Toad Ranks

[Norris]

Is it just me, or is the Toad ranking system...odd?

When we look at Toads like Capt. Smata, Lt. Horst, Cmdr. Valthou, they all attain naval ranks, yet the Air Marshal appears to be the only Toad with an Air Force rank. (Except for Wing Commander Sludge from some of my FanFics, and one Toad in THE KOMPLEX CAPER naming himself as Squadron Leader)

We never know what rank Frix & Frax attain, but they're certainly quite low in importance. Officer Cadets, perhaps?

Toadborg attains the rank of "Supreme Commander", a rank non-existent in any military order, but we assume that he is meant to be a kind of General. (Explaining why the Air Marshal is below him, as an Air Marshal is equivalent to a Lt. General, the next rank below General)

There are no Toad NCO's featured in any of the TV series or the Web series, so we can only assume that there are the Storm Toads, and then the commisioned officers, despite the fact that there are few Toad Officers.

Any ideas?

[Kooshmeister]

There's no reason their ranking system should reflect anything on our world. I.e., what we see in the show is what there is. They're aliens from a completely differant (well, mostly differant) society than our own. Why should their military be like ours?

In their ranking system, the Air Marshal seems to be the equivalent of a Five-Star General rather a Lt. General as you say, with Toadborg existing outside the ranks but still being a higher authority than the Air Marshal (i.e., he's a politician and KOMPLEX's personal assistant/representative, credentials that give him all the power and authority he needs regardless of whatever military rank he may or may not have held in the past).

Essentially, I'd advise everyone to work with what the show gives us and not try to add ranks and/or ranking structures that probably don't even exist. As I said before, they're a differant race and culture, so their ranking system will likely function differantly, and I think applying that sort of logic to it that involves making their military reflect ours is a bad idea.

But, that's just my two cents. I've said the same thing to people in the SWAT Kats fandom who try to treat the Enforcers like a human military organization, adding ranks that were never even so much as hinted at in the show. I mean, when the highest-ranking individual is a Commander and a Sergeant is fourth-in-command and there's no Colonels, Captains, or whatnot, it's obvious that they don't function the same way as human armies do.

[Norris]

Good point. Referring back to the NCO's for the moment, perhaps the ranks just jump from private to officer, thus eliminating the need for minor ranks like Lance-Corporal etc.

In some of the episodes I've seen, there's always one Stormtoad who acts like he's in charge of something, yet they do not wear an officer's uniform. Perhaps these are the NCO's? Or maybe Frix and Frax are supposed Non-Commisioned Officers judging by their uniforms.

[Kooshmeister]

Here's an interesting thing that just randomly popped into my head: Aside from Frix and Frax, do we ever see any toads who wear the Stormtoad uniform with service (officer) caps? I know that Jenny beats up two guys aboard a ship early on who wear the Stormtoad uniform sans helmet, but not officer's caps like the twins.

I must confess, I haven't seen the series in some time beyond a few episodes here and there, so I can't really remember, and although I do recall seeing at least two toads in similar getups in the crowd of panicking toads when the mothership is being destroyed at the end of "War of the Warts", I always assumed this was just Frix and Frax.

And speaking of "War of the Warts", stop me if this has been brought up before but am I the only one who noticed that the twins' voices changed after that episode? I remember watching, I think, "The Search For Bruce" (my first BoH episode ) and then going back and watching "War of the Warts" and being taken aback at just how deep Frix and Frax's voices were.

[Norris]

No, you're right. The voices did change. I suppose the producers weren't happy with the first voices and tried to make them "comical". In other words, they gave the twins squeaky voices.

There was a third Toad in the officers-cap uniform seen cheering in a Toad Bar in ON THE BLINK. It may have just been an animation error, but it is not made clear. Hence why I've dubbed this "triplet" with the name Frox (To go with Frix and Frax).

We know that Frix and Frax are the Air Marshal's henchemen, but it is never stated what rank they are. It could be possible that they attain an air rank, as they were chosen to replace the Air Marshal in THE WARRIORS. For now, I just don't know.

[Centurius]

I would have thought the ranks are a little confused as the navy and the airforce would have been combined with the introduction of space ships. Instead of coming up with new ranks they just mixed and matched from existing ones. The first commander of the Toad fleet came from the Air Force so his rank is the ne they kept, or at least that's how i would imagine it.

[Norris]

It's a thought, but I would've thought that they would make up some space ranks based around the Navy and Air ranks rather than keep the old ones. (EG: Air Marshal could be Space Marshal, and Leading Aircraftsman could be Leading Spacecraftsman etc.)

[Pow!]

Well, the season only continues what's been established in the cartoon, I think...

[Norris]

That's what I've been saying! I know that the show was fashioned around the comic, but I can understand why that the amount of flaws in the comics were smoothened out on the cartoon. I would've thought the weird ranking system would've also been cleared.

[Pow!]

If this is such a confusing matter, we could just ask the senior writers or DJ instead and find out.....

[Kooshmeister]

There's an Air Marshall, a Frix, a Frax, and some Stormtoads. Let's leave it at that. XD

[Pow!]

gry

Kooshmeister said:

There's an Air Marshall, a Frix, a Frax, and some Stormtoads. Let's leave it at that. XD

You forgot Captain Smata. XD

[Kooshmeister]

Oh, who cares about him? He was a doofus anyway. Still, for the sake of completion...

[Norris]

It doesn't matter WHO they are, it is how important they are that I'm looking for!

[Pow!]

Oh, just keep things simple, i suppose.

KOMPLEX--->Toadborg (Supreme Commander)--->Airmarshall--->Captain--->Commander--->(Frix and Frax?)--->Stormtoads

Anything I miss?

Heck, I think we can just use the rankings in Spaceship trooper movie...

Aha !! I finally hit 200!!! YESS!!!