G.I. Joe Convention 2013 - Nocturnal Fire Cobra Mortal

When someone thinks of "Cobra Mortal" that's not typically the vision you have in your head. The original Cobra Mortal was a part of the legendary "Argen 7", one of 7 Argentinian figures that, until recently, were some of the rarest, most highly sought after, and important pieces in a G.I. Joe collection. I only say "until recently" because in recent years even more obscure and in-demand foreign exclusives have emerged (mostly in the form of Bombadier, and the new Cobra Mortal).

Ah, yes, the "new" Cobra Mortal. A few years ago, an all white figure was discovered, and was later revealed to be a Venezuelan version of Cobra Mortal. That was the inspiration for the figure you see above. The G.I. Joe Collectors' Club took the unique approach of taking the Cobra Mortal moniker and instead of it representing a name, it now represents more of a "title" with numerous different men taking that title throughout time. The most recent Cobra Mortal is a viscious and notorious Venezuelan crime lord, which is what the story for the 2013 Convention was built around.

This version of the Cobra Mortal uses the very familiar Pursuit of Cobra Snake Eyes head, torso, and arms, but goes in a slightly different direction for the legs. The upper legs are tooling from the original 25th Anniversary Snake Eyes way back when, but the lower legs are from Cobra Commander, which makes them look like some strange, slender slacks. It's not a terrible look, I suppose, and denotes a sense of class for the character, but his legs to look awful skinny compared to the rest of his body. When you think about those distinctive 70's era drug lords, though, that pale white pantsuit with tailored slacks is somewhat evocative of those days, and I can sort of see where their inspiration came here.

Paint applications are minimal, with a nice bright white taking up the majority of the figure. That's obviously based upon the original version of this Venezuelan exclusive, and it also helps that the black trim is even more striking against the bright background. The simple Cobra logo flat in the middle of his chest sticks out nicely as well.

One point of contention from folks centers around his head. Where in years past the Collectors Club has done vac-metalized heads, this year they mentioned some ecological issues with the factory, preventing them from using their chrome plate features. That's a shame, but I will say the silver color is pretty bright and vibrant here, and I don't feel like I'm missing too much without the chrome.

ACCESSORIES

Mortal goes pretty basic with his accessories, using the 25th Anniversary webgear, satchel, pistol, knife, and Uzi pulled straight from the original Snake Eyes figure. A crossbow and the knife from Shadow Tracker round off the weapons assortment pretty nicely. There's nothing staggering here accessory-wise, but he's got gear for all of his holsters and sheaths, and fits the design aesthetic of the original nicely enough.

Cobra Mortal is a fine figure. His inclusion makes sense, and he fits the story nicely. He's not a figure I necessarily needed, and I'm not entirely sure I have a place for him in my collection. The execution is a bit odd with the thin slacks. At the end of the day, not a really strong inclusion into the 2013 G.I. Joe Convention boxed set.

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