Is GI Joe still a viable property in 2024?

[Thebestoftherest]

I'm going to go with no.

If only that I watched the most recent Transformers movie recently, on the basis that I had Paramount+ anyway and figured I'd give it a go to see if it was any better without the Bay. At the end the human gets a card recruiting him to GI Joe, and once I'd finished cracking up at how dang funny that attempt at a sequel hook was, I was amazed I'd genuinely gone unspoiled on that.

Without even trying I'd heard about the similar cameo at the end of the Marvels within the first couple of days and I was not at all engaged in that discourse. In a similar vein I probably could tell you the entire plot of Madame Webb and that'd be purely through passive internet osmosis.

Which suggests to me no one really cares in the slightest for the GI Joes these days.

Saying that if we could get a show based on this interpretation as a workplace comedy I'd be more than down for that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkPEHM38_DA

I think the movies are particularly fantastic examples of how NOT to handle a property because the thing was that I actually enjoyed the first movie despite its many mistakes but then you suddenly kill off THE ENTIRE CAST and replace every single actor in the film with no character development moving from between them.

Save Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow.

You can't do that and keep any sort of audience investment.

But if they started a new could it work.

[hammerofglass]

On paper Cobra as originally presented (before all that cobra-la stuff) should work just fine in the 2020s. An army of mercenaries bankrolled and supplied by megacorps owned by it's leadership (which the Joes know but can't prove) and unpredictable in it's aims and tactics because the Commander is both an evil genius and a self-obsessed manchild with a completely incoherent philosophy he's trying to spread that even he doesn't actually understand. Just throw in some Silicone Valley Tech Bro speak and have them mention crypto at odd times and you're golden.

[CharlesPhipps]

On paper Cobra as originally presented (before all that cobra-la stuff) should work just fine in the 2020s. An army of mercenaries bankrolled and supplied by megacorps owned by it's leadership (which the Joes know but can't prove) and unpredictable in it's aims and tactics because the Commander is both an evil genius and a self-obsessed manchild with a completely incoherent philosophy he's trying to spread that even he doesn't actually understand. Just throw in some Silicone Valley Tech Bro speak and have them mention crypto at odd times and you're golden.

Larry Hama's version of Cobra in the comics is weirdly still relevant as it's a company that got started on scams and became a megacorp but sells populism to get people to make its leadership EVEN MORE money.

Part of the conflict of Destro and CC in the comics is that CC wants to rule the world like a supervillain while Destro just wants to be an arms trillionaire. Part of their weird love triangle thing with the Baroness is the fact the Baroness really likes the ruling the world thing even if Destro is her beau.

[ProfessorDetective]

On paper Cobra as originally presented (before all that cobra-la stuff) should work just fine in the 2020s. An army of mercenaries bankrolled and supplied by megacorps owned by it's leadership (which the Joes know but can't prove) and unpredictable in it's aims and tactics because the Commander is both an evil genius and a self-obsessed manchild with a completely incoherent philosophy he's trying to spread that even he doesn't actually understand. Just throw in some Silicone Valley Tech Bro speak and have them mention crypto at odd times and you're golden.

Larry Hama's version of Cobra in the comics is weirdly still relevant as it's a company that got started on scams and became a megacorp but sells populism to get people to make its leadership EVEN MORE money.

Part of the conflict of Destro and CC in the comics is that CC wants to rule the world like a supervillain while Destro just wants to be an arms trillionaire. Part of their weird love triangle thing with the Baroness is the fact the Baroness really likes the ruling the world thing even if Destro is her beau.

So, like Number Two trying to depose Doctor Evil because the front operation was pulling in WAY more money, legitimately, than the WMD ransom scheme ever could.

[CharlesPhipps]

On paper Cobra as originally presented (before all that cobra-la stuff) should work just fine in the 2020s. An army of mercenaries bankrolled and supplied by megacorps owned by it's leadership (which the Joes know but can't prove) and unpredictable in it's aims and tactics because the Commander is both an evil genius and a self-obsessed manchild with a completely incoherent philosophy he's trying to spread that even he doesn't actually understand. Just throw in some Silicone Valley Tech Bro speak and have them mention crypto at odd times and you're golden.

Larry Hama's version of Cobra in the comics is weirdly still relevant as it's a company that got started on scams and became a megacorp but sells populism to get people to make its leadership EVEN MORE money.

Part of the conflict of Destro and CC in the comics is that CC wants to rule the world like a supervillain while Destro just wants to be an arms trillionaire. Part of their weird love triangle thing with the Baroness is the fact the Baroness really likes the ruling the world thing even if Destro is her beau.

So, like Number Two trying to depose Doctor Evil because the front operation was pulling in WAY more money, legitimately, than the WMD ransom scheme ever could.

Pretty close, yeah. Part of the thing is that Destro is part of Cobra because he's going to sell way more weapons if Cobra is constantly disrupting the status quo and serving as living demonstrations of his stuff's effectiveness.

It's something that carries over into the cartoon as it's actually something that throws Destro for a loop when Cobra Commander comes within a hair's breadth of ACTUALLY taking over the world (and when he tries to do his coups) or uses Destro's technology in a stupid way like when CC tries to make his face on the moon with a death ray.

Eventually, Destro makes his own PMC in the Iron Grendadiers because he's aware that Cobra Commander is a guy he needs protection from as much as anyone else (and so Hasbro can sell more toys).