| abstract | - The Cobra Days is a Metal Gear Solid webcomic by Inonibird. It chronicles the adventures of the Cobra Unit, Metal Gear Solid 3's Quirky Miniboss Squad, during World War II. Wait, why does this concept seem familiar? Has not been updated since February, 2010. Officially cancelled in January, 2011. Has nothing to do with the snake-themed terrorists of yore. It features examples of:
* Action Girl: the Joy.
* Badass Normal: the Joy and the Fury.
* Badass Grandpa: the End is freakin' old, but that doesn't seem to impair his 'traipse all over the world and headshot dudes' ability.
* Bedmate Reveal: After a night of heavy drinking, The Fury wakes up in his bed shirtless with The Fear and The Sorrow, also shirtless. As it turns out, nothing happens, the Pain was just screwing with them.
* Bee-Bee Gun: the Pain.
* Berserk Button: the Sorrow does not tolerate other people degrading his namesake, nor anyone who attempt to insinuate that The Joy Really Gets Around. Not even The Fury. The last one backfires comedically on him.
* Blessed with Suck: the Sorrow, in his earliest appearances. The poor guy winds up getting possessed by one of the End's parrots. He gets better.
* Breaking the Fourth Wall: After things get particularly gory, the Fear asks, "What's the rating of this comic, anyway?"
* Cluster F-Bomb: the Fury.
* Cold Sniper: Aversion. the End is actually one of the more amiable and emotionally stable members of the Cobras, although admittedly that's not saying much.
* Depraved Bisexual: What the Fear claims to be, primarily for shock value. Whether it's actually true or not is harder to say.
* Eloquent in My Native Tongue: the Sorrow's struggles with English are constantly played for humor. He eventually gets over that, though not without having to spend a whole month with a few Shakespeare books and an Oxford dictionary for company while he recovers from a nasty foot injury... and to his dismay, it doesn't get him any more respect from his comrades, save the Joy and perhaps the End.
* Fan Verse: The Cobra Days became so popular that fans wrote their own fics in the same continuity. TCD fans who had not even played the Metal Gear games have drawn fan art for TCD.
* Foregone Conclusion: Anyone who has finished the Metal Gear saga will know that the Joy and the Sorrow will fall in love, and the Joy will give birth to their baby boy while storming the Beaches of Normandy, only to have him taken away from them. Funny though the comic may be, there will be a Bittersweet Ending at best.
* Heroic Sociopath: the Fear, the Fury, and the Pain. See also: Comedic Sociopathy.
* Mind Control Eyes: Lampshaded when The Sorrow starts channeling the End's parrot: "You know you're in trouble when a character is depicted with pupilless eyes."
* Multinational Team: one American, one Canadian, one Brazilian (who had immigrated to the US before the comic begins), and three Russians.
* Ninja: in Algeria. To be fair, it is World War II, and the Cobras are working for the Allies, so an attack from Japanese agents makes a certain amount of sense.
* Non-Action Guy: the Sorrow, when he's not channeling a dead ninja.
* Playing with Fire: the Fury, although he's a Badass Normal version who gets it from special equipment, not inherent power.
* Prequel: What the comic is to the canon Metal Gear Solid-verse.
* Quintessential British Gentleman: Every Brit that's shown up so far, from "Stirling" (who may be more Upper Class Wit) to the ones currently in Nazi hands.
* Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: the Bunny Ears Lawyer variety. As the End put it, "You were chosen to be a Cobra, you MUST be crazy."
* Rookie Red Ranger: The Sorrow... when he can control his powers.
* Schedule Slip: Going months at a time between updates.
* The Squad
* Team Mom: the Joy, although she's not The Chick.
* Triang Relations: Of the Type 3 variety, with the Joy at point A and The Sorrow and The Fear at points B and C. This may will change, turning into a Type 4, with Joy and Sorrow in a relationship and the Fear not having gotten the girl.
* Tsundere: the Joy is a (currently) non-romantic example.
* White-Haired Pretty Boy: the Sorrow, if you think Nerds Are Sexy.
* World War II
* Yandere / Love Makes You Evil: the Fear for the Joy, not like he was a saint before or anything, as Good Is Boring. Still, there's a difference between hazing the new guy 'cuz it's funny and apparently deciding to voodoo the hell out of him.
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