Conan, G.I. Joe, Super Friends, ThunderCats, etc.

[1F409]

A quick plug for my other work, here's an old index post: https://gab.com/1F409/posts/108411181032321160

In addition to my MotU role-playing game adaptation (posted in a separate thread), I've got various other GURPS write-ups and a few SketchUp models: Bigfoot and the Muscle Machines, Gargoyles, G.I. Joe, The Hyborian Age (Conan, et al.), Masters of the Universe, SilverHawks, Street Fighter, ThunderCats, Wheeled Warriors (Jayce, et al.), and more.

Most recently, I've been working on a model of the Super Friends' Hall of Justice, complete with interior. In time, it'll be suitable for 3-D printing.

[Black Zodac]

Bigfoot and the Muscle Machines! I totally forgot about that show. I have some memories of watching it when I was a kid. I remember having a few Bigfoot toy trucks as a kid.

[1F409]

Bigfoot and the Muscle Machines! I totally forgot about that show. I have some memories of watching it when I was a kid. I remember having a few Bigfoot toy trucks as a kid.

Yeah, the SST Muscle Machines toys -- the theme for which was re-worded and expanded for the TV cartoon. Sadly, my interest in adapting it for GURPS is rather late, as some of the old timers who built the monster trucks (and knew their legit stats) have since died. I was able to get a hold of Dan Patrick (the Warlord funny car), but I soon realized that my lack of knowledge of the sport would be a limiting factor. (I can do the game adaptation, but I'll need others to decipher the tech for me.) The Bigfoot team never responded to my e-mail and phone call.

[1F409]

Here's a wall plaque I just made, from my larger work-in-progress model of the Super Friends' Hall of Justice. About the only thing it's missing is the scroll work in the towers' lower panels. Once I find a solid reference for that, the 3-D model should be ready to post.

[MIDOR]

Nice.

(filler text)

[1F409]

Here's a copy-and-paste of a Conan article I posted to Gab....

On Zamora's Location

Native rogues were the dominant element -- dark-skinned, dark-eyed Zamorians, with daggers at their girdles and guile in their hearts. But there were wolves of half a dozen outland nations there as well. There was a giant Hyperborean renegade, taciturn, dangerous, with a broadsword strapped to his great gaunt frame -- for men wore steel openly in the Maul. There was a Shemitish counterfeiter, with his hook nose and curled blue-black beard. There was a bold-eyed Brythunian wench, sitting on the knee of a tawny-haired Gunderman -- a wandering mercenary soldier, a deserter from some defeated army. And the fat gross rogue whose bawdy jests were causing all the shouts of mirth was a professional kidnapper come up from distant Koth to teach woman-stealing to Zamorians who were born with more knowledge of the art than he could ever attain.

-- The Tower of the Elephant

Of the lands named, Koth is the only one described as being "distant" -- and yet it lies closer than Shem. It might be that Howard hadn't finalized the placement of the countries when he wrote this story, or perhaps "distant" merely implies an area of Koth far from Zamora's border. The latter makes even more sense, if the thief-city is located in the extreme north of Zamora.

"By Bel, god of all thieves, I'll show them how to steal wenches: I'll have her over the Zamorian border before dawn, and there'll be a caravan waiting to receive her. Three hundred pieces of silver, a count of Ophir promised me for a sleek young Brythunian of the better class. It took me weeks, wandering among the border cities as a beggar, to find one I knew would suit. And is she a pretty baggage!"

-- Kothian kidnapper, in The Tower of the Elephant

This seems to indicate that the kidnapper scouted Brythunia's eastern cities (not Zamora's: I disagree with Rippke), and that he would be able to steal his victim into Zamora within hours. The best horses can finish a hundred-mile endurance race in about six hours.* Therefore, from the city of thieves to the Zamorian-Brythunian border (assuming the man meant to attend in person), then to the kidnap victim, and finally back to the border, all under the cover of darkness and with fresh horses stationed along the way, could be as much as one hundred thirty miles.

When examining Howard's map (as overlaid on Compton's), the part about getting the victim "over the Zamorian border before dawn" obviously means bringing the woman into thief-friendly territory, rather than sending her all the way out the other side of Zamora for pickup: The distance from where Brythunia, Corinthia, and Zamora converge, eastward to where Zamora adjoins the steppes, is roughly six degrees wide at the fifty-third parallel -- two-hundred fifty miles. Only if the thief-city were in the extreme north of Zamora would delivery to a steppes caravan be possible within the course of a night.

Another factor to consider is jurisdiction: it would make sense for a Zamorian thief-city to be near both the Brythunian and Corinthian borders.

As for where the victim is procured, I disagree with Dale Rippke's assessment in as much as I don't think it makes sense to spend weeks scouting Zamora for an upper-class Brythunian tourist to kidnap, but then go out to a bar instead of keeping an eye on the prize. It seems unlikely to find such a woman just waiting around, unprotected, in a foreign land that's infamous for its crime. Within her homeland, however, she'd be less wary and her habits could be studied thoroughly, allowing for a heist that is less time-sensitive.

Rippke's hypothesis of a Corinthian caravan, while workable in the distances allotted, seems at odds with the dialogue: When in Zamora, the kidnapper wouldn't have said "Zamorian border" to describe quitting Zamora for Corinthia, he'd have distinguished it by the adjoining country's name, instead.

"I am a Cimmerian," the outlander answered, in no friendly tone. The reply and the manner of it meant little to the Kothian; of a kingdom that lay far to the south, on the borders of Shem, he knew only vaguely of the northern races.

-- The Tower of the Elephant

Within the context of the thief-city being toward the north of Zamora, it would make sense to describe Koth as being "far to the south", even though the countries adjoin.

* The seasoned equine athletes conditioned for endurance racing are prime examples of how far a horse can travel in one day. Endurance races can be anywhere from 50 miles to 100 miles. The fastest 100 miles race was set by Yousuf Ahmad Al Beloushi on an eleven-year-old gelding. They averaged 17 miles per hour and finished in 5:45:44 seconds. -- https:// ihearthorses . com/how-far-can-a-horse-travel-in-a-day/

[1F409]

If anybody wants to check if Dale Rippke is on Facebook, and direct him to my post, I'd be curious to see what he thinks of this.

Edit: Apparently he is -- https://www.facebook.com/dale.rippke/

[1F409]

I suspect that the G.I. Joe character Destro has a more complex lineage than previously thought. His v1 filecard (1983) keeps the details a secret, though it can assumed that his moniker is of Italian origin. The v2 filecard (1988) gives his name as James McCullen Destro, which I believe indicates maternal Irish and paternal Italian lineage. His 1988 profile from Action Force mentions his ancestors having built a castle in the Balkans. An interesting clue might be his seeming lack of chest hair, but I've been unable to find meaningful data on which European groups possess that trait.

[MIDOR]

There was a vintage toon where he (Destro) talks about his family tree (don't think it was about his people) and what not.

Then there was a more modern joe toon where a crazed bad guy getting into the emetology of the name/word "Destro"

Just going by a vague memory.

Never read his file cards. All I know is that he's Cobra's arms dealer. If done right he could have some serious bank and thus have a nice and secluded place.

I suspect that the G.I. Joe character Destro has a more complex lineage than previously thought. His v1 filecard (1983) keeps the details a secret, though it can assumed that his moniker is of Italian origin. The v2 filecard (1988) gives his name as James McCullen Destro, which I believe indicates maternal Irish and paternal Italian lineage. His 1988 profile from Action Force mentions his ancestors having built a castle in the Balkans. An interesting clue might be his seeming lack of chest hair, but I've been unable to find meaningful data on which European groups possess that trait.

[1F409]

A poster on Gab recently mentioned that Destro's cartoon voice, actor Aurther Burghardt, had mentioned there being some strange retconning happening back then. Whether it truly was as blatant as certain parties not wanting a black portraying a white, I can't say. Regardless, I think I'm going to have to read up on Destro history and prioritize the earliest canon, free of retcons.

[MIDOR]

Hm. Interesting.