Variant figure only available at San Diego Comic Con 2008. *Note the difference in the color artwork of Cobra Commander's suit in the packaging as well. Figure comes with podium with Cobra banner.
*Absolute Power! Total control of the world - its people, wealth, and resources - that's the objective of Cobra Commander. This fanatical leader rules with an iron fist. He demands total loyalty and allegiance. His main battle plan, for world control, relies on revolution and chaos. He personally led uprisings in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and other trouble spots. Responsible for kidnapping scientists, businessmen and military leaders, than forcing them to reveal their top-level secrets.
**A non-descript used car salesman and small business owner, the man who would become Cobra Commander constantly struggled to make ends meet. His struggle reached new heights when his brother, who'd returned home from the Vietnam conflict with a warped view of reality and a death wish, died in a fiery headon collision with another vehicle. The American soldier known as Snake-Eyes, who'd just returned from the conflict himself, lost his parents and his twin sister - who were on their way to pick him up from the airport - in the crash as well.
Devastated and on the edge of insanity, Cobra Commander sought revenge on Snake-Eyes, whom he twisted the facts into believing was responsible for his failed business and brother's death. He hired the mercenary known as Zartan to kill Snake-Eyes, but the mission was a failure.
Shortly after the birth of their son Billy, Cobra Commander's Wife discovered that he'd hired Zartan to kill Snake-Eyes. When confronted, Cobra Commander fled with Billy in tow. Traveling from town to town, he grew bitter, blaming his misfortunes on Corporate America and the government and growing paranoid and delusional in the process. Using pyramid schemes, he slowly drew more and more people to him that felt the same as he, and began to see the benefits of creating his system of living.
Eventually, he and Billy wound up in the nice little town of Springfield and the future Cobra Commander found a starting place in the new system. Businesses in the town were failing and its people were growing tired and weary. In a short amount of time, Cobra Commander's influence in the town grew strong and he was soon its savior. The international terrorist organization called Cobra had planted its roots.
As the organization grew in size and power, Cobra Commander enlisted the aid of others to help run his organization, and the become known as Cobra High Command. What he didn't realize was that he'd be embroiled in repeated power struggles with members of his High Command, namely the Scottish arms dealer, Destro.
Over the years, Cobra Commander has suffered an assassination attempt by his son Billy and an imposter posing as him for a time. Cobra also became a constant foil for the G.I.Joe team, who as an elite counter-terrorist squad, ended up fighting Cobra almost exclusively. However, he always seemed to find a way to come out of every situation, no matter how dire, unscathed, his hatred and drive more focused than ever.
***From the files of General J.R. Colton: Unquestionably the most dangerous man on Earth. No necessarily because of his ability in combat, or on the battlefield, but because of his ability to inspire dangerous men. He excels at locating the bitter and jaded - men who feel as if they owed something from a system that let them down. The charisma he exudes, as repugnant as it is to me, is his most potent weapon, and has made him easily our most prominent threat.
Cobra Commander has become hatred personified. He is simply a madman without any shred of conscience, and will harm anyone and destroy anything that resists him. For Cobra Commander, money, power, and ruthlessness are the only virtues worth embracing. He is a walking dichotomy, vacillating between emotional extremes. He builds his power by subverting foreign governments, and incorporating their resources into Cobra.
*Source: Hasbro.com/gijoe
**Source: G.I. Joe: Battle Files #2 - (Published by Image.)
***Source: G.I. Joe: Data Desk Handbook #1 - Published by Devil's Due.