Does anyone remember how many characters came and went during the animated G.I. Joe series? The number was in the hundreds since every now and then the show would introduce another two or three or twenty, depending on how things were going. From the grunt to the specialized members of the group, there were a LOT of action figures that hit the shelves, and it would appear that there are well over a hundred coming to the shelves now if they’re not already there. Obviously a lot of kids had their favorites and there would be several characters that might be left behind in favor of characters such as Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, Cobra Commando, or many others. Now there’s word of another animated show coming to TV in 2022, with a second season to come in 2023. Even better is that the show will apparently bring back several favorite characters that people might remember from their childhood. The thing is that G.I. Joe has gone through a couple of different changes over the years, as have the toys, and the live-action movies have introduced even more changes. Getting back to what people remember might be nice for a change.
It’s fair to say that it almost feels as though the idea has been trying to find its groove for a while since at one point the franchise was solid and was absolutely loved by kids without question. Between a number of different animated series and toy lines, G.I. Joe was still one of the most popular. But for a while, it appeared as though the franchise really needed to shift gears or evolve somehow to fit the needs of the modern era, and wasn’t doing so in a manner that made that much sense. As of now though it would appear that things are developing a little slower and without as much attention as the last two movies attempted to gain, since the Snake Eyes movie is coming up quickly in regards to its release date, and there hasn’t been nearly as much hype.
The funny thing here is that a lot of hype works with some franchises and manages to make them even more appealing, but somehow, with G.I. Joe, the less hype it gets, the more appealing it becomes since the story kind of sells itself is one is willing to step back and let it happen. The franchise has enough characters that can allow for a seriously large number of storylines that can feed from the core concept or can be engineered to be their own story while keeping the main point of their existence in the background. Seriously, it would be nice to see how some of the characters managed to get their start and found their way to the G.I. Joe squad. The live-action movies gave a little bit of backstory to some of the characters, but it felt forced in a way that was bound to fail since very little happened naturally and the storylines for each character had the feeling of being hammered into place when they should have been allowed to flow.
With so many characters to take into consideration though, backstories could take a while, so trying to get down names, what they do, and why they’re important should probably spawn a few spinoffs if the G.I. Joe franchise really wants to have a shot at being anywhere near as big as a few other franchises that have been on the rise and decline over the years. Another animated show has a distinct advantage in that it could probably bring in celebrity voices that might be around for an episode or two before they’re off on another mission again and thereby not available. Or it could be that the studio will find the best voice actors they can and make it work yet again. One has to remember that up until a certain point, the G.I. Joe animated show was quite popular and was able to entertain a lot of people. Even when the movie was made things were still looking pretty good, though some of the characters that were thought up were kind of terrible simply because they didn’t fit with the story.
But maybe another go at it will be more convincing and will bring things back around to the way they used to be, or close to it since the idea of G.I. Joe is still one that a lot of people happen to like. With the Snake Eyes solo movie coming out and now this idea on the horizon, it’s fair to think that G.I. Joe might make a comeback eventually that will impress enough people and perhaps make them think that there’s hope for the franchise moving forward. After all, the idea is sound, it’s been the execution that has been lacking for a while.
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