"Your loyal wolf friend here - he needs a name! How about...TIMBER! Yes...'Tis a perfect moniker!"

- Scotch-Eskimo Shaman to Snake Eyes, cartoon episode "The Worms of Death" (1983)


In the fictional universe of the G.I. Joe toys, comics, and cartoons, Timber is a gray wolf who befriends the ninja Snake Eyes.

Timber first appeared as a plastic toy wolf that came with the second version of Snake Eyes, released as part of G.I. Joe Series 4 in 1985.

According to the filecard on the back of the package, after Snake Eyes finished his tour of duty in Vietnam and completed his ninja training in Japan in the second half of the 1970s, he moved to the wilderness of the Sierra Nevada mountains in California where he lived a solitary and ascetic lifestyle. It was during this period that he met and befriended a wolf, whom he named Timber.

This origin was maintained in the original Marvel Comics series (1982-1994), which portrayed Timber as less of a pet and more of a wild animal. Throughout the series, Timber kept living the wild life of a wolf, but remained in the general vicinity of Snake Eyes's old cabin in the High Sierras, guarding it against intruders and hanging out with Snake Eyes whenever he and his G.I. Joe pals came back for a visit or to hide out or something.

In the Devil's Due Comics continuation of the series, Timber eventually died of old age, but not before siring a litter of wolf pups, one of which Snake Eyes adopts.

In the Sunbow animated television series (1983-1986), an alternate origin for Timber was given. In the very first miniseries, entitled "The MASS Device," Snake Eyes met Timber at the edge of the Arctic Circle while on a mission to gather a rare radioactive crystals needed by the Joes to make their own "MASS Device." Snake Eyes rescued Timber from a bear trap, whereupon a grateful Timber followed Snake Eyes around and helped him fight off a polar bear. Later, Snake Eyes was healed of radiation sickness by an Eskimo shaman, who also happened to speak English with a heavy Scottish accent and named the wolf "Timber."

Snake Eyes takes Timber with him back to the G.I. Joe main base in the US, where Timber shows his high IQ by helping Cover Girl defuse a Cobra booby-trap and earns the high praise, "Timber, you're my kind of wolf!" from the gorgeous former fashion model. Thereafter, Timber shows up randomly several times in the cartoon as Snake Eyes's sidekick.

Tim"ber (?), n. [Probably the same word as timber sort of wood; cf. Sw. timber, LG. timmer, MHG. zimber, G. zimmer, F. timbre, LL. timbrium. Cf. Timmer.] Com.

A certain quantity of fur skins, as of martens, ermines, sables, etc., packed between boards; being in some cases forty skins, in others one hundred and twenty; -- called also timmer.

[Written also timbre.]

 

© Webster 1913.


Tim"ber, n. [F. timbre. See Timbre.] Her.

The crest on a coat of arms.

[Written also timbre.]

 

© Webster 1913.


Tim"ber, v. t.

To surmount as a timber does.

[Obs.]

 

© Webster 1913.


Tim"ber, n. [AS. timbor, timber, wood, building; akin to OFries. timber, D. timmer a room, G. zimmer, OHG. zimbar timber, a dwelling, room, Icel. timbr timber, Sw. timmer, Dan. tommer, Goth. timrjan to build, timrja a builder, L. domus a house, Gr. house, to build, Skr. dama a house. 62. Cf. Dome, Domestic.]

1.

That sort of wood which is proper for buildings or for tools, utensils, furniture, carriages, fences, ships, and the like; -- usually said of felled trees, but sometimes of those standing. Cf. Lumber, 3.

And ta'en my fiddle to the gate, . . . And fiddled in the timber! Tennyson.

2.

The body, stem, or trunk of a tree.

3.

Fig.: Material for any structure.

Such dispositions are the very errors of human nature; and yet they are the fittest timber to make politics of. Bacon.

4.

A single piece or squared stick of wood intended for building, or already framed; collectively, the larger pieces or sticks of wood, forming the framework of a house, ship, or other structure, in distinction from the covering or boarding.

So they prepared timber . . . to build the house. 1 Kings v. 18.

Many of the timbers were decayed. W. Coxe.

5.

Woods or forest; wooden land.

[Western U.S.]

6. Shipbuilding

A rib, or a curving piece of wood, branching outward from the keel and bending upward in a vertical direction. One timber is composed of several pieces united.

Timber and room. Shipbuilding Same as Room and space. See under Room. -- Timber beetle Zool., any one of numerous species of beetles the larvae of which bore in timber; as, the silky timber beetle (Lymexylon sericeum). -- Timber doodle Zool., the American woodcock. [Local, U.S.] -- Timber grouse Zool., any species of grouse that inhabits woods, as the ruffed grouse and spruce partridge; -- distinguished from prairie grouse. -- Timber hitch Naut., a kind of hitch used for temporarily marking fast a rope to a spar. See Illust. under Hitch. -- Timber mare, a kind of instrument upon which soldiers were formerly compelled to ride for punishment. Johnson. -- Timber scribe, a metal tool or pointed instrument for marking timber. Simmonds. -- Timber sow. Zool. Same as Timber worm, below. Bacon. -- Timber tree, a tree suitable for timber. -- Timber worm Zool., any larval insect which burrows in timber. -- Timber yard, a yard or place where timber is deposited.

 

© Webster 1913.


Tim"ber (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Timbered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Timbering.]

To furnish with timber; -- chiefly used in the past participle.

His bark is stoutly timbered. Shak.

 

© Webster 1913.


Tim"ber, v. i.

1.

To light on a tree.

[Obs.]

2. Falconry

To make a nest.

 

© Webster 1913.

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