SteveD wrote:I just found an old Collectors Club magazine the other night with an article in about Cobra LA, which was quite interesting as I didn't have a clue who or what they were until i read it. Other than that I knew the figures sucked. So now I can finally read the final one of GI Joe V Transformers featuring Cobra LA I've been putting off.
(until reading the article I though it just meant L.A as in Los Angeles! I thought they were the LA branch of Cobra! A bit like CSI have CSI Miami, CSI New York etc. I was looking forward to Cobra UK being released!
Well, please do share your newfound knowledge as I only got them because they are within my collector range
Best Regards
StkhlmDK
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Check out http://www.action-force.dk if you want to see my GI Joe/Action Force collection
Cobra-La is the home of an ancient race of people who's time on Earth predates that of Man. When the last Ice Age came, they were forced to retreat to a land high in the Himalayas. They despise mankind for the inorganic technology Humans utilise. The natives of Cobra-La instead use creatures and plants to do their work for them, be it air transports, weapons, even 'clocks'. They sent one of their number out into the world to over throw humanity and bring about their return. That was Cobra Commander. He failed. They then implanted a suggestion into Mindbender's dreams to create an Emperor to take control of Cobra and lead them to success. That was Serpentor. When he singularly failed to achieve world domination, they instead hatched a convoluted plan to exterminate humanity via mutative spores from giant mushrooms which would de-evolve humanity into primitive beasts who would destroy one another. The plan, however, depended on the spores being ripened and for that they had to steal the Broadcast Energy Transmitter, a prototype device that could broadcast energy via a dish, to ripen the spore-pods in space. the Joes thwarted them.
the Cobra-La name is obviously a portmanteau of Cobra and Shangri-La, the legendary valley in the Himalayas.
according to what i read (forget whether it was on YoJoe, wikipedia or what) apparently Hasbro wanted a character who was 's boss and suggested some shadowy cabal behind Cobra like the Illuminati or something or some kind of Emperor. Hama went Emperor and the toons went shadowy cabal.
what they were thinking with Cobra-La is beyond me.
ah, here we go
According to cartoon story editor and writer Buzz Dixon, Serpentor's origin was the by-product of the different thinking between Hasbro and the Sunbow writers about the nature of Cobra. Hasbro had developed a new toy to be released as the "Cobra Emperor" (later named as "Serpentor") and intended that he would be the previously unseen superior of Cobra Commander who had always been present. However Dixon objected that this was in complete contradiction to previous episodes that had established Cobra Commander as the sole head of the organization. He put forward two possibilities for the "Emperor" character becoming the new leader of Cobra Commander after the latter's failings caused dissatisfaction - either the senior Cobras deciding to literally create a new leader or that Cobra was a front for a more secretive organization who sent Serpentor to replace Cobra Commander. Hasbro liked both ideas and asked that they be combined, resulting in both the origin of Serpentor and then the introduction of Cobra-La.
I'm not sure if it was before, or after, but it seems very remeniscent of He Man and the Snake Men. And, in a way, the Transformers, with the whole "been here all along and far more advanced than mankind" thing.
And, as daft as it seems, I actually quite like the idea. I'd guess by then they felt Cobra had become a bit stale, and wanted new options (and new toy lines!). 9 out 10 for effort. Just a shame the figures sucked.
Alte Volat
"BFTB Elite??? Moi??? Ooooooo, Missus - Titter ye not!"
