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G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

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G.I. Joe from Devil's Due Comics

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is a military-themed line of action figures and toys. Produced by Hasbro, the toyline originally appeared in 1982, and it continues to the present.

Contents

[edit] Overview

The toyline was a revival of the 1960s and '70s toyline G.I. Joe. After a few years absent from the toy shelves, with the help of the Star Wars and Micronauts 3.75" tall toyline successes, G.I. Joe was re-introduced in a 3.75" format. It went on to become one of the most memorable icons of the 1980s and surpassed its predecessor in popularity. This toy series lasted from 1982 through 1994, producing well over 500 figures and 250 vehicles and playsets. During the twelve year production, there were many "subsets" produced.

It was supported by a Marvel comic book series and a popular cartoon television show that ran in the 1980s as well as a gamut of merchandising tie-ins. Marvel issued a comic to help promote the toyline, and Sunbow's animated promotions for the comic paved the way for the ongoing cartoon.

The "A Real American Hero" series of G.I. Joe remained popular and was revived in 2000. Previous molds were reused, and some characters had to be renamed. That year the toyline was dubbed as "The Return of a Real American Hero". The full relaunch was made in 2002 under the theme "G.I. Joe vs. Cobra" where new sculpts are made and new characters were introduced.

Comic writer Larry Hama had an idea for a new comic book (to be called Fury Force) which would have been an ongoing series for Marvel Comics. The original premise had the son of S.H.I.E.L.D director Nick Fury assembling a team of elite commandos to battle neo-Nazi terrorists HYDRA. The idea was nixed, but Hama was able to use the basic premise when he learned of Hasbro's plans to resurrect the G.I. Joe toyline to counter the Star Wars toyline that was popular at the time. Each toy figure included a character biography, called a "file card." Hama was also responsible for writing these file cards, especially for the first ten years. When developing many of the characters, he drew much from his experiences in the military. The 155-issue comic book series is one of the longest running comic tie-ins to a toyline. In 2001, Devil's Due Productions launched a new comic book series that resumed the storyline of the Marvel series.

The premise revolves around an elite counter-terrorist team, code named G.I. Joe. Their purpose is to defend human freedom from COBRA, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world. The comic series, however, tried to feature threats and situations other than COBRA, especially in the secondary G.I. Joe title, Special Missions.

The G.I. Joe Team's base of operations is code named The Pit. It is a secret underground base beneath the Motor Pool of the Army Chaplains' Assistants School in Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island, New York.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Primary characters

G.I. Joe has a very extensive cast of characters which is too numerable to mention but the more prominent cast members include:

  • Duke - Conrad S. Hauser is the First Sergeant. He is a field commander and, in the cartoon, acts as second-in-command of the team.
  • Flint - Dashiell Faireborn is a warrant officer. In both comics and cartoon incarnations, he has a romantic relationship with Lady Jaye.
  • Hawk - Brigadier General Clayton Abernathy is the leader of the Joe team. Originally a field commander, he was promoted to general and given full command of G.I. Joe.
  • Sgt. Slaughter - USMC gunnery sergeant who is the primary drill instructor for the team. Slaughter was the first real person to become a G.I. Joe. While his comic book appearances were brief, Sgt. Slaughter was frequently featured in the cartoons, merchandise and advertising from from 1986 through 1990.
  • Snake-Eyes - The mute disfigured member of the team upon which much of the comic book series' stories revolved. He served on the same LRRP team in Vietnam as Stalker and COBRA ninja Storm Shadow did. Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow were trained within the same ninja clan.
  • Kamakura - Specialist Sean Collins is the son of former Crimson Guardman Wade Collins and the apprentice of Snake Eyes, learning the ways of the ninja.
  • Lady Jaye - Corporal Allison R. Hart-Burnett is a covert operative and intelligence officer. She is Flint's girlfriend; in the comics, she eventually became his wife.
  • Roadblock - Sergeant Marvin F. Hinton. Heavy machine-gunner and strongman who's also a gourmet cook. He often carries the heavy Browning .50 calibre M2 machine gun.
  • Scarlett - Sergeant Shana M. O'Hara serves the team as the counter intelligence specialist. She is also proficient in martial arts and holds her own well against Cobra's ninjas. In the comics, she is more than friends with Snake-Eyes.
  • Shipwreck - US Navy Sailor Hector Delgado never played a major role in the comics but is well remembered for his appearances in the cartoon.
  • Jinx - A cousin of Storm Shadow, she was recruited by Snake-Eyes.
  • Stalker - Sergeant Lonzo R. Wilkinson is a close friend of Snake-Eyes; they served on the same LRRP team in Vietnam along with Storm Shadow. Stalker often served as mission leader.
  • Wild Bill - Chief Warrant Officer William F. Hardy is a helicopter pilot. Although never a major character, he appeared much throughout the comics' run. He is known for taking a lot of risk and crashing his helicopter. A common misconception that he wears a cowboy hat, in actuality is a U.S. Cavalry hat.

[edit] Enemies

  • COBRA, also known as the COBRA Organization or Cobra Command, is the primary enemy of G.I. Joe. The group is led by Cobra Commander and seconded by the Baroness. More information on the group can be found in their own page.
  • Headhunters - A private army under the command of the drug dealer known as the Headman. They are the arch nemesis of the G.I. Joe sub-team, Drug Elimination Force.
  • M.A.R.S. (Military Armaments Research System) is a private company under the leadership of Destro, who also fields his own private army of Iron Grenadiers which has matched forces with COBRA and G.I. Joe or any other organisation which has gotten in Destro's way as he pursues his own goals of supplying weapons and military technology. Using tactics such as sabotage and assassination, Destro has used his Iron Grenadiers to force otherwise peaceful nations into war so he can increase his weapons sales.
  • Red Shadows - A radical group led by former MI-6 agent Wilder Vaughn. They made themselves known with assassinations of G.I. Joe and Cobra agents. Their goal is to build a new world, based on science and technology, regardless of how much collateral damage is caused in their revolution. They use nerve enhancements that increase their strength and near-impervious body armor. They are introduced in the Devil's Due run of the comic series. It is also interesting to note that Red Shadows was the name of the first incarnation of COBRA in Action Force, as G.I. Joe was marketed in the UK.
  • Cobra-La- A previously unknown predecessor to Cobra until the 1987 G.I. Joe: The Movie.
  • Lunartix Empire - An assorted lot of hostile extraterrestrial lifeforms. Some have the ability to morph into monsterous forms; these creatures are known as "Manimals". The Lunartix aliens are opposed by G.I. JOE's Star Brigade team. They are not featured in any media outside of the toy line.

[edit] Supporting characters

  • General Lawrence J. Flagg - The original commander of the G.I. Joe Team. He was killed while trying to stop an escape attempt by Major Bludd.
  • Admiral Keel-Haul - Navy Admiral Everett Colby is the commander of the Joe Team's aircraft carrier, the USS Flagg.
  • William "Billy" Kessler - Billy is the son of Cobra Commander. He was part of Springfield's resistance movement against COBRA. He eventually escaped from Springfield and helped the Joes from time to time and eventually joined the team.
  • General "Iron-Butt" Austin - He was the team's adviser during Flagg's tenure as G.I. Joe commander. He took over the team after Flagg's death until a heart attack forced him to retire.
  • General Joseph "G.I. Joe" Colton - The original G.I. Joe from the 1960s who somehow aged very little but is still a man of action. He has helped the Joe Team on several occasions. General Colton in the modern continuity is the team's voice on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In the new series G.I. Joe: America's Elite (the continuation of the Devil's Due series after A Real American Hero), General Colton is the commanding officer of the G.I. Joe Team.
  • General Hollingsworth - U.S. Army General who often served as an advisor to Hawk and the G.I. Joe team after General Austin retired.
  • The October Guard (or Oktober Guard) is the Warsaw Pact equivalent of the G.I. Joe. They sometimes went at odds with the Joe Team, other times they worked together toward a common goal, usually by circumstances.

[edit] Subgroups of the Joe Team

  • Battleforce 2000 - Hi-tech group of Joes whose task is to field-test experimental weaponry in battlefield conditions. In the comics, five of the six members were killed during the Battle of Benzheen.
  • Drug Elimination Force - This group is led by DEA Agent Bulletproof. Their mission is to stop the flow of illegal drugs into America. Their arch nemesis is the drug-running Headman, who leads the Headhunters.
  • Eco-Warriors - The task of the Eco-Warriors is to go after environmental criminals. Flint is the leader.
  • Night Force - This group conducted missions under the cover of night. Lt. Falcon appeared to be the leader, based on his filecard. The toys produced in this line were Toys R Us exclusives.
  • Ninja Force - Storm Shadow recruited several former members of his ninja clan to aid the Joes in rescuing Destro from a vengeful Cobra Commander. They remained with the Joes since then until the team's decommissioning.
  • Renegades - On paper, this group, led by Sgt. Slaughter, is not officially considered a part of the Joe group. They take on missions that would be considered too sensitive to involve the Joes.
  • Sky Patrol - Despite the toy's tagging them as providing air superiority over COBRA for the Joes, their filecards indicate that they engage more in reconnaissance and survey of enemy territory. Their designated leader is Skydive.
  • Slaughter's Marauders - This is another group led by Sgt. Slaughter. They engage in quick strikes, first ground assaults, and make the way for Joe ground forces. Their uniforms have a common color theme (brown, green and blue).
  • Sonic Fighters - Lt. Falcon leads this contingent of Joes that use sonic-powered weapons.
  • Star Brigade - The Joes' outer space unit.
  • Tiger Force - This jungle assault group is led by Duke. They make use of modified captured Cobra vehicles. Their uniforms and vehicles have tiger stripes design as their team motif.

[edit] Chain of command

The common belief for the G.I. Joe chain of command is Hawk is the leader of the team while Duke is second in command. However, a number of differences exist between the comics, cartoon and even the toyline.

The comics take a more or less realistic approach with the hierarchy and also maintains the widely held set up of Hawk as the leader with Duke second. Despite Duke’s low rank of First Sergeant, this is explained by his status as a non-commissioned officer. His seniority and experience are respected by higher-ranking officers such as Lt. Falcon and Captain Grid-Iron. However, Duke’s rank will always prevent him from assuming full command. In the comics series by Devil’s Due Publishing, Hawk becomes incapacitated by the end of the series, General Philip Rey came in and is given command. When the Joe Team is disbanded and reformed once more, the original G.I. Joe, General Joseph Colton takes control with Duke as field commander.

The animated series has a more liberal take and a more extensive chain, including some twists. The first season of the series featured Duke as the leader of the team with Flint taking over after him. The second season presented changes to the line up in the first episode “Arise, Serpentor, Arise” part 1. Some time between the first season and the next, Hawk replaced Duke. Flint explains to Beachhead how it goes, “First Hawk, then Duke, then me, and finally you,” indicating Beachhead’s place in the chain of command. Later episodes gave Sgt. Slaughter a place in the leadership ladder.

In the early years, the toyline mostly held off in identifying the one character that served as the Joe Team’s leader. The first run of the toyline featured Hawk as the highest ranking team member and his file card makes mention of his abilities as a leader but falls shy of actually naming him as the team’s commander. The next year, Duke debuts and is the next higher ranking Joe at the time. His file card extols his ability to command by winning respect and mentions his current assignment as acting First Sergeant of the team. Again, like Hawk, his file card makes no mention of him being the undisputed G.I. Joe leader. The situation changes in 1986 when Hawk is given a new action figure and revamped as the true team commander. However, the question of command would keep changing with the introduction of other commanding officers like a new General Flagg, Grid-Iron and Col. Courage.


[edit] Technology

G.I. Joe's fictional technology was often heavily influenced by theoretical or real military technologies that were being developed during the 1980s. This was especially seen in 1988's Phantom X-19, inspired by the apocryphal F-19 Stealth Fighter. Because they were seen as the next generation of actual combat machines, experimental military vehicles were quickly and enthusiastically adapted into the G.I. Joe toy line. Other examples of G.I. Joe mimicking 1980s American military aircraft and equipment are the G.I. Joe Sky Striker fighter plane which closely resembled the F-14 Tomcat. The COBRA Rattler fighter plane was modeled on the A-10 Thunderbolt II. The Dragonfly helicopter was modeled on the Bell AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter. The MBT battle tank resembled the M-48/M-60 US battletanks. The Mobile Missile System was a carbon copy of the HAWK Surface-to-Air missile system. The Night and Sky Raven were modified SR-71 Blackbird.

[edit] Comics

Main article: G.I. Joe (comics)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

G.I. Joe

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Toy Line G.I. Joe | G.I. Joe Adventure Team | G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero | Action Force | Sgt. Savage and the Screaming Eagles | G.I. Joe Extreme | Hall of Fame | Masterpiece Edition | Timeless Collection | Classic Collection | G.I. Joe: Sigma 6
Comics List of G.I. Joe comics
Animated Series Sunbow series | DiC series | G.I. Joe Extreme | Sigma 6
G.I. Joe Characters Duke | Snake-Eyes | Scarlett | Stalker | Hawk | Flint | Lady Jaye | Roadblock | Shipwreck | Cover Girl | List of G.I. Joe ARAH characters
G.I. Joe Villains Cobra Commander | Destro | Baroness | Zartan | Storm Shadow | Dr. Mindbender | Serpentor | Firefly | Overkill
Movies G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987) | Spy Troops (2003) | Valor vs. Venom (2004)
Factions G.I. Joe | Cobra | Dreadnoks | Oktober Guard | Iron Grenadiers | Cobra-La | Arashikage | Phoenix Guard
Video Games G.I. Joe | The Atlantis Factor
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nl:G.I. Joe zh:特种部队 (动画影集)

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