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02-06-2023, 11:18 PM | #1 |
Ne Plus Ulta
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Brooklyn
Posts: 4,744
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The ninja in G.I. JOE can be a source of contention in the G.I. JOE fandom, mostly because those who don't like the ninjas feel their overexposed and overly used. Also, those who lean towards the using the JOE team in a real world military sense there's a lack of congruency in mixing special operations operators with martial artists who use mainly melee and bladed weapons. However, ninjas not only work in the JOEverse, they serve a practical purpose and function in the JOEverse that's can be tied to the real world. First let's start by defining what the shinobi are.
often initial capital letter) a member of a feudal Japanese society of mercenary agents highly trained in martial arts and stealth (ninjutsu), who were hired for covert purposes ranging from espionage to sabotage and assassination. - [url]https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ninja[/ur] A ninja or shinobi was a covert agent, mercenary, or guerrilla warfare expert in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included, reconnaissance, espionage, infiltration, deception, ambush, bodyguarding and their fighting skills in martial arts, including ninjutsu. - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja The underlined is very important because in the media that I've seen whenever they're portrayed what I call the "martial arts," aspects ninjutsu which include such tropes as black clad "pajama," wearin' muthafuckas with swords runnin' hella fast across rooftops at night and why are ninjas always runnin' hella fast across rooftops at night? Anyway. On occasion you might get the assassin aspect of ninjas in media, but you never get the intelligence operative part of ninjutsu and from what I gathered in my research that's what the ninja mainly did in feudal Japan, spying. If I were to draw a real world analogy I would say the the ninja were the feudal Japanese equivalent to the CIA and special operations of modern times. Fun fact. Did y'all know that Edward Snowden was working for a private intelligence company when he "broke," bad and told the business? The ODNI estimated that 70*percent of the intelligence community?s secret budget goes to contractors such as Booz Allen Hamilton. ?We Can?t Spy*. . .*If We Can?t Buy!? the briefing said. The former director of naval intelligence, retired Rear Adm. Thomas A. Brooks, said in a report in 2007 that private contractors had become a crucial part of the nation?s intelligence infrastructure. ?The extensive use of contractor personnel to augment military intelligence operations is now an established fact of life.*. . .*It is apparent that contractors are a permanent part of the intelligence landscape,? he said. - https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...0287_story.htm - 5 Corporations Now Dominate Our Privatized Intelligence Industry This unaccountable oligarchy of spies controls the information that guides our military and civilian leaders. By Tim Shorrock SEPTEMBER 8, 2016 The recent integration of two military contractors into a $10 billion behemoth is the latest in a wave of mergers and acquisitions that have transformed America?s privatized, high-tech intelligence system into what looks like an old-fashioned monopoly. The recent integration of two military contractors into a $10 billion behemoth is the latest in a wave of mergers and acquisitions that have transformed America?s privatized, high-tech intelligence system into what looks like an old-fashioned monopoly. In August, Leidos Holdings, a major contractor for the Pentagon and the National Security Agency, completed a long-planned merger with the Information Systems & Global Solutions division of Lockheed Martin, the global military giant. The 8,000 operatives employed by the new company do everything from analyzing signals for the NSA to tracking down suspected enemy fighters for US Special Forces in the Middle East and Africa. The sheer size of the new entity makes Leidos one of the most powerful companies in the intelligence-contracting industry, which is worth about $50 billion today. According to a comprehensive study I?ve just completed on public and private employment in intelligence, Leidos is now the largest of five corporations that together employ nearly 80 percent of the private-sector employees contracted to work for US spy and surveillance agencies. Yes, that?s 80 percent. For the first time since spy agencies began outsourcing their core analytic and operational work in the late 1990s, the bulk of the contracted work goes to a handful of companies: Leidos, Booz Allen Hamilton, CSRA, SAIC, and CACI International. - https://www.thenation.com/article/ar...ndustry/tnamp/ So what does this have to do with G.I. JOE and ninjas? Everything. Some JOE will argue that certain aspects of the mythos need to modernized while ignoring the one aspect for JOE that is in the most need of modernizing and the ninjas. In 21st century the ninjas in the JOEverse need to be intelligence operatives and they should be utilized in this capacity. Hell, even Tommy's, Kimi's, the N.C.L., and the Night Creepers file cards say they have a background in intelligence. Which brings me to our favorite ninja clan. Since the shinobi were spies, private intelligence gathering is very much a thing, it only makes sense that the Arashikage would be one of these private intelligence gathering companies and going forward, (whether it's in the comics, animation, and ESPECIALLY A LIVE ACTION FILM! This is what the Arashikage needs to be and depicted as. When you realize that the ninja were historically always involved in the intelligence community, private intelligence companies do most of the actual spying suddenly ninjas in G.I. JOE make hella sense even down to some of the weapons they would use. Now on to our "favorite," Hollywood executive. When I realized that ninjas could would in G.I. JOE and the ninjas had quasi equivalents in the real world it left me even more frustrated with Lorenzo di Bonaventura and the choices he made with the Snake Eyes movie because dude and the Snake Eyes screenwriters didn't even so much as google the word "ninja," because if they did Snake Eyes would have been a slightly different movie. Let's the basic premise of the film and change a few things. Let's make the Arashikage a private intelligence company. This goes on to explain minor details like how they can afford to live in a castle, have a private jet, and why all these random ninja dudes are around the house. Let's replace the doomsday MacGuffin and giant snakes which can sense your honor with some sensitive information that the Arashikage has pertaining to S.E.'s father Tommy catches him stealing. Tommy makes Snake swear that he won't act on the info, but S.E. does it anyway which fucks up the Arashikage's reputation and causes them to lose a big contract. The Hard Master gets pissed at Tommy and forces him out of the family business. Zartan kills the Hard Master to eliminate competition from E.E.'s private intelligence company and naturally everybody thinks Tommy did it. So we go on with the normal subplot of Tommy infiltrating COBRA to find out who killed his uncle. Now would this film did better than we got. Hell, I don't know. Probably. However, I will say that having films based in realism does make for a more enjoyable film when it's executed properly.
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Last edited by Fred Broca; 07-22-2023 at 10:18 AM.. |
02-06-2023, 11:57 PM | #2 |
Just a fan
Join Date: Feb 2021
Location: NY
Posts: 8,579
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To clarify, you want them to be ninjas in the sense that they're the modern equivalent, ie., covert operatives? You don't want them used the way they have been, as avatars of orientalism? They would use modern, not feudal-era gear? If so, that sounds great. I have even called for the same thing. Not sure I would even use the term ninja, though.
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02-07-2023, 12:15 AM | #3 |
Ne Plus Ulta
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Brooklyn
Posts: 4,744
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Quote:
It depends on who it is and what they're doing, (e.g. Jinx,) most of the time Jinx wouldn't be walking around with her fangtian ji, but she would carry a tanto, or possibly a kusari-fundo, and shuriken. You have to call them that so people would know who they are.
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02-07-2023, 12:20 AM | #4 |
Just a fan
Join Date: Feb 2021
Location: NY
Posts: 8,579
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Quote:
Yeah, they're spies that are proficient in martial arts and some are proficient in the use of certain far eastern weapons.
It depends on who it is and what they're doing, (e.g. Jinx,) most of the time Jinx wouldn't be walking around with her fangtian ji, but she would carry a tanto, or possibly a kusari-fundo, and shuriken. You have to call them that so people would know who they are. |
02-07-2023, 12:32 AM | #5 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Houston
Posts: 2,449
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I know a lot of folks hate them, but the ninja storyline is the heart of G.I. Joe. It would be like Daredevil without The Hand and Elektra, or Ninja Turtles without the Foot.
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02-07-2023, 12:34 AM | #6 |
Just a fan
Join Date: Feb 2021
Location: NY
Posts: 8,579
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02-07-2023, 01:13 AM | #7 |
Cobra Elite Trooper
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Blackwater Prison
Posts: 1,359
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I prefer the Sunbow cartoon's way of handling Ninjas, where Storm Shadow was basically it. One Ninja mercenary was cool. The Comics and later Toys made too many Ninjas and diluted Storm Shadows' uniqueness. The comics contant flip flopping of Storm Shadow from Cobra to GI Joe and back to Cobra got old fast.
Snake-Eyes being trained with the Arashikage for the comic backstory and being Storm Shadows rival I'm fine with. But when Zartan and Firefly were added to the Arashikage story line I hated it. And whenever the comics become Snake Eyes vs Stormshadow or heavy into Ninjas again for the upteenth time I loose interest. I think every story angle possible with Ninjas has been told by now. I prefer Jinx as the sister of Storm Shadow story better than the GI Joe movie Falcons girlfriend. Renegades version was really good too. Kamakura was interesting as Snake Eyes pupil and was a decent character in the Devil's Due run so I give him a pass on being a Ninja. I know nothing about Ninja-Ku but Storm Shadows mold in black is awesome. Slice and Dice are the only other 2 ninjas I give a pass too cause I actually liked their figures and Cobra needed new ninja mercs when Storm Shadow left. Bushido, T'bang, Banzai, Dojo, Nunchuk, Ninja Scarlett, pretty much everything Ninja Force is meh to me. The red ninjas just feel like the writers wanted to use The Hand from Marvel. And I feel the Nightcreepers and Ninja Vipers take away from Storm Shadows uniqueness again. Nightcreeper is a cool figure though and I prefer to think of it as a unique character and not a bunch of faceless cannon fodder. Last edited by sisco; 02-07-2023 at 01:17 AM.. |
02-07-2023, 02:06 AM | #8 |
Cobra Viper
Join Date: Jan 2022
Location: LA
Posts: 159
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Well, I agree that ninjas were the CIA and/or Spec Ops of their day. A highly trained warrior caste that were considered low class scum of their society that the ruling class looked down on and at the same time, hired to do their dirty work because of how effective they were at it.
When Storm Shadow first came out, it was magically awesome. Cobra already had freaky characters, so aside from the anachronism, he wasn't that out of place. And next year, when it was revealed Snake Eyes was also a ninja, it made him that much cooler. If it had stopped there, I don't think anyone would take issue with it. But in the later years, when everyone from Zartan to Firefly was also revealed to be a ninja, and then you had the red ninja armies, and the Ninja Turtles inspired cash grab that was Ninja Force, it just became too much and (most) fans got sick of it. Larry Hama also had a tendency to write ninjas as basically the Jedi of the Joe world: their abilities bordered on super powers, and that doesn't sit well in a military comic, at least to me. Just my 2 cents. |
02-07-2023, 02:59 AM | #9 |
Commando
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Britain
Posts: 3,827
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I'm fine with a bunch of sneaky-beaky types carrying shuriken and nunchuks to take out sentries silently when they're getting into places and calling themselves "ninjas" as a joke as that was my conception for Ninja Force in a discussion on how to make them work in a real-world Joe team, but anything else is ludicrous. Buncha dudes running around in pyjamas waving swords and axes aren't going to last five seconds in a firefight with Special Ops troopers.
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02-07-2023, 05:30 AM | #10 |
Dark Lord of the Mods
Join Date: Dec 2021
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 7,340
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I don't mind the ninja, too much. I do mind the cyber ninja that proliferated Hama's more recent issues, but Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, not so much. There weren't really that many issues that only featured them. Most of the time, what they were doing was coinciding with other stuff in the issues with the other Joes or Cobras. I was fine with that.
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