WEBVTT - Episode 14: G.I. Joe 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:13.720 Hello, and welcome to hear I visit. I wanted your post. 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:18.599 Danny Carran isn't sitting across with me. They're ready. How's it? 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.600 How's it going? Iffy? Um? This is one of the 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:25.960 topics that I feel I grew up with, mainly because 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:30.000 I stole my brother's Jerry Joe's to be with my barbie. Yeah. 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:35.000 Ken was not cutting it, but she she wanted like 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:39.800 a burly man, they're fighting for his country. Um. I 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:45.440 also stole their batman. It was actually the George Clooney batman. 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:49.800 I believe so interesting. No, maybe those Val Kilmer's I 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:53.320 can't remember. But I stole their rubber batman and made 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:57.880 him make out with my barbie. So we're we're covering 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:07.280 g I Joe Joe American. We can we can't pay 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:15.080 for the for I don't want to have to invoice. 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:21.479 I don't want to get like a royalty situation. Um. Yeah, 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:23.319 so let's let's talk. We actually had I think we 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:26.000 had some request for this episode, right, Yeah, we had 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:27.880 a few people. Yeah, we had it. When we have 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:31.480 some friends, I think that have There are many many 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:35.679 A podcast dedicated just to G I j which kind 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:37.280 of reminds me. I don't know if every because a 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:39.160 lot of people have hit us up about we said 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:40.480 this before, but a lot of people have hit U 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:42.720 up about Dragon ball Z and IFFI and I actually 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:46.600 had a podcast that was just dedicated to Dragon ball Z, 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:48.840 and I can tell you when you have a podcast 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:52.360 it's just dedicated to one thing. It's kind of nice 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:55.520 that we do what we do now because after after 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:59.640 talking about it for fifty episodes, you're kind of like, yeah, um, 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:01.720 but I want to talk about G I Joe's the Yeah, 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:04.720 I want to get in on it. Um, So so 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:07.559 what is g I Joe? It is a well, first, 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:09.720 it started as a line of action figures that was 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:12.639 produced and owned by the toy company has Bro, which 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:16.200 I just found out today was Hasn't Filled Brothers really 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:20.400 that is yes, and shortened to Hasbro, which makes sense. 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:25.480 Um like Super Mario Bros. The initial product represented four 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:27.560 of the branches of the U s Armed Forces, So 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:31.600 that was Action Soldier, which was US Army, Action Sailor, 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:35.440 which was US Navy Action Pilot, Air Force, Action Marine 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:38.760 Marine Corps, and later on the Action Nurse. I don't 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:42.080 know they had an Action Nurse. Yeah, It's so funny 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:47.120 because I want to assume that it's probably their female 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:51.680 line that they're like action nurse, but it could be 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:54.480 the male line, which would be interesting because you know, 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:57.640 I feel like male nurses never get any love. Yeah. 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:00.280 I mean, if you think, let me look at U. No, 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:03.679 I think you're right it was a woman. Yeah. No, 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:06.360 that sounds about right based on when g I Joe 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:09.359 was created. I mean, if Ben Stiller was still made 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:11.720 fun of it and meet the Fockers, I think that 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:15.280 we back when g I Joe was created, definitely probably 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:20.080 wasn't normal. Yeah, seen as so. G I Joe was 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:23.960 the code name for America's daring, highly trained Special Missions Force. 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:27.440 Its purpose was to defend human freedom against Cobra, a 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:32.840 ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world. From until 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:36.800 about Hasbro's g I Joe, a real American hero, was 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:39.960 one of the driving forces and kids entertainment conquering the 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:43.440 worlds of comic books, animated televisions, and tiny toy action 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:46.800 victors and then eventually movies. Yeah. Yeah, So the name 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:48.520 drived from the usage of G I Joe for the 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:51.800 generic U. S. Soldier um. So that was actually a 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:54.720 term So g I is an acronym used to describe 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:57.400 the soldiers of the United States Army and airmen in 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:00.760 the United States Army Air Forces, and also a term 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:03.600 for general items of their equipment. So the term g 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:06.840 I has been used as government issue or general issue, 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:11.200 but originally it was used as galvanized iron. Just a 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:13.640 little back, backstory, a little back So well, let's even 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:16.120 go further back and talk about just how this whole 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:19.040 thing got started. So Mantell was killing it with Barbie 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:22.120 and her accessories, but Hasbro not so much. Uh. In 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:25.359 nineteen sixty three, has We began development on a military 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:28.599 theme line of dolls that, like Barbie, could be accessorized 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:32.080 with the different outfits and equipments. The original strategy called 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:34.960 for a different figure for each branch of the military, 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:38.080 but when, like the film called The Story of g I. 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:43.080 Joe came out, they eventually decided to genericize it and 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:46.080 have everyone just kind of be their own guy. Yeah. 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:48.280 It was kind of interesting because, Um, in a G I. 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:50.359 Joe podcast that I was listening to that we're going 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:52.880 to link in the footnotes, they were talking about, Um, 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:55.800 they actually had a professor that has also studied a 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:58.560 lot of G I. Joe history, but he was talking 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:02.800 about how a lot of boys were playing with Kendall's 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:07.800 and apparently that was not allowed or not as heavily liked, 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:12.600 and so they wanted to capitalize and make a more buff, buff, 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:18.120 macho man. Yeah, action figure. Um. And actually that's where 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:20.800 the term action figure came from. It's g I. Joe. 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:23.080 I don't know if you know that. Yeah, So the 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:25.400 development of g I. Joe led to the coining of 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:29.280 the term action figure. The original idea for the action 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:32.680 figure was developed in nineteen sixty three by Stan Weston, 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:36.440 who was a Manhattan licensing agent, and Weston actually made 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:40.279 like these prototypes of the figure and basic like marketing 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:45.159 materials that showed the sales potential of a military action figure. 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:48.159 And when he showed these materials to Donald Levine, who 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:52.000 was a Hasbro executive, Levine told Weston, quote, you will 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:54.520 make a fortune with these, which he was right, and 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:58.640 Weston subsequently licensed the entire concept to Hasbro. So this 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:00.360 is kind of interesting and he likes sit for a 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:04.440 hundred thousand dollars um. Levine, though, is the one who 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:06.960 has seen as the father of Joe, Like he's kind 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:09.120 of seen as the father of Gio. But that it 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:11.960 is interesting because I just want to jump back on 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:15.480 it being called action figures. I always used to distinguish 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:18.200 between G I. Joe's and then my action action figures, 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:22.040 which I think really more yeah, which was more traditionally 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:23.800 known as an action figure. I looked at G I. 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:26.720 Joe's as dolls and action figures. I looked at them 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:30.000 as action figures because like they had the articulation that 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:32.480 would allow you to pose them and and so that's 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:34.640 why I made sense of my brain. But little did 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:37.279 I know it is just some weird gender politics that 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:39.680 made them come up a different names because all G 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:42.919 I joes are are dolls. Yeah. So, but in the 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:46.480 early nineteen sixties, they didn't think that boys would play 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:51.160 with quote unquote dolls action figures. U huh, yeah, and 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:55.360 and uh and since they also had America's Movable Fighting 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:58.920 Man was the registered trademark of Hasbro and was prominently 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:01.520 displayed on every box figure package. I did want to 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:04.720 go back though and say, uh in my research when 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:06.960 I was looking at Donald Levine, this is just a 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:09.120 side note. From two thousand and five to two thousand 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:12.800 and six, Levine designed and manufactured an action figure of 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:17.480 Osama Bin Laden for the c I a psychological warfare 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:22.080 program called Devil Eyes. Levine developed a twelve inch life 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:24.280 you can actually look it up, a twelve inch lifelike 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:26.560 figure whose face was painted with a material that, when 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:29.960 he did would peel off to reveal a demon like 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:34.200 uh face with green eyes and black markings. So when 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:39.320 asked Inteen about Levine's involvement in the program, his family 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:42.040 said in a statement, Don Levine was a dedicated patriot 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:45.280 and proud Korean War veteran. When called on, he was 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:48.160 honored to assist our country. That was their response when 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:51.240 they asked him about this Osama Bin Laden doll. Yeah, 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:56.440 that's interesting. Just a side fact here at nerdificent Uh, 0:07:56.480 --> 0:07:58.720 but moving on, moving on, if you do, you want 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:02.200 to talk to us about the Yeah, so so just 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:04.720 rounding out. Nineteen sixty four to nineteen six nine was 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:07.400 known as the Movable Fighting Man years for G I, 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:10.240 Joe and up next. We have adventure teams. Yeah, they 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:12.560 have venture teamed. By the late nineteen sixties, in the 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:15.080 wake of the Vietnam War, Hasbro sought to downplay the 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:19.000 war theme that had initially defined Joe. The line became 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:22.920 known as the Adventures of Joe, and in seventy Hasbro 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:27.040 settled on the name Adventure Team. Adventure Team. You know 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:29.679 when you were singing the G I Joe song, Um, 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:33.600 I wanted to say, g I Joe Robots in disguise, 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:39.120 so many jingles, They're all pretty much the same. But 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:42.000 I do want to say which we will get to Sunbow, 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:46.520 Uh produce both of those transformers. Also, I believe my 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:48.840 Little Pony and g I Joe, So yeah, we'll get 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:52.160 into the ad the game on lock. So basically to 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:55.280 coincide with the new direction. Lifelike flocked hair and beard 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:59.079 and innovation developed in England by Palatoi for the license 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:02.640 version of Joe Action Man is introduced in nineteen seventy 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:07.360 and a retooled African American Whoo Whoop Adventurer was also introduced, 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:10.000 which came in two versions, as did the others in 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:13.400 the series, bearded or shaven. These were my kendles, Like, 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:16.480 it's really funny to talk about the introduction of that 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:20.000 technology as far as like the lifelike hair, do you 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:22.040 remember that? Did you have? Did you have? I guess 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:24.000 action figures because I don't know if you had dolls. 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:27.640 Did you have those that had the the hair, they 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:30.920 were like plastic see I had I had. My mom 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:34.479 gave me her old ken dolls, um, which were anatomically 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:38.200 correct and that kind of interesting. They had a penis, 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:40.480 like some of them were a little bit of a bump. 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:41.800 Are we allowed to say that, I don't know, it 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:44.920 might get bleeped um. I think we could say penises. 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:47.400 It's it's a normal. But here, this is what we 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:50.120 talked about in Erica. E She's Sailor Moon episode. Is 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:52.280 how censored we are in America that we get weird 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:55.200 about talking about even normal things that people have. Well, 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:56.920 I was talking about this the other day and here 0:09:57.000 --> 0:10:00.600 goes one of those tangents. But just are concept because 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:03.560 I feel like it's a constant wave where like sometimes 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:06.480 we get so obsessed over what kids can see sometimes 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:10.000 we lean back, But when you think about it, kids 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:13.680 aren't you know. I'm sure there's psychological evidence that proved 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:17.720 this one way or the other, but kids don't aren't 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:21.200 as interested in like sexual things. Like I was talking 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:23.320 with my buddy when he was talking about when he 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:25.439 was a kidding, he saw water World and his friends. 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:26.959 Oh my gosh, I remember seeing it when I was 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:29.319 a little His parents freaked out because they're like, oh, 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:32.240 there's brooms in there. Yeah, and he was like what, 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:34.120 I didn't he And he was like I didn't even 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:35.600 care at the time because I was trying to see 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:39.200 the men fighting, you know. On a different tangent side, note, 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:42.360 my aunt when she first saw a little boy peen, 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:46.000 she thought they peed from their belly buttons. Your aunt, 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:51.520 my yeah, my aunt. Moving on. So in nineteen this 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:54.800 is white people come to this for far outside to 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:57.880 hear that I used to make my animals smashed their 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:02.760 genitals and also your tea. Yeah. Yeah, she actually had 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:07.720 a baby, very young, but um, okay, so but now 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:09.920 she's a young mom, Like she's younger than all the 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:13.280 other moms. So there you go. In nineteen seventy four, 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:17.559 named after the increasingly popular martial art, Hasbro introduced the 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:20.320 Kung Fu grip. This was a big deal to the 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:23.080 g I Joe line. Uh. This was another innovation that 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:26.400 actually was developed in the UK for Action Man, and 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.120 the hands were molded in a softer plastic that allowed 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:34.160 the fingers to grip objects in a more lifelike fashion. Yeah, 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:36.280 so so I was gonna say around this time, though 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:41.480 the line was canceled in nineteen seventy six, Joe had 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:45.720 become something of a superhero, so they were incorporating fantastic 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:49.000 elements like chrome plated Bulletman and bionic limbs of Atomic 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:51.760 Man who battled the Intruders, which is a group of 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:54.679 caveman from outer space. So they really did kind of 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:59.160 want to um move away from him just being a 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:01.960 war yeah, kind of individual, kind of seen as a 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:07.480 superhero because heroesque. The Vietnam War was not fun and 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:10.120 I think, you know, and that was also like there 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:11.960 were a lot of people who were against it, and 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:15.880 I think trying to distance themselves away from that is 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:18.000 kind of their idea where they looks like, well know, 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:21.760 this is a superhero. This isn't like, you know, army propaganda, 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:23.840 which it kind of was at first. Then we got 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.440 into a real American hero, which is more of the 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:28.880 G I Joe. I know, I'm familiar with these guys, 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:40.679 but we'll get into that after these messages. Welcome back, y'all. 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:44.160 Hope you enjoyed those messages, and we're talking about G I. 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:48.439 G O today on Nificent even a nice, light and spicy. 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:51.600 If you're just tuning in, which you shouldn't be because 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:53.920 this is a podcast and not a live radio show, 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:57.640 you you should know that Danny dropped a fun fact. 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:00.520 I'm probably gonna be thinking about that of the rest 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:04.079 of the week. Really, why be funny? Yeah, it's such 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:07.680 a funny image because I can see how that happened, 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:11.000 and it's just like so funny. We're just like, oh, 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:13.280 I can't really see anything, but I see it coming 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:17.040 out the belly button. Yeah, that's boy. I want to 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:24.240 also pee from my belly button. Yeah, probably well for women, Yes, Iffy, 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:26.679 it's annoying. I'm in a one piece right now and 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:28.839 I have to take this whole thing off to p Anyways, 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:33.079 moving on to Yeah, I would say if this was 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:35.720 a Golden Age, I would name it the Golden Age, 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:43.400 which is a real American heroin. I would say, I mean, 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:46.240 there's obviously a lot of people who grew up with 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:49.319 the toys and that was their first introduction, a lot 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:52.440 of die hards actually for the comics and the and 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:56.559 the toys, but the like we've talked about before in 0:13:56.600 --> 0:14:00.320 our Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle one, you know, lot of 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:02.760 these shows are used to push A lot of the 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:05.720 animated shows were used to push the toy sales. And 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:09.040 so I don't know if G I. Joe would be 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:13.160 as big as it is without a real American hero. 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:20.280 The year was and it saw the highly successful relaunch 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:23.120 of the G I. Joe product line in a smaller 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:26.720 three point seven five inch scale. So that scale was 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:29.000 the same one that was used by Kenner's Star Wars 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:35.240 figures and Micronauts, which were also really popular. Um, yeah, yeah, 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:39.080 And this relaunch pioneered several tactics in toy marketing, combining 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:43.560 traditional advertising with an animated television miniseries and an ongoing 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:46.040 comic book. The decision to use a smaller three point 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:50.240 scale for the figures also made it possible for Hasbro 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:53.440 to produce a variety of matching vehicles and play sets 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:57.600 that further expanded the appeal and commercial potential of the line. 0:14:58.320 --> 0:14:59.840 So this is the yeah, this is more the G 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:02.880 I the cheesy g I Joe. We remember that we 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:05.880 have the smaller toys, and I remember the Star Wars 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:09.480 toys to like, it was like, this is like the 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:12.680 action figure action figures that I was referencing because I 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:16.240 realized before I just repeated action figures, so people could 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:18.240 have been like, what did if you mean by that, 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:22.280 I mean like these scale action figures. Yeah. We also 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:26.200 had G I. Joe posters, t shirts, video games, board games, 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:31.240 and kites and kites both toy and lamp in. Hobby 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:35.000 World magazines ranked G I. Joe as the top selling 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:38.840 American toy. Yeah, and because the Enemy toys had never 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:41.720 sold well in the past, Hasbro actually didn't even consider 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:44.440 to bring them back for the G I. Joe. But 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:47.480 then Larry Hamma, who was writing the Marvel comic book series, 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:50.440 insisted that these guys can't just march around and go 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:53.640 on maneuvers or whatnot. They have to be battling some things, 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:56.440 you know, like a threat. That's a direct quote Froom. 0:15:56.480 --> 0:16:00.520 And it was Marvel's writer Archie Goodwin that suggested terrorist 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:04.760 organization named Cobra, and inspired by the name, inspired by 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:07.680 the name, Ron Rudette developed the design for the Enemies 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:11.880 now iconic logo. Yeah. And, according to Jim Shooter, who 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:15.400 at one point was Marvel's editor in chief, later villains 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:21.040 became of their volume. So of the toys, isn't that crazy? Yeah? Yeah, 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:23.760 they're kind of right, though, I can't think of other 0:16:23.880 --> 0:16:27.160 villains maybe now, but I can't think of toys where 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:34.120 the villain sold as well as this, you know, I can't. Well, 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:36.720 they look so cool, you know, they do. And it 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:39.360 was really interesting because a lot of people are like, well, 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:42.320 Cobra and Marvel was also working, you know, with Hydra. 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:45.560 That to me is kind of obviously they don't like 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:48.400 overlap at all in the comics, but that was kind 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:51.760 of there. They're kind of really similar. They're kind of 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:54.200 really similar. So yes, we have g I Joe a 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:57.000 real American hero. Um also known as Action Force in 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:01.200 the UK uh In It was a half hour American 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:04.920 animated television series that was created by Ron Friedman. It 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:07.240 was based on the toy line from Hasbro and the 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:10.280 comic book series from Marvel Comics. The cartoon had its 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:14.440 beginning with two five part mini series in nine three 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:17.840 and nine four. Then it became a regular series that 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:22.360 ran in syndication from to Night six. Yeah, and they 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:25.320 took these cartoons pretty seriously, like the producers didn't want 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:28.720 just like anyone who'd written a Saturday morning cartoon. Uh So, 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:31.280 Ron Freeman, who had worked on all in the family, 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:34.280 Star Ski and Hutch and Fantasy Island was recruited to 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:36.919 write the first fifteen episodes of G I. Joe. And 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:40.400 then other people were Marvel Wolfman who wrote the New 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:43.679 teen Titans. You had Danny O'Neill who wrote Batman, Steve 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:46.720 Gruber who was the co creator of Howard the Duck. 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:49.840 So like they it wasn't like, I feel like not 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:53.520 to kind of jam on teenage meaning Ninja Turtles, But 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:55.520 when we were describing that, it just seemed like it 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:58.440 was a couple of toy dudes again, like all right, 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:01.400 let's do this, like know with G I. Joe there, 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:03.719 like let's find some some big dogs. Well, it's kind 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:06.399 of fascinating if we were compared to Teenage Mutan Ninja Turtles, 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:09.960 because that was so much more lighthearted. Um. And if 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:11.840 you think of when we talked about like some of 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:15.560 their catchphrases that were created by the toy company, um 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:17.960 like how a bung that wasn't created by them, but 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:20.800 that was instilled by them. And then um, heroes and 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:22.520 a half shell was something else that they had come 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:24.960 up with in them being like pizza loving and stuff. 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:28.600 So um, yeah, this it is kind of interesting apparel, 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:31.480 like to look at how different these two ended up becoming. 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:35.080 UM and maybe partly because G I. Joe is rooted 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:37.920 in war, you know, like there's no way to get 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:40.000 around that, as much as they did try to make 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:43.440 them kind of superhero esque UM. But also another fun 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:45.800 fact that has to do with other cartoons in the era. 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:48.800 So in the G I. Joe movie, there's a scene 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:51.320 where Duke the leader kind of takes a staff to 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:54.840 his heart and dies on screen, and like, you know, uh, 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:58.439 the fellow Joe's like, uh, Scarlett and Hawk, they're crying. 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:00.760 And at the end of the film, Duke's half brother, Falcon, 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:03.720 he was looking to the heavens and says thanks big brothers. 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:09.119 But UM producers ended up panicking and added dialogue to 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:12.000 explain that Duke was actually just in a coma from 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:15.440 which he later had a miraculous victory, and the reason 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:20.000 was because kids were traumatized by Optimist Primes death in 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:24.920 the Transformers movie, so they so they scrambled and really 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:30.159 only only only like a decade later would we have 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:35.040 the horrific death of Mufassa at the hand of thousands 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:40.800 of willed de bees. Um. I mean Disney doesn't care 0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:43.879 at all. No, Apparently Sunbow is over here trying to 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:46.760 protect children and Disney is trying to ruin everyone's life. Well, 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:48.440 technically they kind of work because they were going to 0:19:48.520 --> 0:19:51.359 kill off Duke and Optimist Prime and only build because 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:57.240 they saw the consequences of their actions. Wow. Wow. Meanwhile, 0:19:57.240 --> 0:20:01.800 Disney does not care. No, Disney's like Bambi, Yes, exactly. 0:20:01.840 --> 0:20:07.480 Bambies was quicker, though faster. They really like dragged that out. 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:09.959 His death scene was like ten minutes and then it 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:15.680 was him like, you know, struggling. Okay, moving on, but yeah, 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:19.600 So GJ was promoted to a full series in and 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:23.800 the season began with a third Freedman penned five part adventure, 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:26.600 The Pyramid of Darkness, and that story sees most of 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:30.280 the existing cast from the two previous mini series held 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:33.760 Captive by Cobra, and then a second season of thirty 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:36.679 episodes followed in nineteen eight six, beginning with the fourth 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:41.160 five part story Arise, Serpenter Rise, in which Cobra scientists 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:45.720 doctor mind Bender, inspired by a dream, uses the DNA 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:51.680 of histories, ruthless conquerors, and rulers to genetically engineer Serpenter, 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:58.600 who usurps Cobra Commander's place as leader of Cobra Serpenter. 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:02.440 So then in this mini series introduced a new nine 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:06.560 range of toys into the story, who were at the 0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:08.679 center of most stories across the rest of the season. 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:12.920 In particular, the mini series debut former WWF and then 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:16.560 current a W a professional wrestler Sergeant Slaughter as a 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:19.200 member of the G I Joe, who was played by himself. 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:22.080 And I remember this because that was like the cool thing, 0:21:22.680 --> 0:21:25.600 and for the season, Buzz Dixon replaced Steve Gerber as 0:21:25.640 --> 0:21:29.200 story editor. That's just some behind the scenes Hollywood facts. 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:31.879 I think people are still tripping off the Sergeant Slaughter 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:35.600 or your nostalgis kicking in because you remember that. Yeah, 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:37.639 I was gonna say so. G I. Joe was a 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:42.160 co production between Marvel Productions and Sunbow Productions, and Somebo's 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:44.760 staff would write the scripts based on the character and 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:49.040 vehicle designs provided by Hasbro. Again behind the curtain, which 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:51.240 I guess you can see. Um, I haven't had the 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:53.159 time to sit down because I didn't realize it was 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:58.159 multiple episodes, but um, the toys that made us that, 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:01.000 you know that series on Netflix? Oh yeah, Um, I 0:22:01.080 --> 0:22:03.680 know that they have one on this so, um, yeah, 0:22:03.880 --> 0:22:07.920 that's something some more. It's some extracurricular activity if you, yeah, 0:22:07.920 --> 0:22:11.720 go check it out. But also you can see that basically, um, 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:16.200 a lot of our nostalgic stuff comes from selling toys. 0:22:17.119 --> 0:22:19.679 So they would write the scripts based on the character 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:23.640 and vehicle designs provided by Hasbro, while the artists at 0:22:23.680 --> 0:22:26.639 Marvel Productions would draw storyboards based on the scripts and 0:22:26.760 --> 0:22:30.439 record voiceovers the animation. Though this is really fascinating. The 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:35.080 animation was outsourced to our friends at Toy in Japan, 0:22:35.280 --> 0:22:39.520 who worked on all episodes as well as the movie. Well, 0:22:39.560 --> 0:22:41.919 I want to talk about Marvel because there's a fun 0:22:42.040 --> 0:22:45.720 thing that was kind of cool that never really happened. 0:22:45.720 --> 0:22:48.080 So at the same time that Hasbro was developing its 0:22:48.119 --> 0:22:54.080 three inch Real American Hero toy line, Marvel Comics editor 0:22:54.200 --> 0:22:57.719 and freelance writer Larry Hamma, who we were talking about earlier, 0:22:57.800 --> 0:23:00.760 was pitching a series called The Fury for which was 0:23:00.800 --> 0:23:04.560 made up of an elite squad of soldiers and uh, 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:07.919