Wallace Weems

## Background

### 1991 - 2014: Wallace Weems

Wallace is the second son of Rodney & Amber Weems. His father walked out on them shortly after Wallace's birth, leaving his mother to take care of the two young boys herself. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Wallace grew up very close with his older brother Rodney Jr, or RJ as everyone has called him. They were two peas in a pod, always getting into trouble together & making each other complete extreme dares. Both Wallace & his brother wanted to be pilots, so they would jump out of trees or off the house like they were skydiving to the ground. They lived for the thrill of it all. Unfortunately, his brother was killed in car accident when Wallace was sixteen. No longer having his best friend, Wallace became reclusive & spoke to no one except a few words with mother.

Wallace eventually found some comfort in the Civil Air Patrol, joining them the next year after his brother's death. The group would meet weekly for a couple of hours & learn how to push themselves to new limits. He continued with this for the next two years & even attended the leadership encampments & career academies. Because of his obvious desire of skydiving, all the other cadets gave him the nickname Ripcord.

He probably would've immediately enlisted in the army after high school but remained home to take care of his sick mother. After two years of caring for her at her bedside, she passed away. The next day, Wallace enlisted. He quickly grew up the ranks, becoming a Corporal just before he was recruited to a covert special mission unit by their field commander Duke. Maybe it was how Duke reminded him of his late older brother, but the two became quickly inseparable.

### 2014 - Present: Ripcord

Despite the tragedy that Wallace had faced before & after joining the military, he soon became the comic relief of the team. He was always cracking jokes or making wise cracks, helping everyone to relax during their high alert & stressful missions.

During his third mission dealing with Cobra, Ripcord was sent out on a mission to a remote island to do some recon. Though he landed undetected, he was eventually spotted by a Cobra agent. He was able to to quickly subdue the agent but was captured by one of Cobra's favorite assassins, Zartan. After being taken to a different location, Ripcord was tortured in the "Brain Wave Scanner", a device that was being used to feed information into their computer. He was able to become acquainted with Buzzer, one of the Cobra's guardsman. When he wasn't getting tortured, he would get to know Buzzer, who eventually revealed her civilian identity of Candace Bongo. With the help of Candace, Ripcord was able to give the Joes his location before making his escape attempt with Candace. The two made it pretty far but Candy was killed by another guardsman. Before he could be captured again, the Joes raid the compound & safely rescue him.

After this incident, Ripcord took some time off from active-duty. He remained at the based with Hawk, in an advisory role while also going through physical & psychological therapy. He returned to active duty after a few months, going back into his role as the team's HALO jumper & residential jokester.

## Personality

Ripcord is a cheerful and optimistic man who often told jokes & is loyal to his friends. However, he is also a showoff & a flirt, which is shown during his pursuits of Scarlett, Cover Girl, Lady Jaye, Dial Tone, Jinx & Firewall. He did his best to impress them though they all ignored him. Rip has also been shown to be good at comforting people & manages to make the team feel better about their losses.

## Powers & Abilities

* **Aviation:** Ripcord is an excellent pilot & claims that he can fly anything. He managed to shoot down two missiles headed towards Moscow & DC, even though he was in an aircraft he'd never even seen before.
* **Demolitions**
* **Hand to Hand Combat**
* **Marksmanship:** According to Hawk, he was also an expert marksman and managed to get 99% in his shooting tests.
* **Weaponry**

### Ratings

* **Intelligence:** Unknown
* **Strength:** Unknown
* **Speed:** Unknown
* **Occult:** Unknown
* **Weapons:** Unknown
* **Range:** Unknown
* **Strategy:** Unknown
* **Combat:** Unknown

## Trivia

* His closest friend is Duke. They refer to each other as brother.
* Rip is freaked out by Snake Eyes. It's a combination of his skills & the fact that he doesn't talk.
* He is the teams paratrooper, demolitions specialist & residential daredevil. His job is to fall like dead rock for thousands of feet then to open his parachute at the last possible moment to avoid detection.
* When Scarlett recruited Nicky Lee to the Joes, it was Rip that gave him the nickname "Tunnel Rat" when he commented on the smell surrounding him. To Nicky's annoyance, the name stuck but he soon willingly adopted it as a codename.
* When Ace was with the Joes, he spent most of his time with Ripcord in the field. The two became a good duo, with Ripcord usually helping Ace out whenever they ran into Cobra's fighter pilot Wild Weasel in the field. In one situation, the two were so evenly matched that the both of them ran out of missiles & ammunition, leading to the two calling it even for the moment.
* In 2015, he & Flint were captured by Cobra while providing escort for a shipment of rediscovered missiles with great destructive power. Because of the delicacy of the situation, Hawk was forced to tell his team to stand down after orders from his superiors. However, the team went around him & receieved help from the DEO & were able to rescue both members.
* He currently has the rank of Staff Sergeant (SSG), earning the enlisted grade of E-6.

## Notes

* Ripcord/Wallace Weems is a character from G.I. Joe & its related media.
* He shares his birthday with Marlon Wayans, the actor that portrayed him *G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra*.