Did all the Cobra villains die at the end of the GI: Joe animated movie?

[karamazov80]

Khev and I were debating this in the MOTU thread, and I'm curious if others felt that way watching the show as a kid, or feel that is clearly the case now. I'll relay the existing conversation here:

Its actually too bad that MOTU was big enough in the 80's to get a live-action movie given that it turned out so terribly. I'd have much preferred a theatrical animated movie in the tradition of the Transformers and GI Joe movies that featured final battles of characters from the cartoon with key individuals on both sides dying, etc.

No key GI Joe character died in the actual released film, though Duke was supposed to. Cobra Commander didn't actually die. The only ones who did were those lame Cobra La characters, who totally deserved it.

Duke was famously retconned at the last minute to be "in a coma" but if you watch the GI Joe movie as it was presented it does imply that all of Cobra Command perished when the Cobra La mountain imploded. Obviously the DIC series pretended that didn't happen but as far as Sunbow is concerned I'd say GI Joe achieved final victory by wiping Cobra out completely.

I never got that from viewing it personally. Serpentor flew out the window even.

He flew out the window of the dome they were in or whatever but that dome was still under the mountain which imploded in a grand thermonuclear-esque explosion. I can't remember the name of the script writer for the movie but he does the commentary on the blu-ray and he basically said that his instructions from Hasbro were basically to "wipe the slate clean" on the bad guys in case they wanted to do a full villainous reboot.

He said the movie was supposedly to kill everyone off but in an ambiguous, off-screen kind of way so Hasbro could bring anyone back that they wanted.

Well I guess that could have been the intention, but there's little (really nothing) on screen to suggest it. Joes were also inside that dome fighting Cobra La, but they all escaped just hoofing it on foot. Just because we didn't see Cobra escaping doesn't suggest that they all died.

Well it certainly doesn't suggest they all lived. Standard story telling conventions pretty much state that if you see bad guys in a building, then said building explodes, and at the end there are only good guys escaping and cheering then the bad guys are dead.

I don't think anyone watched Star Wars and assumed that Admiral Motti and all those bickering dudes on the Death Star secretly escaped prior to the blast or that half of Jabba's goons escaped the Sail Barge in ROTJ but I could be wrong.

To follow up on Khev's last point, I think the villains' coda was Serpentor flying out the window, which did suggest to me that he survived and that the rest of Cobra minus Cobra La were also unceremoniously retreating. There was little reason to revisit them at that point if they had lived (e.g., the villains walking away defeated, and Serpentor yelling, "I'll get you next time Joes!!"), because the movie was almost over and all we had left to do was watch the Joes celebrate victory and Duke's miraculous recovery.

I also don't think the Star Wars analogy holds because: 1) the Joes didn't have an advantage regarding their escape over Cobra as the rebels did (for example, space ships allowing them to escape that the villains didn't have); and 2) this is a cartoon were miraculous escapes from near destruction happen all the time.

The Joes were fighting the Cobra guys in the same place (in other words, the bad guys weren't in the building when it exploded any more than the Joes were). For the Joes to have been able to make it while Cobra didn't suggests that the Joes either killed all of Cobra before the explosion, incapacitated them and left them to die, or Cobra ran in the wrong direction and blew up. There is nothing to suggest that any of these things happened.

 

[karamazov80]

This thread needs a poll!!!

Good point!

No. didn't you watch the DIC series?

Well that is one way to think about it. Khev says that one of the original writers said he was told to "wipe the slate clean" by ambiguously sorta killing them off, but another series popped up soon thereafter with several characters still around. Did Hasbro retcon their original decision? My decision is based on what was presented on the screen, how I interpreted it as a kid, and what still seems to be going on when I view it.

 

[youbastards]

There needs to be a 3rd option: "Who cares, the coolest thing Snake Eyes did during the whole movie occurred during the intro song." Skip to 1:45

[ame="https://youtu.be/DN034sBeF4c"]https://youtu.be/DN034sBeF4c[/ame]

 

[karamazov80]

Snake Eyes was criminally underused in that cartoon after the first 3 mini series in my opinion. Of course, as a kid, my main complaint was the fact that Flint was relegated to a background character. At least he had a few lines though.

 

[Khev]

Obviously if you go by DIC and the continuation of the toy line, etc., then most or all of Cobra survived (which I'm guessing most will use as the basis of voting "No" in the poll.) Just like SW EU likes to resurrect various villains after the fact. That doesn't mean that that was the original intention.

 

[DeltaForceChung]

If all of COBRA perished at the end of the animated film . . . then who would GI JOE fight?

REAL terrorists/terrorism? Perish the thought!

I take it you never saw or may have forgotten about that ROBOT CHICKEN vignette where GI JOE was deployed to the Middle East and received a first hand lesson in battle reality while the BRAVO TEAM/ELITE FORCE members decimated COBRA instantly?

 

[youbastards]

Rewatching that intro, those 3 minutes were better than everything the occurred in the entire rest of the animated movie and both live action movies. I got chills seeing Duke standing on the torch!

 

[King Darkness]

I always suspected as much, but this confirms it, Khev is bat **** crazy.

 

[DeltaForceChung]

I always suspected as much, but this confirms it, Khev is bat **** crazy.

--

That does not mean Dave will revoke Khev's admin status. It only adds luster to it.

 

[Adrosi]

Nerd Fight!

 

[Niltusk]

Cool discussion, but I definitely need to rewatch this before I could vote, its been way too long.

God I miss watching the old series. As campy as it could be, the theme songs alone always made it worth watching.

 

[EVILFACE]

You dorks.

 

[DeltaForceChung]

You dorks.

--

That's either a complimentary insult or an insulting compliment. Either way . . . thank you.

What's next? Does GI JOE & TRANSFORMERS exist in the same cartoon universe and when will we see a live action match up of the two?



BTW . . . they do.

 

[karamazov80]

I wouldn't disagree with you guys, but it is sorta like folks living in a glass house throwing stones when you're a member of this forum.

 

[EVILFACE]

I would say they did not perish. Like in everything, the bad guys get away to fight another day.

And looking at the thread it came from, a MOTU cartoon movie would have bombed just like the Transformers, My Little Pony and the live action MOTU movie.

 

[DeltaForceChung]

I would say they did not perish. Like in everything, the bad guys get away to fight another day.

And looking at the thread it came from, a MOTU cartoon movie would have bombed just like the Transformers, My Little Pony and the live action MOTU movie.

--

Maybe if had the ultimate crossover . . .

GI JOE VS TRANSFORMERS VS MY LITTLE PONY VS MOTU

Who will win?

 

[Darth Cruel]

It's comics...of course they are not really dead.

 

[EVILFACE]

--

Maybe if had the ultimate crossover . . .

GI JOE VS TRANSFORMERS VS MY LITTLE PONY VS MOTU

Who will win?

Care Bears would annihilate them all.

 

[Boba Ben]

I always suspected as much, but this confirms it, Khev is bat **** crazy.

--

That does not mean Dave will revoke Khev's admin status. It only adds luster to it.

I feel like I've read these two consecutive posts before. I'm experiencing an overwhelming sense of deja vu.

 

[ReplicantSavior]

It's kind of strange. The Terrordrome blows up and we see that Cobra had a hidden panic room / secure area. The Cobra La base goes up and we see none of that. It's possible that Serpentor and Golobulus escaped. But I like to think that they didn't. The G.I. Joe Movie is where I stopped collecting / following G.I. Joe. At least in regards to the older cartoon. I still have a bunch of modern G.I. Joe comics I want to check out. Resolute is where the G.I. Joe cartoon should be right now. Renegades was a bit of a miss in the end to me.

Rewatching that intro, those 3 minutes were better than everything the occurred in the entire rest of the animated movie and both live action movies. I got chills seeing Duke standing on the torch!

Yep, I love that opening. I think the movie overall still holds up. I watch / listen to it all the time. Usually while working out. Sgt. Slaughter!! I haven't seen the second G.I. Joe movie yet. But I have a feeling it will be another let down. Not that cartoons suck but it's sad when a multi million dollar movie can't come up with anything as cool as the cartoon movie's opening from the 80s.