Cobra Vipers and wishful thinking

The 1986 Cobra Viper has been my base view of everything Cobra. Well-equipped and trained, motivated by money and power. When one cross-references between classic file cards I think there is more than meets the eye to the grunts of Cobra. I would SO like to see a visit to the base Viper corps from this angle, ... enter into it from the perspective of a new recruit maybe. We never really got that in the "classic" days, rather we got "blue-shirts" running around always getting trounced by more personable good guys in the cartoon. The most personable Viper I can think of is the SAW-Viper from the mass-kill of Joes in the Marvel comic. I guess I kind of think of when he's throwing drinks back with the women in one panel telling the "hierarchy" to shut-it.

Mercer is the only other Viper, but he's become a mercenary. Was he a mercenary before Cobra? This is a guy that would be interesting to investigate more into...

Sometime I'll have to dig out the Marvel comics I have and see if I am wrong about the Vipers and their personalities that I've so far mentioned. I haven't been reading any of the new comics in the last couple years, I really stopped after a couple of years of the DDP issues, started again with the America's Elite, but, I just couldn't get into those. Not that I'm THAT into the Marvel comics, but at least with Marvel and Mr. Hama it felt more cohesive with the toys file cards.

Ultimate toy wish for me is an all-blue-based Viper infantry fire team, and since it's my fantasy-that-will-never-be pack, it would be all classic arah-style and I'm not limiting my pack to 6, 7, or 8. I'm maxing this thing out.

6-1986 Vipers
4-1994 Vipers
1-1990 SAW Viper
1-1989 Frag Viper
1-1990 Laser Viper
1-1989 HEAT Viper
1-1992 Flak Viper
*new* Viper-recruit--first tour of duty viper, looks much like '86.
*new* Viper-officer--'86-based, but no faceplate on the helmet, just safety specs.


Ok, so this will probably change the next time I think about this. And this is just the infantry component. No drivers, arctic, sea, etc., they're their own packs!!

But back to personality. Think about who might join the army in real life, or someone just looking for opportunity of any kind. I think a Viper is a type of person who doesn't have anything else to believe in, other than their own personal advancement; no philosophical or ideology that dictates what they do--not this at all. I don't think they are all full-time bad-to-the-bone always brawlin' street thugs at all, either; that's Dreadnoks. Just like a normal real-life everyday workplace, one needs dependable employees with some kind of education smarts in them. Think about the Motor Viper file card 1986, the "Recon and Perimeter Defense force" attracts the type of individual who likes danger and drives fast, WITHOUT the benefit of an education this type of person might join the Dreadnoks. And then consider that "everyone" starts as a Viper, so in my mind anyway, Vipers are not flunkies.

Probably sounds like I think of Cobra as an Equal Opportunity Employer. No person is going to put their lives into peril unless there is some kind of reward at the end of tunnel, and that depends on the person. Cobra can make that happen, or perhaps the front company(s). And that's where the Crimson Guard, Extensive Enterprises, and ARBCO, really make Cobra that more real. Perhaps Vipers are initially employed in a factory making Marauder NVR rifles, and then after 5 termed tours of action or something, get a piece of stock in that factory. Basically something to appeal to the reward side of things: do this, this, and this, and if all these things "goals" are met, one gets all "that." And if all "that" isn't enough, there's extra duty as, say, a ROCK Viper, where one could get 4 times of "that." But, consider that final graduation risk, too.

More to come on this at various points in the future...