How did SE command Timber if he can't speak?

Hand and arm signals.

Seriously.

The more important question is: how did he train Kamakura so well with out speaking?

The more important question is: how did he train Kamakura so well with out speaking?


By example.

The more important question is: how did he train Kamakura so well with out speaking?

Many whacks on the forehead like in Enter the Dragon :D

-PJ

If you look through all of the letter pages in the Marvel Comics (Which I will not do) Larry Hama discusses the fact that Snake Eyes is not totally mute. Even though he has lost his ability to speak (for the most part, since he does say the name Scarlett in one issue), he can still make sounds (depicted with ".........." in the comics). I would say that this along with hand signals and an uncanny ability with animals led to Snake Eyes being able to train Timber.

Okay I know this is sort of contrary to the way this thread is running but since when can we assume that Timber is actually a trained animal? Larry Hama once made the comment that "...Timber is not a pet (like Junkyard), he 'belongs' to Snake-Eyes as much as any wild animal can belong to anyone." Granted, I am not totally sure what that is supposed to mean, but it seems to imply that Timber isn't really trained. In issue #26 (the Origin of Snake-Eyes Part I), we see Snake-Eyes actually leave Timber at his cabin in the High Sierras when Stalker and Hawk recruit him for the Joe team--and that is where Timber stays. Timber makes his second appearance when we return to that cabin in the High Sierras when Destro, Firefly, and Fred I (the first Crimson Guardsman) battle Snake-Eyes, Spirit, Airborne and the Soft Master there. We see Timber again in some of the much later issues (again at the High Sierras) when Storm Shadow, Jinx, Scarlett, and Snake-Eyes battle some survivors of the Arashikage clan (and find Fred I's final resting place). Other than those appearances, the only actual mission I remember Timber being a part of was the rescue of Snake-Eyes from the Cobra Consulate Building in Yearbook #3 (a silent story I might add). Can anyone think of any others?

To recap, Timber seems to just attack Snake-Eyes' antagonists, hang around like a cool timber wolf, and check people out to make sure they aren't Snake-Eyes' antagonists :D. We do know that Snake-Eyes can make sounds, and even speak with some degree of difficulty (as was pointed out earlier)--so I'm sure that Snake-Eyes can and does commuicate with Timber on some level, I'm just not so sure that Timber can be thought of as a trained wolf version of Junkyard or Order. What do you guys think?

I agree. Timber is more like Snake Eyes friend or companion. And I might be wrong, but didn't they say at one point in the comics that his vocal chords had actually fully healed, and he could speak if he wanted to?

Snake-Eyes had his vocal cords permanently damaged in that helicopter crash in the Middle East. What most likely happened is flame and smoke actually went down his throat, scorching and burning the cartilage making up the true vocal cords. I surmise this because Rock n' Roll claimed that when Snake-Eyes carried Scarlett from the helicopter wreck he was opening and closing his mouth "with no sound coming out," (see issues #26-27) plus in a recap of the conclusion of that mission (in GI Joe #144?) Snake-Eyes doesn't speak. So with these clues we can safely assume that the vocal cord damage wasn't the result of later burn treatment or surgical therapy. Snake-Eyes would not be able to naturally speak again without extreme difficulty (and if he managed to do so the sounds he made would be very soft and very coarse).

Dogs can learn to commands through sign language. Many hearing and speaking impaired people have "hearing ear dogs", much like seeing eye dogs for the visually impared. These animals learn to obey commands through various hand and body signals. Snake-eyes probably trained Timber in the same way.

How Snake-Eyes trained Kamakura, I don't know. I'm not sure how Kamakura made it through grade school. ;)