Gi Joe the Movie had Cobra La and Transformers the Movie had Unicron. 2 entities that were apparently in existence prior to their respective movies but never referred to or shown until said movies.
Joe movie as a whole poorly done, intro to the movie excellent, with a few dumb things in the intro. First, where is Major Bludd, second where is Firefly and why isn't he handling the bomb? Third why is Cobra dropping in so many troopers and have so many small aircraft basically on top of each other? Fourth Alpine must of trained with Sgt. and terminator hands, smashing the firebats canopy with one punch, last, where was Sgt. Saughter?
Most of the 1986 characters were missing from that intro. Wordplay taken from the mystical Shangri-La.
If the Cobra-La characters get made, I may pick them up to add to my Marvel Legends Serpent Society crew.
I think G.I. Joe The Movie in theaters was a thing as I remember seeing an advert in the local paper.
I've been thinking about the DC Universe Classics Copperhead and Lord Naga (Kobra) figures, who could probably fit into any Classified Cobra army display and might even be decent Serpentor stand-ins. Copperhead: https://www.joeacevedo.com/images/figurezone/dcuclassics/dcu12copperhead.jpg Lord Naga: https://www.joeacevedo.com/images/figurezone/dcuclassics/dcu19naga.jpg
For me, GI Joe and Transformers both went down quickly after the movies, and probably for similar reasons. Though there were exceptions, both moved away from the relatively real-world orientation that people could more easily relate to (GI Joe being more conventionally military- and terrorist-themed, Transformers being robots turning into vehicles from the real world), and into the fantastic, with weird aliens and a focus on neon colors, and a wacky, futuristic vibe. But I don't really blame Hasbro in hindsight. You don't succeed long for a business without trying to follow, and even anticipate trends, and after a 3-4 year run with something I can understand them trying to do something different. If anything, they may have been ahead of the curve given that the landscape of toys and cartoons in the 1990s were flush with neon colored, "extreme" stories and characters. Unfortunately, the quality of the cartoons also dropped off steeply, and I think it's tough to transition away from something you know well into something you don't in the same franchise. But I agree that the opening to the Joe animated movie is just amazing. And I also think the movie (much like the TF movie) has pros and cons. On balance, I wish they would have went another direction, but I do have a nostalgic soft spot for it--I enjoyed playing with the Cobra La 3 pack as a kid--and am glad that most of my old favorites at least got a brief amount of screen time.
The complaints weren’t that they were never referenced; the very nature of a toyline and tv show is an understanding and expectation that new characters will be released and utilized in the stories, not that every character in the story has to be presented all at once at the beginning. Cobra Vipers were never referenced when the toyline and cartoons began either. the issue with Cobra-La was that it was a departure from the story established to that point, and wasn’t a good idea to boot.
wow i didn't know there was no love for the GIJoe cartoon movie, sheesh and i thought i didn't like the live action movies, i enjoyed the cartoon movie, 6yr old me was devastated at Duke getting hurt, was waiting and hoping that Flint got his crap together and enjoyed watching Roadblock survive a horror toon "shoulder shrug" oh and i loved the new Cobra La call, me and my friends said that for months for absolutely no reason and i don't recall us ever yelling Cobra, yo joe all day and the Cobra La call had that same catchy brainwash say it all day theme as yo joe
Agree with all this, especially the bolded parts. I definitely enjoyed both animated movies more than anything that has come out since.
Okay can we talk about how fucking stupid Star Brigade is now? Cause I don’t like Cobra La but I hate Star Brigade on a visceral level. Yeah. This is what a brand dying painfully looks like. An ill-conceived, poorly executed idea and weapons on sprues. Vomit inducing.
Alpine is forever enshrined in the GI Joe Hall of Fame for that intro. That is one bad mutha******. My kids love the toon movie in its entirety and I liked a lot of its aspects just fine. The bug people was tough for me to appreciate, but it is just an alternate reality in my head, not the only canon.
Yea we can and just as you are allowed to discuss how stupid it is, fans of it are allowed just as much to post how much they like it. It's pretty obvious across the board that all of us like different types of Joes and may not see eye to eye. I liked some of Star Brigade, didn't like Cobra La, hated mold reuse in Battle Corps and still have an affinity for ARAH and wish it continued and believe it can continue with newer vehicles and characters. People can agree or disagree, that's fine as long as the rules are followed but this isn't going to be a thread where people drag beef from other threads into here. There's enough negativity on the outside world and this forum and thread are an escape, if you don't think much of someone's opinion, agree to disagree and leave it at that.
I abandoned ship after Cobra-La (save for buying ‘87 Storm Shadow and Battle Force 2000), so I was long gone by the time Star Brigade came around. But Star Brigade was clearly Hasbro grasping at straws trying to keep the brand alive with new ideas.
Found some of the old art by Guy Cassady for what would end up as the Conquest X-30 toy: Hake's - GI JOE CONQUEST X-26A EARLY DESIGN ART LOT BY GUY CASSADAY. By the time Cassady left going into the 90's, he did mention that Hasbro shifted design mentality from innovation to copying trends from other toylines in an attempt to make more profit
I am 100% fine with fans. I would go so far as to say Star Brigade as a concept is actually fine. In terms of fitting in with the G.I. Joe mythos I think it’s a solid misfire....If it was it’s own thing, less terrible. I do think it’s more responsible for the brand failing in the 90’s than Extreme. Star Brigade in my opinion is an example of a brand loosing its identity. In a way Ninja Force and Eco weren’t.
Star Brigade would of been better if it was a special team like tiger force or sky patrol. Instead of stupid spring loaded weapons, should of been the main characters (Duke, Scarlett, etc) in real world space suits, the defiant could of even been reissued as a Cobra launching platform. The Aliens/monsters from the line should of been introduced as Dr. Mindbender's genetic experiments, and instead of stupid gimmicks, put the money into making them look bad as (reference ExoSquad)
The Armored Tech figures sorely needed full articulation. Didn't seem like Joes with the basic hinge articulation.
