Ramblings of the odd one...

[Sonneilon]

Not sure how to go about this one.

A lot of us watch military movies. We get a lot of our ideas from them AND we try to push a certain amount of realism on the GI Joe team (and well, the GI Joe franchise in general which includes Cobra and all the bad guys). If we want to do pictures of our figures in the snow, we want winter troops out there. We'd want Dusty to be in winter camo and Quick Kick with a jacket on and preferably in white. If the teams are in the desert, we want them to be in a desert scheme. We don't want to see Snow Job or Frostbite running around in their usual gear!

BUT...

Reading the old comic (I have a few TPBs now that I get rid of the old singles) and watching the movie (as well as Thomas watching the original episodes), the colors of the armies don't seem that off to me for some reason. I have no problem with Dusty running around in sand colored BDUs in the snow (as per the movie). The Cobra Vipers are in blue with blue jackets as opposed to white? And then you get to the lil stuff like... Why would Bazooka be guarding Serpentor with a rocket launcher in such a close quartered space? Why does Alpine bother wearing those safety glasses and wearing the rope harness (during guard duty)?

Yet... It all seems fine. For some reason, I can see this all as working even though the real world would say, "You're at the north pole, the camo's supposed to be WHITE not black and green (yes, I'm picking on you Snake Eyes!). Like I've said before, even the original colors of the Alley Vipers (orange/blue) seem to work on some VERY strange psychological level. It won't for Outrider or Ender90210, but for me, there's something bold and cool about it.

Anyway... What's your take? YOU watched the cartoon and probably never thought TWICE about how half these people were dressed on the field in varying conditions! (AND Flint's shirt wasn't black in the cartoon???)

[ToneGunsRevisited]

I've been wondering about what you said in the past weeks. The memories thread made me go back to '94/'95 where my 5 star general was Rampart. Oh yeah! He was the commanding officer of my army and was always inside the APC. The APC wasn't only the command post as he was supposed to held a NBC attack :o . Ar Puro - Tigre Antiradiação (Airtight in Tiger Force colors) played an important role. After a Nuclear attack he was in charge to clean the base :p .

My last pictures, A Bridge Too Far, are showing how my mind is changing related to figures choices. I got a orange helmet, a bright yellow and a brown Rampart at the same picture with a 6x6 great camouflage jeep. And will be trying different combinations. Da hell, they are toys, let us just enjoy them, being Hyper realist or just a desktob battle :).

I was paranoid to match collors and camouflage. But in my memories, the realism hadn't so much need. Not even the bombs falling from the Tiger Force plane respected Isaac Newton's 1st law :P. We didn't heard of homing guided missels. They were all rockets fired in one direction. No flares, no chaffs, no complications, it was just a fun play at that time.

Thanks for starting it G. It was really important to me to speak it and hearing that are others, maybe, thinking the same. Let's Go :cool: !

[lehsreh]

[COLOR=Red]I DO NOT CARE ABOUT COLORS OR REALISM!!! if i did i wouldnt enjoy self-modifiers or grahams dios, i wouldnt be reading dios or lookign at pictures for that matter. if you do, you probably shouldnt be playing with little plastic army men who can go into battle after battle and never die. thats just my take on it. seriously, if we loved the blue and orange of a alley viper as a kid, why should we hold back using them in pictures and dios now? because we know its not realistic? because some people may think badly of our pictures for using them? that is not a reason to not use a figure you love, first and foremost you do the pictures and dios for yourself, so if you want to use them, do it. its like you said, they just somehow seem to work. and it still bugs me how some can say well bright green isnt realistic (sci-fi), yet ninjas taking out dozens of armed men, cyborgs, robots, clones and shape shifters are. who do you think has better camo in a jungle or forest, a gu who has bright green, or a white ninja or some guys in blue and red???[/COLOR]

[Outrider]

I DO CARE ABOUT COLOURS AND REALISM! As far as is possible with 3 3/4" plastic figures anyway. If I'm doing a desert shot, the figures have to be in desert gear, if I'm doing a snow shot, I'll only use arctic figures, and you won't see too many neon figures or freaks (VenMax? Coil Crusher?) in my pics.
The cartoons and comics were basically there to sell toys, so the characters in them had to look like the toys or Hasbro wouldn't have been happy. That's why you had characters running around in totally innappropriate gear.

[Rambo]

I don't care. I enjoy Cobra's colorful variety. There are some weird colored figs but that make them unique. If all of them wear the same they will be only a bunch of green shirts or army troopers.

It doesn't mean I don't enjoy realism and "right colors". :)

[lehsreh]

[QUOTE=Rambo]I don't care. I enjoy Cobra's colorful variety. There are some weird colored figs but that make them unique. If all of them wear the same they will be only a bunch of green shirts or army troopers.
[/QUOTE]


[COLOR=Red]well put. if it was going to be real, everyone would dress the same, we would have no mask, and a sergeant would be leading a bunch of privates, not other sergeants and LT's and majors.[/COLOR]

[ThinkTank]

I care about colors and environment specific uniforms. Cobra wouldnt get anywhere if they had their goons dress up in neon outfits and then told them to fight in a jungle, desert etc. It's kind of like the uniforms the British and French used to wear, bright blue, red, white, etc...Ok for a stand up fight, but bad for guerilla warfare. A lot of times, Cobra wants to be visible and let people know who is coming thru. Other times, they would want to blend in, like when guarding a secret installation or other furtive mission. Loud colors have their place, maybe at base or inside a nuclear reactor, but not in the middle of the night in the jungle.

[ToneGunsRevisited]

[QUOTE=Outrider]I DO CARE ABOUT COLOURS AND REALISM! As far as is possible with 3 3/4" plastic figures anyway. If I'm doing a desert shot, the figures have to be in desert gear, if I'm doing a snow shot, I'll only use arctic figures, and you won't see too many neon figures or freaks (VenMax? Coil Crusher?) in my pics.
The cartoons and comics were basically there to sell toys, so the characters in them had to look like the toys or Hasbro wouldn't have been happy. That's why you had characters running around in totally innappropriate gear.[/QUOTE]
I can understand your point here Craig. Of course super neon figures will not get a long exposure in my pictures, but there are some half-neon I can live with. Colonel Courage, my custom Tracker and his red wine t-shirt for example.

But some of my figures don't get alot of attention 'cuz of the "operational theather". Rampart is one of them since I don't have a desert/sandbox or patience to build one :). I'll try to change that.

[Sonneilon]

Personally, I do try to tailor my dios and shots so the colors are appropriate. But I'm trying to relax that. Look at the latest dio. Flash doesn't exactly match the beach scene nor do Stalker or RnR. But at the same time, it kind of works. But with the current form of the RRTS, look at how varied they are! Bazooka in a red football jersey. CoverGirl in all browns, Barrel Roll in blues, etc... Somehow, I'll make it work.

[Da Talent]

I respect and love the traditional colors of Cobra, BUT, I end up painting them all green anyway :) I like jungle warfare and I like not having a blue army that most have

[Trench-Viper]

For me its whats look cool that matters, I see Cobra as a millitant political movement and as such they dress in a way they (and or Cobra Comander) think is cool not necessary what is the best. Also I suspect Cobra does it to save cost, no need for diffrent camos for desert, winter etc when everybody wears blue all the time.
That said in my Joverse i have cobra divided by cells and the reason they have so many diffrent troop types and uniforms (even overlapping eachother in some cases) is because they are getting their equipment from diffrent places.

[ender098]

Ok, time for me to weigh in on this one. I agree with Craig. I like Realism. However, I DO see guys in different uniforms ending up in the wrong environment. How many of you have watched "Generation Kill"? The ONLY MOPP gear they had was Woodland Camo. That's because for 40+ years the military stockpiled that gear for a War against the Russians on the plains of Germany. Do you think they are gonna throw out Millions of Dollars in Gear? No! I could totally see Cobra Commander being greedy and not camouflaging his troops. The joes, that's another story!

I can see Green Vipers in the Desert. I can See Alley Vipers show up in the Jungle outside a Brazilian city or a Snowy forest near Moscow. I could see Eels coming ashore in the desert. But as for the Neon Colors and the Chrome outifts (Supertrooper and Cobra Mortal), I'd rather do without!

As a side note, If you're in a city, no type of Camo really helps, so most red and blue vipers are fine for city fighting!

[ToneGunsRevisited]

[QUOTE=ender098]How many of you have watched "Generation Kill"? The ONLY MOPP gear they had was Woodland Camo.

I can See Alley Vipers show up in the Jungle outside a Brazilian city or a Snowy forest near Moscow.[/QUOTE]
I watched Generation Kill and the green wasn't ALL that out of place.

About the Alley Vipers, I hope they don't show here. We'll have to kick some B&tts :D.

[DaveCW2]

I've always been a fan of realism. I like my stuff to look like it COULD happen, even on a team with no discernible uniform.

That said, it's difficult to find a "realistic" situation for Bazooka, but he's too cool to NOT use. The same holds true for a lot of Cobra troops, Night Creepers and IGs. Plus, I've gotta' say that if Hasbro came out with the old blue and orange Alley Vipers in the 25th style, you'd see them ALL OVER my shots. Even now I think those are some of the coolest figures to ever come out of Hasbro... unrealistic paint scheme and all.

So, while I'm a big fan of realism, I have no problem putting characters in situations they're not necessarily "dressed" for... providing I like said characters ;)

Have fun!!!

[Sonneilon]

Part of the way I write my dios OR do my 1-shots is taking characters that would be hard to use and make it work. Fans of "Transformations" watched me as I turned a lot of pretty 2D characters into 3-dimensional characters with feelings and what not. At the same time, MOST of the characters involved had decent outfits that catered to the situation. No real outlandish stuff except maybe Storm Shadow who showed up at the end.

So for me to use the RRTS as example in the Hunt finale, it's a challenge if I can make them work in a way people can believe. All my dios, it's worked that GI Joe is facing the unknown. They face monsters that have been created by Cobra. I take sci-fi/horror ideas and incorporate them into. The whole alien thing with Asmodeus and whatnot, ANYBODY whose read Stephen King's "THE MIST" (NOT watched), knows just WHERE those creatures came from. THOSE are the stories I like best from Stephen King. The ones that borderline on realism even if some people can't accept it.

The next story I'm doing, it'll be pushing people even further in how they see the world. But here's the thing. Gene Roddenberry dealt with the concept of genetically engineered soldiers with the Eugenics Wars (ie; Kahn). Captain America has some sort of serum in him to make him what he is, right? So when I push the limits on what I'm doing (mixing the HALO verse with the Joe verse), there'll be a reason why things are the way they are. (don't worry, master chief is NOT showing up)

As I was saying, we've seen Cobra build big funky robots. We've seen them create Serpentor thru DNA. We've seem them do silly putty people (cartoon). They've even changed people into animals (cartoon). Cobra did V-Troops. And there are stories that the Germans tried to splice animal dna with humans in WWII. Cell phones were outlandish in the 60s (ie; Star Trek Communicators) and what does everyone use now? It's entirely possible with what I do.

BUT as I've said in the past, GI Joe is based more in reality than Cobra. It's HOW the Joe team reacts to Cobra's experiments. Being a fan of DOOM and ALIENS, you take normal people and make them face strange enemies. GI Joe is not Capt. Picard who will try to talk the disputes out. GI Joe is at least smart enough to know when to shoot when they are faced with things that want to rip 'em apart.

I don't throw realism out the door entirely. But I want to use certain characters and if they don't GO with the environment, I'll make it work. That's the fun and challenge. But don't push me. I only work with what I know I can handle. In other words, ARAH-colored Saw Vipers will NOT show up, but the DTC will. ;)

[rds13601]

I thought Gi joe was meant to be in the future. Especially with laser rifles and guys like Flash. I'm all for it only if some thought is put in it. Guys running around in Orange like alley Vipers are great targets for Joes. Characters like Wraith are better written and make more sense. Pyhon Patrol well, that's tour call. Some vehicles are hits. like the Hiss or stinger some are a miss. Gi Joe places you as the ultimate critic.As for Alpine's goggle's, maybe they are lase fire nick proof. As for Bazooka guarding serpentor with a rocket launcher. Call DOD!! That's a way to get a man killed. YIKES!!!!

[silentdusty]

I like to have a bit of realism in my shots, but there are sooo many cool characters who may not fit the mold for real military. Though you won't see neon in my shots. I don't really think that fits. That being said, I do try to put my guys in environments where they belong, ie you will never see me use my Winter troops in a summer shot (Except one series where I had the troops drop off a wounded Frostbite, exception to the rule) I have Shipwreck and Cutter, who I haven't used yet simply because I want to use them in a Naval environment, although I could use my version of Shipwreck for other stuff.