G.I. Joe/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Alas, Poor Villain: Cobra Commander in The Movie when he is punished by being exposed to mutated spores, one can only pity him as he lays on the ground writhing in pain.
  • And the Fandom Rejoiced: Larry Hama, author of the comic, was hired as creative consultant for the movie.
  • Awesome Music: Especially the opening theme of the 1987 movie.
  • Broken Base: Comic fans vs cartoon fans.
  • Complete Monster: Cobra Commander in G.I.Joe Resolute.
    • Even more so in the Devils Due comic where he killed his own son for betrayal and mounted his head on a pike as an example.
      • But in the cartoon show, he is more of a joke. Serpentor may border on this trope, though.
      • Doctor Venom from the cfomic might actually count more than any other example. Where Cobra Commander had very rare humanizing moments, Venom was born evil and made kicking the dog a form of daily exercise and being dead for 25 years hasn't slowed him down it seems.
  • Dork Age: The DiC Entertainment-produced cartoons in the early 90s likely count, being a Lighter and Softer version than the 80s series. One episode even features Cobra plotting in taking over a school with bogus history books, and end up getting defeated by school-children.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Due to Loads and Loads of Characters, this trope is inevitable. Snake-Eyes, for example, is extremely popular among fans. For a later part of the Marvel Comics run, the cover title actually included "Featuring Snake-Eyes."
  • Evil Is Sexy: Baroness
  • Fan Dumb: Any classic book/cartoon/series being adapted into a movie will bring these out, but when some of them are also hardcore toy collectors, then best wear your flame-retardent undies when visiting a message board.
    • Thanks to poor choice in VA and never mentioning he's from Scotland, many cartoon fans bitch about Christopher Eccleston playing Destro.
  • Fashion Victim Villain: Metal facemask, Absolute Pec-Cleavage, and a big old disco collar. Destro almost makes it work, somehow...
    • Besides, his Iron Grenadier outfit compensates for the original one.
  • Fridge Logic: So, if they're supposed to be the Real American Heroes, why is their flamethrower-guy Irish? Related to Unfortunate Implications below.
  • God Mode Sue: Helix. She can "calculate all near-future possibilities", meaning she essentially sees few seconds into future AND she's pretty AND she's fast AND she's an excellent fighter AND everything about her is super-secret. So far she's been shown to out-fight Snake-Eyes and out-wit Hawk. For her next appearance, Chuck Dixon will probably make her out-mean Beach Head, out-glamour Cover Girl and out-perform everyone else.
  • I Am Not Shazam: G.I. Joe is the name of the organization, not the name of any one character.
    • There is actually a character named G.I. Joe in the series, Joseph B. Colton, the legendary soldier for whom the organization was named--his name was Joe, and he was a GI (traditionally, from WW 2). For the record, he's implied to be the very same gentleman from the 12-inch line famed for his full beard and kung fu grip.
  • Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Scarlett, as the main female Joe, has this: Official Couple status either with Duke in the cartoon or with Snake-Eyes in the comics, Clutch tried to hit on her in the comics, just like Tunnel Rat in the Sigma 6 cartoon and Ripcord in the live-action movie. Her interaction with Zartan in the TV episode "The Gamemaster" looks almost flirtatious. And there's even people who pair her with Bumblebee due to them teaming-up in the many crossovers.
  • Moment of Awesome: Snake-Eyes is one of these personified, including breaking into Destro's castle to save Scarlett and actually taking on Storm Shadow and his ninjas with little weapons, and breaking free during a Cobra torture session, and going upstairs to rescue the people who were supposed to rescue him. In Snake-Eyes-Land, prisoner saves you!
  • Moral Event Horizon: In World War III, Cobra Commander definitely crosses the line.
    • In the opening of Resolute, he kills ten million innocent Russian civilians, just to prove he should be taken seriously.
    • When Overkill was a SAW-Viper, killed many Joes (Breaker, Doc, etc) without any remorse. In fact, he VOLUNTEERED to do the deed.
  • Nightmare Fuel: The episode "There's No Place Like Springfield" will give anyone nightmares for a week. As will the one with the giant shrieking underwater worms.
    • The episode where a rich, old woman wanted a younger woman's face transplanted onto her through some crazy machine. In the end the Joes manage to stop it, but the old woman is left as The Blank.
    • The two-part episode "Worlds Without End", in which some of the Joes are transported to an alternate dimension where Cobra has conquered the world. The characters end up stumbling over the skeletal remains of the Joes of that world, including their own counterparts.
    • In the episode with Mindbender's dream-projector, Lowlight's own nightmare about the junkyard rats is much scarier than anything the villain devises, the moreso in that it enacts an actual childhood trauma. Mainframe's dream that he's turning into an android is nasty too, albeit very brief.
  • Older Than They Think: This started out as a 12 action figure for decades before the cartoon.
  • Real Women Never Wear Dresses: According to Sigma 6, Scarlett hasn't worn a dress since her prom.
    • Not so. She wore a very slinky dress when she went undercover in DDP's ARAH #17 and #18. If that's not enough, she has worn the dress greens during the Marvel-era, which means a knee-length skirt, most notably at General Flagg's funeral. OTOH, that leaves her wearing her combat uniform or jeans only 99% of the time and she doesn't really follow any feminine stereotypes otherwise, it's kinda moot point.
  • Ruined FOREVER: At first applied to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, now being applied to its announced sequel.
  • Unfortunate Implications: Blowtorch, the Joes' fire-based weapons expert, had an Irish accent in the TV show.
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