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View Poll Results: Which Nation Inspired Cobra? | |||
USSR | 5 | 17.86% | |
Cuba | 3 | 10.71% | |
Libya | 2 | 7.14% | |
Other | 18 | 64.29% | |
Voters: 28. You may not vote on this poll |
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Thread Tools |
08-04-2018, 08:58 AM | #21 |
Psych-Out's Intern
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Clifton, TX
Posts: 205
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I’m going along with the prevailing view that COBRA never represented a single country in its modeled behavior; this organization is far more akin to something like Ian Fleming’s SPECTRE from the James Bond novels, a large, multinational group that might have started out as organized crime, using former, and later, current members of the world’s intelligence agencies, government bureaucracies, and justice systems to enact a world vision based solely on personal gain. As the group grew, so did its influence and then, its focus. It may have started out as organized crime, but it shifted its efforts from taking advantage of countries to trying to control them, always behind the scenes, never overtly, COBRA has no problem with doing legitimate business, but doesn’t mind using more aggressive tactics to get the job done, sort of like United Fruit in Latin America back in the 50s and 60s (later the Chiquita Banana Company, which in 2007, was found liable for smuggling assault rifles to death squads targeting leftist labor organizers).
It gathered specialists from around the world, disgruntled intelligence operatives, shifty corporate figures, shady legal professionals, disaffected military personnel, etc. The only requirements for joining were flexible personal morals, unquestionable loyalty to the organization, and sheer avarice. It would use any tool to shape malleable governments to their will, and if necessary, replace those figures with people who were more amenable to the organization’s terms and conditions. Play ball, and you were rewarded beyond your dreams, even if you had to do something the rest of the world thought morally reprehensible. Refuse, and your body ended up in an unmarked grave in some place that no one would find you. If you were lucky, your death would be swift and merciful. Topple a legitimately elected leader in the CAR to get access to conflict diamonds? Done. Kidnap a Korean businessman’s family so he’ll drop his bid for a military contract? Gotcha covered. The only key is that everyone is all-in, dedicated to the cause. Keep your mouth shut if you’re caught. Better yet, slip an operative into the security or police forces holding you in custody long enough to give you a needle full of sea conch poison before you spill your guts to the authorities. COBRA will do anything, use anyone, and crush everything in its path to controlling as much of the world as it can. Last edited by LCUChap2016; 08-04-2018 at 09:05 AM.. |
08-04-2018, 05:30 PM | #22 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Houston
Posts: 2,449
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I know everyone seemed to hate Quantum of Solitude, but I liked it because it showed how HYDRA (or Quantum) was able to get influence 3rd world politics to get access to their resources, using a combination of legal means and assassination and terror. I imagine Cobra was doing this in the early 80's, before they became a full-on military force with their own island and government.
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08-05-2018, 10:27 PM | #23 |
Cobra Viper
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 329
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the baby of Hydra and AMWAY.
then life imitated art: Executive Outcomes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Outcomes Blackwater/Xe/Aacademi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academi - Last edited by lsyd; 08-05-2018 at 10:29 PM.. |
08-06-2018, 08:33 AM | #24 |
Iron Grenadier
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 562
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Unlike with previous incarnations of GI Joe, the resurrection of this product line in the 1980's introduced a specific adversary. Hasbro didn't have any villains for the hero to face against when first introduced and during the time of the Adventure Team, most challenges were against elements in nature...not "evil".
Cobra was manifested to serve as an opponent to GI Joe and was specifically "ideologically neutral" as a faceless enemy that represented the worst qualities in mankind. While the hardware was of Soviet origin, the concept of Cobra was largely based off of Hydra - but updated for a new generation. No real motivation was initially developed for them other than a very generic "world domination". The only focus was on them being an anti-GI Joe military threat. They just played for the "other" team. |
08-06-2018, 09:43 AM | #25 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 2,157
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Quote:
Basically, to put it in the form of an example, Cobra recruited Archie Bunker by appealing to his social values and sense of grievance, then tried to get Edith to sell its products or attend its nice little weekday luncheons. Pretty soon the family was selling its products, developing the view that real life should be like a Charles Bronson movie with the Archie Bunkers of the world as its improbable stars, hanging out more and more with others of the same outlook, then maybe moving outright to a Cobra town and going from there.
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08-06-2018, 02:52 PM | #26 |
Cobra Interrogator
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Undisclosed Military Installation in Kentucky
Posts: 1,466
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Quote:
the baby of Hydra and AMWAY.
then life imitated art: Executive Outcomes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Outcomes Blackwater/Xe/Aacademi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academi - |
08-07-2018, 11:00 AM | #27 |
Sith/Jedi Hybrid
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Middle TN
Posts: 3,197
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None of the above! COBRA was not based on a country.
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08-08-2018, 04:52 PM | #28 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Northern Virginia
Posts: 1,586
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Quote:
Cobra, like GI Joe and most other long standing franchises, adapted with the times. So, at varying points...Cobra was part of ANY of those options.
But I view much of Cobra's direction (aside from the clear Hydra foundations) was filtered through concepts of domestic terror groups like the Ku Klux Klan with overtures from the Nationalistic stylings of Nazi Germany and similar fascists. What I've found so scary about Cobra is by how much the current political climate feels like something Cobra would have relished. With Extensive Enterprises providing a cable news service...that's a LOT of influence. And I think that's part of the issue in bringing Cobra and the Joe brand back...if you get too realistic, you start crossing into territory that is going to make some people uncomfortable, if not offended. I grew up on the comic and I can't speak to the cartoon. But my reading of Cobra, as it was developed by Hama, is of a heavily armed and increasingly well-funded and well-connected cult/militia. An organization that, more than anything else, represents us (the USA) at our worst: violent, militarized, self-serving, ruthless, greedy, selfish, fear-driven, and money-obsessed. A pit of paranoid vipers, each out for him or her self, and ready to stab each other in the back as soon as it benefits them. Cobra at its core is A Real American Villain. I'm thinking of Cobra Commander's speech to the inhabitants of Millville. And similarly, in one of the British comics there's a speech Cobra Commander gives to Baroness and Destro while SE is spying on them. The whole thing is a sort of sci-fi imagining of US fascism - and as with the Galactic Empire in SW, Cobra had an aesthetic that recalled Nazi-era Germany at times. Now sure, it was called an "international terrorist organization", it developed its own sovereign island, and certainly it reached out over the world and recruited troops and many of its main characters from all over the world. You can't imagine Cobra without all its colorful non US members and associates (though note how almost all of them happen to be caucasian). Come to think of it, you can regard Cobra as a sort of Ellis Island for the world's misfits and bad guys. Cobra Commander is a James Bond bad guy on steroids. I have my reservations with aspects of '80s era representation of G.I.Joe as purely righteous and infallible - the world is simply not that simple. But as 9/11 recedes into the rear view mirror and the US wades deeper into the 21st Century, its citizens polarized and a terrified of one another, Cobra is proving itself to be less sci-fi than we might have imagined. Last edited by Stormgard; 08-08-2018 at 04:55 PM.. |
08-12-2018, 09:45 AM | #29 |
retro O-rings, baby!
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: USA
Posts: 829
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08-13-2018, 12:02 AM | #30 |
Hisstank.Com General
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Brooklyn NY!
Posts: 5,239
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Quote:
We all know that Cobra was a figment of Larry Hama’s imagination, though influenced by things like Hydra. But Cobra didn’t really behave like a terrorist organization (at least not those of the ‘70’s and ‘80’s). It ran like a state. Heck, it had its own island. Twice. It manufactured and sold sophisticated weapons. It influenced states. So what if Cobra was really based on one of the 1980’s geopolitical “enemies of the USA”? Which enemy would that be?
The Soviet Union: The Bear! The Red Hordes! The superpower that armed the oppressed world, exporting advisors and weapons to perpetuate proxy wars, and that conducted shadowy cloak and dagger campaigns of espionage and sabotage. It also suffered from near perpetual internal political struggles between its elite leaders, with all sorts of intrigue and treachery. Why is it a good fit? It was THE enemy. Why might it not be a good fit? It may be too big. Cobra behaved a bit like the USSR, but seemed nimbler in a way. And Cobra doesn’t really have a Communist ideology. Even Baroness dropped that after a couple of issues. And the Oktober Guard were Soviets. Joe wasn’t sufficiently of the Surrealist Movement to have Soviet troops fighting Cobra based on the Soviet Union. Cuba: It’s an island. It’s almost in the Gulf of Mexico. Casto ruled through what almost amounts to a cult of personality, while exporting soldiers and equipment to wars in Africa, Central America, and the Middle East. The US tried all sorts of sneaky (and completely inept) ways to knock of Castro (Bay of Pigs! Poisoned cigars!) that could have been Joe stories. Why is it a good fit? Geography! Why might it not be a good fit? Again, communism. The behavior is right, but not the ideology. Libya: You could spell the leader’s name with a G, a K or a Q! Libya supported terror groups from every continent. It fought wars with most of its neighbors. It ran secret programs to develop weapons of mass destruction. And Ghaddafi’s wardrobe – wow! He makes the Cobra elite look like conservative dressers! Why might it be a good fit: With no rigid ideology, support for terror around the world, and involvement in various hot spots, its behavior aligns with Cobra. Why might it not be a good fit? Geography. Thoughts? Any other ideas?
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