Cobra Officer

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Cobra Officer is a Cobra character from the A Real American Hero series.

Cobra Officers are the front line leaders of Cobra's attack units. It is often questioned how much rank they really have. Their only control is over other Cobra troops. None of them really come close to the uppermost Cobra hierarchy. While it can be argued that they are officers in name only, rising up the ranks either through pure ambition or dumb luck they must have had some leadership training in air-traffic control, artillery spotting and infantry leadership. Ultimately, even Cobra forces must have some form of military structure to keep the ranks together and moving with a purpose.

[edit] Fiction

Due to the similarities in the uniform design between the Cobra Officer and the Cobra Trooper, it is often difficult to tell the two apart. The situation is compounded by the fact that many artists don't make much of an effort to distinguish the two in their design. This is especially true in the comics. We just have to assume that in many cases, there have to be at least an Officer in charge of a platoon or brigade.

[edit] Comics

[edit] A Real American Hero continuity

[edit] Marvel Comics continuity

Cobra Officers were on hand in the kidnapping of Dr. Adele Burkhart. They were also on hand in defending their Caribbean island base from the Joe Team. But in the end, they proved to be inefficient and promptly lost.^[1] A Cobra Officer was on hand monitoring any transmission from a Cobra battle robot captured by the Joes. The robot was meant to escape from the Pit and signal Cobra to its location. The Joes were able to foil the plan and the Officer had no choice but to inform Cobra Commander the robot failed to send the signal and they have to head back to base lest their helicopters run out of fuel.^[2] Cobra Officers can be assumed to be responsible for obtaining intel on a MOBAT being part of the Armed Forces Day parade exhibition. One could be assumed to be responsible for the group masquerading as a bugle corps.^[3]

[edit] Devil's Due Comics continuity

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[edit] G.I. Joe Reloaded

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[edit] G.I. Joe vs. Transformers

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[edit] Action Force (British) Comics continuity

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[edit] Blackthorne Comics continuity

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[edit] Dreamwave Comics continuity

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[edit] Hasbro Comics continuity

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[edit] Animated continuity

[edit] Sunbow animated series

You can tell the Officer from the Troopers by the V-shape-like crest on their helmet but, even then, that is no guarantee of consistency.

Gaffes like this happen in the series. In the previous episode there were mostly Cobra Troopers in the Cobra heli-carrier. Then, in the next, they're all Officers!!!

Duke was in the Cobra Arena of Sport when Selina approached him to give him something. A Cobra Officer and slave master entered the arena to break the two apart. The Officer failed to find the gold strip Selina gave Duke and let him be. When Duke finally made his escape attempt, another Officer almost had the drop on him but was knocked out by Selina.^[4] If Cobra Troopers are out in the field, the Officers sometimes fill up the slack by standing in for sentry duty.^[5] Many Troopers were taken into custody during the battle over the Ring of Fire that an inordinate number of Officers are brought in to defend the Cobra Temple.^[6]

[edit] Toys

Generation 1
	A Real American Hero (1982) Cobra Officer is part of the original 1982 wave of A Real American Hero toys. As with the other action figures of that first year, two versions of this Cobra Officer was released, one with straight arms and, then later, one with swivel arm battle grip design. Appearance: blue helmet with chevron on front; blue shirt and pants with four black straps; black face-mask, gloves, belt, and boots; grey trim on straps, and white insignia on chest. Accessories: black AK-47 assault rifle YoJoe.com page/Filecard
	A Real American Hero (1989) Cobra Officers joined the Python Patrol in 1989. Though the name was changed to Python Officer, the filecard made it clear these were the same soldiers. Appearance: grey helmet with red face-mask; black shirt and pants with red Cobra insignia on chest; yellow-green straps, belt, and kneepads with yellow criss-cross pattern; yellow gloves; grey boots Accessories: black "Cobra Trooper" sniper's rifle YoJoe.com page/Filecard
	Cobra Infantry Team (1998) Released as part of the Real American Hero Collection, the second Cobra Officer action figure is part of the Cobra Infantry Team package along with Cobra Trooper. It is actually a re-colored version of the original Viper action figure. 1998 filecard
Generation 2
	Comic Pack (2005) The third version of Cobra Officer is part of the Comic Pack series that includes three action figures and a copy of the comic they appeared in. Cobra Officer is packaged along with Steeler, General Flagg and a copy of G.I. Joe #5. Comic Pack filecard
Generation 3
	A Real American Hero 25th Anniversary (2007)

[edit] Trivia

• In 1989, the Cobra Officer's mold was used for the Python Trooper, while the Cobra Trooper's mold was used for the Python Officer. As if there wasn't already enough confusion between the two.

[edit] See also

• Appearances of Cobra Officer
• Character Gallery: Cobra Officer

[edit] External links

Write up.

[edit] Footnotes