Alright,
On Ninja's..
I have to say I didn't mind the inclusion of one or two Ninja's in the joeverse,
I just think they were overly used. Do Ninja's exist in todays real world? Can we prove they don't exist to some extent?
I don't know, look at todays terrorist networks.. don't they use people secretly to steal intelligence or documents? We can't really answer this truthfully without ever having ties to a real organisation.. and I'm pretty certain none of us here would truthfully admit to it, what does this have to do with the inclusion of Ninja's in the joeverse?
Well I'm getting to that, Ninja's are used as Intelligence agents and assassins.. so the idea that both a counter terrorist group like GIJOE would use a trained Ninja isn't impossible, the idea that a Terrorist group would use one is definately passable.
I think most will agree the Ninja Force and the overly used storyline and ongoing personal battle between Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow really didn't do the whole G.I.JOE story or plot any favours. It was overly used, but in this hobby we have a choice of choosing our own involvement with them,. I find Ninja's cool. One of the many great setups I saw was on this site "Ninja Battle" Stormer was the one that set this up. It looked really well done. I think as long as the whole ninja thing doesn't engulf the whole story or team then it's fine.

Cartoons Movies and Comics, alot like hasbro's toyline have so many inconsistencies its become laughable to the point of crying. The cartoon was made to be fun to watch, and the movie (with cobra la) reflects this. The movie storyline wasn't fantastic, and it wasnt meant to be realistic. These programs are entertainment and meant to entertain, can a cartoon truely entertain a child who collects the toys if everyone is serious and flat character based?
If so how many from the population and viewership watching would tune in?
Alot of people judge how piss poor the cartoon and movies are, but maybe some not all are judging from their current age bracket (mid twenties). Those that clamour for realism don't have to seek it in their toys or collectables.. they only have to look at the worlds current struggle to get realism.
If you want guys getting shot and blown up watch Pearl Harbour.. theres plenty of shrapnel wounds and anti aircraft gunfire in that film and even its share of passion and heartbreak.. but you wont find it in G.I.JOE cartoons from the 80s no matter how many times you rewatch it.

The Inconsistencies with the movie, cartoon and comics to compare to the toys they represent are there to see. If the Cartoon was to be made exactly as the filecards depicted them i think alot of kids wouldn't of been so forthcoming in tuning in for the next bland, depressing episode.. it would be like a cartoon version of Eastenders (don't ask ) (think of Dallas but an English version but more depressing).
I never grew up watching many cartoons and never read many comics as a kid, I was more toy based and wanted GI JOE because they were cool military action figures, but i still done parodies and some clowning around, in my joe verse Crazy Legs was a complete Ass clown.. why? I don't know, to me he looked totally goofy in that dome shaped red helmet.. and so he was the clown.

In all teams, no matter how serious or functional they have to be, you always have a "Character" someone to cheer you up when theres doom and gloom and someone to pass the time when time seems to stand still. You have the team leader who organises and the grunt workers who get the job done and the specialists who you call on in times of needing something delicate or tactical done.

Where G.I.JOE succeeded with most was that Shipwreck had his lazy charismatic ways in the toon and was nothing like the filecard depiction (yes he strung some stories) but for the most part he was over exagerated for a reason, alot of the characters were, but it was done so that the cartoon was watchable.

__________________
My Sites
Eternity Toys
Superiorville Toy blog
Urban Saboteur Stories

Social Sites & Communities
Facebook
Flickr
Tweet Me

Voice him like Jack Nicholson, play him like Popeye.

Bloody brilliant.

I never saw Shipwreck as incompetent and I don't know where that comes from. He's a damn good Joe in combat situations. On base, he's lazy, true. But on the battlefield, he was pretty heroic.

Beachhead was emotional and short tempered in the toon. His filecard says he never loses it. Bah. I like him in the toon better.

Characters take on a life of their own. It goes beyond Hama, Hasbro, Sunbow, DIC, etc.

I know when I read the comic, I hear Chris Latta when I read Cobra Commander scenes. That's just the way it is.