On an impulsive lark I decided today to go see G.I.JOE:The Rise Of Cobra.
While I am not counted among the numerous adult fans of the 80’s cartoon series I did watch it from time to time and enjoyed it for its good natured cheesy fun. It had the usual hallmarks of a cartoon series that was designed primarily as an extended commercial for toys. There were lots of characters and new ones introduced regularly. (Gotta have action figures, both good guys and bad guys.) There were also lots of vehicles and tons of equipment. (What good is an action figure that doesn’t have lots of extra stuff?) The bad guys never won, the good guys never compromised their ideals, no one ever died, and a lesson was usually learned.
Despite all that the series could be fun to watch. They sometimes delved into interesting character development and I rather liked the interesting power dynamics that happened among the leaders of the bad guys, Cobra. ( I confess to once wanting to run a strategic level RPG with the players taking the roles of various Cobra Leaders. I reserved Cobra Commander and the Baroness as NPCs. The game never really happened, but it would have been fun.)
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