G.I. Joe Head Canon & Fanfic Filecards

[docsilence]

Top tier stuff.

Love Voltar. It's funny, he's one of my favorites as an ARAH action figure, but I don't know if I could have told you a single thing about the character until now. I just thought he looked cool. Like Major Bludd if he had style and class. Which feels like exactly where you went with it and I love that.

Armada is one of those one where I do not care at all about this character, but your write-up has more hooked deeper into the Cobra/MARS dynamic than I would have expected. Always getting me invested in characters I don't, and don't WANT to, care about.

Psyche-Out is pretty nuts. Really delves into the types of characters that do exist in a military structure but kind of like you said.. how is this even a good guy? What is the psychology of a guy that thinks like that but is still ostensibly a good guy fighting for good causes? I hadn't given the character any thought before now, really. But goddamn, he might be one of the most morally grey Joes ever, right?

Toxo-Viper is just straight-up horrifying.
Love the call out to all the other Joes, though. Love whenever we get to see glimpses of the Joes really operating as a team.

For Voltar, I was really going for "what does a high-end Major Bludd look like? What if Bludd had taste, class, and refinement instead of whatever mania it is the drives him?" Glad that came through in the text.

I honestly knew nothing and cared less about Armada til I read up her background and turns out, she works well for the story happening here. Accidentally finding a useful tool.

Psyche-Out is funny because I was like "ha ha guy in funny hat with green shirt what do I do with this" but revisited his file cards and... he's kind of fucked up. His existence makes me question HAWK's ethics.

The Toxos are interesting because the job is a punishment but... aren't Cobra just mercenaries who are employees at will? Makes me wonder how bought into the fascist culture of Cobra you have to be to let them assign you to the Toxo-Viper squad.

 

[Chooch555]

I always took that Cobra troops were loyalists whereas the high command saw Coco as an ally of convenience.

 

[docsilence]

I always took that Cobra troops were loyalists whereas the high command saw Coco as an ally of convenience.

I figure a lot of Cobra troops are true believers and a lot are Blackwater types looking for a paycheck (the range vipers and stuff, the guys who are REALLY good at their jobs, were those). but yeah, the high command I think not a single one of them sees CC as anything more than a means to an end.

 

[Damien]

Makes me wonder how bought into the fascist culture of Cobra you have to be to let them assign you to the Toxo-Viper squad.

I was thinking about this and it kind of makes sense within the cult mentality we even see under Trump; the deeper you get, the harder it would be to claw back out because you've ONLY surrounded yourself with other cult members. Your grocer, your barber, all of your friends, their wives, your wife, your religious leader and/or therapist; your entire sense of self becomes the cult. And even if you start to feel wrong about it, or even think you may want to leave - where the fuck do you go? Your entire support system and everyone around you is in, and it's not the kind of cult where you can just tell a few people you're leaving and need some cash for a bus ticket.
There's a reason even Trump loyalists today, including within the government, call anyone that disagrees with Dear Leader a 'traitor.' They use very targeted words to de-humanize anyone that isn't part of the in-group.

I can see an argument here that the guys that really CAN'T be punished (high-tier vipers, pilots, leaders, TRUE mercs like Voltar) truly are just here for the paycheck and the opportunity, but that the majority of the army aren't just believers, they're full on cult members.