Actually, the end of GI Joe the comic and the floundering toyline both suffered from the politics of the time. Take this topic to the JBL and hear a more in-depth answer.

I stopped w/ Joe after the Cobra War and when DiC started. The whole ninja thing, I had no idea. I thought it was cool thru the 1st 80 issues but when I heard that SE's parents were killed by CC's brother and all that... I just rolled my eyes. It sounded pretty dumb, imo. Ender brings up a great point about Beach Head. DD's been pushing him incredibly hard and it doesn't do anything for me. It's also probably why I ne'er cared much for Duke and Flint cuz the cartoon always shoved in our faces.

But in a way, maybe that's a good thing? Look at the S6 cartoon. Which characters are they utterly destroying? I won't mention Tunnel Rat cuz they've utterly goofed on him, but Heavy Duty? Sure, let them destroy Heavy Duty, nobody would care. But if they goofed Roadblock, the old folks would crap bricks! So what I'm saying, if your fave chars were pushed by Marvel and DD and treated the same way? Let SE and Scar, Duke and Flint be the scapegoats while OTHERs can be loved by us in our own way.

I'd be pretty bummed if DD had taken duders like Repeater and Muskrat and messed 'em all up. And I bet if they took Outrider's faves and messed up his 'hard' military guys, he'd be pretty bugged too. Let the ninja be ninja or whatever Hasbro thinks they are. It doesn't mean YOU have to treat them that way. Now where's that geek icon again?