this is something that only i and maybe like, 2 or 3 other people care about, but i've been thinking about the design choices mondomedia made in regard to flippy's appearance, and they're really interesting to me for a number of reasons. one such reason is because they signal that he is not only a veteran, but specifically one that served in vietnam (or whatever the htf universe's equivalent to that war was, more on that later). this is made pretty evident by operation tiger bomb and the imagery shown when anything triggers him, both of which depict much of his service as having taken place in an area with tropical rainforests not unlike those in vietnam and surrounding countries, but it's also made apparent by his design in itself. he's pretty much never seen without his beret—a beret which distinctly resembles the headwear sported by the us army special forces (aptly nicknamed the green berets), who were heavily involved in the vietnam war.
as shown above, the flash (that being the emblem on military berets) doesn't totally match any real-word symbols, which is to be expected. it is, however, visually similar to the flashes designated to the 1st (solid color) and 3rd (checkered pattern) special forces groups, further supporting the idea that he's modeled after vietnam-era green berets. interestingly enough, his beret has a visor, which normally berets don't have, but is fairly common for other kinds of military headwear. it additionally appears to have a blue ribbon, i think? i initially mistook it as an oddly colored piece of metal connecting the visor to the rest of the hat, but after learning that no such thing exists, i really have no clue what it could be other than some kind of fabric.
apart from his beret, he wears what looks to be a highly simplified field jacket with a pair of dog tags as well. i believe the jacket i included here is an m-1965, as that's most likely what flippy's wearing since it was a very widely issued article of clothing during the vietnam war, but that's mainly conjecture. the camouflage pattern on his jacket could either be woodland or leaf (alternatively known as erdl), but i'm leaning towards the latter, particularly the green-dominant variant that leaf camo initially came in—which, much like every other part of his outfit, was issued to special forces in the army during vietnam. in addition, he sports three chevrons each shoulder, indicating that he was a sergeant prior to being discharged. they're oriented opposite to how they are irl, but the intent is clear either way. although this isn't exclusive to the vietnam war era, i felt it was worth mentioning nonetheless.
lastly, the original concept art of flippy as a private in operation tiger bomb portrays him in fatigues that are practically identical in coloration to the og-107, the other uniform primarily worn by us soldiers during the vietnam war. despite the many artistic liberties that were taken here, the similarity is undeniable. between this and flippy's design in the main show, i believe there's more than enough to argue that it's all but outright confirmed in canon that flippy served in a war like the one in vietnam.
this begs the question: why?
the easiest and most probable answer is that it doesn't really mean much of anything; it's just an easy way to signal to the viewers that flippy used to be a soldier. out of all the wars the us has gotten involved in, the vietnam war has perhaps had the most significant impact on mainstream culture, meaning iconography from it would be instantly recognizable to an american audience. thus, in a show which mostly lacks spoken word, this allows the creators to impart quite a bit of information about flippy as a character without having to break that rule. in fact, the usage of said iconography may actually be more effective than if this information were conveyed through dialogue.
moreover, i think flippy is at least partially meant to be an expy* of the fictional vietnam war veteran john rambo, as evidenced by the several references to his kills in multiple episodes (i know there's at least one in hide and seek and another in easy for you to sleigh, but i imagine there's others i'm missing, so maybe i'll make a separate post about it if people are interested). plus, the volume 1 dvd release for htf shares a name with the first entry in the rambo franchise, as seen below.
*expy is short for exported character, a term from tv tropes
not to mention, the vietnam war coincided with research that led to the coining of post-traumatic stress disorder as it is now understood in the field of psychiatry. as a result, veterans of that war have undoubtedly become the go-to example of warfare-related ptsd in the minds of many, in large part aided by depictions of such in media like the aforementioned first blood. therefore, it makes sense that mondomedia would make their shell-shocked veteran character a vietnam vet. to put all of this in simpler words, it probably isn't that deep.
this is where i get back to that comment i made near the beginning of this post, because flippy's design necessarily implies two things about htf—first, whatever country these characters live in has a military which is very similar to that of the us in both attire and organizational structure, and second, this country was at one point involved in an armed conflict akin to the vietnam war. taking this into consideration, i have to wonder the degree to which this conflict is meant to parallel the real war it is presumably based on. that is, are we supposed to interpret this war as wholly analogous to its real-life counterpart, or is it an entirely different conflict that just so happens to have taken place in the htf universe's equivalent of southeast asia? personally, i'm inclined to say it's different on account of flippy seeming younger than he'd actually be were this the case, along with the fact that the tiger soldiers don't bear much of a resemblance to the viet cong or the pavn. if anything, they look more like soviets (though for what it's worth, the soviet union did play an important role in the vietnam war, albeit indirectly).
yet this only raises even more questions. for instance, was this a war waged over resources and/or territory, or was it more like the real war in vietnam, which was primarily motivated by ideology (and racism, but people don't like talking about that part)? if it's the latter, does that mean thousands of cute, cuddly little animals were sent to fight and die in the name of opposing communism and all that entails??? what does this imply about the society that the tree friends inhabit then? and what even is the weaponized animal regiment anyway?
most pertinently, what does this mean for flippy specifically? his service is obviously something he considers central to his identity, given that he's constantly wearing his jacket and beret even long after (presumably) being discharged from the army, but the reason why is never explained. is it a matter of pride, comfort, or pure habit at this point? what about his time in the military overall? did he enlist willingly, or was he drafted? what feelings does he have about it all looking back? how might that affect the way he interacts with the other tree friends when he isn't flipped out? how would the others perceive him?
i may be losing the plot a bit, but my point is that there's a lot that can be said based on flippy's outfit alone, and that isn't even getting into the meta implications of being an ex-soldier in a world that operates on kid's edutainment show logic, or how flippy notably deviates from other representations of the military in american media (particularly for the time). personally, i'd love to see more fanworks that attempt to answer some of these questions, but i'd happy just to get people talking. i have my own ideas, but i should probably save that for another time before this dissertation of a post about a shock cartoon gets any longer.
