My Thoughts On G.I.Joe's Last Two Seasons By DIC, Not Hasbro

G.I.Joe is one cartoon adaptation from the comics that really deviates from the comics. A good example is how G.I. Joe The Movie itself gave a very different origin of Cobra Commander that made him inhuman - something that the comics NEVER intended to do. Sunbow produced two seasons and practically jumped the shark by introducing Serpentor (who was also in the comics) who was even stupider than Cobra Commander in the cartoon version. The movie came and it seemed to end everything until DIC (for some reason) got the rights to produce the third and fourth season. Hasbro dropped off Sunbow in favor of DIC. DIC also partnered with Saban and Nintendo to produce The Super Mario Bros. Super Show.

The DIC series continued straight after the movie. I'd say the movie was a mess that just added more random elements like Cobra-La and Cobra Commander's origins. Rewatching it and I'm reminded of how messed up the movie was. How can the episode "Twenty Questions" now fit in? Did Cobra Commander lead the mutiny when he was part of Cobra-La? I felt that the addition of Golobulus and that he gave Dr. Mindbender the suggestion to create Serpentor was stupid. Serpentor was created from some of humanity's most evil dictators. Also, why would Cobra-La work together with the Cobra Organization if their goal was to retake the world from humans that came after them? The plot itself is completely a mess. That was just the beginning of another mess though.

The third season started with Serpentor getting whatever is left of COBRA. I thought Serpentor was actually more entertaining because he's just very stupid. Here, Serpentor did show a bit of strategy going on such as baiting the monastery rather than attack it directly - something he hardly did in the Sunbow series. Serpentor is now keeping the very much now a snake Cobra Commander as a pet. Baroness soon gets fed up with Serpentor's stupidity and decides to restore Cobra Commander. Cobra Commander becomes semi-reptilian presumably due to censorship issues. The Dragonfire becomes the reason why Cobra Commander becomes semi-human. Eventually, Serpentor is overthrown and gets turned into an iguana. Not surprisingly, Wrath-Amon (who also looked like Serpentor) in Hasbro's (at least for the toyline) Conan the Adventurer was an artificially-produced monster and later a giant lizard after that.

Getting rid of Serpentor was definitely making things back for the Cobra Commander. However, a lot of stuff does get stale or something. For instance, Cobra Commander could've also gotten over with Destro. I mean, Destro is pretty much the Starscream when Cobra Commander was in charge. Destro's power-hungry nature is no longer explored. Also, didn't Destro also help Dr. Mindbender in the mission to create Serpentor? It's also unexplained what happened to Dr. Mindbender, the Crimson Twins, and Zartan. Did they perish when Cobra-La exploded or what? Hasbro was still calling the shots overall but why didn't they address that? Possibly, Dr. Mindbender was gotten rid of so Cobra Commander can return to becoming the show's version of Dr. Evil. Extensive Enterprises were found yet no word about the Crimson Twins. Did these guys perish? Dr. Mindbender could've been involved in the first five episodes. Then again, what if Serpentor fired Dr. Mindbender so no one could tell him what to do during Operation Dragonfire?

The return of Cobra Commander did have a running gag. That is, COBRA is more or less bankrupt. I guess all the budget was gone after the movie. Cobra Commander did mention in the movie, "This operation is costing us dearly!" So, it's highly possible Serpentor led COBRA to bankruptcy with his stupidity. The tele-thon episode during Serpentor's rule was possibly a huge reference to that. Is Cobra Commander even afraid of the banks? Can't Cobra Commander just steal more money or something discreetly? It does make me laugh to think about how G.I.Joe is fighting off a bankrupt enemy which is still able to cause much trouble. I wonder did Cobra Commander get a loan from other black markets or what? It's not explained either. Again, you know cartoon logic.

Like the Sunbow series, the DIC series never got a definite end to it either. If anything, I seldom rewatch them but only for laughs. Otherwise, it's pretty much like what happened with post-movie episodes of The Transformers - except it got worse! At least "Five Faces of Darkness" was an interesting story arc even if post-movie Galvatron is a huge joke of a stupid character. At least, the Headmasters series (which was done by Takara with Hasbro's permission) still had better episodes. At least, getting rid of Galvatron gave us the better Scorponok who'd sadly return as Black Zarak in the really awful Masterforce series. Masterforce is really an insult to the transforming heroes of Japan which make the DIC episodes of G.I.Joe look decent in comparison. Maybe, it's not as terrible as people think or is it?