The Detritus of Cobra Commander

Cobra Commander had his mind transfixed on world domination — but I’m starting to wonder to what end? Most men who would seek to grasp the amount of power he was trying to obtain would be doing so for an ideological, religious, or (not as likely, but I suppose entirely possible) social-economic reason. We’re never given of any evidence of these motivations.

The argument could be made that he was simply a mad man who just wanted to watch the world burn, but his organization seemed to well organized and his plans to finely calculated for such a forlorn objective. After all, the Cobra organization boasted recruiting offices, boot camps, naval bases, air fields, satellites and even a moon base. Such a vast empire seems more than what someone who was merely mad at the world could put together.

He was also very well funded, which eliminates accumulation of wealth as a primary objective. Two of his highest agents, Tomax and Xamot, were corporate attorneys that ran the multi-billion dollar (and perfectly legal) face of his Cobra Empire. It would be a safe assumption that if he had devoted 100% of his attentions to the legal arm of the Cobra Empire, he could have out done anyone on Forbes’s lists.

So what are we left with? It appears that the objective was not as important as the process. That is to say, he most likely found fulfillment, not in the idea of ruling the world — After all, had he achieved this objective, nothing would be left other than to sit on a throne and reign. How boring would that be? — but rather in devising global means of conquest. This is understandable. It would be demanding and rewarding work. Something that the human mind had been wired to want within its own industry.

I like to think that Cobra Commander is a strong type ‘A’ personality that made the wrong career choice. He probably could have found more satisfaction working for a high pressure marketing company, overseeing aggressive corporate take overs, or even touring the world as a business centric motivation speaker who helps business men build their own mini-empires.

The ironic aspect about this is, had he chosen this path, he would have realized his life’s second goal — the dilapidation of G.I. Joe. With no evil organization to fight, they would have no purpose.