Rebooting Joe

[mattymatt]

OK so yes the line has grown stagnant so lets reboot it in each post write a lil bit about how you would like to see a reboot to save the line.

TOP SECRET

TO: CJCS,JCS, SEC DEF,SECDHS, SEC ARM,SEC NAV,SECAIR,
FROM: POTUS
RE: TERRORIST ACTIVITY

GENTLEMEN, DUE TO RECENT RISE OF TERRORIST ACTIVITY AND A SENSITIVE POLITICAL CLIMATE WE MUST DO SOMETHING, I HAVE TO GO ABOVE AND BEYOND WHAT IS LEGALLY ALLOWED IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE OF THIS NATION FROM THESE THREATS THAT ARE COMING NOT ONLY FROM ABROAD BUT ALSO WITHIN OUR BORDERS. FORWARD RECOMMENDATIONS TO ME.


FROM: GEN HAMA
TO: POTUS
RE: SOLUTIONS
SIR, THE PROPOSAL IS THAT WE CREATE A GROUP OF OPERATORS TO CONDUCT BOTH DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN OPERATIONS THAT WILL HAVE AUTHORITY FROM VARIOUS AGENCIES AS COVER FOR OPERATIONS. AS SUCH INDIVIDUALS WILL BE PULLED FROM ALL CURRENT FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AS WELL AS ACTIVE RECRUITING FROM THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY. CURRENT SCREENING OF APPLICANTS HAS BEEN STARTED WITH A 14 MEMBER ROSTER AS OF THIS DATE. MEMBERS ARE REPORTING BEING ISSUED ORDERS TO REPORT TO FT WADSWORTH NY. CONTRACTS HAVE ALREADY BEEN PLACED FOR RECONDITIONING OF THE INSTILLATION'S FORMER NIKE COMMAND BUNKER. FROM HERE ON NO FURTHER COMMUNICATION WILL BE SENT TO YOUR OFFICE REGUARDING THIS MATTER, IN THE EVENT THAT COMMUNICATION TO YOU IS NECESSARY IT WILL BE SENT IN ENCODED EMAIL WITH NUMEROUS ATTACHMENTS. OPEN FILE MARKED G.I.JOE PASSWORD. AM3RI(@N H3R0.

So the 1st commander will be Brigadier Gen Joseph Colton "Joe"
His operations officer/Xo will be Col Clayton Abernathy "Hawk"
Intelligence liaison CIA Case officer Shana Ohara "Scarlet"
1st Team leader SFC Lorenzo Wilkinson "Stalker"
DARPA special projects officer James J. Barney "Grans Slam"


This is just a rough idea but basically it takes some of the OG 13 updates some and leaves some out. Personel will come from not just Military but law enforcement background as well.

Now what about you how would you like to see our beloved but tired old line rebooted

[Azzurro21]

No matter how they reboot GI Joe...they need to license a highly detailed, very realistic video game. I'm talking Modern Warfare/Call of Duty style but with a rich GI JOE v Cobra story, with all of our favorite characters.

[Stormgard]

Realistic video game - awesome. Ideally speaking, a live action TV series.

No SE/SS/ninjas. Or at least don't introduce them at first, have fans waiting for them to show up and when they do, use them rarely enough that they aren't taken for granted.

I think a good way to deal with the number of Joes is to establish that G.I.Joe is a military unit encompassing hundreds of operatives (at least company sized, perhaps battalion), but focusing on the the adventures of one particular team/platoon.

That way you aren't downsizing the Joes all the time, you just have a good reason story-wise to focus on a group of 20 or so. Over time, some of these Joes would come and go, some would get killed and be replaced by others, some would take a year or two out and maybe return. Cameo appearances that were very popular might turn into main characters over time.

I don't think the international public - or even the US public - is very keen on a realistic post 9/11 counterinsurgency based story. I prefer a reinvention of Cobra very similar to what IDW have done.

[CobraOfficer999]

Good idea. Bring back the O13, but hold off on the Ninjas. In addition, have more troopers and Steel Brigade. Have Cobra be social commentary on middle eastern terrorism. Make Cobra the "Brotherhood of Sett" Or the "Serpent's Cult" or something.

[CobraCommandr]

I think SE and SS is fine to introduce. People love ninjas and they been in it since the beginning. I'm not saying bring in all the ninjas, just those TWO. They are 2 very key characters, you can't just leave them out. I'm sorry, but this is where I think most of you are wrong.

[MrHateAol]

I think a live-action series would do far more to capture fan excitement than a cartoon in this day and age (and I love cartoons...). I'm lukewarm on the idea of a video game, but then I'm almost 50 so I'm not in the target audience for that anyhow. But yeah, I'll go ahead and sign on for that because it would mean employment for some friends of mine.

The toy line does not suffer from a lack of vision from Hasbro, the follow-through of the promises they cut to the public however does. We're smart enough to know that Hasbro was probably more hurt than we ever were by Paramount effing up the release schedule of the movie, but aside from that, they keep making ToyFair promises that are either costly or downright impossible to cash in.

Why should the Renegades Storm Shadow ever have been an obscure object of desire? The Rene Cobra Commander, a relatively pointless figure who should have been chucked in favor of the Baroness, was all over the place, but he's not an action-oriented character. SS should have been reasonably easy to secure.

By doing a live action series you would spur kids and old-schoolers like myself into strong interest. With the real-world updates to both TV production AND military hardware and uniforms, a series would have a dynamic look that would reflect well on the US Military but still be able to operate in the fantasy world of Cobra....

Just so long as the series is not done by a bunch of idiot Canadian actors running around the woods pretending they come even close to what a military unit might look like.

Then it would be time to bury Hasbro....

[Nightrain]

There was a live-action tv series. It was called The Unit.

[CrimsonGuard101]

Duke(channing tatum) is killed while on recon patrol with Ripcord (wayanes) when Ripcord fails to execute a proper z turn and the plane crashes into a sheer rock cliff face. Upon finding the wreckage, Duke's DNA was recoverable enough to allow nanomite reconstitution and allowed him to be brought back but with no memories or who he was originally. Using captured Dr. Mindbender technology, the Joes are able to reprogram Duke into a super solider (allowing him to be fully recast as a new actor weeee!) and Duke regains his control of the Joe team and leads them to victory!

[speedlgt]

I think a GI JOE tv show would be really great! it amazes me that joe is so simple of a story to make its basically elite military w a splash of SCFI!how hard of show is that to make?
would you say as hard a show about an Island were everyone is dead for 10 season!
or how about a show about a DR, whos always pissed cause he wants pain pills.
or how about a show about lawyers..............
I get that cobra maybe hard to do but if smallville can go strong for 10 seasons then I am sure some one can write a joe tv show.

now in terms of booting....tankers you need to understand DUKE is GI JOE. sorry thats the way it goes snakeeyes is well I dont know what you do w a guy who doesnt talk and just looks cool? I think all he does is look cool. The same reason I think bumble bee in TF now is useless. bumble bee is crap just kill him off you dont need him anymore.
I say go with a team of 5 or seven joes
Duke Snake Scarlet gung ho flint, low light spirit
then add more as seasons move on

[krisk]

There was a live-action tv series. It was called The Unit.

nah it wasnt big enough!! haha

[GeneralEagle]

I too think a live-action series is a great idea, plus it can be used to develop charactersfor the movies/continue the story.

also still do an animated show but keep them in a similar universe, i.e. the characters on the cartoon look like the characters in the LA show, but diffrent stories.

and a video game would be cool if done right. Call of duty/other combat game style, where u can play as an established character or create a new character and work with established joe/cobra troops

[CobraOfficer999]

I think a GI JOE tv show would be really great! it amazes me that joe is so simple of a story to make its basically elite military w a splash of SCFI!how hard of show is that to make?
would you say as hard a show about an Island were everyone is dead for 10 season!
or how about a show about a DR, whos always pissed cause he wants pain pills.
or how about a show about lawyers..............
I get that cobra maybe hard to do but if smallville can go strong for 10 seasons then I am sure some one can write a joe tv show.

now in terms of booting....tankers you need to understand DUKE is GI JOE. sorry thats the way it goes snakeeyes is well I dont know what you do w a guy who doesnt talk and just looks cool? I think all he does is look cool. The same reason I think bumble bee in TF now is useless. bumble bee is crap just kill him off you dont need him anymore.
I say go with a team of 5 or seven joes
Duke Snake Scarlet gung ho flint, low light spirit
then add more as seasons move on

I think they need to do a continuation of the ARAH series.

[CobraOfficer999]

I think a GI JOE tv show would be really great! it amazes me that joe is so simple of a story to make its basically elite military w a splash of SCFI!how hard of show is that to make?
would you say as hard a show about an Island were everyone is dead for 10 season!
or how about a show about a DR, whos always pissed cause he wants pain pills.
or how about a show about lawyers..............
I get that cobra maybe hard to do but if smallville can go strong for 10 seasons then I am sure some one can write a joe tv show.

now in terms of booting....tankers you need to understand DUKE is GI JOE. sorry thats the way it goes snakeeyes is well I dont know what you do w a guy who doesnt talk and just looks cool? I think all he does is look cool. The same reason I think bumble bee in TF now is useless. bumble bee is crap just kill him off you dont need him anymore.
I say go with a team of 5 or seven joes
Duke Snake Scarlet gung ho flint, low light spirit
then add more as seasons move on

Good idea. Bring back the O13, but hold off on the Ninjas. In addition, have more troopers and Steel Brigade. Have Cobra be social commentary on middle eastern terrorism. Make Cobra the "Brotherhood of Sett" Or the "Serpent's Cult" or something.

Also, advertise the line.

[PhantomStranger]

I've already over explained how I would handle the licence in that other thread, so I"ll only focus on one aspect; the Cartoon.

Obviously a cartoon would be the best option, appealing to kids and not having to worry about going over budget every time multiple H.I.S.S. tank or other vehicles need to be onscreen without looking like CG crap.

The maturity level should straddle the line between adult and being friendly enough for kids. The sort of thing you might see on the old Toonami. I believe animation is also very important. I think Spectrum Animation,(Insert MASK joke here) Sunrise or Titmouse would be great choices.

As far as story is concerned I don't think following a main over arching continuity is overly important so long as plot holes aren't made. Treat is similar to Batman:TAS. Let the writers create stories they wish, so long as certain areas are avoided, like say having certain Joe members be civilians thus preventing them from being part of the Team *cough* Renegades. In this way you get new original stories, but can still do episodes based on some of the older comics, in much the same way "The Laughing Fish" was adapted for Batman.

Perhaps bringing in big name guest writers would be a good idea, it would gain the attention of a lot of people. Hell Resolute got quite a bit of attention from comic sites since Warren Ellis was writing it, even if he had no idea what he was doing half the time character wise, it worked out pretty well for what it was.


As far as the toys for the show goes, as long as the animation is good enough you wouldn't have to worry about the figures being too out of place, plus Hasbro could pull a 30th and have waves be split into both the "Regular line" and the cartoon line.

This would be a win win since it means toys of characters not on the show, and kids probably wanting those other figures in the line simply because it's G.I. Joe related.

Also incorporate M.A.S.K. and V.E.N.O.M. so we might get a damn spinoff show and more figures in the Joe line.

[Rainbow Viper]

IMO it is too soon to do another cartoon unless they make it a continuation of Renegades. I also don't think they should reboot anything until they decide to release a new film that is a reboot and honestly they really shouldn't do that for a while either. I would be in favor of a live action series but I just feel like they would never get what they want out of this.

I think they should just focus on releasing big budget live action movies consistently. There's more than enough characters and stories to dive into by doing this. I think this is what Hasbro wants for the franchise too and during this dry spell I have a feeling they will be doing nothing but planning joe stuff for the future.

[cobratrooperlui]

I think what ever they do, whether it's live action or a cartoon, it should be based off of the Real American Hero story line. It seems like most people are always complaining because they don't see that. If they do a cartoon the characters should look like the Marvel Sunbow characters that again, most people seem like they wanna see. But I don't think they should be killing off any characters unless of course they bring Serpentor in. It would be cool to watch Cobra Commander regain control of his organization and take care of Serpentor himself. Or in a live action, if they did something like "The Crimson Cloth" where you get a feel of what it could be like to be an elite guardsmen within the organization dealing with the conflicts and situations that arise from being involved with Cobra.

[jogunwarrior]

Specifically regarding the cartoon, I think a continuation of Renegades would be great! The first season did a good job setting up the characters, and going into the second season you could have GI Joe established as an actual military unit. The characters could even be more based on the ARAH designs as a nod to fans.

I don't think a live action series would work, at least not longer than a seasaon. The cost would be huge, and you wouldn't quite have the over the top action that you can achieve on television with animation.

[mattymatt]

I wouldn't mind a continuation of ARAH but they would have to update the back grounds of characters, snake eyes was in Vietnam, so he would be in his mid 50's to early 60s. Even and update placing the Joes back grounds Into the current conflict would make many too old

[Raw Dog]

Lose the "GI" and just call them Joes. Have each member be the best in their respective field but have their ranks not be limited to just the military. You would have everything from cops, EMTs, and Firefighters too extreme athletes, judo masters and animal handlers. They'd be a team more like SHIELD or Checkmate than a team of soldiers.

Cobra would be the same way, where many of their operatives were individuals. They'd be comprised of all the best criminals. They'd have pirates, terrorists, ninja assassins and yakuza.