This was such a satisfying video! GI Joe is absolutely my favorite 80’s cartoon and toy line, yet seemingly always in the shadow of Transformers, but not in my heart ❤️👍

Glad I grew up with this when I was a kid. 80's/early 90's was a good time to be a kid.

No discussion of the years Cobra Commander spent honing his evil as a car salesman in Springfield?

Fun Fact: Golobulus was voiced by the late Burgess Meredith.

When Hasbro was trying to put together the A Real American Hero toy line they didn’t even have villains. Larry Hama, writer and editor at Marvel Comics was selected to craft a comic series which would bring the characters to life. It was his idea to introduce villains for the Joes to fight- because what else were the Joes going to do each comic- do drills? Ron Rudat, toy designer at Hasbro was responsible for the design aesthetics of each character and invented the Cobra emblem for the villains. Mr. Hama also crafted the character dossiers which included their name and backstory. Those dossiers were abbreviated and became the file cards on the back of the toy packages. Ron Friedman had has own take on the characters personalities and their interpersonal relationships to make them cartoon friendly but, cartoon, film or otherwise, those characters originated with the design talents of Ron Rudat and Larry Hama.

Good on Larry Hama for not giving in. Even as a kid I found the whole Cobra-la story a desperate attempt for a sci fi story. The movie overall was a huge letdown except for that kickass intro and the quality of the animation.

I love Destro. I hate how he was portrayed in the cartoon compared to the comic book. Definitely one of the top 5 GI Joe characters.

I always love the baroness but where she reign supreme is in the GI Joe cartoon. The baroness is no joke in the cartoon, and probably the best spy that Cobra has ever had. Being one of the few females besides zarana at the time in Cobra she didn't take any smack from no one and that's what I liked about her ! Hail cobra !!!

My favorite Cobra villian in the G.I. Joe cartoon is Baroness!

So glad I grew up with this. Honestly the 80s and the early 90s was the best time to be a kid. Sure my kids have more tech or gaming goodies...but they'll never know how awesome it was to be their age during the 80s though.

24:00 When cobra commander is holding a VHS tape, you know life is good!

The original hooded Cobra Commander figure was an exclusive mail-in offer from Hasbro. They later offered a "Steel Brigade" figure which came with a personalizable code name and file card (the figure itself was a hybrid of different parts and had a fully visored helmet.)

Nemesis Enforcer !!!! I watched this VHS till it broke

Interesting Fact: Criticism from parents over the death of Optimus Prime in 1986's Transformers: The Movie led Sunbow to alter the script of G.I.Joe: The Movie- which originally called for Joe leader Duke to be killed, and later succeeded by his younger brother Falcon (voiced by Don Johnson in the film). As the animation was complete, they wrote and recorded new dialogue to put Duke "in a coma" from which he later "woke up from" via an off-screen voice in the final scenes.

18:46 Cobra Commander is Starscream

I was a 90's kid. But I remember watching re-runs of this series fondly. And enjoying all of it. This franchise is one of my favorites. Great job with the video.

Cobra Commander was an still my favorite G.I.Joe character.I just love his mask.

G.I Joe had some of the best villains of any animated series ever. I have too many to name a favorite.

How about the saw viper (comics) that slaughtered all the joes in the ambush set up by the twins. That horrified me for decades.

This brings back a lot of great memories. I grew up in the 80’s.

Me and my lil bro would watch this and other shows after school. Good times

While I like the Baroness, I was more interested in Pythona. As a kid watching the GI Joe movie, I always found her fascinating & wanted to know more about her. Unfortunately I don't think Hasbro even created a backstory for her, as she was basically just used as "the new bad girl" for the GI Joe animated movie, when it 1st came out.

This was awesome. Thank you for the time and effort to make these storylines make sense.

Tomax and xamot have recently been sighted at a local Amazon warehouse where they are reported to be fitting right in with upper management

Fumbles it was always Fumbles, Cobra’s greatest sniper.

I am glad you guys are finally doing this one

Good video, but quite a few errors in the information being provided.

I still have some of the original line of toys, Duke; Gung Ho, Snake Eyes, Cobra Commander and more. I still love them.

My favorite cartoon when I was a kid. Still have a bunch of these.

Your voice makes me picture someone who was too young to be a kid in the 80’s.

I actually like the comics by Larry Hamma better to be honest! 👍

This is THE BEST breakdown ever GI joe was way ahead of it’s time .. in music story line and characters..

How are you gonna cut serpentor off mid "this, I command"?

Cobra would be a cool Metal Gear villain faction, Stormshadow and Firefly feels right at home in MGS

Let's goooo this is what I've been waiting for only 119 min left

Grew up watching GI Joe. Fav cartoon and toy. Best thing was it didn't dumb things down for its target age demo.

cesspool looks more like a captain planet villain rather than g.i.joe

I was so small nice to learn something about the beginnings of the story. I love your channel 👍❤🥰😁

Awesome . I love this show as a kid and had all the toys, great memories

Amazing! Destro is my favorite Villain of all time! Great break down!

i am an 80s kid.. loved these guys, hell, i even did 20 yrs as a US Marine .. and i can confirm this show was a tribute to my thinking and growing up.

Awesome do something on the back story of MetalAcolypse 😊😊😊

I think this channel should do a video on the GI Joe heroes and some of punisher allies.

Always loved the GI Joe series, mainly because of the look of the Cobra forces, from the very main blue troopers to the Crimson Guard

The Rock was in the movie, but not Sgt Slaughter who was an actual character in the GI Joe animated movie.

Awesome video!!! If you guys do a part two, I’d love to hear about Zarana and Zander, and all the Dreadknots!!

My favorite toy line growing up. I remember I saved up the points that came on the packaging. I sent them in and got Hooded Cobra Commander and Zartan with his Green bike thing, both the figure and the bike changed color. It took like 6 months for them to come through the mail and I still had the before they were released for sale. Wow what a cool nerd flex. Salute.

I love it thank you

You should have focused on the backgrounds from just the marvel comics, because it much better then the other versions of Joe.

None of Sergeant slaughter's DNA got into serpentor's makeup

Never saw GI Joe before. I think I just might start. Also, I know I've suggested this before, but a list of top European animations would be really cool. If not, a list of horror movies with dogs as the antagonists would be neat to see.

Snake eye was a mysterious character kinda reminded me of zero from borderlands who identity is also mysterious But storm shadow is the only GI joe villain I know

I didn't grow up in the 80s but I watched the show reruns and on DVD as a kid I. Early 2000s and my local library had the comics which I love the most. The original comics are so good.

I was a big Destro fan because he had the Baroness and all the cobra weapons

Thank you so much

Your lack of research is astounding. Most of this stuff was created by Larry Hama who wrote the comic and the file cards. Not the TV show and movies.

My favorite G.I. Joe villains in order from greatest to least are Cobra Commander, Storm Shadow, The Baroness, Krake, and Destro. I think Krake is a good replacement for Cobra Commander, although I thought Baroness would’ve been a great choice for Cobra Commander.

Yes f****** please 🙌🙌 this channel is easily becoming one of my favorites🙆🙆

Thank Goodness this cartoon exist, those old memories brought back to life.

Now I know... And knowing is half the battle.

Cobra la is what happens when you want to write H. P. Lovecraft but you got a job to write G. I. Joe.

Cobra Commander sounded better voiced by Chris Latta R.I.P

5:15 Yeah, the heroes found out quickly that knocking out one of them took them both out. Doesn't seem all-too useful, IMOHO.

We never got the series in my country but I got a vhs of one of the movies from our rental shop and it blew my mind. For a cartoon made to sell toys it had a surprisingly mature story

Remember that Golobulous and Mindbender has an unseen link that was revealed in the animated movie, where Golobulous had secretly implanted a psychic motivator with the skill and instructions in Mindbender's brain that helped him create Serpentor while Cobra-La was still in hiding, henceforth making Golobulous the true creator of Serpentor, using Mindbender to carry out the task.

now for the G.I. Joe's please! Thank you in advance.

Cobra Commander is my favorite. He was awesome in GI Joe: Retribution!!!

Normalize the audio levels...christ...

it would be cool to see serpentor and cobra la in live action one day

There was a video on YT many years ago where some guy dressed up as Cobra Commander and trolled bunch of protesters yelling "Hail Cobra!" and pretending that he's recruiting people to be his henchmen because he's trying to dominate the world. It was hilarious because he was speaking like Cobra Commander in cartoons (high pitch voice with stutters at "S") and people had no idea what's going on.

Excellent video! I never knew this info. Awesome narrator as well. Clear and understandable. Thanks for making this!

Great video. Cobra-La from the cartoon dud movie was an archetuypal and fitting end of that series = Silly to the max. I never learned to like the 80s cartoon as it was so ridiculous in many ways and not just the cheesy "laser-weapons" crap... I was more into the comics as those at least tried to remain serious. This cheesiness was the chief reason why G.I.Joe cartoon never had a chance against Transformers who were not affraid of doing unexpected twists.

Cool vid and any more Joe stuff??

How was Cold Slithers not on the list? They were an evil rock band that used their catchy music to recruit children and young adults to enlist as Cobra soldiers. They even had a hit song and music video."🎶We're Cold Slithers, you'll be joining us soon. Just a band of vipers, playin' tune 🎶 ". I don't see how the Goofus Twins made the list, but not Cold Slithers.

Okay I'm subscribed

We definitely need a new GOOD GI Joe movie!. Rob zombie as zartan doing a cold slither thing. No RockBlock, Terry Cruz as RockBlock!. I do think ol DJ would make a excellent Serpentor thou. #robjoeyo

Omg I cringed every time she said "baron-NESS"

When i think if the toy lines when i was a kid; Star Wars, Masters of the Universe, Transformers, Thundercats, MASK, Silver Hawks (i think that was one) and GI Joe! GI Joe was the one i was into the longest. I think it mostly came down to the articulation of the arms and legs. I could have fun just playing with 1 character. I'd play with him scaling the side of the dresser or bed post, like a gymnast if they could actually flip 60' to the ground and not be killed. Nemesis Enforcer was probably the coolest bad guy buy when i was a kid. I think i remember that those blades that come off his forearms could grown longer (but i might be confusing him with some other toy). The figured were DEFINITELY a step up from the Kenner Star wars characters. Their arms and legs were just on a single hinge, with no way to bend the elbow and knee. I think at least 95% of kids at least once foolishly unhooked the rubber band that connected the legs to the torso which was all but impossible to put back (at least for a 9 year old). I don't have kids, do they even play with toys anymore when they are over 6 or 7 years old? They may, but anytime i ever see them they're on tablets or playing video games. I discovered music pretty young, 10-11 years old. When i bought MY first album with my own money (i used to lie and say it was Black Sabbath or Iron Maiden, but it was really Cinderella; we were far crueller to each other than they seem now, and anything could be a cause for ridicule), toys only had about a year to hold my attention. Kids used to play with action figures and other toys to much older ages than they did to generations after me. It wasn't uncommon for 12 and 13 year olds to still have toys, that seems way too old now. Starting with my 11th birthday they closest thing to a toy i would have wanted as presents were Nintendo cartridges (and strong lungs to blow into them when they stopped playing rightly after 2 months) and maybe a Super-soaker when they first came out.

Nice!!

You mention that Tomax and Xamot seem to be twins, hail from Corsica, and have a telepathic bond, but you never observe that they are therefore Corsican brothers. Isn't that the point of the characters?

The twins are Corsican Twins that's why when one felt pain the other felt it

Are you using story of Stormshadow and Snakeeyes from the original line or the animated series/cartoon, the comics or the movie?

I enjoy this video.

im proud to say i had all these GIJoes as a kid now only if i was smart enough to keep them.....

Since I’ve been covering GIJOE comics on my channel.. Hama has actually added ALOT more to back stories.

Too bad there haven’t been any more. G.i. Joe shows.

Thanks for this video im a big fan of gijoe, and most of da gijoe badguys are psychotic😬

My heels always won in my GI Joe toy battles. My Cobra roster was stacked. Original Serpentor, hooded Cobra Commander, Baroness, Globulus, Nemesis Enforcer, a few BATS, Dr Mindbender, Zarana, Storm Shadow. My faces were good, but couldn't compete. Roadblock, Quick Kick, Dusty, Lifeline, Lift Ticket, Alpine, Beach Head (my boy). Had a bunch but can't remember them all. Lost my original Snake Eyes in a movie theater. Lol

After watching this I feel like watching all the GI Joe episodes.

Great video, mis pronounce some of the names but other that great.

Hell yeah yhe Barroness

Thank you for this video. Still a fan of _G.I.Joe_ ,and you telling about the factual points that were in the series and show makes it even better.

Can't wait watching the movie right now lol 🤣

Ahhhhh, memories!! 🥰

I liked Zartan when I was a kid. Great bad guy.

It's pronounced Zay-mott. You must not have watched the cartoons. Is that a robo voice?

We definitely have some sorta telepathic connection. I wanted to watch such kinda video.

Now I know and knowing is half the battle!

Destro...the smoothest villain ever.

Golobulus looks like a missing figure from Masters Of The Universe