Let me tell you a story about a friend of mine from when I was a kid. He always dressed in black and never spoke he had a white wolf, and one of his best friends was a sailor with a parrot. No this wasn’t my imaginary friend this was Snake Eyes from GI Joe.
Ok so the year is 1984, maybe 85.
I’m your average kid, watching TV everyday after school (and before) and I have to say my favorite show is G.I. Joe; A Real American Hero. While the show is filled with awesome characters like Roadblock, Duke, Flint, even the villains were cool like Despro and Tomax and Xamot. My all time favorite Joe was (and Is) Snake Eyes.
So this was the 1980s and nothing was cooler than ninjas! Years before the teenaged amphibian ones would come roaring into popular culture Snake Eyes existed every day on my TV, and did I mention he was really awesome? Snake Eyes was Badass! He was mute and dressed in all black (like Darth Vader), wore a grenade bandoleer and a visor. He had a pet wolf named Timber and was very handy with a sword (as ALL ninjas should be).
So as many of you know G.I. Joe was more than a cartoon show, it was essentially a 30 minute commercial for a Hasbro line of toys. Since it was a commercial I basically watched religiously I have to say I loved the toys. I NEEDED them like those poor Sally Struthers’ kids needed 80 cents worth of rice a day. Since Snake Eyes was my favorite of course I desired him the most!
