G.I. Joe- 3.75 Division Episode : 28 "Workin' 9 to 5.. (Part 1)"

Okay this is a more light-hearted episode showing what goes on behind the scenes at Cobra in their underwater base known as: The Deep (no association to the movie of the same name, I just forgot that existed). Specifically a moment in the day to day operations of Cobra's three Techno-Vipers.

Before we jump into the episode, I'm gonna drop a little world building information on you guys to help understand why things are the way they are.

In the toy world, all Vipers/Troopers are supposed to be the nameless, faceless soldiers of some organization, but as action figures that were brought to life? It's a little different. Why? Well because alot of these troopers have been animated since the late 1980's or the mid 1990's and in that time, they tend to develop personalities and become more individualized then they ever were meant to be. 

This can be a problem if, say, a Track Viper in Cobra wants to be a farmer and has no desire to drive the special H.I.S.S. II vehicle he's supposed to drive. Oh and in addition he also wants to go by the name "Seymour" now. So...Cobra Commander and Dr. Mindbender worked together and now the good Dr. just uses his brain wave device to "reprogram" any troopers that get too individualized.

This is also why Cobra Commander focuses on Battle Android Troopers as the primary army for Cobra as: 1) They aren't human and 2) Don't have the same inclination towards individualism as human soldier figures do. The Cobra army has several different types of Vipers, but those are mainly for use in specific areas or areas of expertise (Hydro-Vipers and E.E.L.s for aquatic combat, Cyber-Vipers for computer programming, H.E.A.T.-Vipers for anti-tank weaponry, etc.)

But...all this being said there is still ONE problem. How do you tell them all apart without giving them names? As we saw in Episode 26, Road Pig wasn't even sure which of the three Techno-Vipers he even spoke to because (again) they all look the same. 

So they settled on a numbers in place of names system. "One" is the first Techno-Viper in Cobra's army, followed by "Two" and then finally "Three". They may add more if they need to, but for right now three are enough.

Okay onto the episode and make sure to click each image to expand it for easier reading and then look at the director's commentary after the last panel!

I love these guys lol. I need to see if ToyHax.com sells little G.I. Joe scaled numbers, because I would love to put them on each Techno-Viper just so the readers and myself can tell them apart. I changed their word bubble colors to help tell them apart. One is in black, Two is in dark purple and Three is in light purple (aka each of the colors on their uniforms). 

When I had to re-do Episode 21, I also took the opportunity to correct the colors on the Techno-Viper's word bubbles to black, as it was revealed later on that One was the Techno-Viper there after the battle with the Iron Grenadiers.

What I also love about this episode is that I got to use this Playmobil office furniture for their workshop. I've had it for years and even though Playmobil is at a 3" scale, their items still work for the most part with the taller 3.75" Joe figures. 

Here's the parts numbers for some of the items, like the computer monitor, keyboard and office chair:

I have some other items to further bulk out their office, but I didn't have those with me at the time of shooting. 

Here are a few test photos of a Techno-Viper at the desk to see how it would work, plus a little dialgoue test too:

Almost all of the photos from this shoot have either been used or were used in the next episode OR are being saved for a future episode, as I did take a bunch more shots in different angles and poses that tell more stories (expect to see these sometime soon though).

I still really enjoy these wider shots here on the blog as I remember being sad that some of the more wide-angled easter eggs were lost posting on Instagram. Like you can see One's backpack hanging on the wall in addition to all of their Phase-Pulse Plasma Rifles. Good stuff man. 

Onto Part 2!