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10-23-2018, 08:16 AM | #1 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 3,030
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This is extremely geeky, but hey, we all collect and/or customize GI Joe figures here on this forum anyway...
I watched an audio commentary of GI Joe The MASS Device and it got me to thinking about my own thoughts watching the GI Joe cartoon series as a kid, which has prompted me to start working on sort of a blog article/commentary on the first mini-series. My main thought as a kid, which still intrigues me to this day, is the odd way Sunbow/Marvel introduced Duke into the franchise without any prior warning. The mini-series first aired Sept. 1983, but the carded action figure wasn't available until 1984. Likewise, Duke didn't appear in Marvel comics until 1984. Now I know some will say, Yes, but Hasbro had the "mail-away" Duke offer. However, as a kid, I didn't know anything about this special "mail-away" offer until some kid just showed up to school with a Duke figure. It reminded me so much then, and still today, of how Star Wars introduced Boba Fett. Now, more to the point of this post. In researching for my upcoming blog post, I started watching/downloading the Marvel comics animated commercials. This made me realize that, although we often talk about the TWO GI Joe universes of the 1980s, there was in fact THREE GI Joe universes: 1. Marvel Comics, 2. Sunbow Cartoon, and 3. the Marvel animated commercials! The animated commercials were a GI Joe "universe" all their own. The commercials sort of bridged the gap between the comics and cartoon series even before the mini-series first aired. Rewatch the Marvel comic commercials and then think about how different the animation portrays the events of the comics. Pay attention to things like the transport tube in the Pit, or the fact that that the Pit seems to be in the middle of the desert. Then shortly after (or around the time) the MASS Device first aired on t.v., the Marvel animated commercials introduced the GI Joe headquarters with that weird trident cannon. Anyway, it's just interesting to me rewatching those old Marvel animation commercials. When you slow them down or pause them, you see some pretty cool Easter eggs like Cobra hovercrafts or Cobra soldiers firing a belt-fed M60. Your thoughts or comments? Jason |
10-23-2018, 08:35 AM | #2 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 3,030
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You might also include the animation used for the toy commercials, which borrows from the animation for the comic book commercials. I'm pretty sure the commercial for the GI Joe headquarters pre-dates The MASS Device mini-series, and it portrays the Joe HQ in the same fashion as what is seen in The MASS Device. However, Hawk is clearly seen at the HQ and not Duke, which added to my confusion as a child first watching The MASS Device.
Jason |
10-23-2018, 08:50 AM | #3 |
US military family
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fort Campbell, Kentucky
Posts: 2,218
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No, just two universes.
Maybe you’re mistaking marketing strategy for its own universe. The animated commercials were for the comic book, and used the comic covers before the comic issue itself was created. Then some of that animated footage could be re-used in a shorter clip for the toys commercials. Each comic book was written to conform to each of those animated commercials which were supposed to help the comic sales. Thus the 3rd universe you have discovered is really just the same universe as the comic book series by Marvel Comics.
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... freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it and then hand it to them with the well thought lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same... - Ronald Reagan |
10-23-2018, 08:54 AM | #4 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa
Posts: 2,998
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The comic and toy commercials were both animated by Sunbow, so they could just fall under the Sunbow Universe.
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10-23-2018, 10:52 AM | #5 |
LNC Commander
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Sbartek's Guest Room
Posts: 24,580
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Very interesting. My only issue with three universes is...Would there actually be enough content in the commercials to create a "universe"? Perhaps an offshoot figure collection of just those characters in the animated commercials. Then you also have the live action commercials of the 90's (I think 90's) but I would never count that garbage.
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10-23-2018, 11:19 AM | #6 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 2,157
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Wasn't some of the footage from the comic book commercials used in the opening sequence of the cartoon? I'm pretty sure at least the shot Flash firing his laser rifle was.
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10-23-2018, 11:30 PM | #7 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 3,030
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Quote:
No, just two universes.
Maybe you’re mistaking marketing strategy for its own universe. The animated commercials were for the comic book, and used the comic covers before the comic issue itself was created. Then some of that animated footage could be re-used in a shorter clip for the toys commercials. Each comic book was written to conform to each of those animated commercials which were supposed to help the comic sales. Thus the 3rd universe you have discovered is really just the same universe as the comic book series by Marvel Comics. Yes, I understand the intent of the commercials was simply to sell comic books. However, given how diverse the animated commercials were from the comics and the cartoon, it could be considered a "universe" in and of itself. For example, what is GI Joe headquarters in the comic book commercials was only portrayed as a pre-fab fortress in the comic. Even the Pit is animated and portrayed differently in the commercials. It's just some food for thought. But it's interesting to me how different the "story" of the animated commercials are from the plots of the issues they portray. Jason |
10-30-2018, 03:44 AM | #8 |
Iron Grenadier
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Kansas
Posts: 981
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I wanted to rewatch a bunch of the cartoon miniseries and commercials a few times before chiming in. I've written a lot more stuff up trying to dissect this topic. I may send those ramblings to you directly for you to use freely if you decide to go ahead with the blog/post. But in the end, I reached the final verdict below:
The G.I. Joe "comic" commercials while not being the Sunbow cartoon universe nor the Hama comic universe, cannot be considered a true established G.I. Joe universe, on par with all other established versions (post 1982), due soley to its lack of reference to and presence of Snake Eyes in its narrative or visuals. Those commercials awesome though, and need to be remastered STAT. |
10-30-2018, 09:36 AM | #9 |
I just want foam gliders.
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Tooele (two-willa), Utah
Posts: 18,727
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Quote:
No, just two universes.
Maybe you’re mistaking marketing strategy for its own universe. The animated commercials were for the comic book, and used the comic covers before the comic issue itself was created. Then some of that animated footage could be re-used in a shorter clip for the toys commercials. Each comic book was written to conform to each of those animated commercials which were supposed to help the comic sales. Thus the 3rd universe you have discovered is really just the same universe as the comic book series by Marvel Comics.
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10-31-2018, 08:40 AM | #10 |
US military family
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fort Campbell, Kentucky
Posts: 2,218
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Quote:
The commercials were created months before the comic book, without much information to go on. Perhaps the story board the animators were using was shared with Larry Hama, but I'm not sure other than the comic cover itself that he had much else to reference. The finished commercials were aired on television to coincide with the release of the comic book, but because of the time and geographic separation, there were a lot of differences (as noticed by Xerofall and others).
__________________
... freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it and then hand it to them with the well thought lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same... - Ronald Reagan |
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