Its time for the next Joe!

[ProgMatinee]

no idea who that is.

 

[IrishJedi]

As long as it looks like a metal helmet, that is all I care.

For Destro... chrome or FAIL.

 

[DinoDB1975]

Say no to Nemesis Enforcer and Cobra-La.

 

[onethousandmasks]

They could always make Spirit from Resolute

 

[Skiman]

no idea who that is.

 

[Skiman]

Say no to Nemesis Enforcer and Cobra-La.

All I want is Nemesis, no Cobra LLALLLALLALALALALALALALAAA

 

[thenammagazine]

I don't remember how he was portrayed in the cartoon, but visually, I don't think Spirit is too stereotypical to the point of insulting. He's got a lot of Native American design elements, but its not like he came with a bottle of whisky. The elements like the hunting knife, the eagle, and a dart gun always seemed to be nice elements that tied to his job function and not just his culture. I don't really find him too different than Shipwreck in that regard.

'course not. Being 100% Caucasian, you're completely disassociated from the material. Aspects of his character are completely stereotypical and not even practical or believable. A gun that shoots arrows...WTF?! His deerskin pants, and while they didn't put a bone chest piece on him, in the cartoon he had a bone necklace. The braids are on par with a Chief's headdress. Let's not forget about "Freedom" ...a bald eagle for christ's sake... He'd eat him and strip him for his feathers before making him a pet.

Spirit was an incredibly insulting character. While Shipwreck might stand as a stereotypical sailor, Spirit was nothing more then a ill conceived mish-mash bastardization of a Native American. Tonto 2.0.

"incredibly insulting"? Thats a little dramatic. He's not as insulting as the Cleveland Indians mascot or the Washington Redskins name. He didn't have a chestplate made from bones or a bottle of whisky or a huge headress or come with a tomahawk. He's not half dressed in a loin cloth.

I unfortunatly can't speak for the comics or the cartoon though cause I don't remember.

He's more insulting than those. All he was lacking was the, "How - white man." Though the cartoon hinted at that with the voice acting. I think you need to look up the character again and have a long, hard look at him. If you still don't see it, again, disassociated due to ethnicity. Do you even know what a Blue Card is without looking it up?

They made him wear a loincloth over his pants.

 

[kl241]

Wow, Nam must have hated Billy in Predator.

 

[FLOSI]

me too of course. trust me. i'm a life long Cleveland Indians fan and am ready to change the name and mascot. I actually BOYCOTT Columbus day. I'm a fan of many things in the Native American culture and symphathize with their plight more than most probably. I'm not coming at this without sensitivity to the issue. I just don't see Spirit's design to be that offensive.

No worries. We're on the same page. I was over the top with the "very insulting" thing though... Not sure it even matters since Spirit wouldn't be a Joe I would want.... Speaking of which:

Zartan
Destro
Chrome mask CC
Stalker (no pun intended Prog)
Torpedo
Snow Job

For Destro... chrome or FAIL.

 

[Skiman]

Wow, Nam must have hated Billy in Predator.

how foolish of an Indian to think he could just slice his chest and take on the Predator...

 

[FLOSI]

Wow, Nam must have hated Billy in Predator.

I look at Billy from Predator as a tracker... a bit over the top but he could have served as a point in Vietnam? Not too far fetched... no leather tastles on his pants or loin cloth.

 

[thenammagazine]

I look at Billy from Predator as a tracker... a bit over the top but he could have served as a point in Vietnam? Not too far fetched... no leather tastles on his pants or loin cloth.

While Billy was a bit excessive, he wasn't nearly as blatant as Spirit. And if Hasbro had gone that route with Spirit, I wouldn't feel as insulted by the character.

 

[kl241]

That's like saying Quick Kick stereotypes Asians or Roadblock stereotypes African Americans and so forth. The idea was to give the characters ethnic and cultural diversity. I just don't see why anybody would be insulted by it let alone make some big politically correct debate about it.

 

[MANDO]

No Spirit > "Modern" Spirit

 

[thenammagazine]

That's like saying Quick Kick stereotypes Asians or Roadblock stereotypes African Americans and so forth. The idea was to give the characters ethnic and cultural diversity. I just don't see why anybody would be insulted by it let alone make some big politically correct debate about it.

If they'd said Roadblock only ate fried chicken and watermelon, had put him in a jogging suit with a pimp hat and had him talk in ebonics, I'd agree. I also agree that you could easily lump Quick Kick into that category as well, but they flipped a 180 with the cartoon, making his personality more white than Asian. Airborne and Tunnel Rat are perfect examples of how you can give characters cultural diversity without getting insulting.

 

[kl241]

So Spirit wears a headband and loincloth and carries an eagle. He's obviously proud of his Native American heritage. So what?

 

[karamazov80]

But Airborne had latent mystic/psychic powers in the cartoon (his brother was psychokinetic), which reinforces offensive Native American stereotypes. Also, the fact that he would always scalp his enemies.

 

[Khev]

So a Japanese guy can dress in full ninja gear and be cool but if a Native American braids his hair and wears buckskin trousers its suddenly "insulting"? Come on now, let's not get carried away with the selective political correctness.

Spirit was and still is awesome, and his gear was more modern than that of SS, Quick Kick, Jinx, Budo, etc. GI Joe has tons of characters that dress in culturally "traditional" attire, that doesn't mean its demeaning. If that was the case I'd be insulted by the Rowdy Roddy Piper figure, and yet I'm not. Well I'm not because of the kilt anyway.

 

[Skiman]

If they'd said Roadblock only ate fried chicken and watermelon, had put him in a jogging suit with a pimp hat and had him talk in ebonics, I'd agree. I also agree that you could easily lump Quick Kick into that category as well, but they flipped a 180 with the cartoon, making his personality more white than Asian. Airborne and Tunnel Rat are perfect examples of how you can give characters cultural diversity without getting insulting.

 

[thenammagazine]

So a Japanese guy can dress in full ninja gear and be cool but if a Native American braids his hair and wears buckskin trousers its suddenly "insulting"? Come on now, let's not get carried away with the selective political correctness.

Spirit was and still is awesome, and his gear was more modern than that of SS, Quick Kick, Jinx, Budo, etc. GI Joe has tons of characters that dress in culturally "traditional" attire, that doesn't mean its demeaning. If that was the case I'd be insulted by the Rowdy Roddy Piper figure, and yet I'm not. Well I'm not because of the kilt anyway.

No, but neither did Storm Shadow stroll around in traditional Japanese attire when not geared up for a mission. The gi SS wore was consistent with his role as a ninja. It was Hasbro's take on Spirit that made the character insulting. If they'd done Quick Kick like the racist Asians Jerry Lewis portrayed, there'd be a better argument there as well. Again, the way they treated Spirit was the equivalent of throwing a bone through the nose of Stalker, putting him in a cheetah skin loin cloth and giving him a zulu spear.