GI Joe General

[Onslaught Six]

Storm Shadow has a Japanese uncle, who was the guy who trained him (until Zartan murdered him, intending to kill Snake Eyes under Cobra Commander's orders. Yes, really.) which pretty much explains why he'd be a ninja.

I wasn't even aware that 'Arashikage' was an attempt to back-translate "Storm Shadow" until today!

[JediTricks]

I think Storm Shadow may have been born in America--he was in the same army unit in Vietnam with Stalker and Snake Eyes, which seems to indicate that he was, at least at one point, an American citizen. But his ninja clan is Japanese, so.

Exactly. Storm Shadow was born in California, but his ethnic background and his ninja training are Japanese.

The funny part is that their main claims are the Zartan-as-President plotline (which, uh, that's called a "sequel hook") and the idea that Zartan was the real killer of the Hard Master...which was in the comic books two decades earlier. It'd be like Frank Miller trying to sue because Batman Begins used parts of Year One as inspiration, as if Year One was the first Batman story ever.

Yeah, it's pretty flimsy, but they may have more notes explaining how it plays out. I bet this either gets ugly or Paramount caves.

My immediate reaction upon reading the first couple years' Joe tech specs (or whatever they're called; file cards?) is that a lot of its characters are surprisingly interesting to me.

I'm amazed I never heard of Cover Girl or Gung-Ho before. And there's a *Welsh* Dreadnok? Sign me up, bach

Yeah, File Cards, Larry Hama wrote nearly every one, and they are intriguingly written. But the cartoon really didn't do enough with their personalities and that's the message a lot of people got at the time, it's worse even than TF in that respect.

I never really saw pre-87 Cobra Commander as having a sci-fi design beyong the pistol. The mask was just a mask. Before the movie, I to not recall it having any specific purpose beyond "hide the guy's face". (Am I misrememebering this?)

Wasn't specified firmly whether there was a reason, IIRC. The mask was very sci-fi for its time though.

Baroness has shades of Hearst and Ayers (both American), despite her funny accent.

She's definitely European, you're projecting the horrible movie version onto the original. And her ties to radicalism were far less Hearst and Ayers, but even beyond that.

I think she was supposed to be more Slavic, ya know the sort who celebrates Easter a few weeks late every year.

Eastern Orthodox and Greek Orthodox churches celebrate on the old calendar, this year it was over a month after regular Easter, it fell on May 5th. But no, she's a baroness which means she can't be Balkan, has to be Northern or Western European.

-notes that there are few Joe fans under 30...

Look at the expressions of the brand since ARAH ended, it's been one misstep after another, there's nothing for them to latch onto from their eras.

[Dominic]

Yeah, File Cards, Larry Hama wrote nearly every one, and they are intriguingly written. But the cartoon really didn't do enough with their personalities and that's the message a lot of people got at the time, it's worse even than TF in that respect.

As much as I am not a fan of Hama now, he has a past body of work that I still have to respect. And, those file-cards were a great way for him to cut his teeth and build a brand. (Hama was one of the first writers I followed, knowingly and otherwise.)

Wasn't specified firmly whether there was a reason, IIRC. The mask was very sci-fi for its time though.

Clearly, the bar for "sci-fi" was much lower in the early 80s.

She's definitely European, you're projecting the horrible movie version onto the original. And her ties to radicalism were far less Hearst and Ayers, but even beyond that.

I am 90% sure that Hama always had a "radical rich kid" angle for her though. Bashing on baby-boomer icons and such was a big thing for Hama, and the Baroness was consistent with that.

And, correct me if I am wrong, but didn't Cold War stereotypes "allow for" Balkan Barons and such? Yeah, it would be historically wrong. But, it would have been familiar and acceptable in the 80s, assuming that I am remembering correctly.

I think that her canonical name is "Anastasia" (Balkan sounding) "DeCobray" (sort French, maybe Italian even).


Dom
-agrees that movie Baroness was awful.

[Shockwave]

Would anyone wanna see the Terrordrome get updated? I mean with hasbro having done so much updating in their Star Wars line with the improved AT-AT and the Millenium Falcon and now Metroplex, I have to wonder what could be done with the Terrordrome. I think it would be cool for them to try at least.

EDIT: I'm not speculating on likelihood as I don't see this happening... well ever. But I do think it would be fun to theorize what new features it could have.

[BWprowl]

Would anyone wanna see the Terrordrome get updated? I mean with hasbro having done so much updating in their Star Wars line with the improved AT-AT and the Millenium Falcon and now Metroplex, I have to wonder what could be done with the Terrordrome. I think it would be cool for them to try at least.

EDIT: I'm not speculating on likelihood as I don't see this happening... well ever. But I do think it would be fun to theorize what new features it could have.

Yeah, given that Hasbro doesn't seem to have a ton of faith in GI Joe right now, and considering that the last fuckhuge Joe vehicle/set, the Pit from the first movie, didn't seem to do so well, I can't imagine a remade TerrorDrome coming out. It'd be kind of neat though, especially since gigantic playsets appeal to me on a visceral, childlike level (that gigantic Ninja Turtles playset only mildly tempts me, and I can't wait for Metroplex).

You know what might be neat? Bigass Kre-O TerrorDrome, since Hasbro doesn't seem to mind doing big Joe sets in that format. Hell, a gigantic, blocky, USS Flagg would be a sight to see on shelves.

[Shockwave]

Damn, I hadn't thought of Kreo (don't know why) but yeah I could see that working pretty well too. And the buildable nature of Kreo/Legos could allow all kinds of versatility for it. They could even include a Kreo Firebat just like the original TD. A USS Flagg would be pretty awesome too and since it's Kreo it wouldn't have to be as huge as the original which was like 7' long. Although come to think of it, that would be pretty awesome retooled as well.

I'm a sucker for playsets as well, I loved having the original TD even if it was only 86% complete. That thing had a lot of features crammed into it and allowed for a lot of diversity in display. The mobile command thingy was pretty cool too.

[JediTricks]

Would anyone wanna see the Terrordrome get updated? I mean with hasbro having done so much updating in their Star Wars line with the improved AT-AT and the Millenium Falcon and now Metroplex, I have to wonder what could be done with the Terrordrome. I think it would be cool for them to try at least.

EDIT: I'm not speculating on likelihood as I don't see this happening... well ever. But I do think it would be fun to theorize what new features it could have.

I never liked any of the Joe playsets that much, they always were overshadowed by vehicles. What's really in the Terrordrome? Just the Firebat (which is a cool reveal system, yes) and a bunch of workstations and a tiny garage, it's not that exciting to play with.

[Shockwave]

Would anyone wanna see the Terrordrome get updated? I mean with hasbro having done so much updating in their Star Wars line with the improved AT-AT and the Millenium Falcon and now Metroplex, I have to wonder what could be done with the Terrordrome. I think it would be cool for them to try at least.

EDIT: I'm not speculating on likelihood as I don't see this happening... well ever. But I do think it would be fun to theorize what new features it could have.

I never liked any of the Joe playsets that much, they always were overshadowed by vehicles. What's really in the Terrordrome? Just the Firebat (which is a cool reveal system, yes) and a bunch of workstations and a tiny garage, it's not that exciting to play with.

I had one up until mid way through last year and it was awesome. Yeah, it had the Firebat in the middle, the workstations up top, but inside it has 8 rooms: 1 jail cell, 4 vehicle repair bays, two cannon turrets and the last "room" is the room where the lever for the Firebat is. In the one I had, I had used that "room" for a hot tub and the room next to it for the restroom. Not to mention the rotating cannon turrets on top of the Terrordrome. There's really a lot going on there.

That said, I think there could be a lot more diversity in an update 'Drome. Instead of 4 repair bays, they could have a computer lab, a command or situation room, a robotics bay for the BATs,

[138 Scourge]

I dunno about a Terrordrome, but if they put out a BAT factory where you could build different BATs out of different parts? Yes sir, I'd be in.

Something like, cracked BAT parts, extra weapons for different specialized missions, stuff like that. Maybe enough bits to make two or three complete figures out of it. Maybe just switchable heads and arms, even?

Not gonna happen ever, but that'd be pretty neat.

[Shockwave]

I dunno about a Terrordrome, but if they put out a BAT factory where you could build different BATs out of different parts? Yes sir, I'd be in.

Something like, cracked BAT parts, extra weapons for different specialized missions, stuff like that. Maybe enough bits to make two or three complete figures out of it. Maybe just switchable heads and arms, even?

Not gonna happen ever, but that'd be pretty neat.

Yeah see, they could cram all that into one "room" in the TD. It could have like a biobed thing in the middle with parts that clip to the walls, with like 3 each of extra sets of legs, arms, torsos, heads, different hand/arm attachments and weapons. It could even come with one already assembled, essentially giving someone 4 BATs in one set.

Or, here's an idea: Sell the rooms individually as troop builder packs that connect together to make the TD. Hasbro does seem to love cranking out troop builder packs so that might be a possibility. God, now that I'm thinking about this, the freakin' possibilities are almost endless: The afformentioned "BAT" room, they could sell the Firebat with the middle portion ejector thing, a ninja set with a "dojo" training room, one with the MASS device as some sort of command room, a flight pod Trouble Bubble with repair bay, an armory with a Viper troop builder set, a communications room with televipers, a Crimson Guard room, a regular Cobra Trooper armory room, a Serpentor Throne room... and they could all come with ceilings to attach to the top to make the upper computer terminals/command deck.