Hmmm, the cartoon WAS a low point for me. Everyone had SnowJob V1 Laser Rifles, no one got killed, Cobra Commander sounded like a sniveling Idiot, Destro sounded more like Issac Hayes than Sean Connery, snake eyes was delegated to third string nobody, bazooka was an oaf. Hard to think of these as two hard corps military/para-military organizations going against each other.

I watched the cartoon, but mainly out of Morbid curiosity. I liked the comic until the slaughter of all the joes in Trucial Albismia....it kinda lost touch with reality there.....and went downhill from there....especially with all the Eco/Def/ninja crap!

Sorry, just ,my $.02

See, everyone has their preferences for how GI Joe was accepted back when. For you, the cartoon carried a lot of weight. For others, the comic carried weight. Then there were some really weird kids who thought the filecards were canon and the cartoon and comic detracted from it. I remember as a kid, wondering why characters that were used in the comic weren't portrayed right in the cartoon. And then, why some characters got a lot of love in the cartoon but not the comic. I didn't understand a lot back then.

So when I watch the cartoon now, it's pretty much a joke. Yes, it's a big ad for the toys and for it's time, the show was good. I demand a lot more now. lol. What I've found though is that it works best to pull a little bit from each medium. The cartoon filled in some holes that the comic never bothered with. And the comic did some wonderful things that the cartoon could never do. Take Shipwreck. Everyone sees Shipwreck's personality from the cartoon. The Marvel comic never really did much with him except make him a hard@$$ about painting the TTBP. It wasn't until America's Elite that DD made him the bad@$$ he supposedly was. But in a way, it was too late for a lot of fans who grew up with goofy Shipshape from the cartoon.

Certainly, Leatherneck, Wild Bill and Wetsuit got better personality treatment from the cartoon that helped shape our minds. On other hand, the comic gave us a lot of interpersonal relationships and insight between characters like Stalker, Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. Even Jinx and Ripcord, y'know?

But for the record, yes, SUNBOW is my definitive cartoon. I enjoyed the S6 cartoon for what it was worth BUT I only saw the mini-series. DiC, that's when I threw in the towel. Mind you, the comic went downhill after the Cobra War for me so... GI Joe Extreme was a joke and well, The Screaming Eagles, missed that. I remember when Extreme was getting ready to be released to the public. It was supposed to be this huge gnarly, gritty, dark, more adult-oriented GI Joe... Without Cobra and without our favorite Joes. To think, I actually bought a few issues back then. Guh. And you thought the toys sucked now...

this is when i use to like snake eyes, i think him being third rate was a good thing. much better then the comic snakes

Never tried to watch Extreme.

Dic's voices and writing were fairly awful.

Sgt. Savage's one shot was kinda crappy, but at least tied into ARAH (Gen. Blitz helped create Cobra...figure that one out...)

Sigma Six had the animation (when characters were actually moving) but the plotting was repetative, the characterizations mostly flat, and stories glacial.

Sunbow was spotty, but they had better writers and better voice actors. I think the Movie left a bad taste that never went away. Also, people fail to understand that it was totally impossible for an American produced children's cartoon to show the level of violence the GI JOE comic book was allowed. In fact, it's surprising Hama was given as much leeway as he was, probably because the comic book was just a stop gap until Hasbro could legally make an animated show. And that parents didn't read their kids' comics, but did pay attention to what they watched.

perfect point. if you own the dvd sets they speak of how they wanted to use bullets but were not allowed. it was after all, a cartoon. some talk about how no one gets killed, tell me one where anyone did back in those days. its realistic to see people die, yeah. but does anyone want their 7 y/o kids watching torture and murder?

Couldn't have said it better myself.

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"The future's uncertain and the end is always near." - The Doors "Roadhouse Blues".

Funny, thing is. All those lasers (that never hit anyone) and parachutes, and parent/teacher groups still complained about the GI JOE cartoon's violence. Joes were still allowed to punch and kick bad guys, which is actually more than then the heroes on SUPER FRIENDS were allowed.

ah the super friends. a cartoon i still watch everynight at 12 after family guy. loved this cartoon and many others like it. this makes me wonder if any who didnt like the joe cartoon liked any cartoon. i mean thundercats, bravestarr, he-man, M.A.S.K and so on. there was no killing on these. and look at other cartoons such as smurfs, the flintstones and sccoby doo. or is it just G.I. Joe that arent liked because more got into the comics before the cartoons came about?