In spite of how much “venom” (no pun intended) is thrown towards the updated Cobra Commander design for the Rise of Cobra, fandom praise on the Pursuit of Cobra mailaway version was surprisingly excessive. With a slightly retooled head, some fancy vac-metalized parts and an array of kick ass accessories, many fans seemed ready to jump on the Rise of Cobra Cobra Commander bandwagon.
Then, during Toy Fair, it was revealed that Cobra Commander would no longer be a mail away, it was now going to be a “chase figure” in somewhat limited capacity. Thankfully Hasbro did announce at the latest Q & A, that the figure would not be extremely hard to find, but it’s a retail figure, nonetheless. And while the bulk of the figure remains the same, from the great Cobra themed packaging, to the chrome accents on the figure, there are some changes. For instance, since the figure is no longer a mail away version, the shipping box obviously is no longer needed, the very cool letter from General Hawk is a thing of the past, and the most disappointing difference is that the HISS drone that was initially slated to come with the figure couldn’t make it through to the retail price point.
So, the mad dash has begun… initial mail away Cobra Commanders have been available through illicit means for a short while, and now they’re at extremely high demand. Luckily for me, I was able to get my hands on one, and my gain is your gain. I have to, of course, give a huge thanks to an old buddy of mine for hooking me up with this item, too. He gave me a great deal on something that’s very tough to come by, and it made my month!
While I can’t bring myself to open the figure, I took a bunch of pictures, trying to get as much possible detail as I could, even through the haze of plastic clamshell. I’ve posted the extensive gallery below… enjoy!
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I disagree. Your gain is not my gain, unless I can drive up there real quick and take possession of it. 😉
Come on, open it. It won’t do any harm… :shifty
😀
“In spite of how much “venom” (no pun intended) is thrown towards the updated Cobra Commander design for the Rise of Cobra, fandom praise on the Pursuit of Cobra mailaway version was surprisingly excessive.”
Unfortunately, that praise is going to be lost forever when collectors can’t find the figure at retail.
Personally, I couldn’t cary one iota less for the figure. It looks like a Paris Pursuit Snake Eyes with a Destro noggin’ on it. And a crimson viper chest. Yaaaaaay..
Interesting that he’s got CC1 on his chest. Does that mean there might have been a CC2? A second Cobra Commander? Of course, it looks like the Hasbro boys have changed their strategy, so all bets are off, which is fine by me. But I am always interested in that type of stuff.
That HISS drone is pretty cool, but not a deal breaker with the new fig. The less launchers, the better.
Finally, judging by the letter, I have a feeling that the games that are up now on the Hasbro site were part of the redemption process. Like, “Buy one from each of the four themes, and play these games online to some sort of completion, and then we’ll send you this guy.” Which is pretty cool, and seems a fun promotion. I wonder if they’ll do something else with the idea for another mail-away?
Thanks for sharing!
BADASS.
A CC with hiss drone… that looks like it will become a pretty valuable piece in years to come!
Heh, I like how Jay is willing to go up to New England and swipe your’s Justin. 😀
In all fairness, I thought it was yours. 😛
I care nothing for the RoC “CC” in ANY version or capacity, nor the very vast majority of any of the RoC “original” figures for that matter, especially “Ripcord” and “CC”. Most of them are really only worth buying at the discounted rates of the last several months, and only then if one does customizing or the like (in my opinion, that is).
However, with that being said, I would have been interested in getting this particular mail away figure version. Not because I suddenly think this Movie repaint version of “CC” is cool or worth buying for anything beyond rare collectible status, but because I really would have liked to have the HISS Drone (do NOT care for the stupid launchy crap of the movie toys, but the Drone is kind of cool aside from that).
Oh well, unless some generous soul decides to send me one, or I manage to stumble across it by accident (the Drone, not CC), I won’t be able to add it to my collection. Oh well.
Although, to support my initial comments regarding customization, this particular CC might make good fodder for creating a new Red Shadows character… Now that I think of it anyway. 😉
I think we’ll see these versions down the line on as a Joe Club exclusive.
“Oh well, unless some generous soul decides to send me one, or I manage to stumble across it by accident (the Drone, not CC), I won’t be able to add it to my collection. Oh well.” –Silent Master
In all actuality, that was the only thing decent about the figure.
The Sigma 6 and ROC fans are bouncing like monkeys and going ape for the CC just because it’s something new.
“Oh well, unless some generous soul decides to send me one, or I manage to stumble across it by accident (the Drone, not CC), I won’t be able to add it to my collection. Oh well.” –Silent Master
In all actuality, that was the only thing decent about the figure.
The Sigma 6 and ROC fans are bouncing like monkeys and going ape for the CC just because it’s something new. Like it’s the greatest thing that ever happened!
No really!? How did Hasbro do that. Because we all had a dream about that and thought THAT would be the coolest Commander ever! And look, here they went and did it!
But alas, whatever ROC 2 thing is revealed next will take that honor of being the greatest thing ever designed, made and sold by Hasbro! SIGH…..
Time for me to chime in- Another Hasbro fiasco, This figure is the latest example of Hasbro dropping the G.I.JOE ball,I mean look at every other line in Hasbro’s boys dept. (STAR WARS, TRANSFORMERS) they got a cool mail in. Even the girls got a Little pet shop mail away, but when it comes to G.I.JOE……we get spoiled MRE’S…..When ARAH was the Hasbro king thru the 80’s-90’s we had all kinds of mail away ofers, but now with that meger with Kenner Joe is pushed aside and all the money goes to Star Wars, (I understand fandom, I understand profits) but it burns me to no end to see G.I.JOE gets the shaft year after year.
As a collector I even embraced Sigma 6 and right when it was hitting it’s stride with it’s Adventure Team line it gets canned, it’s 2.5 line the same, it gets canned, and we as collector’s are made to feel like tiny tim….begging for Hasbro’s scraps…….”Please Hasbro….Give us more”……and years later we jump and cheer for the 2.5 mech suits and what, we should be greatful…..Master Collector….another prime example of what’s wrong with the line (and no one is twisting anyone’s arm to join, but hear me out). When the Robot Rebellion line got cancelled in favor for Sigma 6 we had already seen several prototypes leaked, and some even made it to the DTC line, but we had to join or pay out of the A$$ for the Exclusive Robot Rebellion themed Cobra Commander. Which brings me right to this Mail Away Cobra Commander…….Hasbro gave us the Dollars and cents reason why we didn’t get the Drone, and yet They could have given us a wonderful mail away as an reward for all the years we’ve followed the line…….And no one can compare this to the DOC fiasco, because they had plenty……they just sent the bulk of those overseas to be sold. (There’s pics of that floating all over the net of stores overseas selling DOC’s before anyone asks)……….This current trend of getting our hopes up just leaves a taste of ashes in my mouth, looking back at the Pursuit of Cobra line that we were to get, and seeing how little we are to get now, it’s no wonder there’s so little retail support………because no one wants to lead Joe to a new era of retail sales……we’re left behind in favor of a war on Cybertron, or a Clone war…….or a Secret War for that matter……I for one am sick of beating this dead horse Hasbro……If you want to continue getting my hard earned dollars…..FIX THIS MESS….Give us back A REAL AMERICAN HERO!
that fig got released here in the philippines a few months back, i think in only one toy store (as in 1 toy store, not one toy store chain)… i was able to get one, and i decided to open it… then after 2 days, i came back to the toy store to get another one to keep MOC, and they’re all gone… and they never restocked… many peeps from TS118 were not able to get one too… it’s a good fig, but i think it’s better not to open it… =(
To Alpine and tkprime… You said it!
Hasbro needs to get their act together and quit bending the Joe fans over so severely. (I will say that I despise BOTH the Joe Movie lines and the TFs movie lines, as well. I haven’t bought jack from the TF’s lines except for a cool Decepticon Bludgeon that wasn’t even in the movie.)
The fans ALSO need to pull their heads out as well and not keep kissing Hasbro’s @$$ for everything they toss out the rubbish bin at us, because they know CERTAIN fans will buy ANYTHING as long as it has a “cool GI Joe logo” splashed across it somewhere. Geez, have some frickin’ standards and make Hasbro do some work for a change! WE, as fans, support THEM, not the other way around, because I certainly haven’t been getting any checks from those FINE “geniuses” at Hasbro’s “screw-the-fans-over-and-make-tons-of-money” think tank.
Alpine. Tkprime. Either of YOU guys been getting a fat check from Hasbro for buying their crap?! I haven’t. So, if THEY aren’t paying US to buy the junky stuff in addition to the (recently limited) COOL stuff, what exactly is the point of buying it? I can’t see one from where I sit. You guys see one? Meh, friggin’ Hasbro….
Basically, we as fans need to speak up and let Hasbro know what sucks and what doesn’t and then proceed to NOT buy the sucky stuff and get them to wake up a bit. Otherwise, they will continue to ream us out everytime. Be part of the SOLUTION, and NOT part of the PROBLEM.
I was lucky enough to get two of these. One from ebay in the package with the box and letter included a few months back. It’s hanging on my wall right now. The second (from the same seller) I got loose with all accessories cuz I actually really dig this figure and his new helmet/paint scheme and of course, the hiss drone. I wanted to have one to stand on my desk surronded by crimson neo-vipers. He looks pretty badass. Maybe I should snap some shots of the loose figure and upload them here?
I know there’s not a lot of love for the new ROC / POC CC design, but I for one think it’s pretty awesome.
Yeah, not sure what it is. I passed on the RoC one and really didn’t like it, but I really like this one. No idea why….but I do.