I was thinking to myself that when I'm working on my dios, different movies give me different inspirations. For the Sigma6 universe, I tend to rely more on Star Wars than anything else. Certainly with the amount of hand-to-hand fighting and weapon fighting, Star Wars is pretty good. There's also good battle scenes too. But when it comes to 3.75" GI Joe, I tend to take it more seriously. Or rather, the Joes are more serious. I rely on movies like Doom, Aliens, Alien Vs Predator, Predator 1 & 2, Stargate... Certainly more ideas come from a broader range of movies. My dio, "The Island" also pulls from the tv series Lost. I guess I just like horror in my 3.75" verse as compared to the 8" verse.

Today, I think I'll babble about the characters involved.

Interrogator. Not everyone has a huge role. There are cameos, appearances, background chars and then main characters. Some chars are just a vehicle for the story. In terms of Interrogator, he's a great figure. Everyone has built him up to be a badass as well. In War For Territory (or was it Transformations?), Interrogator shows up for a bit part and then leaves. He actually makes a comment that he's needed elswhere and going to the island. In this story, you actually see him again but what he's doing, it's still a mystery. He's a shady character.

Major Bludd. I wanted some sort of continuity from the last dio. I figure, if I'm doing a Joeverse, there needs to be some reptition of chars so it's not a WHOLE new Joe story w/o point of reference. By using Major Bludd (and Interrogator), you get a feel that I didn't suddenly make up another Joeverse. I love the figure too which is why he shows up. In my verse, Major Bludd is a more hands-on leader than Cobra Commander, Destro or Commander Vlasko (custom). I'm also working out his character. What's also fun is the reaction when Lt. Graydon meets him again.

Cobra Troopers. One thing I really wanted to showcase were the Blueshirts running around. I have yet to get them into a real action scene but I decided during these dios that the average foot troop should have the largest population. Not Vipers. And definitely not NeoVipers which are cream of the crop. I, unfortunately, haven't given them much action time, but I figure having them around is good enough.

Cobra Vipers. The step up from Blueshirts is probably how everyone feels about them. I wanted to showcase a lot of these bad boys too. What the reader is getting is that Cobra is full of foot troops, not specialty troops. It's also fun to plug in friend's names as characters too. I have yet to acknowledge Luis (Tone Guns), unfortunately.

Cobra NeoVipers. Let's get to the point here. Hasbro didn't follow thru on the Cobra Officer and I need someone to lead the Blueshirts. I decided on the NeoVipers since their filecard (as horribly written as it is) says they are officers of some sort. Well, who better to lead the Blueshirts? NeoViper Drew Swenson shows up again! Poor guy still hasn't been promoted.

Overkill Karl. There are several Overkill models. The original Overkill is doing his own thing and was used in Transformations. Overkill Karl is a cyborg whose program is faulty. He's a little nutty and not nearly as smart as the others. But he serves his purpose. He's just fun to have in to showcase a bit of odd humor and vanity.

Hellfire. This guy is the evil version of the GI Joe, Rollbar. Rollbar never had a place in the Joeverse. He was captured and turned into a gnarly SawViper. He and his buddies show up, only to go hunting for the creatures on the island. I thought it'd be fun to link the dios together by these characters. It helps the reader feel that they are in the same universe, that the world is the same as the other stories.

Everything should be answered in Ep2...

I think that's it for Cobra chars of Ep1. I'll discuss the good guys of Ep1 tomorrow if I get a chance.

Until Next Time.