Years ago, I remembered writing my analysis on the role of Cobra Commander in the G.I.Joe movie. Now, it's time to examine Serpentor's role in the G.I.Joe The Movie film which I believe starts to be filled with inconsistency. In fact, he even suddenly gained one additional power which he could somehow generate living snakes from his collars, the snakes were suddenly ALIVE - something not in the cartoon. The Cobra Emperor was now gaining what would be called a demotion. It's because while he was indeed the Cobra Emperor - he was actually symbolic at best because somebody else actually owned Cobra and that was Golobulus.
The beginning of the movie had an interesting feud between Serpentor and his predecessor, the Cobra Commander. Cobra Commander was pointing out that Serpentor's leadership was pathetic which led to a hilarious argument and the roasting of the Cobra Commander. Cobra Commander was hoping to get rid of Serpentor once and for all and reclaim the former's job back. However, Serpentor suddenly faces a familiar figure (from his dreams) namely Pythona. Yes, he's told that he's tasked to get the Broadcast Energy Transmitter (BET) which will be part of his destiny. Why the BET was to be retrieved was revealed later on by Golobulus - it was all part of Cobra-La's plan to reclaim the planet and devolve humanity into mindless beasts. Wait, doesn't that contradict what Serpentor said he wasn't symbolic? Yet, it turned out that he was actually symbolic of Cobra-La after all. It was like a parliamentary - Golobulus served as the Head of Government while Serpentor was Cobra-La's Head of State!
Serpentor just proves himself to be WORSE than the Cobra Commander. Cobra Commander becomes the voice of reason when Serpentor himself is a much bigger moron. Serpentor wants everything destroyed except the BET. Rather than use tactics - Serpentor's foolhardy impulsiveness gave the Cobra Commander every chance to get rid of him again. Serpentor battles Duke head-on and gets defeated. Serpentor could've captured the BET if he used subtle tactics. Cobra Commander was right to say that the operation was costing them dearly. Much of the resources were destroyed. Serpentor is captured and jailed. That's when Pythona (who's hinted to have a crush on the artificially created Cobra Emperor) decides to go rescue him. Pythona then instructs the Dreadknocks to rescue Serpentor one way or another.
Serpentor ends up arriving at Cobra-La where he's given the path of esteem with some crabs. No longer the image of the proud Cobra usurper and self-proclaimed emperor - he bows before Golobulus. It's almost like the same pattern that would follow in Hasbro's Conan the Adventurer where Wrath-Amon (who's obviously another Serpentor) is but symbolic to the serpent god Set. It's revealed by Golobulus that Serpentor's creation was the result of a psychic motivation. Serpentor himself later succeeds in taking the BET only because he had assistance from the others. Then again, even Cobra Commander was right in saying that Serpentor defiled Golobulus' dreams of conquest. Then again, for Golobulus, it seems Serpentor was more convenient as an artificially created being - something he could puppet. Golobulus could puppet the synthetic emperor around but Cobra Commander couldn't. Serpentor also suggests to have the now-devolving Cobra Commander to be locked alongside the Joe prisoners - a decision that Pythona respected but ended up allowing the Joe prisoners to escape. I mean, Serpentor could've just agreed with Golobulus' decision to throw the now-devolving Cobra Commander into the abyss of oblivion. But it seems Serpentor always copes up with his insecurity by berating Cobra Commander. After all, Serpentor's first mission when he became a sentient being was a major blow on COBRA - they lost much of their resources though it's possible he still had some reserves. Serpentor only got away because Cobra Commander was the scapegoat.
However, the revelation of Golobulus being the one who engineered Serpentor's existence also goes against Cobra-La's existence. I mentioned before that didn't Cobra Commander found COBRA based on inorganic technology? Cobra Commander was portrayed to be a haughty terrorist leader with the mind of Yosemite Sam. Serpentor is Yosemite Sam on steroids. Cobra-La hates the present-day humans yet Serpentor is created from some of humanity's most evil leaders in history. Don't tell me some of Serpentor's genetic donors are secretly Cobra-La leaders? Then again, what if Takshaka the serpent king was probably Cobra-La's agent before? The movie doesn't tell on that but I feel Serpentor gets forcibly crammed. So, Serpentor goes from monarch to an obedient lackey now that Golobulus in the picture? Was Serpentor's mind already programmed to obey Golobulus even if the guy hardly takes constructive criticism from Dr. Mindbender?
The near climax starts to have Serpentor leading Cobra-La's forces, even shouting "Cobra-La-la-la-la-la!" instead of COBRA. Serpentor gets into another battle with Duke. This is where things start to get weird. It's pointed out that Serpentor's snake javelin bit Duke where the heart is so how did Duke survive? Duke was scheduled to die but was later retconned due to the backlash on Optimus Prime. This seems to be a major victory for Serpentor. Something worth thinking about is why in the world didn't Serpentor get snake javelins earlier on? They could've come pretty handily in the series like he could've used them during the episode he took various artifacts. If the snakes were suddenly accessed due to him accessing Takshaka's DNA - why didn't he use them after that in the series? Later on, he participates in the battle of Cobra-La and seemingly perished with Cobra Commander - or so we thought.
Later on, Serpentor had a four-part appearance in the DIC into series "Operation: Dragonfire". Events of the movie were carried on. Serpentor now leads what's left of COBRA - did the other characters like Dr. Mindbender and the Crimson Twins perish in the movie? Hasbro never gave an explanation and it seems that Cobra-La is gone. In the DIC series, Serpentor had his last moments where he attempts to harness Dragonfire to satisfy COBRA's dream of world conquest. Serpentor also kept Cobra Commander (now a cobra) as a pet. Though it'd eventually backfire at him when Cobra Commander (having been partly restored) ends up turning him into an iguana - a similar fate that happened to Wrath-Amon at the finale arc of Conan the Adventurer.
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