2021 TBM Blue WORMS (Cobra Commander)
You’d think with the endless amount of Cobra Commander figures Hasbro made over the years, the last thing I (or really, anyone) would be in great need of is more Cobra Commanders. However, the circumstances and novelty appeal of Black Major’s Cobra Commanders really hit me just right, so I went out of my way to acquire a couple of these.
This figure was mainly billed as custom WORMs, but those didn’t really work for me, for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that I like Hasbro’s WORMs so much, I use them in their normal colors regardless of the environment, so environment specific repaints don’t do much for me. Besides this, you could only get the WORMs in a big set at first, with one of each color. This also didn’t appeal to me very much, as I’d rather have several of my favorite army-builders, as opposed to one of each.
TBM did sell some figure individually, however, he only sold ones with Cobra Commander parts. This suited me fine, as again, I’m really fine with the Hasbro WORMs I already have. As a Cobra Commander figure, he picks up a few unique benefits, such as the fact that I’m fine with only having one, or that he doesn’t invalidate opportunities to use my normal WORMs that I like so much. I also think that these Cobra Commanders are very well done, which is all the justification I need to own some in various colors.
Today’s profile is of the blue coloration, which among the many variations of this figure, is my favorite. On a basic level, it doesn’t look too much different from a typical Cobra Commander figure, but the appeal is in the details. Far and away the most eye-catching detail is the Cobra-sigil painted over his hood. That in particular kind of makes me think of this figure as an ARAH rendition of JvC Cobra Commander.
The colors and paint are nice here. The details on the WORMs sculpt come across well, and the choice of using red contrasts nicely against the bright blue the figure uses. There’s some silver details, including some on his knees, which I think look weird. It’s especially irritating when the figure’s posed with his knees bent, as it highlights the joint there. Other than that, there’s enough painted details in different colors that the figure pops.
He includes some very odd choices for accessories. You get the Iron Grenadier’s Uzi, a generic ROC pistol, a 25th Snake Eyes knife, and a modified sculpt that I believe originates from a Grunt M16. Overall, I dislike them, as these sculpts are either bad or don’t work well with this figure. I do like the modified M16 though, as while it looks a little strange, it’s also something new and unique to this figure.
Currently, these figures are circulating around and are fairly available around $24. TBM himself sold through his stock of several colors in less than a day (hours?), which surprised me, although it will be interesting to see how much demand holds out for these figures. Ultimately, $24 is a lot for a figure, and probably too much even for this one, as nice as it is. Likewise, this isn’t really a figure you need huge squads of, even if you prefer the sculpt as the WORMs, so I expect the prices on these could stagnate at a certain point.
The Viper Pit 