GI Joe General

[Onslaught Six]

Hadn't even heard of the Red Ninjas, but I'm wary of 90s toylines' usage of "ninja" stuff, particularly when I can remember reading about "the Empire of No-Kan-Doo" on the back of a Joe figure way back when.

The Red Ninjas were actually introduced long before then. They were members of Storm Shadow's reformed Arashikage clan. Snake Eyes fights three or four of them while he heads up to fight Storm Shadow in Silent Interlude. Speaking of...

Hush Job was a story without any non-diegetic text, not even thought bubbles or narrative inserts. Really stuck with me. As did someone being called "Hard Master" and a little kid with an eyepatch kicking asses.

Sounds that was a rebranding for the UK--over here, it was originally called 'Silent Interlude,' and is one of the more well-known GI Joe stories.

Hard Master was Storm Shadow's uncle. The "kid with the eyepatch" is Billy, Cobra Commander's (illegitimate?) son. At one point, after being given some badass power armour by a Crimson Guard, he decides it's time to go legit and be the father he never was. This leads the Crimson Guard to kill him, steal the power armour, and impersonate Cobra Commander for the next few years or so.


Cover Girl was not released in the UK, due to the early line's origins with Action Force. Put simply: In 1982ish, Palitoy (owners of the GI Joe license, or something like that) decided that their 'Action Man' toyline should be scaled down to 3 3/4", with articulation like the popular Star Wars line. The first year consisted mostly of GI Joe/Action Man-like nameless, faceless "accurate" soldier-type figures, while the second year established the Red Shadows (a villain faction) and gave 'Action Force' characters names and personalities. A few of these, mostly vehicle drivers, were GI Joe repaints--'Red Laser,' a Japanese laser specialist for the Red Shadows, was a Cobra Commander repaint. 'Hunter,' a driver for the Action Force's Jeep, was a repaint of the Cobra Officer. Destro got renamed 'Red Jackal' and was packaged with a red HISS. A year or so later, Hasbro bought out Palitoy (or something) and decided to bring more of GI Joe's characters into the mythos--so Duke, Flint etc. all showed up, only under the 'Action Force' banner, and sometimes with changed backgrounds. (I think Flint is changed to be from France, probably because he has a beret.) By this point, Action Force's original comics completely stopped being published, and Marvel UK took over the license to mostly release reprints of Hama's GI Joe run in the back of issues of TF.

Cover Girl, being a mostly-obscure 83 character (who was also a vehicle driver whose vehicle had already been used in Action Force) was likely passed over.

or the ones with specialties so crippling I can't imagine they had much to do (who is Torpedo going to fight? I never saw any aquatic Cobra forces on the shelves!)

You missed the Cobra Eel, supposedly one of the most sought-after Cobra army builders? (I never got one. Screw aquatic specialists. I don't play with toys in my bathtub or pool. And, as much as I liked the fanboat in Retaliation, I can't bring myself to buy one knowing it'll sit on a shelf looking dumb.) Or the Aqua-Viper, who I actually want because he has a unique head and his vest is cool fodder?

I mean, I can see people connecting with the characters the way you talk about (like I said, I wanted to get Law for a friend of mine for a bit there because he's an MP), I just can't see myself doing it with GI Joe on any level, since I don't think there are any Joes who're intermittently-dejected action figure collectors from Fresno.

Hey, I'm with you, I don't connect to characters that way either. I connect to them when they have awesome designs, or when they have the occasionally-good backstory. (Read Hit & Run's filecard sometime.)

[Gomess]

And this is why VENOM is the best evil organization ever. I wonder if they participate in neighborhood barbecues or decorate their house up with the rest of their lane for Christmas?

I dunno, but they have a communal shower, and Miles Mayhem gets mad when Floyd Malloy tries to take his radio in there. "Don't EVER take electrical equipment into the shower!!" "Gee, sorry Miles!"

And honestly, as the resident Picky About Minorities Guy, I am pleasantly surprised by the original (dunno about later stuff yet) Joe's representation. The black guys- with the notable exception of "Dee Jay", ech- have a pretty robust, non-stereotypical skillset. Roadblock stands out especially, with his "strong guy who lifts stuff" gimmick tempered by his true calling as a chef. And while the wimminz all seem to be caucasian, it's nice they all have different hair colours. No, seriously!

And that the sole woman in the original team is the hand-to-hand combat specialist. And besides her great codename, Cover Girl should get more notice for being not only a female vehicle operator, but a heavy weapons operator.

...Though I'm not sure "Cover Girl" is the right codename for a missile tank pilot. Surely it makes more sense for a spy like Lady Jaye? Unless it's "cover" as in "cover fire"... I hear you can give suppressing fire with explosives, it's just kinda hard to do.

[BWprowl]

I dunno, but they have a communal shower, and Miles Mayhem gets mad when Floyd Malloy tries to take his radio in there. "Don't EVER take electrical equipment into the shower!!" "Gee, sorry Miles!"

I know, I love that. Miles is a pretty good guy to work for, pushing his guys hard but still concerned for their safety. He's really just a big ol' softie.

I also just love how they all pitch in on yardwork on their off-days.

[Gomess]

I also just love how they all pitch in on yardwork on their off-days.

"Bruunoo, y'better pick up those raaakes..."
"Aww, like anythin' bad's gonna hap--OOF"

[Dominic]

Though I'm not sure "Cover Girl" is the right codename for a missile tank pilot. Surely it makes more sense for a spy like Lady Jaye? Unless it's "cover" as in "cover fire"... I hear you can give suppressing fire with explosives, it's just kinda hard to do.

Her profile describes her as being more than able to compete/succeed in male dominated areas. But, it also describes her as being willing to use the fact she was attractive to distract/disarm those around her.

The Red Ninjas were actually introduced long before then. They were members of Storm Shadow's reformed Arashikage clan. Snake Eyes fights three or four of them while he heads up to fight Storm Shadow in Silent Interlude. Speaking of...

Yup. Greek Tragedy with Ninjas.

and even then I pointedly avoided the fiction, so I didn't really connect or latch onto any of the characters (save Cobra Commander and Zartan, mostly because I thought they looked

Well, if you are going to avoid the IP of an IP driven line, you are going to miss something.

Will I ever get around to taking in Joe stories when it's taken me this long to read IDW's TF comics? Will I get it wrong and watch the 80s animated movie instead of reading WWIII?? Stay tuned

The first 100 or so issues of Marvel's US run were mostly good. The last 50-odd, not so much. (I think that the UK stopped running "Action Force" comics before US issue 100, stopped running new content well before that.) "Special Missions" is also worth picking up if you can find it.

DDP had an uneven run that went off the tracks during their fourth year with the license. They tried too hard to appease the more vocal (and backward looking) elements of the fandom while trying to produce a legitimate comic, and they failed at both. But, Devil's Due Productions also had some legitimately strong offerings before and after the "so bad you have to read it" "Rise of the Red Shadows".

With IDW, skip everything that is not written by Costa or Raicht.


Dom
-all this for a more or less dead line.....

[Gomess]

Any franchise based around Good Soldiers Killing Bad Soldiers that can catch *my* eye probably won't ever die- it clearly has something.

Apart from the silly names, of course. Can't believe I only just got the reference with Scarlett- she's even an Atlanta native, sigh. Oh, and Torpedo's surname "Leialoha" *might* be more racist than "No-Kan-Doo". No.. wait.. no, ok, it's a draw.

I must admit, particularly as a Godfrey Ho fan, that all the caucasian 'ninjas' are backwardly fascinating. Jinx's all-red ensemble and Storm Shadow's real name stand out in particular. Lots of fun there.

...Interestingly, the kanji would be correctly transliterated as "Ranei," not "Arashikage," but since the latter is Official even Japanese sources write it that way. The power of canon!

(I know it doesn't sound like I like it, but I do)

[Dominic]

Jinx and Storm Shadow are both Japanese. The only western ninjas are Snake-Eyes, Billy, Blind Master, Zartan and (if you include the DDP run) Kamakura. Firefly is ethnically European, but (if only in the comics) spent most of his life in Japan.

...Interestingly, the kanji would be correctly transliterated as "Ranei," not "Arashikage," but since the latter is Official even Japanese sources write it that way. The power of canon!

?????

Please explain. What kanji are you referring to? The hexagram tattoo? The kanji for the term "arashikage"? What does "ranei" mean?

[Gomess]

I'm going on the toys, and there's HEAPS more western ninjas than that! All with their own bios. And I'll have to take your word for it on Storm Shadow and Jinx being Japanese, since going by the toy bios their first names are Thomas and Kim, and their birthplaces are Missouri and California, respectively. Not as Japanese as they could be, eh?

Anyway, what I meant was that- assuming Storm Shadow really is a Japanese national who writes and speaks the language- the kanji which would supposedly spell "Arashikage"- i.e. the one kanji pronounced "arashi" and the one pronounced "kage"- would actually be pronounced "Ranei" as a compound. It's a peculiarity of Japanese, that each kanji has upwards of two proununciations depending on syntax.

So of course, "Ranei" just means "Storm Shadow". But, unlike "Arashikage," it's linguistically correct.

[Dominic]

The explanation for Jinx and Stormshadow was that they were born in the US (and thus were US citizens), but spent significant amounts of time in Japan, to the point where they could function as well there as in the US.

Similarly, Firefly was probably western. (When he was shown out of mask, it was during the 90s, when lazy art made it hard to discern ethnic features).

If I had to guess, (and that is all I could do), I would guess that the incorrect parsing of Stormshadow's name is due to said name being a compound word in English, and the kanji were being written seperately.

Are you saying that the kanji for "storm" and "shadow" would (for lack of a better way to put it) stack to become "ranei"? (By "stacking" I mean that the two kanji symbols would overlap like transparencies, similar to using "l" and "o" to make "b".) Or, would they be written side by side? (Actually, it is a safe bet that Hama has already answered this. If I had the time at the moment, I would research it further.)

[Gomess]

The kanji would be written side by side- 嵐影- assuming it's supposed to be a surname (and, of course, it isn't one).

The incorrect parsing is almost certainly the result of a "good try" of translating on Hama's part; he got as far as getting literal translations for the separate words "storm" and "shadow," without realising that putting Japanese words together changes their pronunciation. Which is maybe what you just said? =3

"Jinx" is even more problematic, mercifully it seems Joe has never tried to translate that into Japanese. Honestly, it'd be much better if she- and Storm Shadow- were just out and out 'Murrican with no pretence of "Japanese legitimacy".

I love some of the more obscure ninjas though- there's even one called "Bushido," and Slice is apparently from the UK?? Jonestown, UK. There is no such place. Unless he means the Jonestown Garden Centre in Liverpool. Slice & Dice = Scouse & Douse