I get the last couple normal figure reviews before S.T.R.I.P.E., so I thought I’d kick off today with a look at one of the more interesting villains from the old DC Universe. It may say Lord Naga on his box, but he’s better known as Kobra.
I wanted to talk about a couple of interesting tidbits before I get to the figure. First is that he’s called Lord Naga on the box instead of Kobra. I thought that Mattyel may be avoiding legal issues with Hasbro over GI Joe, but I’m not aware of any Joe character that spells cobra with a “K”. In fact, I could only find two toys that spell cobra with a “K”. The first is Kobra Khan, and the second is the Kobra figure released by DC Direct. So I’m not really sure why Matty chose to call him Lord Naga.
The second issue is with his bio, which is even more vague than usual. So I thought I’d elaborate on it a bit. Jeffrey and Jason Burr were born Siamese twins. After the two were surgically separated, Jeffrey was kidnapped by the Cult of the Kobra. He was raised as their spiritual leader (like an evil Dalai Lama), who would usher in an age of chaos around the world.
Under the tutelage of the cult, Jeffrey grew to become an exceptional tactician with a genius intellect. He was also taught many forms of combat, and has even bested Batman in battle. But no training could prepare him for his one true weakness. Even though they were separated their whole lives, Jeffrey and Jason shared a psychic connection which allowed them to feel what the other was experiencing. The full extent of this link wasn’t understood until Kobra tried to kill Jason, which almost killed himself.
For years the brothers fought each other, neither gaining the upper hand until Kobra was able to use a device to sever the connection. Seeing his chance, he seized upon the opportunity and finally killed Jason. But his victory was short lived as his brother returned to him in taunting visions. Whether this was truly Jason Burr’s ghost, or just a figment of Kobra’s fractured psyche has never been revealed. Either way, his holy war of terrorism only ended during a battle with the JSA, when the reformed Black Adam ripped out his heart. Continue to page 2…
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.