Stormshadows motivation for being in Cobra

[revsears]

I'm not sure what the movie holds on his motivation, but resolute had him as just a jealous prideful little turd (one of the weakest parts of a great imo)

 

So i was thinking, since stormy is now forced into being Se's foil (remember in the marvel comic books he wasn't evil, but a good guy, the only time he was evil in comic's continuity was because of lame brainwashing) why ?

 

what's your thoughts on the matter?

 

I was looking at a stormy on the shelf the other day and the thought struck me, does he have to think he is evil? I'm a big fan of cobra having some kind of agenda to win over it's army, maybe Tommy bought into? maybe he even wears white cause he thinks he is an angel/do-gooder. I think that could be a neat angle, Tommy Arashakagne, Socialist Angel of Cobra or something.

[boff123]

it might be explained. the hardmaster is definitely in there so maybe they will have a scene.

[RockSteady]

Your idea sounds good, but from what I've read this seems to focus on action. So I doubt they'd delve deep in to Tommy's reason for siding with Cobra.

[pesatyel]

Why does he need any more motivation to be a part of Cobra than any other Cobra character?

[Inggasson]

Perhaps, as an active member of /b/, he does it purely for the LOLz?

[GuitarDevil]

A few other reasons come to mind. The Cobra Organization offers adventures and excitement to far away places and countries worldwide. Offering a full range of benefits package including accidental death and dismemberment, consolation counseling for the grieving and bereaved, stock sharing options, 401k, not to mention hazard pay. Bonuses, for working holidays and birthdays, and extra enthusiasm bonuses for taking pride in serving the great Cobra organization, hit and mayhem contracts on designated VIPs, forcing weaker third world nations to bow before Cobra, Ect. There are many others ways to serve and benefit the organization. They promote from within and reward one's inner bastich. However officers and upper management echelon types do draw salary, but heafty ones as well. Free tattoos, equipment, rigorous and numerous training programs designed to work towards harnassing ones darkest talents and pushing recruits to hone themselves into the new centuries greatest warriors. And who could forget the Killing, Killing, Killing. As an ever expanding organization marching bravely into the new Millenium and beyond, there are many opportunities and rewards. And lastly Hot and Cold running chicks, need I say more? If I have left anything out please feel free to edit accordingly, and if you or anyone you may know are interested, contact your local Cobra recruiter today. May the great Snake yada forever

 

[Lady Jaye]

You know I always find it annoying to try to have the bad guys be sympathetic!! Can't a villain be a villain just because??? I mean I hated the story that tied Zartan to yet again Storm Shadow/Snake Eyes!! I mean damn does everyone have to tie into them two?? I hated seeing so many of the Cobra hierarchy changing sides and becoming "good guys", annoying as hell! And one of the reasons I stopped reading later on, Hama was making everyone a good guy and tieing them to Snakes or Stormy!!

 

Like in the cartoon, Storm Shadow was considered a villain, but he was honorable nevertheless. You can be a villain and follow your own code of conduct, and surprising it can be along the same lines as a hero!! So it should be here!!

 

Storm Shadow is a Ninja, and assassin. just let him realize this and figure out what side will let him do what he does best, kill people....for money!!! That's all the backstory you need. Well let Snakes be his equal and a fellow clan member that ousted Stormy, thus his hatred for Snakes!!! That"s it no further connection or backstory!!!

 

Honorable but still an assassin by trade!!!

 

Oh and Rev, he was a villain at first!! Sure did cut up Gung Ho when the tried to catch him early on!! Before they tied Snakes and Stormy together!! Also I think he wears white because he can. No do gooder complex, he just knows he's so slick that he doesn't need to wear black to hide!!! He'll cut you down in the open!!!

[pesatyel]

You know I always find it annoying to try to have the bad guys be sympathetic!! Can't a villain be a villain just because??? I mean I hated the story that tied Zartan to yet again Storm Shadow/Snake Eyes!! I mean damn does everyone have to tie into them two?? I hated seeing so many of the Cobra hierarchy changing sides and becoming "good guys", annoying as hell! And one of the reasons I stopped reading later on, Hama was making everyone a good guy and tieing them to Snakes or Stormy!!

 

Like in the cartoon, Storm Shadow was considered a villain, but he was honorable nevertheless. You can be a villain and follow your own code of conduct, and surprising it can be along the same lines as a hero!! So it should be here!!

 

Storm Shadow is a Ninja, and assassin. just let him realize this and figure out what side will let him do what he does best, kill people....for money!!! That's all the backstory you need. Well let Snakes be his equal and a fellow clan member that ousted Stormy, thus his hatred for Snakes!!! That"s it no further connection or backstory!!!

 

Honorable but still an assassin by trade!!!

 

Oh and Rev, he was a villain at first!! Sure did cut up Gung Ho when the tried to catch him early on!! Before they tied Snakes and Stormy together!! Also I think he wears white because he can. No do gooder complex, he just knows he's so slick that he doesn't need to wear black to hide!!! He'll cut you down in the open!!!

 

Sympathetic villians are usually better villians because they can be more believable or understandable. The "whys" of why they are bad will have an impact on the audience.

 

An example, for me, is Mr. Freeze. When he first appeared he was considered a joke villian. But when he was given a sympathetic background in Batman the Animated Series and became something more of a fan favorite.

 

That is just one example, of course. Oh, and the reason I bring up the character as an example is that I'm NOT really a fan of DC comics, especially since 98% of the villians are ##$%$#ed (I mean come on, Calendar Man?).

 

I have seen a LOT of crappy movies where some "bad guy" is trying to do something bad (take over the world or whatever) and, to show they are "evil" they do eye-rolling evil things, like kill henchmen for no reason.

[Swindle]

I think turning Cobras good is a horrible practice. By the end of the comic, Hama had to resort to the brainwave scanner to get a Cobra high command back.

 

Mercer is good enough. His entire gimmick is Ex-Cobra Viper.

 

Storm Shadow, on the other hand, his gimmick is Cobra ninja assassin. It doesn't lend itself well to being a sidekick to Snake Eyes. They should be opposing forces.

 

The problem with redeeming villains is you dilute the rogue's gallery. Storm Shadow becomes a joe, we are left with d-listers Slice and Dice to fill the ninja slot on Cobra.

 

So, I think Hasbro is right on the money. Storm Shadow should be Cobra. A good character can't be held hostage by some old comic. JMO

[hamsterboy]

To me,Storm Shadow could never truly fit in with the good guys. I mean to use that Ear That Sees technique of his,he has to kill to hone that skill. You think any other good guy does something like that?

[Lady Jaye]

I think turning Cobras good is a horrible practice. By the end of the comic, Hama had to resort to the brainwave scanner to get a Cobra high command back.

 

Exactly!! Thank you!! The Cobra Command was completely diluted, all because of the need to give them some sort of reason for them to turn towards the dark side!!! Yes it may give them a layer of depth that other villain characters might have, but it also forces them to have to reintroduce them to the evil side in other ways. Such as the dumb scanner idea!!

 

And whoever talked about Freeze, yes his new backstory which was introduced in BTAS, was fantastic!! However not everyone has to fall to the dark side because of a tragedy. Storm Shadow honorable but still an assassin at heart!!!

[revsears]

I think turning Cobras good is a horrible practice. By the end of the comic, Hama had to resort to the brainwave scanner to get a Cobra high command back.

 

Exactly!! Thank you!! The Cobra Command was completely diluted, all because of the need to give them some sort of reason for them to turn towards the dark side!!! Yes it may give them a layer of depth that other villain characters might have, but it also forces them to have to reintroduce them to the evil side in other ways. Such as the dumb scanner idea!!

 

And whoever talked about Freeze, yes his new backstory which was introduced in BTAS, was fantastic!! However not everyone has to fall to the dark side because of a tragedy. Storm Shadow honorable but still an assassin at heart!!!

honorable but an assassin at heart is just a simple contradiction and that doesn't even appear to be what Hasbro is doing, they are just making him jealous of se.

 

If you guys don't like the brainwashing plot (and i don't either) have you heard about the new movie plot? That happened because of a couple of things. Hasbro wants their major players to stay the same. Storywise newer characters should have risen on the bad guys side. Destro wasn't quite a good guy, he and Baroness just left Cobra, there is adifference. Zartan was INSANE. you can't trust he was at anypoint. Stormshadow was never intended to be evil in the comics, it was setup in his first appearance. Billy too was also good from the start. So at least for Stormshadow it's not about making him a good guy, he always was. The question was if he is a bad guy, why?

[revsears]

To me,Storm Shadow could never truly fit in with the good guys. I mean to use that Ear That Sees technique of his,he has to kill to hone that skill. You think any other good guy does something like that?

 

Despite how bad their aim was, these were special forces soliders. They had killed people. That doesn't eliminate him from being a good guy does it? in the comics he was always a good guy, maybe he used that technique on the bad guys.

[revsears]

I think turning Cobras good is a horrible practice. By the end of the comic, Hama had to resort to the brainwave scanner to get a Cobra high command back.

 

Mercer is good enough. His entire gimmick is Ex-Cobra Viper.

 

Storm Shadow, on the other hand, his gimmick is Cobra ninja assassin. It doesn't lend itself well to being a sidekick to Snake Eyes. They should be opposing forces.

 

The problem with redeeming villains is you dilute the rogue's gallery. Storm Shadow becomes a joe, we are left with d-listers Slice and Dice to fill the ninja slot on Cobra.

 

So, I think Hasbro is right on the money. Storm Shadow should be Cobra. A good character can't be held hostage by some old comic. JMO

 

Couple of questions for you?

1. why were slice and Dice listers? because they were written as such, they never were given the chance to get to a higher rank. If we never shake up the rogues gallery, we don't get newer characters either.

How is stormshadow as always a cobra a good character? The majority of his characerization comes from that "Old comic" in which he was never a really a villain, but a spy trying to get revenge. W/0 that he becomes a white clad ninja using swords to exact overreacting jealous on one random good guy. It makes him an incredibly cliche'd and cheap villain, one whom doesn't really fit in a millitary setting i might add. I'll admit he never did fit greatly but his story wraping him around an originally more military Se and use as a traitor/spy made it more passable.

[revsears]

You know I always find it annoying to try to have the bad guys be sympathetic!! Can't a villain be a villain just because???

But that just doesn't make logical sense. For a seriel killer or hired gun maybe, but not for someone who is part of an origination. If he was just plan evil, then why would he bother to take orders? If he wanted power why not kill cc? Every person is motivated by something, and truly terrifying villians in real life are folks like nazi's and muslim extremist who believe in a cause. Your loner just evil types are like Gacy etc. and don't work well with others.

[ARROW]

You know I always find it annoying to try to have the bad guys be sympathetic!! Can't a villain be a villain just because???

 

Because the Snidely Whiplash-types get boring REAL fast.

 

Villains without sympathy are uninteresting ciphers, they may as well be flyswatters for the function they would serve. If villains were evil for evil's sake, why use a villain at all? Dropping a piano on the hero's head would show more personality.

[revsears]

You know I always find it annoying to try to have the bad guys be sympathetic!! Can't a villain be a villain just because???

 

Because the Snidely Whiplash-types get boring REAL fast.

 

Villains without sympathy are uninteresting ciphers, they may as well be flyswatters for the function they would serve. If villains were evil for evil's sake, why use a villain at all? Dropping a piano on the hero's head would show more personality.

thank you arrow for saying what i was trying to say in a much more clever way.

[revsears]

Why does he need any more motivation to be a part of Cobra than any other Cobra character?

that probably is what makes it so bad for me. There are so many in cobra that have no depth, but he did, why take away what was tehre instead of building it up more?

[ARROW]

Why does he need any more motivation to be a part of Cobra than any other Cobra character?

that probably is what makes it so bad for me. There are so many in cobra that have no depth, but he did, why take away what was tehre instead of building it up more?

 

The real reason that sympathetic villains work better is because real-life villains are seldom ever simple--they tend to be complex people for all their flaws. True villains have a host of reasons for what they do( even if they have messed-up logic), and its those reasons and the train-of-thought that traces their "falls from grace" that make them so fascinating.

Storm Shadow is that kind of character and because he sits squarely in the fence, we never really know which way he's going to go.

That kind of unpredictability is tremendously appealing in a character because guessing which way he'll go is a big part of the entertainment.

[Swindle]

why were slice and Dice listers? because they were written as such, they never were given the chance to get to a higher rank. If we never shake up the rogues gallery, we don't get newer characters either

 

An A-List character would be the likes of Duke, Cobra Commander, Destro, Snake Eyes, all the usual suspects. Its easy to figure out because they have the most action figures. Slice and Dice are very much down on the opposite end of the spectrum because they are poor replacements who never really caught hold in the toyline. I wouldn't even say they have a cult following. Hasbro has given new characters figures in the 25th/ROC line, but the core of GIJoe isn't going to change.

 

How is stormshadow as always a cobra a good character? The majority of his characerization comes from that "Old comic" in which he was never a really a villain, but a spy trying to get revenge.

 

Because the Hama-verse is over. Because releasing Storm Shadow as a Cobra has greater popularity than his 88 version. Bottom line, he's more marketable as a Cobra and with the exception of the Hama-verse, that's how he's always been portrayed (well, also DIC toon, but who watches that anyway?).

 

[pesatyel]

I think turning Cobras good is a horrible practice. By the end of the comic, Hama had to resort to the brainwave scanner to get a Cobra high command back.

 

Mercer is good enough. His entire gimmick is Ex-Cobra Viper.

 

Storm Shadow, on the other hand, his gimmick is Cobra ninja assassin. It doesn't lend itself well to being a sidekick to Snake Eyes. They should be opposing forces.

 

The problem with redeeming villains is you dilute the rogue's gallery. Storm Shadow becomes a joe, we are left with d-listers Slice and Dice to fill the ninja slot on Cobra.

 

So, I think Hasbro is right on the money. Storm Shadow should be Cobra. A good character can't be held hostage by some old comic. JMO

 

 

That's a bit flawed thinking. Only Storm Shadow and Mercer "turned good" (and Storm Shadow wasn't "Bad" to begin with). The other's were still "bad"...just trying to be bad their own way rather than with Cobra.