.  So, including it with her wasn't terrible.  The softer plastic of the 1997 and later figures also allowed the figures to better hold the weapon.  So, it had a slight redemption arc.  But, then, inexplicably, Hasbro fell in love with the rifle and started including it with many other figures.  The worst example of this was the Viper figures in Waves 1.5, 2 and 7.75.  People army built these Vipers en masse.  And, they were stuck with terrible, terrible weapons that didn't really work with the figure and weren't even close approximations of the Viper's classic weapon's look.  

And, I ended up with dozens of rifles that were useless.  When you take something you dislike and circumstances dictate you acquire an absurd, additional among of that something...well...that dislike to turns to spite and then outright hatred.  So, there's no salvation for the Baroness' rifle.  It's going to hold my least liked accessory spot until the bitter, bitter end.

1982 Grunt M-16

What!  Yes, I know this is an affront to the very essence of the Joe line.  But, I've never been overly fond of the original M-16 that came with Grunt.  From the beginning, it was a thumb breaker with a thick, round handle and a short, fat stock.  It was, easily, my least favorite accessory from the original 13 figures.  And, time hasn't been kind to it at all.  

My biggest example of why Grunt's gun sucks is that in 1985, Hasbro made a far better M-16 that was included with Footloose.  This weapon was everything the original rifle was not.  And, it forever rendered Grunt's weapon obsolete.  Grunt's M-16 can really only be used by 1982 and 1983 figures.  Anything released after that is just out of scale for the accessory.  If you think about the timeframe, the M-16 should have been the de facto standard for all G.I. Joe figures.  Instead, this role fell to Snow Job's XMLR.  The original M-16 just didn't work well with figures.  Grunt gets a bit of pass since it was his.  But, when you realize how good all the original figures look with Stalker's M-32, the limitations of the M-16 become even more apparent.  I've never gone out of my way to pick up spare copies of this accessory like I have for every other weapon released with the original 13 figures.  It just isn't something I find value in.

1988 Voltar's gun:

I very much dislike this weapon.  It's not the gold color.  Instead, it's just the overall design.  And, the fact that it can't decide if it's a pistol or a rifle.  In general, I'm not a fan of larger weapons that lack stocks.  They are hard for the figures to hold.  And, they always pose awkwardly.  As a kid, I wanted to like Voltar's weapon because it was new.  But, as I was older and out of Joes when my brother brought it home, my critical eye was more fine tuned.  And, the weapon never clicked with me.

In the 1990's, the weapon found tons of reuse on various weapon trees.  It was always a disappointment to get a cool, new figure and find out one of his weapons was from Voltar.  In fact, I have quite a few trees (or, I did, until the dog ate them!!!) where the Voltar weapon was still attached even after I had removed all the other accessories.  I simply didn't care for the weapon and would rather have old, beat up figures with no weapons than take the time to give them the spare Voltar weapons that I had on the trees.  I loathe the weapon to this day and don't use it with any of the 1990's army builders who included it among their gear complement.  It always looks weird and detracts from any figure holding it.

1991 Grunt Rifle

Hmmm, Grunt appears twice in this list.  I wonder if there's something there in my subconscious about the character.  Or, if Hasbro just misfired on his various weapons.  It's probably not Grunt, though.  As, my introduction to this weapon was on the 1993 and 1994 weapon trees that I tracked down in the mid 1990's.  At the time, I loved the "new" weapons that I found on these trees.  Having missed most of the 1988-1992 Joes, all of his gear seemed like it was newly designed for the figures with which it was included.  There were so many good weapons.  But, this overly large weapon that had debuted with the 1991 Grunt was not one of them.  It was too large, difficult for figures to hold in cool ways and just a blocky, uninteresting design.  I loved having overly powered weapons during this time.  But, I could never reconcile this Grunt gun.  And, it seemed like every 1993 figure I bought included it.  So, I had a ton of them and couldn't use them.

This weapon's appearance also made me realize that one of the reasons why I had this weapon and Voltar's weapon so much was because they were so ubiquitous in my mid 1990's purchases.  At the time, the extra weapons from the trees were appreciated because I had a shoebox of dingy figures who lacked accessories.  The trees solved for that.  But, when I got duds like this Grunt rifle, it was a wasted slot and my older beaters couldn't be weaponized for use against my new acquisitions.

2003 Chief Torpedo Rifle

Be honest...you had no idea what rifle was even included with this figure until you went to the photos below.  And, in full transparency, I'm not 100% sure if the weapon actually debuted with this Torpedo figure.  I didn't want to expend the energy to be certain.  It was included with a ton of  figures in the 2000's and is available in a multitude of colors  Regardless, I despise this weapon.  The reasons, though, are more nuanced.

At its core, this weapon, actually, isn't bad.  The detailing is amazing.  The scale is right on: even for vintage figures.  It's a rifle/grenade launcher combo without being too overt.  In short, it should be great.  And, that's what makes it so maddening.  This was one of Hasbro's best efforts on newly designed weapons through 2003.  But, it had a fatal flaw that rendered it useless.  It didn't have a stock that allowed for a figure to actually hold it.  So, every time you want to use it, it flops around in the figure's hands.  And, the end result is just a ridiculous looking pose where the weapons is about to fall to the ground.

So, you got this amazingly sculpted, new weapon that was included with a ton of figures, but had no practical uses at all.  To this day, I cringe when I see this weapon  being used with figures.  It just looks so out of place.  I look back at that era and wonder what might have been.  Imagine the Neo-Viper's AK-47(ish) rifle, but with the level of sculpting and detail you see on this Chief Torpedo gun.  It might have competed for the best accessory in the line.  But, that wasn't meant to be.  There are some decent accessories from the JvC era.  But, this wasn't one of them.

Honorable Mentions:

1985 Tomax and Xamot pistol

The 2000's lead me to despise this weapon.  The pistol is comically large, doesn't look good with most figures and is out of scale for the figures with which it was always included.  But, you know who it does work perfectly with?  Tomax and Xamot.  As a kid, I loved this weapon for them.  I would only use it with them and they would only use  it.  To this day, Tomax and Xamot occupy a place in my display case: both with raised pistols to show them off.  So, you can't really have the Crimson Twins without the pistol.  And, I love it for them.  But, I HATE it for any other figure.

1990 SAW Viper Rifle

We now know that Hasbro screwed up the scale on this weapon.  And, it was not intended to be as large as it was.  It's still terrible.  And, there's really no redeeming it.  But, at least it was a production screw up instead of an intentional design.  Again, though, this weapon is made worse by the differences between it and the portrayal of the SAW Viper in various media.  In the comic, the SAW Viper loomed large for about a year.  He was always drawn  with more realistic weapons that made him look like a bad ass.  While the figure doesn't quite live up the comic image, either, the weapon included with the figure is a colossal  letdown.  Even in a smaller scale, it just  didn't live up to the visuals from the comic.  Fortunately, much better machine guns did come out, later.  So, if you can find some of those, they are a drastic improvement for the SAW Viper.

2004 Comic Pack Hawk Pistol

If you look at my list of favorite accessories, you'll see it's dominated by smaller pistols.  There was something about the delicate nature of such a small piece that captivated me.  In the 2000's, Hasbro introduced working holsters to the Joe line.  It was a concept I'd wanted since I was a kid.  Some of them worked great.  Others...didn't.  But, Hasbro did make a nice armory of new pistols.  Sadly, though, this 2004 version didn't work out so well.  It looks great.  But, the handle is just too big for figure's to use.  It will break vintage thumbs and stretch out repaint era figures.  The worst thing about it, though, is its legacy.  This pistol lead to factory custom makers using similar designs.  Instead of redoing something cool like the 1986 Hawk or 1987 Chuckles pistol, they reused large handled designs from the 2000's.  And, none of them can be used with the figures.  I have a bin full of these pistols that will either snap the thumb or simple not go into the hands of factory customs.  The weapons look good when they're lying around.  But, they are useless.

Before the end of the year, I'll wrap my favorite accessories.  The last entry includes some doozies.  In the meantime, let me know what weapons you hated.  You know you have them.  So, vent away.

2005 Heavy Assault Squad Snake Eyes - Around The Web

The HAS set has largely disappeared from the collecting conscience.  Part of that is just due to the late release date and collector malaise at the time.  That left the set as a clearanced out dud.  Few collectors bothered to stockpile extras...even at closeout prices.  So, today, few people have the figures from the set.  And, it's kind of pain to find loose samples when you're out and about.  Despite the set being one of Hasbro's worst efforts, the reality is that Snake Eyes and Roadblock are pretty good figures.  It might be blasphemous to suggest that this is the best paint job on the 1991 Snake Eyes mold.  But, I'll argue that point.

I often use the figure just because he's so obscure.  But, he's also solid and tends to get people talking a bit about him.  There isn't a lot of content on him out there, though.  Even back in 2005, few people bother to really review the entire HAS set because the Joe world was so dead after the "Hiatus" announcement.  So, check out what little I could find on the figure and enjoy one of those weird "end of the line" oddities who's a surprisingly quality release.

2005 HAS Snake Eyes Profile

2005 HAS Snake Eyes by General Liederkranz

2005 HAS Snake Eyes by corpscommandercody

2005 HAS Snake Eyes by Gen_Liederkranz

2005 HAS Set at Joe Battle Lines.com

2005 HAS Snake Eyes by Gen_Liederkranz

2005 HAS Snake Eyes by twindigtoys

2005 HAS Snake Eyes by Gen_Liederkranz

2005 HAS Snake Eyes by Outrider

2022 Cobra Commander

In 1997, Hasbro planned to release a newly colored Cobra Commander figure.  The release was going to use the classic 1983 mold and color it a deep, dark Cobra blue and give it golden highlights.  It was both an homage to the Hooded Cobra Commander coloring and also a needed repaint of a figure that, really, didn't get a lot of use.  The Cobra Commander mold had been used for Chinese releases as recently as 1994.  Other figures in that series would later appear.  But, for some reason, Hasbro could either not locate the original Cobra Commander mold or it was damaged and unusable.  Regardless, the 1997 release of the character used the 1987 mold.  Then, for the next decade, Hasbro released the Cobra Commander character a multitude of times.  But, it was never in his classic 1983 look.  While Hasbro remade figures like Mutt, Lady Jaye and Scrap Iron, they never bothered to make a new 1983 Cobra Commander mold.  

The reasons for this are likely just tied to money.  Hasbro would sell 20,000 sets of 6 figures to Toys R Us if the Cobra Commander was an expensive, remade 1983 figure or if it was an easily accessible repaint of the 1992 Talking Battle Commanders mold.  So, they had no incentive to really revisit the original Cobra Commander mold.  I don't agree with the premise.  But, at least there's some business reasoning behind it.  Leaving one of the most iconic molds in the Joe line's history, though, did seem like a misstep.  But, the helmeted look was parroted in both the JvC era figures and the Anniversary style releases.

When Factory Customs became a thing in the late 2000's, the focus was on army builders.  But, one of the earliest figures made was a re-do of the 1983 Snake Eyes.  This figure was repainted into a variety of colors: almost exclusively as Cobra characters.  This release proved there was a market for underserved characters, even if they used molds that Hasbro had repainted nearly a dozen times.  So, the quiet calls for the classic Cobra Commander to return began.  But, the Joe market slimmed in the early 2010's and only a handful of new factory custom molds really appeared.  Around 2016 or so, Red Laser Army joined Black Major as a second factory custom faction.  RLA was heavily character focused and was glad to create obscure characters and figures for their library.  With RLA producing a couple of dozen figures per year, the calls for Cobra Commander to return grew louder.  But, again, they were simply not to be.

As 2021 ended, Hasbro debuted the Skystriker as a Haslab.  After a few slow weeks of sales, Hasbro tossed in a Cobra three pack of figures. Among them was, finally!, a 1983 Cobra Commander figure.  The Haslab figure was going to feature the poorer, but collector loved Mickey Mouse logo.  But, the appearance of the mold in this set all but guaranteed that we would see a wide release Cobra Commander in 2022.  And, in the late summer of that year, Hasbro delivered a carded Cobra Commander figure.  With it, Hasbro produced a toy that is very much the definitive figure for the character.

The original 1983 Cobra Commander figure is extremely well done.  However, as they head into their fifth decade of existence, the original figures have become overly brittle and tend to discolor with even a hint of heat or light exposure that occurred during their lifetimes.  So, premium Cobra Commander figures demand premium prices.  And, even if dropping over $100 isn't a concern for you, the reality is that the purchase is still going to be fragile and not something you're going to want to take out into the garden for some photos all that often.  Enter this 2022 version.  It's everything the 1983 figure is, plus a little more.  It is fresh and bright.  And, his thumbs are flexible and aren't going to snap with slight pressure.

The aesthetic of the figure is nearly identical to the 1983 original.  The bright blue is in line with the vintage color.  And, he features black and red highlights that offset the silver facemask.  The Pulse figure, though, also adds in some white details.  There is a white patch on his head.  And, his waist detailing is also white.  It's a small add.  But, it brings a ton of new color to this mold.  In comparison, the 1983 now looks a little basic as it lacks the coloring to really stand out.  It's a nice differentiation between the two figures.  It's different enough to matter.  But, it's similar enough that the figures are completely interchangeable.  And, for a modern remake, that works.  Had we gotten a dozen 1983 Cobra Commander figures released between 1997 and 2005, I'd be more critical of one that's such a close homage.  But, really, a new Cobra Commander to replace the original was badly needed.  And, Hasbro delivered upon that quite well.

This Cobra Commander is odd in that he is not carded with his classic "hair dryer" gun that appears on his card art.  Instead, he is given a new rifle that is based on a cartoon  design.  It's actually pretty nice.  Personally, I don't see it as a fit for Cobra Commander.  But, it does look excellent with the Baroness.  But, collectors were not to worry as the iconic weapon was still included in the total package.  All the Pulse releases included a tissue paper bundle of additional accessories with every 2 figure set.  And, for Cobra Commander, the extra gear was a wealth of amazing additions to the Joe line.  Sure, he got his classic pistol.  But, there were also 2 other pistols based on cartoon designs.  It also included Cobra branded binoculars, 2 computer pads that are detonators and timers and a golden Cobra staff.  Finally, the Commander features an abundance of gear that was worthy of and sensical to the character.  Best of all, none of it will snap his thumbs.

As this figure is a recent release, it's not really something that has tons of memories associated with it.  Sadly, missing out on this mold during the heyday of the repaint era prevented it from really mattering in my collection.  I was far more likely to use another Cobra Commander mold because there were so many of them and those figures weren't brittle or discolored like my 1983 version.  With this 2022 release in hand, though, I have found myself photographing it quite a lot.  The original Cobra Trooper mold is one of my personal favorites.  And, this Cobra Commander mold is the perfect complement to it.  So, I do use this Cobra Commander more than pretty much all of the other Pulse era releases because he brings life to photos using repaints/remakes of other, classic molds.  It's nice to be able to use Cobra Commander again, even if he was never a really big part of my collection.

I've been very critical of the Pulse releases.  I don't hold many of them in all that high of esteem.  It's not true for this Cobra Commander, though.  I feel he is, exactly, what the Pulse figures should have all been.  He is a solid replacement for a very expensive, brittle and easily discolored vintage figure.  Of the Pulse figures, only Stormshadow also fits those criteria.  (Only, Stormshadow got used quite a bit in the repaint era and has some alternative figures for collectors.  The Commander didn't.)  The Pulse era got a lot of things wrong.  But, they got this Cobra Commander right.  And, they should be lauded for that.  My lament is that we didn't get more figures like him in the series.  But, like the legacy of the repaint era, we do have to enjoy it when Hasbro got a figure really correct and hit on all accounts.

Of the three Hasbro Pulse figure packs, I felt the Duke and Cobra Commander was the best value.  The figures featured tons of paint applications.  And, the extra gear was abundant and matched to the characters.  The price, since you had to pay for shipping, was still, probably, too high.  But, it's also the reality of the collector based product.  Of course, though, the packs didn't sell through, even with a raised limit of 5 per collector.  Hasbro sold off their remaining overstock of the packs to other online retailers.  There, they still sit, unsold.  And, while I'd love to pick up a couple of extras of this pack, I just can't find $50 worth of value in having those extras.  I had hopes the overstock would show up at Ollie's in 2023.  But, they only got the leftover Wal Mart Hiss Tanks.  We'll see what 2025 holds.  At $18 or so for the 2 pack, I'd buy a whole lot of extras.  But, so would everyone else.  In the summer of 2024, the packs were dropped to about $30 by some online retailers.  Even the 25% discount wasn't enough to move the product, though.  And, I still have just the one loose set.

My fear on this figure (and all the Pulse era releases) is that they won't age very well.  The 2000's Joes are discoloring at alarming rates.  (I don't think there are any 2005 Scrap Irons left whose don't have discolored upper arms.)  And, many of the figures will crack now that they've aged a bit.  The soft plastic of the 2020's figures is similar.  So, I fully expect to find this Cobra Commander with dark upper arms or yellowed legs when I take him out for photos in 2031.  And, that is one reason I'm not too keen on spending a ton to acquire multiples of the figure.  I hope I'm wrong.  But, Hasbro seems more interested in selling remakes of existing figures to replace discolored versions from just a few years prior.  But, if Cobra Commander some day becomes available again, that wouldn't be the worst fate in the world.

Hasbro has, so far, released this mold twice.  While the Mickey Mouse figure from the Skystriker is considered the "premium" figure by the community, I also think that it exists in very similar numbers to this Pulse figure.  We don't know the Pulse figure's production numbers.  But, they were high enough to not sell out while also low enough for a few, small, independent toy dealers to buy up the remainder.  In the early 2000's, figures like this saw production runs between 16,600 and 20,000.  We know there were around 16,500 Skystriker figures.  So, I would expect this Pulse figure to exist in slightly larger numbers than that.  But, it will be interesting to see which figure commands collector attention in the future.  The Mickey Mouse figure holds cachet as people associate it with "rare" figures.  But, this Pulse figure is substantially better.  We'll see which wins out.

Since this figure's release, factory custom makers have also tackled the Cobra Commander mold.  There are now dozens of colorings of it available: with both helmet and hooded heads for each scheme.  Some are amazing, some are inventive and some are just weird.  But, if you wanted a rainbow of Cobra Commander figures, you now have options outside of Hasbro, too.  Super 7 has even tackled the character in multiple releases in the first few waves of their ReAction+ line.  Personally, I think the head is very off.  But, you might find additional value looking at the character in this new styled format.

With this figure still available for "retail" pricing, it's extremely tough to find open market sales.  If you do luck upon one, though, this Cobra Commander is pretty worthless.  You can get the set of him and Duke for under $20.  But, it might take you 6 to 8 months to find someone willing to take that kind of hit.  But, the 2000's era Toys R Us figures were often below retail for quite a while before they took off and are now overly expensive.  With this Cobra Commander being so well done, it's likely to have a following in future years.  But, nothing is going to happen until the retail stock is bought up and people who want the figure have no option but to buy second hand.