I received a spam email the other day offering me Cobra insurance, and it made me do a double-take, wondering if I was being offered protection by the arch enemy of G.I. Joe. Of course, my mind wandered to other Cobras in pop culture lore, and I realized that the 80’s were absolutely teeming with them. The last decade can have their vampires and wizards, but for those of us who survived and thrived during the 80’s, we had the Cobras. Take a look…
Cobra Kai (Karate Kid) – Man, I hated these guys. One of the most iconic scenes from the 80’s was Daniel-san giving Johnny the crane kick.
Kobra Khan – One of Skeletor’s minions in the Masters of the Universe.
Cobra (G.I. Joe) – The arch nemesis to G.I. Joe, created by Hasbro in 1982, and possibly the coolest assortment of bad guys ever assembled.
Raiders of the Lost Ark Cobra – Why did it have to be snakes?
Marian Cobrettie (A.K.A. Cobra) – “You’re the disease, and I’m the cure.” Cobra had the best cars in all of 80’s movies. I dreamed of owning that 1950 Mercury when I grew up. I’m still waiting.
I’m sure there were more cobras in our midst in the 80’s. There were plenty of snakes in Conan the Barbarian, but no major role for the cobra. What else did I miss?
I love the 80s obsession with cobras, robots, and all things hardcore. What the hell are the kids into these days anyway? Cute talking cars? The dumb shows on the new Nick where kids talking about their “Feelings”? Where are the explosions? And venom-spewing cobras? 🙂
Sadly, this generation is being fueled by vampires with emotional issues.
Odd, I was thinking about this very thing just the other day. I was out mowing my lawn and ran across a snake (tiny thing). And my first thoughts were about how the 80s trained me to have a healthy hatred of snakes.
He-Man also had Snake Mountain which was explained somewhere along the way to be the original home of King Hiss. Also, Teela wore snake armor. I always thought it was odd that Teela wore something that looked like the bad guys’ base and Skeletor had a face that resembled the good guys’ base.
Mind blown. 😉
Isn’t Cobra Viper a little redundant? Cool codename, though, haha.
Also, I think I’ll name my first son Marian Cobrettie. Or daughter– either way. 😉
Y’know I considered that for my firstborn. think about it, if you are a boy with a girl’s name, you have to be a badass, don’t you?
Cobras why did it have to be Cobras? lol. I never realized the amount of these guys were around back then.
Harrison Ford scared of snakes in Raiders of the Lost Ark is a classic scene, every time i see it i laugh my ass off. cool post man.
peace