**Cobra Commander's Kooky Costumes - Let's Get Pythonized!**

When you think about it, it was really only a matter of time before Cobra adopted its own unique brand of camouflage. And, of course, they weren’t going to play by the rules.

Come to think of it, Cobra doesn’t have any rules.

As if the scaly patterns and unapologetically loud colors weren’t enough, someone decided to bestow the subteam with one of the coolest and most brand-defining names ever: *Python Patrol*. For a guy who loves alliteration, bright green and yellow, and shameless silliness, this is exactly the sort of repaint scam that’s completely up my alley.

After collectors finally started recovering from severe cases of CrimsonMania, a strange new appreciation emerged for the previously underappreciated legion of troopers so stealthy that they could wear these outfits and still sneak around undetected. You can probably trace some of it to the rise of “third-party customs” during the dark and dire No Joe, Nowhere years. Guys like Black Major managed to make Python Patrol versions of nearly everything they released, earning a respectable chunk of change from me in the process.

Back in the day, the subteam showed up for an obligatory cup of coffee in the Marvel series before Hama wished them into the cornfield. But, if you stuck around for DIC, you were treated to a ridiculously wacky origin story that somehow made perfect sense for these guys.

After getting back on two legs thanks to an ancient Native American power called Dragonfire, Cobra Commander weaponizes the stuff and uses it to combine the DNA/essence/something-or-other of a giant python with a fleet of captured Skystrikers and some of his own troops. The jets instantly receive new paint jobs, Cobra logos, and the team’s name, while the soldiers are rewarded with fresh Python Patrol uniforms.

Copperhead even gets a long-sleeved shirt in the process!

Of course, by the time the DIC series got going, the patrolmen (I am not using the PP abbreviation, and you cannot make me) were as out of sight and out of mind as any attempt to approach the show with a straight face. But the legend of Cobra Commander’s personally pythonized patrolmen lived on.

Well, not really. They never mentioned it again.

These days, you can pretty much rest assured that Hasbro will make a Python Patrol edition of any nameless Cobra baddie they release, and Super7 has gone all-in by giving nearly every Cobra character a one-way ticket through the pythonizing ray - including Cobra Commander himself.

So far, Super7 has produced two “official” Cobra Commanders willing to suit up in yellow dish gloves. The first one was pretty awful because five-points-of-articulation G.I. Joe figures are a pretty awful idea, but I dig the hell out of the ReAction+ version. Black and red always looks good on Cobra Commander, dish gloves or no dish gloves.

On my end, I’ve also got two third-party versions that give CC the Python Patrol treatment. The yellow-hooded one is courtesy of Black Major, and I cannot begin to tell you how much I like it. That hood always brings a smile to my face. You can’t say the Commander doesn’t go all-in when he commits to something.

I’m pretty sure Black Major is responsible for the gray-hooded version as well. I’m still not completely sold on the hood itself, but the figure has grown on me over the years.

I didn’t notice until I started setting them up for pictures, but the four figures collectively cover nearly every Python Patrol color scheme: red and black, garish green and yellow, gray and yellow, and even the rarely seen garishly gray combination.

So that’s neat.

I can’t say I wouldn’t buy another Python Patrol Cobra Commander, but I can say I’d wonder why.

Sooooo...at this point, I thought it would be fun to put a spotlight on some of the things companies other than Hasbro have done with the Commander. There certainly aren’t another twenty episodes’ worth of material left on that bone, but I’m sure we’ll have a lot of fun.

And sorry this one took an extra week. Our cat died. It was terrible.