Red Ribbon 'Names' Are Actually Code Names?

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Gyt Kaliba
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Red Ribbon 'Names' Are Actually Code Names?

Post by Gyt Kaliba » Sun Mar 03, 2013 6:15 pm

I was thinking about this the other day at work - because this is what I do instead of paying attention to where I vacuum, is ponder crap like this :lol: - so I thought I'd see if anything like this has ever been suggested in any source, or if anyone else has ever thought about it beside me.

Okay, the Red Ribbon Army is named such because it's ran by 'Commander Red', so it's named after him. That makes sense. After that though, all of his major subordinates - Black, Blue, White, Silver, Violet, even Murasaki to some degree - are named after colors as well. I know the real-world reasoning behind this is to tie them all together, and it's a name pun thing...but doesn't it seem a little weird that the people who moved up in his organization just happen to have color-based names as well? What, were they on the ground floor of this organization when he first put it together, and they decided to form the army because of their common names or something? :P

So I started to ponder the concept that maybe those aren't their real names at all - maybe they're all just code names for the highest ranking members, so they won't be caught by the military under the king, or something? There was mention (in the dub at least) that they were so strong as a militia that even the king's army couldn't take them down, so it'd make sense that they'd want to keep their organization strongly shrouded in mystery so that status quot would remain, and one way to do that is to use code names for the highest ranking officials.

So yeah, has this ever been mentioned in any official capacity, either as a fact or just a possibility? If not, does it make sense to anyone other than me? Even if it would be seemingly legit, I'm not sure if I'd think it goes all the way back to Red and that's not his real name, or if they adopted color-based code names in 'honor' of their leader who is actually named Red, or something.
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Re: Red Ribbon 'Names' Are Actually Code Names?

Post by Herms » Sun Mar 03, 2013 6:46 pm

Pretty sure nothing in anything official has indicated that the names of the RR members are just codenames. Murasaki's brothers all have names that likewise come from Japanese words for colors, but I suppose you could say those are just codenames too. But then Tao Pai Pai's name also fits the color naming scheme (it means "Peach White White"), and he wasn't even a member of the RR at all. I guess like any of the name puns in the series, they're fun but illogical. I mean, do Saiyans somehow know they're supposed to only name their kids things that can be rearranged into vegetables? With the RR at least, personally I like to think that Red is just biased and only promotes people with color-based names.
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Re: Red Ribbon 'Names' Are Actually Code Names?

Post by Gyt Kaliba » Sun Mar 03, 2013 6:52 pm

I did not realize that about Murasaki's brothers or Tao Pai Pai's names, huh. That does kind of blow a hole in my theory, especially on Tao's part. Maybe I'm just over-thinking this a bit then.

I think I could definitely get behind the idea that Red only promotes people with color-based names though. That sounds like an appropriately Toriyama-esque answer. :lol:
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Re: Red Ribbon 'Names' Are Actually Code Names?

Post by Saiga » Mon Mar 04, 2013 1:46 am

I liked the codename theory, but I like the colour bias theory even more. :lol:
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Re: Red Ribbon 'Names' Are Actually Code Names?

Post by Gaffer Tape » Tue Mar 19, 2013 12:50 pm

Do Murasaki's brothers have names in the manga, or is that just in the anime?
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Re: Red Ribbon 'Names' Are Actually Code Names?

Post by TheDevilsCorpse » Tue Mar 19, 2013 1:36 pm

Gaffer Tape wrote:Do Murasaki's brothers have names in the manga, or is that just in the anime?
Weren't they first mentioned in Jump's Adventure Special guide, or am I just remembering wrong?
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Re: Red Ribbon 'Names' Are Actually Code Names?

Post by Gaffer Tape » Tue Mar 19, 2013 1:43 pm

Maybe that's what it is. I know I vaguely remember them having names somewhere, but it's not really sticking out to me where or what.
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Re: Red Ribbon 'Names' Are Actually Code Names?

Post by ABED » Tue Mar 19, 2013 1:51 pm

Toriyama's names have a pattern to them. Stan Lee does the same thing. His characters typically have aliterative names (Peter Parker, Happy Hogan, Matt Murdoch, Reid Richards, Sue Storm, Dr. Doom, J. Jonah Jameson, etc.)
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Re: Red Ribbon 'Names' Are Actually Code Names?

Post by Herms » Tue Mar 19, 2013 2:42 pm

TheDevilsCorpse wrote:
Gaffer Tape wrote:Do Murasaki's brothers have names in the manga, or is that just in the anime?
Weren't they first mentioned in Jump's Adventure Special guide, or am I just remembering wrong?
Well, their names are definitely mentioned in the Adventure Special, and I think that's where they first appeared (they later pop up in Daizenshuu 7). I've never heard that they were named in the anime.
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