Why do so many cartoons from the 1980s get reboots?

[Zorak Masaki]

I've often thought of reinventing GI Joe with a sci-fi, Starship Troopers-esque feel to it, but what do I know?

Besides, I think Hasbro might be kinda-sorta going in that direction already, since the new Classified series Roadblock figure has a railgun as his main weapon, instead of his traditional machine gun.

GI Joe did try a sci-fi approach during the last two years of the line (Mega-Marines vs Mega-Monsters, Dino-Hunters, Star Brigade vs the Lunartix Aliens, the Invisible Shadow Ninjas), but it didnt really help increase interest in the line, and since there was no real narrative (aside from commercials) to push the lines (The cartoon was no longer on the air, and the comics tried their best to avoid bringing those subsets up).

 

[Dantheman]

GI Joe did try a sci-fi approach during the last two years of the line (Mega-Marines vs Mega-Monsters, Dino-Hunters, Star Brigade vs the Lunartix Aliens, the Invisible Shadow Ninjas), but it didnt really help increase interest in the line, and since there was no real narrative (aside from commercials) to push the lines (The cartoon was no longer on the air, and the comics tried their best to avoid bringing those subsets up).

Yeah, true, but those sublines where just Hasbro grasping at straws to extend a toy line's life and latch onto existing trends (how else do you explain the existence of Street Fighter II GI Joe figures?), and from what I read once online, after Hasbro bought Kenner, and before fully absorbing it, they where pretty much competing with each other (Star Brigade was Hasbro's attempt to keep Kenner from releasing a new Star Wars toy line for a couple years, Mega Marines was Hasbro's response to Kenner's Aliens line, and Dino Hunters was a response to you know what).

Making a futuristic GI Joe line doesn't sound that bad, since that's what Hasbro seems to be doing now, with giving Roadblock a railgun and the new Cobra Commander figure coming with a futuristic flintlock pistol, among other weapons.