Greetings! I'm new to this and I feel like I'd better introduce myself to make a distinction between other members previously known as Kim-lol. I'm interested in learning more about GI Joe because I've always been a fan, but not a fanatic. I'd love any background info you can share with me about Snake Eyes-I just read a great fanfic about him and I want to find out what is factual about his background or what was made up by the fan fic author. Thanks in advance!
Your writing is very un-Kim-like, so there shouldn't be too much confusion.
Anyway, I'm a former regular who pops in from time to time but rarely posts. After the problems we had formerly, I think fresh faces could bring some new life to the board. The DVD releases may help to achieve that.
Anyway, in answer to your question, here's some information on the character of Snake Eyes:
Name, place of birth, and SN: Classified
Code name hyphenated for 1985, 1993, 1994, 1997/II, and 2000 versions
Rank: Army E-5, promoted to E-7 in 1989 and to E-8 in 1997.
Returned to E-5 in 2000 and re-promoted to E-7 in 2002.
Specialties and Training: Infantry, Hand-to-Hand Combat
Instructor. Gradutaed from Recondo School in Nha Trang,
Vietnam. Filecards list Snake Eyes as having a black belt in twelve "unarmed fighting systems," including Karate, Kung-Fu, and Jujitsu, and being "highly skilled" in the use of edged weapons. (Later filecards list him as an expert in "all disciplines of martial arts and silent weapons.") He is also Ranger qualified and has extensive training in mountaineering, underwater demolitions, and survival in jungle, desert, and arctic environments. In addition, he is schooled in some forms of holistic medicine. Qualified expert for all NATO and Warsaw Pact small arms, particularly submachine guns. Spirit and Snake Eyes participated as the quarry in Tracker's training, and were found by the Navy SEAL in less than twelve hours; Snake Eyes has an otherwise perfect evasion record. In the cartoon episode "The Wrong Stuff," Snake Eyes volunteered for astronaut training but was not among the candidates selected.
Back Story: The filecards follow Snake Eyes' history as
established in the comic: He served in a Long Range Recon Patrol in South East Asia, assigned to high-risk covert missions with Stalker and Storm Shadow. He returned home to find that his parents and sister had been killed on the way to the airport. Snake Eyes then left the military to study martial arts with the Arashikage ninja clan, where he trained alongside Storm Shadow. According to filecards, he was living an isolated, "ascetic existence" in the High Sierras with his pet wolf Timber when recruited for the Joe Team. Hawk and Stalker found him hunting rabbits bare-handed. His facial scars and inability to speak are the result of a mid-air helicopter collision during the earliest days of the Joe Team. Most of these events are portrayed as flashbacks in the Marvel comics.
The cartoon gives none of Snake Eyes' back story but has him meeting Timber while on a mission to the Sea of Ice to retrieve radioactive crystals for the Joe Team. Snake Eyes freed the wolf from a trap and was soon met by a polar bear. The wolf fended off the bear's attack, and the two were briefly taken in by a blind woodsman who gave the wolf his name. Timber returned to Joe Headquarters with Snake Eyes and was adopted by the team; he was especially welcomed by Scarlett and Cover Girl.
In the original cartoon miniseries, Snake Eyes was the only "serious" member of the Joe Team, colored by a sense of self-sacrifice and hints of a romance with Scarlett. (Later episodes played up Scarlett's relationship with Duke, which was also evident in the original miniseries.) In "The Revenge of Cobra," Snake Eyes spent much of the Weather Dominator crisis as a prisoner of Cobra, but he eventually escaped with Duke, Roadblock, and civilian Hondalu West. In "The Pyramid of Darkness," Snake Eyes and Shipwreck infiltrated the Cobra cube factory and had to make their way back to Headquarters through enemy territory, aided by pop singer Satin. It was during this adventure that Snake Eyes manifested his sense of humor, fashion sense, and skill at breakdancing.
Snake Eyes, Spirit, and their animals helped rescue Scarlett and Rip Cord from Cobra in "Cobra's Creatures." Snake was also part of a team that helped prevent the fixing of a mayoral election in "Cobra's Candidate." Snake Eyes teamed up with Wong of the Oktober Guard to investigate the alien threat in "The Invaders" and met them again in "The Great Alaskan Land Rush." Snake Eyes was all but absent during the cartoon's second season, but reappeared as part of Roadblock's unit in G. I. Joe: The Movie. All together, he appeared in forty episodes, four opening sequences, and parts 1, 2, 3, and 5 of the Movie. In none of these did Snake Eyes duel Storm Shadow, whose cartoon nemesis was usually Spirit.
The Marvel comic includes Snake Eyes in most of the missions, and eventually makes him the star character ("G. I. Joe: Featuring Snake Eyes"). Many of the flashback issues also centered around Snake Eyes' past. In 1993 Snake Eyes was assigned to Storm Shadow's ninja force, and became one of the Shadow Ninjas. When the Joe Team was disbanded in 1994, Snake Eyes returned to the High Sierras and lived in his cabin with Scarlett, but the two were among the first to return when the Team reorganized. The new Image / Devil's Due comic continues the tradition of having Snake Eyes as one of its most important characters.
Finally, Snake Eyes bears a slight resemblance to the character Shadow from the Final Fantasy III video game for Super Nintendo (although I usually name that character Bob).
I think you neglected to mention Snake-eyes' blood type, but that's all right-you provided me with plenty of background info anyway- Thanks so much!
Kim
Thanks so much!