RIPPER. Born in Grim Cape, Tasmania, Henry Nod was a delinquent from the time he stole candy from his fellow nursery schoolers. He took up a life of crime and spent most of his life in and out of correctional institutions. Some sources say that he spent time in the Australian military, where he gained an affinity for motorcycles. Afterwards, he returned to a life of crime as a safe cracker. Under the name "Ripper", he fell in with biker gangs and eventually joined the Dreadnoks after being thrown out of several other gangs. His weapons of choice are various edged weapons and cutting tools, especially a huge bayonet-like blade he uses like a cross between a fireman's axe and a can opener. Like most other Dreadnoks he simply loves violence and simply tearing things apart. He has been overheard while ripping Air Force fighter jet to shreds, shouting, "There's nothing like it in the whole world! Destruction and wreckage!" One of the most simple-minded Dreadnoks, Ripper was also superstitious and very much afraid of Zartan. He was one of the three Dreadnoks -- with Buzzer and Torch -- who traveled to the United States with Zartan, who had begun working for Cobra. Ripper and the Dreadnoks came up against the Joes again and again, serving as Zartan's destructive henchman.

After working with Cobra for years, the Dreadnoks were reorganized into a national biker gang led by Zartan. In 2001, they began working again with Cobra and renewed their fight against the G.I. Joe team. After a battle in the streets of Washington against the Joes and a new, advanced BAT, Ripper and many of the original Dreadnoks were arrested and held in Blackwater Prison. They were eventually freed due to the legal mechanations of Tomax and Xamot and went on to join in the battle against the forces of a revived Serpentor on Cobra Island. They later freed Zartan from a military facility where he was being held prisoner. Over a year later, he and others fought Duke and General Rey when they came looking for information about Rey's past from Zandar.

(for more information about Ripper, see Dreadnoks)

(GI 25, 28, 30, 32, 33, 35, 38, 47-52, 55, 64, 74-77, 79, 81, 90, 91, 93, 98; YB 3; OB 3; BF 2; GIv2 2, 6, 10-14, 27, 31, 38; FL 1, 2, 10; AE 5, 6, 19, 20; DDH; Figures: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)