[J James]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sisco

This could actually be the answer for the Sunbow cartoon too. Zartan could be using tech similar to Jem of Jem and the Holograms as they are in the same animated universe. Maybe Cobra stole the tech from Emmett Benton, the inventor of the hologram earrings and the supercomputer Synergy. Emmett died suddenly in a way thats never explained to kick off the show. Could have been a hit by Zartan, lol.

I didn't know Jem and the Holograms are in the same cartoon universe, but I don't know anything about the cartoon and have barely seen any of it. It is totally easy to connect the two through hologram technology and I applaud this!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dreadnok Twins

Just something random. Perhaps Zarana & Zandar were experimented on in the womb with unpredictable results. Zarana could never get the holography and chameleon genetic properties to work, so she relied on makeup and masks. In Zander's case, the alterations worked too well and he could never turn it off.

I like it. Despite supporting your appeals for Zandar to get more love from the powers-that-be, being "forgotten" is an important part of the character. Being trapped in malfunctioning disguise technology is a fascinating idea for a story.

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Zartan is probably my favorite GiJoe character all around. His back-and-forth cycle of violence, remorse, amends, and betrayal is all too human. He continually strives to be a better man but constantly forgets the lessons he learned and goes back on his word. Zartan is not a hero, he is not really a gray character. Zartan is a bad man at his core, and he has had all the opportunities in the world to change for the better but he just likes being self-centered too much to leave it behind. He is utterly redeemable but yet unredeemed due to his own spite at the thought.

For me, he primarily uses holographic technology. I just unburied this drawing of Zartan I did a decade ago (the art sucks). I used "CANON" as the brand name on the chromed-out holographic projector machines on the handlebars of his motorcycle. If you look closely there is also a medical file on the floor with Buzzer's doctor name, since he was the doctor who subjected Zartan to genetic experimentation.

His mental state is also a big draw for the character. I can completely accept that he doesn't really have any grounding on who he is as a person. Zartan is deeply confused. He wants to forget all the sins of his life but he's obsessed with them as well.

Zartan has also chosen being a biker-gang leader as his primary focus in his later life. He settled on a role. The unspoken truth of the Dreadnoks which nobody wants to discuss is that for every mention of grape soda and chocolate-covered donuts there is a line of coke, a bong rip, and three shots of whiskey. This can't be good for Zartan's mental state at all. Part of me wants to see him as a straightedge focused assassin with a hard body who keeps up his training. The sadder subtextual reality of the character is that he is hiding in a fog of drugs and alcohol with the dregs of society, imagining Onihashi judging him from behind the veil with piercing eyes.

I don't like the experimentation aspect a whole lot. But it is an established part of the character and I'm willing to accept that on some level his body is able to somehow alter itself. His father was also shown in Dreadnoks Declassified to be a movie prop mask maker, so he grew up in the field of mask-making and disguise.

When it comes right down to it, Zartan and his siblings have so many tools in their toolbox for disguise and concealment that they can pick and choose or mix techniques for any purpose.

[TheOverlordCorp]

I liked the way Renegades handled Zartan. The Dreadnoks were awful, but Zartan and his voice actor were great to me. Incidentally, the same voice actor co-wrote The A-Team movie, played the bad guy Pike, and apparently once upon a time played The Bandit in a remake of Smokey & The Bandit movies. Talk about '80s galore!