G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

[Rollo Tomassi]

Once, I went through and noted which state every Joe was from. When I was finished, I noted only two states haven't produced Joes: Maryland and South Dakota. And since Snake-Eyes' records are Classified, I decided he's from my home state of South Dakota. Probably from the Black Hills region, because of his affinity for hanging out in mountainous regions like the Sierras.

I had no idea Shipwreck was latino. Damn, the cartoon really fucked that guy up. I guess they could have gone the other direction with him and stereotyped him up just as bad as they did Spirit and Stormshadow. Lose lose either way.

[anarky]

I had no idea Shipwreck was latino. Damn, the cartoon really fucked that guy up. I guess they could have gone the other direction with him and stereotyped him up just as bad as they did Spirit and Stormshadow. Lose lose either way.

His name is Hector Delgado--Spanish given and surname. He was born and raised in Chula Vista, a suburb of San Diego that's as close to the Mexican border as you can get. His filecard says he "grew up in the shadow of the San Diego Navy Yards and dreamed of a life at sea"; most of the neighborhoods in San Diego and the surrounding cities that could be described as "in the shadow of the San Diego Navy Yards" have historically been predominately Latino.

The only odd thing is his middle initial, "X." There aren't exactly a ton of names that start with X, and the most common would be "Xavier" (which would be spelled "Javier" in Spanish). However, a quick search indicates there are several less-common names that begin with X that are derived from pre-Columbian Mexican words. (I never have figured out how a culture that doesn't use the letter X hardly at all transliterated a foreign tongue to include tons of X's.)

So, yeah, I'd say Shipwreck is definitely Latino or part-Latino. (His hair is brown, which is unusual, but not unheard of, since most Mexicans and Mexican-Americans are of mixed Native and Spanish descent, and Spanish folks often have brown hair.) Like you said, though, it may be better that they whitewashed him. Zap clearly had an accent, but I don't believe he ever appeared again after the first miniseries. I wonder if it was the stereotype, more common in the 80s, that Mexicans are lazy and they didn't want anyone with obvious Mexican origins featured so prominently in the cartoon.

(I've read that Larry Hama hated Shipwreck. He never was important in the comic, which seems to back this up, though I understand he's been featured in the resurrected title once or twice.)

[Ran]

I assumed Shipwreck was of Spanish decent, mostly because of his skin tone and the way he was characterized in the cartoon.

Yes, there are lots of Filipinos in the military (as well as other minorities). I don't know exactly why, but I attributed it to there being a both an Air Force and Navy base in the Phillipenes until the volcano blew. And, there seemed to be a good Filipino population in California, also where there were lots of bases. However, I saw something about the SEALS recently. It made it sound like as if they were mostly white. I wonder if anyone has ever done a breakdown of GI Joes by race/ethnicity and compared it to the actual military statistics. During the time I was in, most of the "Asians" I knew were Hawiians or Filipinos instead of Chinese/Japanese/Korean/etc. Most of the Chinese/Korean/Vietnames people I worked with were civilian engineers. But I also worked with a white guy who had a German last name who was from Guatamala, so I guess anything is possible.

I wouldn't call Hawiian "white" since they are usually Japanese or Samoan descent. I noticed the 25th anniversary Torpeedo figure had a darker skin tone than the original. Even in his few appearances in the cartoon, he had a darker skin tone than the figure.

[anarky]

I meant Torpedo was never shown or characterized as Hawaiian, just a dude in a wetsuit. I found out a couple of years ago that he'd been named after GIJoe & Fables artist Steve Leialoha. He said Hama just basically said something like, "I needed a name for a Hawaiian guy, and I figured using your name was easier than looking one up."

[Ran]

New movie trailer


There is a rumor that Sgt Slaughter makes a cameo.

[anarky]

It's like they threw in everything they could to appeal to fans... who are still rubbing their asses after what the last one did to them.

[Ran]

Based on that trailer, I'd consider seeing this one at some point, which is more than I ever said on the first one.

[anarky]

The inclusion of Joe Colton (Bruce Willis' character, unnamed in the trailer but the "original" GIJoe*) already shows such an incredible increase in the Joe knowledge of the writers.

*--Joe Colton never appeared anywhere but the Marvel comic and its various continuations. He was the original GIJoe, as in the 12" doll from the 60s. He was tasked by Kennedy to put together a team, though it apparently had no relation to the RAH Joe team aside from using his name, since Hawk, who put together the current team, had no idea who he was when they met by chance. However, one of the Joes on Hawk's team for that mission (I think Muskrat or Stalker) makes a comment that he "always thought [he'd] be taller," meaning that they at least knew there was a guy code-named GIJoe at some point, even if they had no knowledge of who he was.

[Rollo Tomassi]

After watching the trailer, am I correct in interpreting that Scarlet, Ripcord, etc are all dead? That's fucked up, yeah? I mean, I'm no fan of Wayons, but that had to kill off the ENTIRE team, except for the four or five that are in the film? I can't believe Hasbro went for that.

[Sleazer]

and they got rid of the nipples lips on Batman's Snake Eyes' costume.

[Diabolical]

Let’s kick off another sequel news roundup with some info on a film that will be out soon. Jon M. Chu directed G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and the trailers released so far have generated a good level of interest in the film.

In an interview with Moviefone, Chu talks about enthusiasm for various Joe characters and the difficulty his team had with creating a linear follow-up to the first Joe film, The Rise of Cobra. One question many of our readers has asked regards Cobra Commander, and how this film’s character connects to the Joseph Gordon-Levitt version in the previous movie. Chu says, “Cobra Commander was an issue. But I know we couldn’t lose Cobra Commander.”

Asked if this is the same character under the mask, the director says,

No. [Smiling] But we figured out a way that’s pretty nice. And you get the Cobra Commander that you’ve always wanted. Or, to me, what I always wanted: a bad-ass villain. He’s one of the most iconic villains ever. I’m even following him on Twitter — he’s so funny.

[anarky]

A former used car salesman will take over? Awesome!

[Rollo Tomassi]

A former used car salesman will take over? Awesome!

I hope they have him kicking a dog in the movie!!

[anarky]

I will one-up what JJL said about Corpsey the Ewok on Facebook.

If Cobra Commander is a used car salesman and they show him kicking a dog, I will orally satisfy every member of the cast and crew daily for two week.

[anarky]

Want to read something funny?

Go to HisStank and check out the hipsters bitching about Aerosmith being on the soundtrack to GIJoe 2. Apparently people who live in their parents' basement don't like the boys from Boston.