Kobra Khan: Evil Warrior of Skeletor's or Snake Man?

[Mike Bock]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Khan is an Evil warrior.
The King of the snake men made it very clear to me back in the 80s

[BURTDAWG]

I could've swore I posted in this thread already,but I can't find my post.But he is an Evil Warrior for Skeletor,Not a Snakeman for King Hiss.

[Mike Bock]

I could've swore I posted in this thread already,but I can't find my post.But he is an Evil Warrior for Skeletor,Not a Snakeman for King Hiss.

LOL you probably posted on the classic Forum. Since we have one thread just like this one there.

[Eric]

I think having Kobra Khan in Skeletor's ranks adds to Skeletor's greatness. He's got so much pull, power, and appeal that he can get a Snakeman to desert his own race.

I always thought the explaination for that was to even the forces out since they couldn't just make more Horde and Snake Men. Hordak and King Hiss have far less warriors than He-Man and Skeletor, but they were written as being very powerful in order to make up for that difference in numbers.

Sounds reasonable, but they also made Skeletor and his forces pathetically weak (in the cartoon). So, you had more Evil Warriors, but they couldn't do anything to anyone. Thus there was no need to make the Snakemen that much better.

I agree with you...in the vintage line, to me, the Snake Men were kind of a neat gimmicky-subset, kind of affiliated with Skeletor, but I got very tired of them in the MYP cartoon. I suspect it's because their personalities were all kind of similar, as was the gimmick...basically, they're all snakes, to state the obvious. (At least with the Evil Warriors you get variety...fish, spider, crab, skunk, etc.)

That's largely why I didn't like them. They were all pretty much the same with different appearances. On one hand it was nice that none of them were bumbling idiots because you can take them seriously, but it's not cool that almost all of Skeletor's warriors were dolts and none of the Snakemen were.

Basically, it all gets back to MYP not giving Skeletor and his forces the respect they deserved. Instead of making Skeletor and his forces appropriately threatening from the start, they made them weak, and then to drive home that Season 2 was going to be tougher for the good guys, they made the Snakemen inappropriately powerful (which made the Evil Warriors look that much worse).

[MegaGearMax]

I would imagine what it all boiled down to was this:

Does Kobra Khan want to be a general or at least one of the top six Snake Men with King Hiss or does Kobra Khan want to be a flunky with Skeletor? Would he, a Snake Man no less, get better treatment from his own King or would he actually trust Skeletor's promise of rewarding him after all the times he's lied and betrayed others?

Back in the 80's King Hiss was allied with Skeletor and the Snake Men were just 6 more Evil Warriors. Nowadays the Snake Men are their own legitimate threat and King Hiss would rather eat Skeletor than team up with him.

Basically, it all gets back to MYP not giving Skeletor and his forces the respect they deserved. Instead of making Skeletor and his forces appropriately threatening from the start, they made them weak, and then to drive home that Season 2 was going to be tougher for the good guys, they made the Snakemen inappropriately powerful (which made the Evil Warriors look that much worse).

At the beginning, the Evil Warriors were a real threat, until He-Man showed up. Even when Skeletor had his Council of Evil and the Evil Warriors together, He-Man took them all on (and would have almost won it by himself if Skeletor, Evil-Lyn and Marzo hadn't teamed up). The Evil Warriors did beat He-Man on their own turf, but got sucker punched by the Snake Men and Evil-Lyn's betrayal that same episode. I'd say that the Evil Warriors just got some bad breaks until Episode 40 confirmed that King Hiss could beat Skeletor in a straight up fight. (Hell, King Hiss alluded to the idea that even He-Man was no match for him)

I have a theory that He-Man and Skeletor would have gotten stronger if the series would have progressed, where they would have grown in power and skill and would have eventually been able to beat ultra powerful ancient terrors such as Hordak and King Hiss.

[Jackknight]

I could've swore I posted in this thread already,but I can't find my post.But he is an Evil Warrior for Skeletor,Not a Snakeman for King Hiss.

This happened to me too. Weird.

For me Kobra Khan is a snake man who is a traitor to his own kind and will even spy on them for old Skelly. He's a slippery snake that one.

[chuc98]

He's an Evil Warrior.

[GrtEternal]

I always liked Kobra Khan as The Evil Master of Snakes! One who has powers over all serpentine creatures, just as Beast Man has powers over all the evil beasts of the forests and Mer-Man of the monsters of the deep!

Then when The Snake Men got introduced, I like the whole idea of Khan being a spy for Skelly Face! I mean, he's not really, like NOT REALLY a snake man anyway. Just a repton. An offshoot, sub-species, under-type, sub-category of the Snake Men genes.

So, Kobra Khan should be as he should be. A member of Skeletor's ranks!

[Fisto's Left Hand]

In my mind Khan will always be an Evil Warrior.

[Poe Ghostal]

I'm fine with any bio that addresses this issue.

[Emiliano]

It would have been interesting to see a Filmation King Hiss. Why didn't King Hiss show up, while Rattlor and Tung Lashor did?

Tung Lashor was originally designed as a generic bad guy and put in the Horde since the She-Ra show was also intended to advertise MOTU figures too,
But as other characters (like Rio Blast eraly design used for Colonel Blast),never released in his original form. Rattlor probably followed the same pattern.
And so was King Hiss.
Most of these concepte had been developed by Ted Mayers in 1984.

I guess this doesn't really answer your question though. My best guess is that some figures were more closer to others to be actually released, and so Mattel wanted them in the show.

When Kilpin created the Snake Men concept, most likely Hiss would have eventually become one of the villain in the new POG show they would have developed if the series was released
Much like Hordak was used in the She-Ra show.
All the story plots and info make this the most probable guess.

[Toymaker]

The one thing about the MYP cartoon, which in general I loved, is they just seemed to be in a hurry to get al the characters in. KK should have been an evil warrior for a few episodes, but showed him searching Snake Mountain, rather than joining the group and five minutes later findining the cosmic pool!

[Jackknight]

Tung Lashor was originally designed as a generic bad guy and put in the Horde since the She-Ra show was also intended to advertise MOTU figures too.

Yeah when they get to Tung Lashor he'll be a part of my Horde.

[quintonarledge]

I like Khan as a Snakeman just because the Snakemen only have a few members and need all the help they can get.

[grenadaspice]

I always liked Kobra Khan as The Evil Master of Snakes! One who has powers over all serpentine creatures, just as Beast Man has powers over all the evil beasts of the forests and Mer-Man of the monsters of the deep!

Then when The Snake Men got introduced, I like the whole idea of Khan being a spy for Skelly Face! I mean, he's not really, like NOT REALLY a snake man anyway. Just a repton. An offshoot, sub-species, under-type, sub-category of the Snake Men genes.

So, Kobra Khan should be as he should be. A member of Skeletor's ranks!

I don't understand how you can say KK is a offshoot sub-species of the Snake Men. I mean, at least we know he based as an actual cobra, like Rattlor is based on a rattlesnake and Squeeeze is based on a boa/python/anaconda. Anyone figure out what Tung Lashor is based on yet? He always felt more lizard with those geoko-looking hands and that dragonfly crossbow. And Snake Face was just a guy who looked like a rottening corpse with snakes coming out of him. I think KK deserves better Snake Man status than at least those 2 guys, but that's just my opinion.

[Whiplash7]

The one thing about the MYP cartoon, which in general I loved, is they just seemed to be in a hurry to get al the characters in. KK should have been an evil warrior for a few episodes, but showed him searching Snake Mountain, rather than joining the group and five minutes later findining the cosmic pool!

Yeah, I agree with you. Other than that, I still think he was handled well overall though. And this is why I said he's something of a double agent--he's a snake man but will serve under skeletor if it suits his needs. Who knows, maybe if the show had carried on he might have had to serve under skeletor for a while?

[grenadaspice]

Yeah, I agree with you. Other than that, I still think he was handled well overall though. And this is why I said he's something of a double agent--he's a snake man but will serve under skeletor if it suits his needs. Who knows, maybe if the show had carried on he might have had to serve under skeletor for a while?

If Evil-Lyn counld do, then why not KK...lol

[Orko's Magic Hat]

Khan is a part of the Snakemen, but also an evil warrior when it suits him.

I wonder if the figure can come with a "clip-on" Snakemen logo to put on his belt?

[Eric]

I don't understand how you can say KK is a offshoot sub-species of the Snake Men. I mean, at least we know he based as an actual cobra, like Rattlor is based on a rattlesnake and Squeeeze is based on a boa/python/anaconda. Anyone figure out what Tung Lashor is based on yet? He always felt more lizard with those geoko-looking hands and that dragonfly crossbow. And Snake Face was just a guy who looked like a rottening corpse with snakes coming out of him. I think KK deserves better Snake Man status than at least those 2 guys, but that's just my opinion.

I agree with what you're saying, and Kobra Khan ranks higher on my totem pole than most of the Snakemen. But in 200X, it was pointed out that Kobra Khan wasn't a true Snakeman, like he wasn't of pure blood or something along those lines. I can't remember the exact details, but he wasn't respected and liked among King Hsss, General Rattlor, and the others as a result.

[MegaGearMax]

If Evil-Lyn counld do, then why not KK...lol

Kobra Khan was a male power *****...just more sniveling.

[Whiplash7]

I agree with what you're saying, and Kobra Khan ranks higher on my totem pole than most of the Snakemen. But in 200X, it was pointed out that Kobra Khan wasn't a true Snakeman, like he wasn't of pure blood or something along those lines. I can't remember the exact details, but he wasn't respected and liked among King Hsss, General Rattlor, and the others as a result.

He was a "puny descendant", to use their words. They are his ancestors, so he was different in that he didn't eat live meat, etc. They were about to make him eat Moss Man and Man-E I believe it was, and he gave a "gulp" sound like it was sick to him, but he got out of it. Anyway my impression is that some of the others, especially Rattlor, didn't like him, but he kept proving himself to King Hiss as more useful than the others. As well he should have, his poison was a more powerful weapon than what most of the others had to offer.

[MegaGearMax]

He was a "puny descendant", to use their words. They are his ancestors, so he was different in that he didn't eat live meat, etc. They were about to make him eat Moss Man and Man-E I believe it was, and he gave a "gulp" sound like it was sick to him, but he got out of it. Anyway my impression is that some of the others, especially Rattlor, didn't like him, but he kept proving himself to King Hiss as more useful than the others. As well he should have, his poison was a more powerful weapon than what most of the others had to offer.

Except Snake Face...that guy was so powerful he stayed a statue...
I wish they'd have written the Medusa Stare effect as a temporary thing. It had to be a ***** to write ways out of petrification.

I do agree...Rattlor and Tung Lashor were probably made into really big powerful characters since their powers were corny (like Whiplash and Clawful).

[The Villain]

Would anyone except that Kobra Khan is simply twofaced trying to please both Skeletor & Snakemen.

I would like to think he wants to be usefull to both parties but at the same time really wants the glory for himself.

[Jamps]

I like KK being a snakemen. It makes more sense.

[Jackknight]

Would anyone except that Kobra Khan is simply twofaced trying to please both Skeletor & Snakemen.

I would like to think he wants to be usefull to both parties but at the same time really wants the glory for himself.

Yeah. Maybe he's just using everyone to get what he wants. Maybe he doesn't care about sides. Maybe he could care less if Skeletor enters Castle Greyskull or whatever that ninny King Hiss is up to. Maybe he just wants to make enough cash so he can go retire on Etheria with enough bling to impress Frosta, Castaspella and all those other sexy chicks. Then Skeletor and He-Man can fight over Eternia as usual while Kobra Khan lives it up. This is now my official view of him. Kobra Khan is a pimp. I hope his bio reflects this.