What's this Fred stuff all about?? I never got into the comics. 
The following is a quote from the
Wikipedia article on Cobra Commander. All of this takes place in the Marvel comic book, and was the first appearance of Cobra Commander's Battle Armor:
Cobra's agents spread throughout the world, overturning or subverting unstable third-world governments, and becoming an international threat. Eventually, Cobra became so large that Cobra Commander could no longer control it on his own and created a "High Command", which included Zartan, Baroness Anastasia DeCobray, the Scottish arms dealer James McCullen Destro, and Australian mercenary Major Sebastian Bludd. This dubious staffing led to frequent power-struggles within the organization and ultimately the Baroness and Major Bludd enacted a plot to assassinate the Commander.
In a twist of fate, they recruited Billy to carry out the assassination, but he was intercepted by Destro before he could accomplish his task. Cobra Commander had become such a rabid megalomaniac by this point that he had no qualms about torturing his own son, yet Billy refused to surrender any information identifying who had sponsored the hit. Such tenacity impressed Storm Shadow, so he freed Billy and they both escaped to New York, where Storm Shadow trained him in ninjitsu. Billy was later caught in the crossfire between the Soft Master (Storm Shadow's other uncle) and Cobra agent Scrap-Iron, when the car he was driving in exploded.
It was during this time that both Cobra Commander and Destro were trapped underground, presumed dead, and were forced to work together to make their way back to Cobra. Cobra Commander is shown here as an average-looking American with a beatnik image evinced by a pony tail, beret, green-spectacled sunglasses and a slender mustache — a motif that resurfaced on subsequent occasions when he was seen without his mask.
It was during this cross-country trek with Destro that Cobra Commander learned of Billy's fate: though he survived the explosion, he had lost a leg and an eye, and lay in a coma ever since. Unnerved by the tragedy, the Commander took responsibility for Billy's condition, and promised to be a better father. Seeking out the Crimson Guard Fred VII, a mechanical genius who built Billy a new robotic leg, the Commander set up shop in Denver, where Billy eventually awoke from the coma. Fitted with a mechanical prosthetic leg by Fred VII, Billy unwittingly stumbled upon the Blind Master (yet another Arashikage ninja) and Jinx (Storm Shadow's cousin). Seeing that Fred VII had constructed a suit of battle-armor for Cobra Commander, who was once again plotting to take over the world, Billy walked out on his father. The incident left Cobra Commander to reflect on the folly of his ways, but Fred VII was so angered to see his commander throwing away what he had dedicated his life toward that he shot Cobra Commander in the back, apparently killing him.
Unaware that he was being watched, Fred VII buried the body. It was exhumed by another Crimson Guardsman, Fred VIII, who discovered that Cobra Commander was not dead after all, and managed to revive him. With Fred VII masquerading as him in Cobra, the Commander began to form a new organization in secret. When Dr. Mindbender went to Cobra Commander's supposed grave to harvest DNA for the genetic creation of a new leader, he instead discovered the empty grave.
Cobra Commander took that opportunity to return to Cobra, this time even more maniacal than before, filled with rage and unwilling to harbor any traitors (real or perceived). His first act was to imprison those who had betrayed him: Fred VII, his partner Raptor, Firefly, Dr. Mindbender, Zartan, Billy, and numerous Cobra troops, all of whom he had buried alive within a volcano on Cobra Island. He relinquished all traces of morality and humanity, and rebuilt a new command infrastructure by instituting a brainwashing program to compel allegiance from those around him, including repeatedly brainwashing Destro, The Baroness, Zartan, Storm Shadow and Billy.
Basically (and this was not at all portrayed in the cartoon), the Crimson Guard all had the identity of "Fred" in their real lives and were stationed like one-man sleeper cells across the nation, if not the world. When the real Cobra Commander seemingly wavered in his commitment to Cobra, one of these Crimson Guardsmen, Fred VII, shot him in the back, left him for dead, and got inside the new Battle Armor as the actual Cobra Commander. The Baroness was the only one who knew the truth initially, as she was the only member of Cobra who had seen CC without his mask and when Fred VII was confronted, he had to let her in on his plan.
Hence, long story short, that Cobra Commander in Battle Armor figure we all (or more of us, myself included) loved so much wasn't actually Cobra Commander, but a disgruntled Crimson Guard in disguise, and like several others, the real CC threw him in a freighter and tossed them under a mountain where they all died a happy death due to botulism.
And the real Cobra Commander, to my knowledge, never donned the suit past the one "test phase" in Fred VII's garage, before Fred VII "killed" him.
Tomorrow on "Why Do I Remember This Pointless ****?": Ripcord is dating a chick in a bear suit?
