Similar to Magog, I was actually surprised with how many new pieces make up this Kobra figure. Aside from a couple of shared arm and leg pieces with Aquaman/ Copperhead, Kobra is almost an entirely new figure. I was most impressed by the fact that they gave him a new chest and abs with his tunic sculpted on. It does a great job of matching the loin cloth piece. Kobra’s gloves, boots, and thigh bands are also new. His shoulder pads and cape are one piece which has been glued on, while his cocky smirking face peers out from underneath his hood.
Kobra’s paint job is fairly simple, but nice. The scaly parts of his body were given a metallic green look, which looks nice in front of the darker green of his cape. The rest of his clothing is a mix of yellow with metallic gold highlights.
Kobra’s got the basic DC Classics articulation, and the good news is that his clothes don’t block any movements. In fact, I really prefer the separate cowl piece that’s attached to the head instead of the cape.
Aside from STRIPE’s chest, Kobra comes with one accessory, his snake staff. With all the new tooling and accessories already in this wave, I was really surprised to see this piece. It’s not necessary to enjoy the figure, but it’s a great bonus accessory that I won’t say no to.
All around I’m pretty happy with this figure. He’s a slightly obscure DC villain, which is always nice to see. Plus they used mostly new pieces in making his body, which is great because it helps to break up all those “bucks” on the shelf.
-Vault
This is one that I would fork over the whole $18 for IF I ever found it at retail. About a month ago, figureoftheday had the entire stripe wave for $54 w/ free shipping. I was only interested in kobra and Magog, so I didn’t do it. I am so regretting that now. Less than $10 each for dcu? What the f was I thinking?
Anyway. I don’t know much about copyright law, but could it be matty was being extra cautious with the “kobra” name because of the figure’s already strong resemblance to serpentor from g.i.joe? They might have felt that giving him a snake-themed name on top of that would have been asking for a law suit from hasbro. Matty probably would have won in such a case, but why go through the hassle if you can avoid it?
It’s reasonable caution. Hasbro has been using “Cobra” in various forms for decades; just changing the spelling doesn’t make it not trademark infringement. (Mattel can’t sell Optimis Pryme any more than Hasbro can sell Hee-Man.) With a generic word like “Cobra”, if Hasbro didn’t have such a long history of using it, it might be less cut-and-dried, but Mattel is definitely wise to avoid pushing the issue in court regardless.
The fact that his name isn’t just Kobra, but his terrorist organization is probably didn’t help.
I’m not sure I would have wanted this figure over another JSA member or a classic rogue, but the fact is we got a villain for the modern JSA and that is pretty needed, surprisingly. So kudos to Matty.
I’m sure there were more Serpentors from this guy than Copperhead.
and if you’re still looking, last I checked, Enchanted Toy Chest still had sets for $66, I think? I paid like $90 for mine from them when they first came out.
Now I want an Ambush Bug even more.
I <3 Irwin!!
i bought this figure… that alone should testament to his sweetosity. my only 2 beefs w/ him, the staff seems a little… thin, and then the lack of rocker ankles for deep poses, but this dude is happening in all other respects. makes me want a copperhead to go w/ him, honestly.
as a motu fan, he almost pisses me off, since he’s way cooler than my beloved king hsss is… how’d that happen? thankfully, we’re getting snake soldiers who will faithfully bow to lord naga until/if a proper king hsss comes along.
It’s funny reading all these reviews that I didn’t even notice the amount of new pieces in this wave. I guess Mattel put a lot of effort in the JSA wave.
You forgot to mention one thing about the character/concept: he’s a Jack Kirby creation.