[Patricio]

I just think some of the troops are redundant:
Night Vipers - SAW vipers (they also work with night vision gadget)
HEAT Vipers - FLAK vipers - Frag Vipers
Track Vipers - Original HISS drivers
Strato Viper - Aero Viper
Sludge Viper - Toxo Viper

Perhaps they were produced in different stages of the series when the similar one was discontinued but still why not a new version of the discontinued one instead the proliferation of vipers. Any thoughts about this?

[Cobra Agent 66]

Night Vipers come off as sharpshooters rather than the SAW Vipers, which I'd imagine are suppressing fire and machine gun support. As for the others, there might be a little redundancy, but no more than GI Joe creating new mortar or bazooka troopers, or medics or laser troopers, to keep up with the times and give us improved sculpts.

[Sean_C]

HEAT-Vipers are anti-tank
FLAK-Vipers are anti-air
Frag-Vipers are grenadiers/anti personnel.

Not the same to me.

Night Raven and Condors have different roles from each other, so different pilots.

Track-Vipers can be seen as replacing HISS Drivers.

Sludge Vipers use toxic waste sludge as a weapon. While Toxo-Vipers use gas and function as HAZMAT....oh, there' a Hazmat Viper, isn't there?

There's a whole lot of frogmen, too. (Yet no basic sailor)

Shock-Vipers were said to be flamethrowers, yet Incinerators exist...then there's that Desert team flamethrower Cobra trooper that's really Barbecue with a viper helmet.

Shock-Trooper vs Alley-Viper...funny the trooper came later. One is URBAN assault (Alley) and the other is a dedicated SWAT (shock trooper)?

[46 Zone]

Vipers and Cobra Troopers (Blueshirts). I understand why Vipers were added to the line in the 80's but they are redundant as Cobra Troopers were there first.

[john shaft]

Depends on your "Joe-verse".

Some people classify Cobra as having two different military units, regular "Blueshirts" and the Viper Corps. The Blueshirts represent thugs and mercenaries with very little initial training. The Vipers represent former military and police with more training and experience. A Shock Trooper can be represented as the Blueshirts version of its urban warfare trooper while an Alley-Viper is the Viper Corps version (just as an example).

Or your Joe-verse could have Cobra starting out as ill-equipped in its initial years and its troops are the "Blueshirts". As years go on it becomes more advanced and starts equipping its units as Vipers. So HISS driver units are slowly renamed "Track-Vipers", Incinerators become Shock Vipers, etc. And just like real armies of the world not all units will have the same uniforms right away. So while all HISS units are now known as "Track-Vipers" some will still be wearing the HISS uniforms of old while waiting for their new duds to arrive.

[mcbarkerton]

My Cobra's hierarchy is structured in such a way where one can start out as a basic trooper or basic viper. Based on any number of factors (excellence in job performance, a certain set of benchmarks, or maybe you helped the Baroness move a couch), you can be promoted to the more specialized troopers or vipers.

Thing is, it's all a lateral move. You might THINK you're being promoted. Turns out, the pay raise is nominal, and the actual promotion doesn't advance you that far up the ranks. Cobra's specialized forces and viper corps don't actually reflect advancement. You're just being shifted around.

By the time the Cobra soldier catches on to this system, he's already been "promoted" to a front-line HEAT Viper and sent directly against a Mean Dog, where he's surely not returning.

[Stalker]

Gotta sell new toys tho

[TheSteelBrigade]

I always thought of Blueshirts as Cobra's covert operatives, performing security, sabotage, kidnappings, acts of terrorism, general bad guy stuff in and out of uniform. I imagine them like the SPECTRE agents in James Bond.

Vipers, EELs and Snow Serpents are combat/field troopers and specialists. They are like Army Rangers, Marine Force Recon, Navey seals, etc.

[bloth]

I always figured that Cobra started with only Blueshirts, then as they expanded there were more specialized troopers, especially in the field. The Blueshirts are still the uniform around the base, while other troops were replaced with more advanced tech and weapons as time went on.

[Patricio]

After reading all the input I infer Cobra needs in the battlefield all kind of micro-specializations. Isn't it?