Okay, I've been wondering for a while, which troops are a part of Cobra's Marine Corps? We know for the most part who are Army, Navy and Air Force, but who are the marines? If there aren't any Cobra Marines, who do you use?

Vipers... They are the advanced combat specialists while Blue Shirts are the regular infantry.

Steve

_________________

I agree.

I'll third that.

_________________

I personally would not.
The Viper corps to me is the evolution of Cobra, the organization, into Cobra the nation.
I.e. so while the Troopers were sort of like an organized and barely trained militia force, the Vipers became Cobra's better equipped, yet still just as poorly trained army.

Besides if we were to delve into it (maybe Tsunami and some other guys can shed more light) but aren't the Marines a little worse off in terms of equipment?

In my verse, there are no individual troops so much as individual roles that get shifted around between a core group of special forces guys.

_________________

Cobra never really had a sailor or a marine trooper. Personally, I use the '01 Laser Viper in that capacity. He has the head that is a nod to the classic trooper, and that red vest could pass for a life jacket. Since Cobra is hardly the massive organization that is the US military, I can see these troops fulfilling both sailor and marine duty.

_________________

Comparing Cobra to the standard US military structure can be a little unforgiving because Cobra doesn't really have a specific Marine Specialty per se so I agree with Ras and here's why.

As for the differences between Vipers and Soldiers, take a look at the filecards of the Cobra soldier (1982), Cobra Viper (1986). You basically get the same desciption.

Cobra 1982 -
One of the nameless, facelss legions of CObra Command. Each Cobra is highly skilled...

Cobra Viper 1986 -
Vipers are the backbone of the CObra legions. They are highly motivated, superbly trained and formidably equipped...
Additional - "If you want to get anywhere in Cobra, you have to start out as a Viper. That's the bottom of the pyramid...

However, the Cobra Trooper from 98 (see below) details the Cobra Trooper as being lower than Viper. Of course, this separation idea goes out the window with the Desert Scorpion card which describes them as lower than Vipers.

Cobra Trooper 1998 -
The Cobra Troopers are the most basic bottom-of-the-barrel soldiers in the Cobra regime. They have to work their way up to even become Vipers.

If you discard the 98 Trooper fc, Cobra Soldiers and Vipers are the same basic troops but with an evolution of armor and training.

Hama even penned this notion into the early Marvel comic run where CC called his Cobra blueshirt soldiers - Vipers.

I still don't see a clear equivalent of Marines though. I don't personally use any as Marines though.

_________________

I completely agree. When I first saw the figure I just went, "Moray crewmen".

OK, to clarify, Vipers to me are the original silver facemask troops from 1986. That is what I base all the other specialty Vipers on.

The Viper v2 mold, the purple one, does not replace the version one, but has a different purpose (I use them in conjunction with the Alley-Vipers)

I think the Vipers could work as Cobra marines. If we take a look at the USMC, every person, no matter what their job title is, is a Marine first. Cook, Clerk, Pilot, whatever-they can drop what they are doing and be a Marine.

Now applying that to Cobra, I can see the Vipers being Marines. No matter what their respective specialty might be, they all are Vipers.

That said, there is a difference between Cobra Soldiers (will always be the 1982 version to me) and Vipers.

Vipers have completed Cobra basic, have served as a Cobra Soldier, and have demonstrated some aptitude to allow them to move up the ranks by becoming specialty Vipers.

So yeah, for anyone to move up in Cobra, ya gotta start off as a Viper. But they still were Cobra Soldiers first.

Some become Cobra Officers (again the 1982 version), Stinger Drivers, or HISS Drivers.

This is sorta reflective of the early Marvel run. The Viper Glider Pilot (even though the filecard says E4) could be Cobra Soldiers or Officers with Flight Training. I see them flying the FANG or any of the early Cobra aircraft. I personally think the Viper Glider pilots are not just E4s, but higher, maybe even the Cobra equivalent of Warrant Officers, if they were Navy they might even be Ensigns.

I like to believe that some of those early depictions (the Cobra bazooka trooper from issue #1 begat the HEAT-Vipers and Flak-Vipers, the divers from the Diplomat issue begat the Eels, and the communications troops begat the Tele-Vipers).

I can't see a specialty Viper operating the ASP or anything like the Surveillance Port. These are manned by Cobra Soldiers and Officers. Each ASP crew would have a Vehicle Gunner (like from the Target set, but in lovely ARAH) to fire the weapons, a small team of Cobra Soldiers to crew it, a Cobra Officer in command, and possibly even a Tele-Viper for commo.

If Cobra Troopers show any aptitude other than cannon fodder, they then go off to Viper School.

Once a Viper is a Viper, they could go to Eel training to either become Arctic Troops or Cobra Navy troops (vehicle operators).

Or they could become Air-Vipers, which then opens up the possibility to become part of the Cobra Air Corps (Aero, Heli, Strato, Gyro, etc).

I just can't justify Cobra not having Cobra Soldiers (1982 version) at all.

Any Cobra vehicle operator (not Gunner) is an Officer.


EDIT:

I also have this need to rationalize why all these new uniformed versions of existing troops come out (for Cobra) and where all the new JOEs come from. The obvious answer is Hasbro keeps making them, but that doesn't help trying to fit them in anywhere.

I decided my approach would be from the recruiting standpoint. I took a step back to see what 'holes' both Cobra and GIJOE had in their ranks.

The Eels are supposed to be the SEALs, but there is no dedicated sea assault troops. I created a new trooper.

Cobra needs $$$$. They need to get money to pay for all the weapons and arms and other stuff. I figured they have their hand in telemarketing, and other Vice categories. That works with blackmailing people, extortion, and the like, and works with the Intell section. Cobra even has paparazzi to get the pics.

Cobra needs a generic helo pilot. The Gyro-V's fly the Mambas and the Heli-V's fly the Battle Copters. Who flies the Transport Choppers? There's a new trooper.



It's too bad Hasbro isn't making the ARAH 6-packs anymore. I would have loved to see one with variations on the 1982 Cobra Soldier mold.

-a red masked commo trooper w/commo (w/ or w/o helmet)
-a bazooka trooper
-a vehicle gunner/weapons operator
-a flamethrower
-a security guard (based on the one w/nite vision goggles Snake-Eyes impersonates during the Silent Interlude issue)
-a mechanic (like the one Destro talks to inside the big fuel tank/aircraft hanger during the Everglades mission)

_________________

What if a cobra troop dies in training? Will he be honored for the leverl he was going for, or the level he achieved?

_________________

He's a dead Cobra Trooper, like Cobra Commander is gonna lose sleep over that.

Cannon Fodder, at that point.

_________________

At home or in my universe, Vipers are like cobra marines.

Cobra troopers (blue shirts) are guards either on bases or camps.
Vipers are more like expeditionary forces and commandoes. Once they conquer and secure a facility or territory, the troopers move in.

From the viper corps rise the other specialists thus explaining why most of them have the word viper in their name.

I "use" the new resolute troopers as CQB Vipers specialized in urban warfare and CQB.

_________________

Yea, those Trooper and Officer filecards from 1998 have never jived with the rest of the establish order from eairler cards.

_________________

yeah, I could see troopers losing prominence once cobra moved towards a more military, less terrorist organization based force.

Vipers are the beginning of the real deal cobra, of course, you still have conscripts, morons, and the mash that join cobra but aren't very high quality, so blue shirts, yeah, noobs or jerks, blueshirts.

_________________

I'd say IGs.
They're a little bit tougher, they carry sabres and they stormed the beaches on Cobra Island in the civil war.
The Iron Grenadiers are most like US Marines.
Cobra doesn't have anything else as close to Marines except maybe BATs.

_________________

See, but I wouldn't count the IGs in with Cobra, I mean lots of times they fight along with Cobra but they really are part of a seperate faction.

_________________