What popular thing of Joe canon do you not like?

Like the title asks, what part of Joe that is popular do you personally not like?

And don't just say "RoC". Explain, detail, etc..

For me it's the Dreadnoks.

Always hated 'em. I hated the designs. They just looked goofy, even back then and they are so outdated now.

I like the Wal-Mart 2-pack Monkeywrench, he doesn't look dated now like his vintage look.

But I just hated the portrayal of the Dreadnoks.

They were too cheesy and cornballish in the cartoon and comic.

The idea had merit, Cobra utilizing a biker gang, but the execution was horrible.

And why did Zartan get pegged to lead them? That made no sense. Zartan, as a master of disguise, should have been operating solo, not attached to a biker gang.

DDP improved 'em a little when he made them larger and had chapters all over the place. That made the idea of Cobra employing them have more merit. A mobile insurgency group that could just pack up and leave at a moments notice.

A biker gang is like modern day pirates, roaming the land pillaging as they go. And they'd make good smugglers and couriers.

But the designs were just horrible.

Were they going for biker, mad max, something in between?

Zandar and Zarana.. don't even get me started. Zandar was a horrible figure. And goes back to Zartan being the leader. Just made no sense to me, ever.

So come on 'Tankers, what is considered a popular part of the ol' Joe canon that you just don't like?


I wonder who will be the first to just respond "RoC".

Also Zandar and Zarana. Was better when it was just Zartan, he was one of a kind.

Cobra-La for reasons that are obvious and pretty much self-explainatory. That storyline was the killer of my interest for a great many years.

Popular thing?

Does the cartoon count?

Watched it as a kid, I suppose, but sweet fancy Moses do I loathe it now. Unwatchable tripe, poorly written, badly acted, and terribly animated, with hollow stories and shallow characters, villains that a Boy Scout Troop could handle, and lame, boring heroes.

RoC.

(I keed, I keed).

While I second the Dreadnoks never having done much for me (though the JvC/VvV redesigns were vast improvements for most of the Dreadnok characters they made), I'll add my other least-favorite thing about the Joe Mythos to the list:

Sgt. Slaughter. A good portion of this comes from me being more of a comic fan than a toon fan (though I liked both well enough), but even as a kid Slaughter annoyed me in the 'toon. Not only did he steal the spotlight from characters that I liked better, he also was portrayed as the superhuman unstoppable uber-Joe to a point that (to me) was completely ridiculous.

Even my 10-11 year old mind, upon watching G.I. Joe: The Movie for the first time, could not accept this cheeseball character beating Nemesis Enforcer (who earlier in the film had flipped over a HAVOC pretty effortlessly) in hand-to-hand combat. Nothing to do with particularly liking Nemesis Enforcer (though he and Pythona were far and away the most "acceptable" aspects of Cobra-La), just way too much for my suspension of disbelief even at that young age...and thus, my distaste for Sgt. Slaughter was born.

Originally Posted by Troynos

For me it's the Dreadnoks.

Agreed, 100%!!

Cobra was always so elaborate and full of pageantry...and yet allied with gutter trash? It always annoyed me, even as a kid.

I thought Zartan was vastly improved in RoC (and, to a degree, Resolute), operating as a solo mercenary type character.

I've always been bothered by Duke. He was a little too mom and apple pie for me.

I thought he was ok in the marvel comics where he wasn't so much at the forefront , but in the cartoon he kinda annoyed me.

I thought he was a jerk in the DD comics run though I felt the character fit in well there (former black ops guy, not sure if you can trust him).

I have not seen the movie yet but I have doubts he will do anything to improve his standing with me.

More so than the character himself, I think I'm annoyed how (probably because of the cartoon) so many people mistake Duke for the leader of G.I. JOE and have no idea who Hawk is.

I can't say I hated the dreadnoks because I loved the Thunder Machine, which seemed inspired by Road Warrior--one of my favorite movies--but the comics protrayed them as silly misfits who drank grape soda and ate donuts. This dampened their appeal severely. I wish the comic would have made them appear tougher.


It never occurred to me then that Zartan was a poor choice for a leader but it does seem odd now.

Now I'm probably the only person who loved Zandar. I don't know why, but I did. I always wished he got more time in the comics, but he never did and I couldn't understand why. I just loved the red hair and face camo and arrow gun (it's absurd, sure, but I just loved him as a kid).

I don't know if Battle Force 2000 was popular among other kids, but I loathed it. Junk, crappy sci-fi vehicles that formed a stupid-looking base and most of the figures looked horrendous except for maybe Blaster and Dodger. I knew even then that it was a cheap marketing ploy: buy all the stupid vehicle to form the "must-have" HQ. Pass!

I am sure that others have thought of this too, but I cannot stand Serpentor. Cobra Commander is in charge. His resident Mad Scientist conjurs up a super warrior who becomes a super leader. All the Cobra Legions follow mindlessly behind this new guy who puts on a Gold Snake Armor and bosses people around. And the stupid amount of "This I command!" statements that riddle the cartoon REALLY bug me. Hate Serpentor. He is clown shoes to me.

the dopey vintage characters that were not only dopey, but plain ass stupid, ie: Raptor, Dreadnoks, Croc Master, Crystal Ball, Sneak Peak, etc. They were super specialized, and in most cases plain retarded. The only exception on this list is Zartan, and I am not a fan of that character, but he does have his place.