Sure, it's been hashed and rehashed multiple times before, but it's the day before a 4-day weekend, so lets go with it one more time. Do Rise of Cobra figures fit in your Joe-verse? If so, how?

For me, the Joes fit, with some changes to characters, such as Breaker having a different name and serving as a comms officer on the Flagg. The accelerator suits are just better versions of the suits the military is currently researching, not requiring the big, bulky battery packs, so I accept them, too. They just aren't as gee-whiz awesome as they were in the movie.

The Cobra figures are a bit trickier, though. The CC figure, I don't really use, even though I do like the figure. I just don't like it as CC. The new Eel, I use as an updated Undertow and elite Vipers and desert Vipers are the grunts for Destro, serving as fodder while the Grenadiers are his more elite troops. Ice Vipers are just Cobra Vipers in arctic gear to support Snow Serpents. The Doctor is just that... He's known only as The Doctor and is Cobra's resident biotech expert.

Neo- and Nano- Vipers are where I initially had an issue. They just don't fit in with Cobra or the IGs. That's when I decided to expand on how I included Serpentor in my Joe-verse. I never, even as a kid, liked the "spliced together from history's greatest..." origin. It was just too far-fetched for me. Plus, Mindbender was never the 'mad scientist' for me, inventing all these crazy things. He only did psychological experiments, building some equipment and creating a few drugs, but nothing as complex as the BATs. (BATs in my Joe-verse are a construct of a character I call Dr. Terrence Orr.)

One of Mindbender's psychological experiments was to create a better combat leader through psychological implantation and drugs. He picked a 'volunteer' from the rank and file and began to experiment on him. The experiment failed, as instead of creating a man with the prowess of some of history's greatest leaders, it created a man who thought he was all of history's greatest leaders. Another side-effect of the failure was his ardent belief that there was a place called "Cobra-La" inhabited by humanoids who relied on organic tech for everything and were the true founders of Cobra. He was written off as a failure and was to be 'cleansed'.

However, he managed to gain support from some of his guards while locked up. He told them the mythology of Cobra-La he had created, and they bought it. They then spread it to some of the more disgruntled members of the Cobra organization. Soon, he was a messiah figure for them, sent by Cobra-La to bring Cobra to its former glory. A glory that never was, but they do not know that. They bust him out and he declares himself Serpentor, the Cobra Emperor. Those who join him in the Cult of Cobra-La don uniforms with a more organic look, in keeping with their Cobra-La heritage. The discard their standard blues and Viper uniforms and become the Neo-Vipers. Cobra Commander, understandably threatened by this new group, bans the worship of Cobra-La and orders the execution of any who speak of it. The Neo-Vipers and their leader, Serpentor, set up a secret society on the remote side of Cobra Island to worship covertly. There are murmurings of the cult throughout Cobra, but nothing provable.

The Doctor, always ready to advance his experiments, sees an opportunity to use these unwitting patsies as Guinea pigs. He lies to them about visions he's received from Golobulus, ruler of Cobra-La, giving him guidance in creating a new melding of organics and technology. In reality, he wants to test his new nanotechnology on humans and Cobra Commander would not give him permission to do so. He selects some of Serpentor's more ardent acolytes and injects them with a nanotech cocktail, creating the Nano-Vipers.

Destro fills his coffers by supplying weapons and vehicles to both sides. The Joes hope to use this building conflict to bring Cobra to its knees once and for all, with agents Faces and Chuckles working both sides from within.

The figures? Absolutely. I've used fodder from those figures more than any other sub-set of Joe, and they are leaps and bounds better than the 25th figures before it. The characters? Not as much.

For instance, I looooove the Nano-Viper and would really like to get more of them, but they aren't Nano-Vipers. Just weird bio-experiments gone wrong and those vines are fun as hell.

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Alternate universe for the main part

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Hmmm... using the ROC Vipers as Serpentors troops is an interesting idea and makes sense when I think about it. The more organic look of the figures fits in with Cobra-La and Serpy always felt better to me as a Cobra-La guy than with the regular terrorist organization. I may have to come up with a ROC style Serpentor now.

As for the Joe figures, they are Sigma 6 in my verse. I've customized a nice Sigma 6 team (which I've shown off here already) and that's where they are for me.

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I'm with kilcarr. Love the figures. Still some of my favorites to customize. The exception is the various Vipers. I just find that design or the core figure they build off for those to be lacking. I try to make use of them sure, but never as Cobra either. I agree completely those just don't work for that.

But then I don't really use the Joes as Joes either. I just find them more useful for other Sci-Fi custom making. I prefer my Joes to have distinct styles (even though I might modernize and update those from the source, I still like to maintain that feel).

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The figures ,yes. They make fun fodders and generic bodies. The characters, no.
• The characters in Reactive Impact Armors are used as a secret infiltration force à la Splinter Cell. I even have a James Bond in such a suit.
• RoC Shipwreck is GIJoe on his mission to Spy Island.
• RoC Kamakura is Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden.
• SDCC Destro is a gangster / money man for terrorists and I used two others with the heads from Duke and Breaker as his minions.
• The movie vipers and CC represent another organization. Their skull like helmet is pretty neat.
• The Doctor is a generic mad scientist.

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i dont know why but i just do not like movie version characters and really the original looks of most of the characters are the only ones i think look cool. i cant stand the look of modern military either which alot of the new stuff is based on. my joeverse in forever in about 1984 and sporting the more fantasy soldier look they had then, but mostly im a nok guy anyway. i like the cheesy 80s movie punk look that looks nothing like real punk.

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A few of them. I liked some of the Neo/Nano-Vipers even though they look pretty bizarre. And a few other characters have worked their way in. But the movie storyline is just too far afield. It's alternate universe.

Thanks for the responses, guys. I was looking at a RoC Duke the other day thinking he'd be a good base figure for S6 Long Range. I may have to go back and work in other S6 characters, too. I agree that there were a lot of good figures/fodder in the RoC run, and if you don't look at them as specific characters, they're really well done, and the blue-ish uniforms make for great generic seamen to man ships, TTBP, etc.

As far as the alternate universe, there's only one alternate universe for my Joes, and that's the one where Steeler and Baroness hook up.

I use them, but the vast majority have name changes.

-Breaker is now a drone pilot.
-Camo Heavy Duty is a member of Sgt Slaughters Renegades alongside Mercer and the gang.
-Deep-Six is Depth Charge

I have a list I'm still in the process of working out.

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I use them as those characters. There are two characters who use Airborne as their codename so why can't there be two Ripcords or Breakers? Cobra Commander and Destro have had several different appearances so why not use their movie looks too?

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Some of the figures, I use in different roles,
Hawk is Gen. Quaid, another senior officer.
Breaker is Agent Shaz, comm specialist for an urban assault squad, of which Sgt. Stone is the team leader with a bunch of Pit Commandos.
Heavy Duty is Heavy Duty.
Cover Girl is also just a member of the urban team, just not named Cover Girl.
The Doctor is Dr. Rex, just another mad scientist to hang with Mindbender and Dr. Venom.
I have a Neo-Viper and two other similar troop builder types, can't recall their name, I call them my Gunship Commandos, they fly the Gunship and are basically a trio of infiltrators/bad asses.
The Steel Crusher is part of my ARBCO Security team (made up of repourposed Night Watch troops).
I have the blue coat Destro as something he'd wear outside, maybe while making some arms deal or something. Also use two of those figures with a head swap for a suited T & X.
Desert Ambush Duke is renamed Arroyo, a desert trooper.
The cancelled Arctic Duke is Drift, youger brother to Dusty, Drift has a twin brother named Dune, a desert trooper. Got a few Duke heads, may as well use them with the twins angle.
I repainted an Ice Saber as a Cobra vehicle called the Ice Daggar.
I put Byung-hun Lee's head on desert PoC Storm Shadow and call him Shadow Wind, a cousin to Storm Shadow, but more into ninja stuff to be a mercenary and less interested in being part of the Arashakagi Clan.
Ripcord's head on Snarler Cycle becomes Rampage.
Snarler Cycle Beach Head's head on jungle Ripcord's body becomes Wreckage.
Rollbar is not the same character as the Rollbar that came with the VvV era HMMWVs.
Rampage from the RHINO is Heavy Metal.
Zartan and Grunt are Pit Commandos.
Footloose became Grease Gun, a SEAL.
Lady Dial Tone became Dial up, same character, just a different name.
Repeater became Mac (think Predator).
Duke from the five pack that is all dressed in black (Airborne's body) is Ghost, a CIA operative.
Flash became Hot Spot, a Cobra Laser rifle specialist
Bench Press is a separate character from R&R.
EEL with the grey wet suit is the EEL team Commander
Wet Suit got a head swap and became Wet Down
Deep Six is Deep Six out of the hard dive suit
EEL with the different head is a specialist among the EELs
Snow Serpent is the Snow Serpent Commander
Nitro-Viper is Motor-Viper

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Like Many the R.O.C. line was an awesome source of fodder!

For Cobra:
Many of the NEO Vipers/street viper/desert viper/NEO Officers/ Viper commando/red fang ninjas/MARS Troopers were cannibalized to form my expanded Plague unit

RoC Storm Shadow with a head swap became Scalpel

White Coat rex headswapped = Dr. Venom

RoC Destro w/ purple paraviper helmet = miles mayhem (MASK)

Cobra also got a new security specialist: Night Adder

I would say that at least a third if not half of my current collection is ROC LBC customs
Just from Pitt Troopers I have cobbled:
Topside
Scoop
Long Arm
Barricade
Manleh
Slammer (DDP) - security
Hash (DDP) - security
Law Hound (DDP) - security

The Joes gained these new team members:
Sgt Stone
Code Breaker: Abel Shaz
Agent Helix
Speed Metal
Bench Press

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I forgot:

Benchpress gets changed to Benchmark. No longer a Rock 'n Roll rename. he's an Army Vet who now works for the Forestry Service. When he isn't wearing his Smokey the Bear hat and giving guides to tourists at a National Park, he's jumping out of planes into hot zones to put out fires as a Smokejumper.

Female Dialt-Tone is know either Landline or Hot-Line. She is not Dial-Tone's sister. I really dislike having all these brothers, sisters, and cousins all somehow managing to wind up on the same covert fighting force...

Agent Helix is not changed.

Flash is a new character.

Charbroil is a new character.

Desert Duke is an army builder with different heads.

RI Armor Duke is an army builder with new heads.

Accelerator Suit Duke is Robo-Joe, or a prototype suit design by Stark Industries.

City Strike Duke is a headswapped Mariner.

Cover Girl is Bombstrike or Natalie Poole.

Deep-Six is Fumbles. (He was always Fumbles)

PITT Commando is an army builder with head swaps.

Camo Heavy Duty is 'Scuttle', a new member of Sgt Slaughter's Renegades.

RI Armor Heavy Duty is new character with a head swap.

Kamakura is the same.

Sgt Stone is the same.

RI Scarlett is an army builder, with new heads.

Camo Scarlett is new character a new head or hair color change.

Shipwreck is a new character, and operates the Piranha boat.

Snake-Eyes is not changed.

PP Snake-Eyes is just a head swap from being a Borovia 'get George Strawacker out' custom.

Artic Snake-Eyes is an army builder with different heads.

City Strike Snake-Eyes is a new character.

Accelerator Suit Ripcord is another prototype Stark armor. The 'War Machine' to the Duke 'Iron Man' armor, if you will.

RI Armor Ripcord is an army builder with new heads.

JA Ripcord is an army buidler with new heads.

Hawk is a new character.

Air Raid is a new character with a new name. I hate codenames that can be confused with a command for action or one that needs a response. Calling out for 'Air Raid' only causes other JOEs to go into combat mode looking for some type of aerial assault.

Frostbite is a new character, maybe with the Shipwreck head.

Rampage is Heavy Metal.

Rollbar is Rapid-Fire.

Sgt Thunderblast is a new character, responsible for operating small equipment (Armadillo, etc)

Snow Job is White-Out.

Beachhead is Rampage.

Wild Bill is a head swap away from being a new chopper pilot.

PITT Hawk is General Flagg v2 (the son of the original).

PP Baroness and the other Baroness are used for the Baroness.

Funky clear mask Cobra Commander is a new character that requires a breathing suit.

Eel is an Eel Officer.

Viper Commando is not changed.

Desert-Viper is vehicle driver.

Elite-Vipers are Officers.

Ice-Vipers are generic Cobra snow troopers. Not Snow Serpents, essentially Cobra Troopers in winter gear.

Nano-Vipers are Vipers that 'volunteered' for Dr. Mindbenders experiments. They could become Strato-Vipers or Hydro-Vipers (etc) depending on their specialty.

Neo-Vipers are Cobra Troopers with Brainwave Scanner mods. They are essentially mind-wiped and are almost one step up from BATs.

Night Adder is a new Dreadnok.

Para-Viper is new type of Cobra Air Trooper. They do the extreme stuff like wing suits and flying around skyscrapers (like the team from Transformers). Cobra uses them for snatch and grabs.

Red Fang Ninjas are another Ninja Clan. They aren't Night Creepers, and are almost similar to the French Foreign Legion in accepting people fromany background to serve.

Storm Shadow (masked and unmasked) are the same alternate uniform for Storm Shadow. A more 'formal' suit for special occasions. Not a battle suit.

Storm Shadow (unmasked and scarred/masked and scarred) is a stripped down version of the above uniform for the occasion he did get into a fight.

Camo Storm Shadow is a new character.

PITT Zartan is a headswap from being another PITT Commando.

Crimson Neo-Vipers are Siegie greenshirts. They are the office workers on the upper levels of the Extensive Enterprises building.

Rex (black) is a edged weapons specialist. Basically a Cobra version of a Metal Gear Solid character.

Rex (white) is an army builder (with Cobra Trooper masked heads) for the Cobra Science Division.

Destro (gray suit) has a Heavy Duty head swap for a new African Warlord character.

Aero-Viper is not changed.

Air-Vipers are the Night Raven Jr pilots. (Night Serpent?)

Aqua Viper Officer is flight crew member.

Firefly is new character.

Nitro-Vipers are Motor-Vipers.

Scrap-Iron is an army builder for headquarters based Tele-Vipers.

Terra-Vipers are not combat engineers. I'm blanking on a new specialty.

The MARS Troops are Security for various MARS facilities.

Barbecue is anew character.

HFH Firefly is a new Cobra.


Snow Serpent is unchanged.

Copperhead is a part of new group of Cobra Small Boat operators.

Gung-Ho is a new JOE Marine.

Monkeywrench is not Monkeywrench. Needs a head swap to be Monkeywrench.

Night Creeper is a new Cobra Archer (minus the headdress).

Shockblast is renamed and is a member of the new DEF.

Tunnel Rat has the legs swapped out with a GIJOE Retaliation Firefly (the glowy green one) and a Batman Bane head swapped onto it. New character called Green Mamba.

Air-Viper (red) is a RIO for the Night Ravens and the Night Raven Jrs.

Air-Viper Commando is another WIP idea.

Cobra Eel (black) is a Eel small boat operator.

Viper Commandos are ground based snatch and grab specialists (or Dreadnok Kaos crew)

Grand Slam is new og13 character. Operates the FLAK or Whirlwind.

Motorcylcle Snake-Eyes is Ashiko (no ninja ties) with the transforming bike gimmick.

Motorcyle Storm Shadow is head swap from being a high speed Cobra bike specialist.

Wet-Suit is new JOE SEAL.

SRO Grunt is a PITT Supervisor.

SRO Sgt Stone is new JOE Parajumper (or some Action Force liaison).

Speed Metal is new character in another Stark prototype.

SRO Viper Commando is a WIP.

SRO Elite-Viper is a WIP.

SRO Destro is a head swap European (small country) Leader.

AOGIJOEHQ Duke is anew character.

AOGIJOEHQ PITT Trooper is a PITT Level Supervisor.

AOGIJOEHQ Neo-Viper and Neo-Viper Officer are WIPs.

AOGIJOEHQ Ripcord is a new character.

K-Mart Set are new characters wit head swaps. WIPs.

I'll add to this some time Thursday.

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Nope. I've got a team of reactive armor Joes that I'm not sure what purpose they serve, including a custom breaker. Most of my other RoC stuff has been absorbed into fodder, as my 'Joe-verse' consists only o-ring figures.

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