i gotta think about that one.

This is pretty subjective because some of us might NOT include certain classes. INcluding the venomized troopers and etc. I would like to think my vision would be pretty streamlined and I'd say that a lot of the regular troops would NOT be fully human or even human at all (ie; relying on BATs).

I think that cobra would definately outsource... consider they would have night creepers or ninja vipers on missions someplace and would call in slice or dice for infiltration.

What about the other extra's the people in the pocket that work regular jobs but are paid by Arbco enterprises to do stuff like rat out information to the Crimson Twins and the Shadow Guard.

I've never thought about it really until i saw this thread. Taking into account standard infantry, specialists and a global operation we have to be talking in the hundreds of thousands category.
Best bet would be to take a head count on individual characters based within cobra. Then take a seperate count for troops that will be multiple based such as BATs and Officers and Vipers squads..
Multiply that figure by say 15-20 at most. I mean I know there are more soldiers but we're trying to get a guestimate... i think you'd have at least a couple of hundred thousand and thats before you even think about people paid into the organisation and freelancers.

Hmmm. Let's see. There's me, a few guys on this site, Cobra Commander, Destro, Zartan, Major Bludd, and all the CG's currently working in congress. Probably a few dozen. A hundred tops. :rolleyes: Not to worry, not to worry. ;)

Okay, now that I got a goofy answer out, let me think about this one. I would think if they have infiltrated into governments throughout the world, they would have to be fairly large. But in order to maintain security, they would need to work in smaller cells so the capture of one cell doesn't bring down the entire organization. Since Cobra is a hybrid, they would also have larger army divisions in addition to the countless cells around the globe. Best guess would be somewhere between a half mil and a mil altogether. (Including familes and support staff.)

I always figure around 10,000 or so. Vehicles in the small numbers also ie about 50 to 100 hiss's at the most. Remember, these things would be very expensive to make. The US military usually has only a couple hundred of each jet in service anymore and not many more then that of Tanks if I remember correctly. Its just too expensive to mass produce when a jet costs a Billion Dollors. Figure each Hiss would be in the Millions to make. Not exactly chump change even when you have ghost companies and the such all over the world. I figure the bulk of the Hightech stuff is for show and then alot of old Russion overstock stuff for the majority of gear. Think about how the Russions would fly the same 5 Bombers over Red Square over and over on Mayday Celebrations to make the public and Spy's think that they had hundreds. I figure the show of force on Cobra Island would be about the same. I like to think that they use Secret Ops for the majority of there Plans and the use of Stealth, ie. NIght Raven and such, for Stratigic bombing runs and offensive actions before sending in the troops. Now if Hasbro would only make those huge Transport Jets with the Snake heads that were in the Cartoon. That is how they would deliver massive forces into action all at once.


P.S. is there a rambling Censor out there LOL

In my Joeverse, COBRA is in the thousands, but I wouldn't be sure of the exact numbers. They are global, each region has its own recruitment.

Cobra HQ could be on Cobra Island, however my adventures will usually involve Cobra's R&D base in the Antarctic. Other locations will be in the Gobi Desert. Currently Cobra is located in an underwater cavern in the Pacific, accessible through a "blue hole" -- specifically my Cobra Vault where Cobra stores its riches and most important records/blue prints, etc.

In my Verse COBRA is a full on Terroist organization, hitting the Globe where it hurts, America, Russia, Middle East. Trying to get enough Rebels, Pirates, Mercenaries together to over throw America and become a supreme Power

Thats my point of view

In my Joeverse, Cobra island is a nation with 2 or 3 millions people.

I agree that Cobra would outsource too. As you all already know, in my Joeverse Destro is just one of many suppliers. There's a source for food supplies, uniforms, etc. Who does their laundry?

This is a very good question.

Hmmm...I'd say

battlefield troops~ 25,000 - 50,000 (Vipers/EEls/specialty Vipers)

Blue shirts(Techs/general Laborers that can fix toilets/do electrical work etc and then pick up a gun and fight, what I see as the civilian militia in Cobra towns) ~ 50,000 -100,000

Top Level Undercover (Seigies, spies, Sypathizers) ~ 2,500

Collaborators and people being used for intell and don't realize who they are working for ~ 100,000 or more

Merc's (At the high point) ~ 5,000 (To include Zartan/Dreadnoks/ Bludd/Firefly/Raptor, etc)

Iron Grenadiers ~ 5,000