What should be done with GI Joe in animation?

The Overlord

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What should be done with GI Joe in animation? There has not been a new GI Joe cartoon in 10 years and I think I know why. GI Joe would be more affected by current events than most of the other franchises. GI Joe was intorduced to animation in the early 80s (introducing Cobra, their main enemies) due to Reagan era patriotism. However, its not the early 80s anymore, the US was not involved in as many public conflicts as it is now and the news is full of stories of terrorist attacks and military operations for the last couple of years, which takes away the escapist fantasy elements of the franchise that could make it appealing to kids.

Military units fighting terrorists is the basis of many live action movies, TV shows and video games aimed at adults, most non purly comedic cartoons aimed at kids nowadays are fantasy based, with a fanstical settings or elements, rather dealing with a realsitc setting, this why Masters of the Universe can make a come back or why Transformers and TMNT can stay relevant, while GI Joe is in limbo animation.

Should they try to make another GI Joe aimed at kids or an older audience or should GI Joe stay in limbo?
 

Frontier

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I think what's definitely holding the franchise back is that it stars a bunch of normal, human, characters in a relatively realistic scenario of a military unit fighting terrorists, which a modern audience is more acutely aware of in real life, so there's less of an element of escapism for kids to latch onto.

And a show that features a bunch of characters shooting at each other with guns, even lasers, is probably not going to fly now. Stuff that would've been okay in the past seems less culturally sensitive now.

I think it says something that the last G.I. Joe cartoon had the Joes as vigilante's fighting a corporate Cobra and we didn't get the typical G.I. Joe set up until the very end of the series.

I think the best chance the franchise has for animation is something more in-line with Resolute, because it just doesn't seem like a franchise that you can market to kids effectively right now, at least without someone getting up in arms about it.
 

The Overlord

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Well, I could see something in order to tone down the military aspect for a new animated series.

The problem is that is central to the premise of the franchise, they tried to get away from it from with GI Joe Renegades and cribbed some notes from the A-Team, but that show only lasted one season.

Ironically the Transformers was created when Hasbro sold the GI Joe license to Takara Tomy and Takara Tomy thought toys based on US solders would not sell well in Japan, so they changed them into transforming robots, so these toys have been more of a hard sell elsewhere.

I watched the show The Toys That Made Us on Netflix and they talked about how GI Joe toys have gone up and down in popularity due to then-current events, that toys were popular when introduced in the early 1960s due to patriotic feelings from WWII, but became less popular due to the Vietnam War dragging on and became popular again to due to Reagan era patriotism. This franchise is far more tied to current events then others like TMNT, Transformers, or Masters of the Universe are.

Probably aiming it at adults makes sense now, there is a reason why fantasy cartoons are so popular. The only problem with that, is the basic premise is used by tons of live-action movies, TV shows, and video games, so its not a unique concept to sell to adults.
 

AdrenalineRush1996

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The problem is that is central to the premise of the franchise, they tried to get away from it from with GI Joe Renegades and cribbed some notes from the A-Team, but that show only lasted one season.

Ironically the Transformers was created when Hasbro sold the GI Joe license to Takara Tomy and Takara Tomy thought toys based on US solders would not sell well in Japan, so they changed them into transforming robots, so these toys have been more of a hard sell elsewhere.

I watched the show The Toys That Made Us on Netflix and they talked about how GI Joe toys have gone up and down in popularity due to then-current events, that toys were popular when introduced in the early 1960s due to patriotic feelings from WWII, but became less popular due to the Vietnam War dragging on and became popular again to due to Reagan era patriotism. This franchise is far more tied to current events then others like TMNT, Transformers, or Masters of the Universe are.

Probably aiming it at adults makes sense now, there is a reason why fantasy cartoons are so popular. The only problem with that, is the basic premise is used by tons of live-action movies, TV shows, and video games, so its not a unique concept to sell to adults.
Well, I was only suggesting that in order to make it more in vein of the MCU Captain America films, as in aiming towards both younger and older audiences and not being tied to current events but fair enough.
 

Dantheman

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I've always thought Gi Joe should embrace a Starship Troopers-esque military sci-fi element, so while Hasbro hasn't really gone in that direction whole hog with the GI Joe Classified line, they are getting close, with having stuff like Roadblock using a railgun instead of a machine gun.

There's also the ninja element, with Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, which will always appeal to kids, and make GI Joe marketable.
 

Frontier

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I've always thought Gi Joe should embrace a Starship Troopers-esque military sci-fi element, so while Hasbro hasn't really gone in that direction whole hog with the GI Joe Classified line, they are getting close, with having stuff like Roadblock using a railgun instead of a machine gun.

There's also the ninja element, with Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, which will always appeal to kids, and make GI Joe marketable.
Well, they are making a Snake Eyes solo movie...
 

khuddle

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The problem is that is central to the premise of the franchise, they tried to get away from it from with GI Joe Renegades and cribbed some notes from the A-Team, but that show only lasted one season.

I disliked Renegades. Didn't feel like GI Joe at all. The animation was cheap and the whole
atmosphere was so...sterile. Glad it got canceled.
 

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