Army building Joes (green shirts)

[RobbieDigital]

In another thread someone asked the question "aren't you only supposed to army build bad guys?" I was just wondering what everybody thought about this? I know personally I don't army build Joes, but i do try to grab every viper I can find. I know in the comics and sometimes in the cartoons we would see regular enlisted greenshirts that are back-up for the Joes but I like the idea of the Joes taking on cobra with just the regular characters, without greenshirts. I only have 1 of each Joe where as with cobra I have multiple vipers and morays. what do you guys do?

[revsears]

that was my comment! lol. I just use the plain joes, i don't like the idea of greenshirts but i don't totaly hate it. At least it can be a junior joe program new recruits have to work their way there, that part makes sense but at the same time i don't want namless troops running around.

[Beach Head]

That greenshirt stuff was part of the corny Joe cartoon. It is not what was intended for the Joes when the toy line and comic first began. The Joes are Joes and don't need any greenshirt rookies hanging around. Thats another reason I hate that damn new comic. That thing is an insult to Joes. Joes are suppoed to be more like the real life "Delta Force." There aren't many but they are the baddest of the badasses.

[RobbieDigital]

Yeah thats how I feel, the Joes are the baddest mothers out there, they don't need greenshirts. That did kind of annoy me in the comic, but it was cool to see how all the regular enlisted rookies looked up to the Joes like "holy crap!!!"

[Sgt. Stalker]

The greenshirts were written into the comic as a means of realism. They are there to give the battles a more war like experience rather than five Joes taking on a whole army of Cobra Vipers. Also, the greenshirts were written in simply to be killed off.. As sick as it sounds. With out greenshirts, who was going to get shot in the battle scenes? not Flint, not Rock N' Roll, not Stalker .. A greenshirt. Issue # 3, a greenshirt was killed in Stalker's arms, who would have got it if the green shirt wasn't there? And issue 4, on the white house lawn, when the Iron Grenadiers jam the Joe's weapons.. which 15 Joes would have been killed than if not for the greenshirts?

 

As for army building figures as greenshirts... I don't do it. Joe's are way too individually styled to be greenshirts.. Many people have been army building Mirage, because they had so many of him and they said he suposedly "looks like a greenshirt.".. he doesn't. He's too high tech, and plus.. Every greenshirt has blonde hair? I think not.

[Tom-1]

Not to get off the topic of toys, but I just wanted to mention something about the greenshirts...

 

The second GI Joe needed general, massive trooper support, the responcibility of dealing with Cobra should've been transfrered to the Army, or the entire US military forces.

 

When Cobra was small and incapable of national conquest (not just the U.S.A) the Joe team had a purpose. But when a small unit blows up to hundreds and requires an aircraft carrier and a fleet of tanks, planes and such... Well then, I think it's time to let the main military force handle this.

 

Don't get me wrong, I like alot of Joes... but when you talk about Greenshirts... it takes away the realism of a counter-terrorism team. Does Delta-Force have hundreds of support troopers?

 

Tom

[Beach Head]

The greenshirts were written into the comic as a means of realism. They are there to give the battles a more war like experience rather than five Joes taking on a whole army of Cobra Vipers. Also, the greenshirts were written in simply to be killed off.. As sick as it sounds. With out greenshirts, who was going to get shot in the battle scenes? not Flint, not Rock N' Roll, not Stalker .. A greenshirt. Issue # 3, a greenshirt was killed in Stalker's arms, who would have got it if the green shirt wasn't there? And issue 4, on the white house lawn, when the Iron Grenadiers jam the Joe's weapons.. which 15 Joes would have been killed than if not for the greenshirts?

 

As for army building figures as greenshirts... I don't do it. Joe's are way too individually styled to be greenshirts.. Many people have been army building Mirage, because they had so  many of him and they said he suposedly "looks like a greenshirt.".. he doesn't. He's too high tech, and plus.. Every greenshirt has blonde hair? I think not.

 

Greenshirts take away from the whole concept about G.I.JOE. You talk about that battle when that greenshirt was killed, but don't you think there are other Joes that could have been in that same Swamp Battle? They could have had Muskrat, Pathfinder, and Recoil. 3 Elite Joes right there. It's just that Josh Blaylock to me can't write and doesn't even bother doing research on the Joe team and instead is turning the comic into another verison of the cartoon in which they focus only on the popular group of Joes instead of the ones that fit the mission best.

With those greenshirts it'll just be another Star Trek when you'd know that one of the redshirts were gonna die sooner or later. In the Black Hawk Down Battle, The Delta Force and U.S. Rangers only lost 18 men as opposed to hundreds of Somalis who were well trained by Bin Laden's Al Quaeda Network in Guerilla Warfare. Those are the types of casualties I expect Joes to inflict on Cobra so it doesn't matter if they are outnumbered. That as aso an urban battle too which are the toughest for any troops. Besides the Joes were never meant to fight full scale battles with Cobra like u see in the cartoon. If that were the case then their base location would not have to have been top secret in the old comic book.

[Admiral Snackbar]

i love the greenshirt idea in the comic. i have always wanted cobras, who i think are better armed, to take out a few joes. now they can. its really as simple as that for me.

[revsears]

they always could and should take out some joes. There are bunches of them and every solider can't live forever.

 

And another thing about joe if they are that big why not fight other groups of terrorists?

[RobbieDigital]

I can see what you mean by needing to have people namely random greenshirts to get killed. i guess it does add a dose of realism. But I just can't understand how like STALKER said people army build with characters like mirage??? i'm not knocking anybody, I mean hey I liked Sgt. Slaughter, so I can't talk. But Joes are an elite bunch and I think it adds somewhat to the story too, Joes taking on a huge foe, kinda adds drama. I guess????? :lol:

[Tom-1]

they always could and should take out some joes. There are bunches of them and every solider can't live forever.  

 

And another thing about joe if they are that big why not fight other groups of terrorists?

 

Agreed on both counts!

I want GI Joe to be able to combat forces other than Cobra. 'Only problem is any realistic terrorists would be offensive :roll: just like all the Cobra troopers and personnel having to be caucasian...

 

I wouldn't mind the Iron Grenadiers making a more independant come-back though... Or even the 'Noks.

 

Tom

[revsears]

unfortantly though this is G.I.joe vs. Cobra that would be my biggest complaint about the line not bad sculpting or lose joints i don't think it's that bad. I am pissed the iron greniders and destro have cobra symbols! and if we get new people why not new villians? non cobra villians? but it ain't gonna happen.

[Chazz]

The greenshirts were written into the comic as a means of realism. They are there to give the battles a more war like experience rather than five Joes taking on a whole army of Cobra Vipers. Also, the greenshirts were written in simply to be killed off.. As sick as it sounds. With out greenshirts, who was going to get shot in the battle scenes? not Flint, not Rock N' Roll, not Stalker .. A greenshirt. Issue # 3, a greenshirt was killed in Stalker's arms, who would have got it if the green shirt wasn't there? And issue 4, on the white house lawn, when the Iron Grenadiers jam the Joe's weapons.. which 15 Joes would have been killed than if not for the greenshirts?

 

As for army building figures as greenshirts... I don't do it. Joe's are way too individually styled to be greenshirts.. Many people have been army building Mirage, because they had so  many of him and they said he suposedly "looks like a greenshirt.".. he doesn't. He's too high tech, and plus.. Every greenshirt has blonde hair? I think not.

 

that's a great point you made Sgt. stalker about the need for greenshirts in comics. it's tottaly unrealistic for joes to go into battle and 99.9% of the time everyone comes back. someone has to die in battle so why not make it some nameless greenshirt? i would realy like to see a story about a greenshirt that rises to the ranks and earns the respect of the rest of the joes. kinda like the underdog who gets put in a situation were he ends up going head to head with somone like destro, gets his butt kick but foils the scheme anyway and gets patted on the back from the other joes but than becomes someone on Destro's hit list! i think it would be intresting to see someone who struggles from day one to make a diffrence and to see them grow as a character from the start. instead of someone always coming to the force knowing every skill known to man, i think that gets a little dull because it's been done over and over.

as far as the figure goes i won't turn any of my men into greenshirts but if they come out with some i will buy them. for someone who actually "plays" with his g.i joes like i proudly do, it would open up alot of new doors for battles and ideas for game play. you could turn the nameless greenshirt into a traitor or an assasin with his whole purpose for joining the joe force is to kill Hawk or Duke, since greenshirts are usually faceless nobodies it would make sense.

[Beach Head]

The greenshirts were written into the comic as a means of realism. They are there to give the battles a more war like experience rather than five Joes taking on a whole army of Cobra Vipers. Also, the greenshirts were written in simply to be killed off.. As sick as it sounds. With out greenshirts, who was going to get shot in the battle scenes? not Flint, not Rock N' Roll, not Stalker .. A greenshirt. Issue # 3, a greenshirt was killed in Stalker's arms, who would have got it if the green shirt wasn't there? And issue 4, on the white house lawn, when the Iron Grenadiers jam the Joe's weapons.. which 15 Joes would have been killed than if not for the greenshirts?

 

As for army building figures as greenshirts... I don't do it. Joe's are way too individually styled to be greenshirts.. Many people have been army building Mirage, because they had so  many of him and they said he suposedly "looks like a greenshirt.".. he doesn't. He's too high tech, and plus.. Every greenshirt has blonde hair? I think not.

 

that's a great point you made Sgt. stalker about the need for greenshirts in comics. it's tottaly unrealistic for joes to go into battle and 99.9% of the time everyone comes back. someone has to die in battle so why not make it some nameless greenshirt? i would realy like to see a story about a greenshirt that rises to the ranks and earns the respect of the rest of the joes. kinda like the underdog who gets put in a situation were he ends up going head to head with somone like destro, gets his butt kick but foils the scheme anyway and gets patted on the back from the other joes but than becomes someone on Destro's hit list! i think it would be intresting to see someone who struggles from day one to make a diffrence and to see them grow as a character from the start. instead of someone always coming to the force knowing every skill known to man, i think that gets a little dull because it's been done over and over.

as far as the figure goes i won't turn any of my men into greenshirts but if they come out with some i will buy them. for someone who actually "plays" with his g.i joes like i proudly do, it would open up alot of new doors for battles and ideas for game play. you could turn the nameless greenshirt into a traitor or an assasin with his whole purpose for joining the joe force is to kill Hawk or Duke, since greenshirts are usually faceless nobodies it would make sense.

 

Then Joes will become another Star Trek. Greenshirts instead of Redshirts.

[halfrican3]

Man the greenshirt idea rocks I've got a few wave1 duke's as greenshirts. One with a hole in his chest and one with his head cut of. I have Storm Shadow posed where it look's like he cut of ones head and stabbed the other one in his chest. or during a battle Snake Eyes take out some vipers and Storm Shadow takes out some greenshirts to get to each other. Good for sceniaro's.

[Viper Hunter]

Then Joes will become another Star Trek. Greenshirts instead of Redshirts.

 

Aww man, you stole my thoughts! :lol:

 

I like the idea of the Greenshirts (Star Trek Redshirt types) in any of my imaginary scenarios with the Joes, and as a matter of fact, I use to put ol' Sgt. Slaughter in command of the original ' 83 swivel arm versions of all the same Green uniformed (shirts) Joes, like Rock-n-Roll, Grunt, Breaker, Zap, Steeler, Tripwire etc..and I had more than one of each of these guys, so had a nice little "Greenshirt" squad going, and of course there would be members of certain rank and specialties that went along with them.

 

Just fun stuff was all! Greenshirts are probably a collector or dio builder type infatuation, so the likelyhood of them being made specifically for our amusement seems unlikely. :-?

 

Nevertheless, I can see it's potential as a fun way to play and build "mission teams" with generic backup troops.

[Chazz]

The greenshirts were written into the comic as a means of realism. They are there to give the battles a more war like experience rather than five Joes taking on a whole army of Cobra Vipers. Also, the greenshirts were written in simply to be killed off.. As sick as it sounds. With out greenshirts, who was going to get shot in the battle scenes? not Flint, not Rock N' Roll, not Stalker .. A greenshirt. Issue # 3, a greenshirt was killed in Stalker's arms, who would have got it if the green shirt wasn't there? And issue 4, on the white house lawn, when the Iron Grenadiers jam the Joe's weapons.. which 15 Joes would have been killed than if not for the greenshirts?

 

As for army building figures as greenshirts... I don't do it. Joe's are way too individually styled to be greenshirts.. Many people have been army building Mirage, because they had so  many of him and they said he suposedly "looks like a greenshirt.".. he doesn't. He's too high tech, and plus.. Every greenshirt has blonde hair? I think not.

 

that's a great point you made Sgt. stalker about the need for greenshirts in comics. it's tottaly unrealistic for joes to go into battle and 99.9% of the time everyone comes back. someone has to die in battle so why not make it some nameless greenshirt? i would realy like to see a story about a greenshirt that rises to the ranks and earns the respect of the rest of the joes. kinda like the underdog who gets put in a situation were he ends up going head to head with somone like destro, gets his butt kick but foils the scheme anyway and gets patted on the back from the other joes but than becomes someone on Destro's hit list! i think it would be intresting to see someone who struggles from day one to make a diffrence and to see them grow as a character from the start. instead of someone always coming to the force knowing every skill known to man, i think that gets a little dull because it's been done over and over.

as far as the figure goes i won't turn any of my men into greenshirts but if they come out with some i will buy them. for someone who actually "plays" with his g.i joes like i proudly do, it would open up alot of new doors for battles and ideas for game play. you could turn the nameless greenshirt into a traitor or an assasin with his whole purpose for joining the joe force is to kill Hawk or Duke, since greenshirts are usually faceless nobodies it would make sense.

 

Then Joes will become another Star Trek. Greenshirts instead of Redshirts.

:lol: i knew that was coming Beach head, as a matter of fact i was thinking the same thing as i was typing it :wink: but i still think it would be a great idea to have in the comic a greenshirt that rises from the ranks. so c'mon, every red blooded american loves a story about an underdog

[TransformHeadOn]

The problem that the people behind G.I. Joe probably have with Green Shirts is that they might see it as dishonorable to real soldiers.

 

Why?

 

Because the Greenshirts, as you guys suggest, are just going to be faceless, no-names who serve no other purpose than as enemy cannon-fodder, and I don't think Americans want to portray "good guy" soldiers in that light.

 

And I hear you on the whole, the fewer the Joes, the more bad ass it makes them when they win. Like Snake Eyes taking out 20 Vipers single handedly or whatever. And as was mentioned, Navy Seals special ops teams usually will work in verrry small numbers with very high success rates. That makes sense.

 

But on the flip-side, doesn't that make Cobra, et al, kind of a non-serious threat? Because if Cobra is so bad ass (which is how I like to think of them, anyway) than how could they NOT kill off at least some of the Joes? For it to work, G.I. Joe needs a worthy adversary.

 

As far as figures are concerned, I would buy Green Shirts if they were cool, but to be realistic, they would need to make at least 20 different head sculpts which would never happen due to the obvious cost problems, or they would need to have helmets or something to cover their faces like the Cobra Soldiers, Vipers, etc., which I don't think would happen either, since that makes the good guy troops even more faceless and nameless.

 

But apparently there's a lot of people out there who want Greenshirt figures, especially if they're going so far as to use Mirage for them!! :lol:

 

So I say give 'em what they want!! Greenshirt/Viper 2-packs: Bring 'em on!!

[Viper Hunter]

 

 

 

Now that's not such a bad "greenshirt" squad! :lol:

[TransformHeadOn]

True enough, true enough . . .

 

But if you really had Greenshirts, they probably wouldn't all have those dorky visors and the same "standard issue" ridiculously huge silver sniper rifles either, would they?? @-@

 

Nice touches, though-- painting the hair on some of them!!

[Chazz]

WHOA!! now that's a powerful picture bro! i think that would make some people change there minds about greenshirts. thanks for posting it

is that pic from your private collection?

[Tom-1]

Now that's not such a bad "greenshirt" squad!   :lol:

 

Nope. It's just sad :lol:

 

Tom

[Viper Hunter]

With ALL the Vipers I've bought, I've got the Mirages for sure, but actually that is not my private collection pic (love the shot though..very cool) and I will give credit of course to the individual whose collection it is by giving the link to his website.

 

This is some awesome stuff here within, and you will definitely ENJOY!

 

 

http://www.geocities.com/jefnsean/TroopersJoePage.html

[Beach Head]

With ALL the Vipers I've bought, I've got the Mirages for sure, but actually that is not my private collection pic (love the shot though..very cool) and I will give credit of course to the individual whose collection it is by giving the link to his website.

 

This is some awesome stuff here within, and you will definitely ENJOY!    

 

http://www.geocities.com/jefnsean/TroopersJoePage.html

 

Yeah I was gonna mention that about the picture. It belongs to "Trooper" who's member of wwwjoecustoms.com I saw that pic months ago and contacted him about it, but he was away on duty at the time. I remember he had some other cool pics on his site as well.

[Doc Evil]

Greenshirts are a ##$%$#ed concept that should be left with the end of the Sunbow series and neverr, EVER visited again.

 

The whole point of the Viper "troop builder" legions is that when you compare the ratio of Joe and individual Cobra characters, the Joes outnumber the Cobras so flippin much its not funny. With squadrons of Cobra soldiers The Cobras actually have at least an equal chance to win. Now if you brought in those stupid greenshirts, what point is there for Cobra to fight if they have to go up against not only The Joe team, but hordes and hordes of nameless guys aws well? Cobra would be so massively outgunned theres no reason to keep going.

 

Also it waters down the Joes credability. Theyre supposed to be the best of the best. What real American hero would send others to do their dirty work and get shot at in their place? The Joes have more than enough manpower to get the jobs done without the Greenshirts diluting them.

 

And as for the so called "Added realism" I think there's one crucial fact you're missing. GI JOE ISNT ABOUT REALITY. It never was. It never will be. It's escapist fantasy and thus shouldnt be bogged down with mndane stuff. You want realistic Army action.? Then go watch an A&E documentary or enlist in the Army yourself. Even from day one 3 3/4" Joe had mobile laser artillery cannons, terrorists in iron measks and not one single solitary real looking outfit. Show me the ninjas we have employed in todays military forces. Last time I checked none of those things exist. So the notion of realism is to be thrown out the window without a second thought.