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02-11-2010, 06:34 PM | #11421 |
W.O.R.M.S. Commander
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Back in the US of A! (NoVA)
Posts: 10,649
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CC probably preaches some sort of Free-Market economic Utopia, where everyone has access to everything, and it serves everyone better. The Global Economy is so complex no one would really know if he was telling the truth or not. I doubt Wall Street really knows what it's doing. Or the EU for that matter.
But something like this: Everyone will have access to cheaper goods. Cut out the middle-man Bring up the developing world Down with whitey(The Man) Entreprenuership Guarantee Jobs Double your money Invest in Real estate Currency exchanges Taxes!? Taxes?! WTF for? It's unconstitutional! Don't Tread on Me! This is what apparently Benjamin Franklin saw as reasons to why the Rattlesnake should be the symbol of the United States, after he saw a Marine Drum with the Rattlesnake and the words "Don't Tread on Me" written underneath: First, it occurred to him that "the Rattle-Snake is found in no other quarter of the world besides America." The rattlesnake also has sharp eyes, and "may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance." Furthermore, "She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage. ... she never wounds 'till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her." Finally, "I confess I was wholly at a loss what to make of the rattles, 'till I went back and counted them and found them just thirteen, exactly the number of the Colonies united in America; and I recollected too that this was the only part of the Snake which increased in numbers. ... "'Tis curious and amazing to observe how distinct and independent of each other the rattles of this animal are, and yet how firmly they are united together, so as never to be separated but by breaking them to pieces. One of those rattles singly, is incapable of producing sound, but the ringing of thirteen together, is sufficient to alarm the boldest man living." |
02-11-2010, 08:50 PM | #11422 |
G.I.Joe medic
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Litchfield, ME
Posts: 3,169
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That's pretty cool, Loose, I'd never heard that before. I always wondered what the significance of the rattlesnake was. I agree that Cobra is so much more than just a bunch of guys running around in crazy costumes. I think the way Larry Hama showed them in the 30's-50's is close to what they should be-a bunch of folks who are fed up with the way things are and are trying to have a violent overthrow of the government mixed in with a pyramid scheme as a way of getting money. If you look at #49, the Attack on Springfield, there's a lot of families and older couples there, not just Vipers and Blueshirts. I think old CC would pretty much do whatever he had to do to get the job done-the ends always justify the means in his book.
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02-11-2010, 09:51 PM | #11423 |
Hog Driver
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Georgia
Posts: 12,235
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That's a great interpretation, Loose, and thanks for that bit on Ben Franklin. I enjoyed reading it. I never saw the Rattle Snake as a possible symbol of unity and strength. This would give Cobra some complexity and even, I dare say, humanity. Perhaps too complex for kids who might not know who the bads guys are supposed to be but giving Cobra more rational motives transforms the simple black and white conflict of Joe Vs Cobra into something a little more gray.
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02-12-2010, 12:27 AM | #11424 |
I Ride with Claymore!!!
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Alexandria, Virginia
Posts: 6,821
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Quote:
Thanks for the catch.
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Why aren't there more Joes from the Deep South? And would it kill Hasbro to give us a Marine Corps Officer? |
02-12-2010, 12:42 AM | #11425 |
I Ride with Claymore!!!
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Alexandria, Virginia
Posts: 6,821
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Quote:
That's pretty cool, Loose, I'd never heard that before. I always wondered what the significance of the rattlesnake was. I agree that Cobra is so much more than just a bunch of guys running around in crazy costumes. I think the way Larry Hama showed them in the 30's-50's is close to what they should be-a bunch of folks who are fed up with the way things are and are trying to have a violent overthrow of the government mixed in with a pyramid scheme as a way of getting money. If you look at #49, the Attack on Springfield, there's a lot of families and older couples there, not just Vipers and Blueshirts. I think old CC would pretty much do whatever he had to do to get the job done-the ends always justify the means in his book.
Yeah, those were some of the images of Cobra I was thinking of... and all those families in Springfield were White. Of course every fan has to figure out how/why Cobra works in their own Joeverse. For me, Racism seems to fit into how I read the old Marvel series. If others don't see Cobra that way, that's fine. I just think the lack of minorities within Cobra's ranks were SO obvious, especially when the Joe Team went out of it's way to be diverse. I'm a white guy. My heritage is Scotch, English, and Irish. My family has been Methodist for as long as anyone remembers. So I'm about as much of a WASP as I can be. As a child, I lived in Hawaii for 5 years (2nd - 6th grades), and while we were there the school I went to was 7% white. I was always the minority. Torpedo, the only Hawaiian member of the team is still one of my favorites. When I moved to Mississippi in the 8th grade, my school was less than 20% white and more than 80% African-American. There were a lot other White kids in high school who resented the fact that they were in the minorities, but it wasn't anything new to me. Learning to be "color-blind" was something the Joes taught me early on. In fact, the only Mississippian on the Team was a black guy: Roadblock. Racism is something I've had to deal with all my life. And being a white guy from Mississippi, racism is something I've been accused of (for no good reason) very often. I've seen the Klan march, and I've seen reverse descrimination at the worst levels. It's a terrible thing... And I suppose that's why I associate Racism with Cobra. And as a kid who was very often the only white kid in the classroom, the fact that Cobra was all white was very apparent to me.
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Why aren't there more Joes from the Deep South? And would it kill Hasbro to give us a Marine Corps Officer? |
02-12-2010, 01:24 AM | #11426 |
Hog Driver
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Location: Georgia
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I guess I never thought of it that way, Oliver. Most of Cobra is white, but I always perceived Cobra's army as a collective entity lacking any sense of individuality. I think Hama wanted to emphasize the individualness of the Joes, which revealed itself in their unique uniforms and personalities. Whereas Cobra troopers are just nameless, faceless drones. At some point I think Hasbro realized that Cobra needed some distinct ethnicity so they made a cobra trooper pack with one or two black soldiers.
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02-12-2010, 01:36 AM | #11427 |
EQ-Viper
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 4,343
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Speaking of Cobra ethnicities, as a kid, I always thought that the cartoon version of Destro was black (the skin tone of his chest was ambiguous to me) because of the way he sounded. It was only when I got into the comics (and finally got a Destro figure) that I found out he was supposed to be Scots.
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02-12-2010, 02:19 AM | #11428 |
Bringer of the Black Dawn
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Washington
Posts: 3,987
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why cant you be black and scott?
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02-12-2010, 02:31 AM | #11429 |
W.O.R.M.S. Commander
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Back in the US of A! (NoVA)
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You could be, but you wouldn't be the 26th generation Scottish.
I always figured "Various Countries" on the V1 Cobra Trooper meant exactly that. Particularly in the card art, his skin tone was one that could represent about anywhere in the world. YOJOE.COM | Filecard Gallery - Cobra |
02-12-2010, 02:33 AM | #11430 |
W.O.R.M.S. Commander
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Back in the US of A! (NoVA)
Posts: 10,649
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It's amazing, Cobra Commander was able to connect to all of us on various levels with different backgrounds, in a way we could all identify with. Great Job Larry!
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