Cobra ranking question...

[artiepants]

has there ever been anything canonical as to how Vipers and Troopers relate to each other, rank wise?

[tkprime]

According to the Vipers file card, the Viper's are the low man on the cobra totom poll, but looking at them I think the vipers have more armor and equipment so it's a valid question, but if Cobra was a real threat I guess the Cobra troopers would be behind the lines while the vipers are up front.

[artiepants]

Makes sense, thnx

[Phorpus]

So how do Crimson Guards work?

Are they part of the hierarchy or are they a separate force?

[Magick]

According to most things I have read (i.e. filecards and combat files) the CG's are vipers who have shown extraordinary skills and are hand chosen by either CC himself or the Twins.

Although I find it funny that the correlation between the Twins and the CG are more often than with CC although they are supposed to be his person guards.

[Omegawrath]

The whole Cobra rank structure is open to conjecture.

All we know is that there are officers (including HISS drivers, Stinger drivers and pilots) and enlisted soldiers (troopers and various Vipers). On the original Viper file card it does indeed state that they are the low men. Then later (I think in the abysmal 1997-8 set) there's a card that states that troopers work their way up to Vipers.

CG's are supposed to be E-4's (Corporals) but I believe that was a placeholder. Within each group there must be enlisted and officers, it's just not cost-effective (or wasn't) to produce figures with varying rank insignia, so you kinda have to use your imagination.

It should be noted that (I believe) all fixed-wing pilots must be officers. It used to kill me to watch random enlisted Joes just hopping into planes and taking off.

[DAHUNTER]

The way I look at is this

From 82' - 85' there were Cobra Soldiers who were led by Cobra Officers, who got direct orders from Cobra Commander, Baroness, Major Blood or Destro.


Then when Crimson Guards showed up in the cartoon they were first known as Destro's elite forces. On their file card it says how they go though special training at the very depths of the Cobra base. They all have skills as lawyers and accountants, so that made them too valuable to be put into field battles. They were mostly used for special missions.


Later when the Crimson Twins show up, then the Crimson Guards were to follow the Twins command since the Twins were bankers and espionage experts. I'm not sure if Destro is still the Crimson leader or if he's just a weapons dealer who starts his own army. (Destro's Grenadiers - who are later Destro's elite troopers)


When the Vipers and B.A.T.S. show up in 86' I don't think you ever see a Cobra Trooper or Officer again. So I would guess that all troopers were converted into Vipers and those that raised in rank they would become other specialized Vipers or Crimson Guards.

[artiepants]

CG's are supposed to be E-4's (Corporals) but I believe that was a placeholder. Within each group there must be enlisted and officers, it's just not cost-effective (or wasn't) to produce figures with varying rank insignia, so you kinda have to use your imagination.
yeah, that's a bit silly, i would have assumed that CGs were either High level enlisted/NCOs or even more likely lieutenant equivalent...

[Gentleman]

Attached: More food for thought :)

[Lt. Faceless]

Attached: More food for thought :)

Thats a weird list.I have never seen half of them used.If the cobra symbol(silver)is for CG commanders and the Red symbol is for officiers,then what does that make my Silver symbol officiers?

[Irid70]

As cool as that pic is, the symbol for Firefly makes no sense. It is 5 plane silhouettes, as in 5 planes shot down. Maybe that's supposed to be Wild Weasel?

[Monkeywrench]

interesting chart. Where does Baroness fall in that chart?

[Gentleman]

Yeah, the chart doesn't make much sense. But it's still interesting.

It came with the 12'' Hall of Fame Cobra Commander.

[Blueman]

I seemed to recall seeing a chain of command in Cobra's issue of the Battlefiles. I don't remember if it was issue #2 or #3. I know the Joes had one in their issue. I went digging through my comics to find out for sure but I couldn't any of my Battlefile issues.

[WildWeasel]

I seemed to recall seeing a chain of command in Cobra's issue of the Battlefiles. I don't remember if it was issue #2 or #3. I know the Joes had one in their issue. I went digging through my comics to find out for sure but I couldn't any of my Battlefile issues.

Courtesy of member bmc --

Cobra Chain of Command (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/goth9873/my%20cool%20photos/figures/files/cobra/newgijoebattlefilescobrachainofcomm.jpg)

Not sure it really shows actual rank though.

[eleavitt2000]

Like any military, uniforms, rank schedules, and equipment evolves and develops. Heck, on a traditional battlefield, no one has the exact same equipment or uniform.

This is how I see it, however. Cobra Commander and Cobra Command is Cobra. Destro, the Baroness, and others are mercenaries or field operatives with no rank in Cobra but people who are paid or share profits.

The basic 1986 Viper is a redressed Cobra soldier. In my universe, Cobra Troopers man my Terror Drome, Surveillance Port, Bunker, ASP cannons and other garrison duties on Cobra Island. The Vipers are Cobra Troopers in battle gear. When a Cobra Trooper has to go to the beaches of Cobra Island to defend against an invasion, they don their Viper gear. I have 4 teams of 10 Vipers (1986) each led by a Cobra Officer (1983). Tele-Vipers -nicely dressed in Cobra blue- support these teams.

My Cobra Air Viper Air Corps consists of Strato-Vipers and AVACS. Wild Weasil does not lead the AVAC units. He is just a mercenary who the troopers respect and follow.

My Cobra shore defense groups consist of Lempreys, Eels, Snow-Serpents, and Ice Vipers. They defend Cobra operations and research projects against attacks by econo-fascist states like the U.S. and the U.K.

[Xerofall]

In the cartoon some troopers are seen dressing up in Eel outfits when they needed to escape the giant germ eating their base.

I've always thought of the Vipers, Eels, Snow Serpents, troopers and all the various "insert-name"-Vipers were interchangable to where ever they were needed. Basically one and the same.

[Loose Cannon]

In my JoeVerse Cobra is seemingly very top heavy. Depending on which characters you chose to include and whether they are alive. It probably works like alot of totalitarian dictatorships when all your leaders are as power hungry as Cobra is. They all are made into generals to appease them. I see Crimson Guards as all officers. Immortals maybe Colonels, and CG commanders as 0-5s. The rest of the CGmen are Lawyers so they are college educated. They come into Cobra as Captains and Majors. As far as Vipers and Troopers go. I see that like Vipers are the few and the Proud and the Troopers are more the regular army type. Like a conscript. Range Vipers are your biggest Baddies.

[DaViper]

In the cartoon some troopers are seen dressing up in Eel outfits when they needed to escape the giant germ eating their base.

I've always thought of the Vipers, Eels, Snow Serpents, troopers and all the various "insert-name"-Vipers were interchangable to where ever they were needed. Basically one and the same.

I always thougth the same, I remember seeing a snow serpent with the cobra trooper helmet and mask on in the cartoon. I don't think cobra really has a ranking system. All I know is Crimson guards are not former cobra troopers that rise to that rank, but a different class of their own. So you don't rise in the rank of cobra but you start where you specialize in. (ie. alley viper, frag viper, tele viper, chef viper, DaViper :D etc...)

[Spade]

This is how I view things from the most part.

The Drednoks are biker gangs lead by Zartan. The Drednok figures like Torch, Ripper, Road Pig, etc are his underbosses. There are 100's of Drednoks we have now seen.

The Cobra Troopers are the Cobra Army.

The Cobra Vipers are the Cobra version of Marines. In my mind I have Scrap-Iron as their Boss. His original uniform is a close match to their color scheme.

The Crimson Guard are another division of the Cobra forces. Like the cartoon they are coporate/politicians figures. All Crimson Guard members have to undergo the "Fred" plastic surgery like the comic book. Tomax and Xamot are the Bosses. Commandos are full time soldiers and Immortals are the highest of the Guardsmen. their are only about a 100 members of the Crimson Guard worldwide.

The Jungle Cobra Troopers, Snow Serpents, Eels, etc are specialized troops.

Again in my mind Copperhead is the boss of the Jungle Troopers. Firefly is the unoffical boss of the Cobra Night Troopers and a few Stinger drivers (cause they were grey and black). Since he prefers to work alone. They are his support more than anything.

Wild Wesel would have a squad leader of Air Troopers but isn't the Cobra Air Command.

But let me pull back for a minute. All the divisions would have soldiers with different rank.

Cobra is many the Cobra Army with a few squads here and there.

[Snowjob00]

Good post but I doubt there has ever been anything established. I don't know why not, Star Trek has manuals documenting all of this material as well as giving a detailed account of everything else including Ship classes and schematics and blueprints and such. I would love to see an official GiJoe compendium of rank, order and stature including vehicles listings and some blueprints. That would be very cool indeed.

[Monkeywrench]

back from the dead!