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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/193dd283_c238_40e6_9027_bdf8a1f18882.png]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:"G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe\
3Fighting man from head to toe\
4[[{{Jingle}} On the land, on the sea, in the air...]]"]]
5
6->''"G.I. Joe is the code name for America's daring, highly-trained special mission force. Its purpose: to defend human freedom against COBRA, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world."''
7
8''G.I. Joe''[[labelnote:name origin]]As far back as UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, "G.I. Joe" (for '''G'''overnment '''I'''ssue Joe) was slang for an American rank-and-file soldier. There was even a movie titled ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' that came out in 1945. The name was popularized by cartoonist Creator/BillMauldin and journalist Ernie Pyle, who eventually had his own G.I. Joe 12-inch figure.[[/labelnote]] is a franchise created by American toymaker Creator/{{Hasbro}} in 1964 to [[MerchandiseDriven promote their line of military toys]]. Notably, the original toys were the very first to be called "action figures" (to appeal to boys who didn't want to play with "dolls", although the line was conceived as a SpearCounterpart to ''Franchise/{{Barbie}}''). In this first incarnation, G.I. Joe was the name of the main character, and the figures were based on each branch of the United States military. However, the increasing opposition to UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar caused the brand's popularity to decline, so in the late 1960s the franchise reinvented itself as the "Adventure Team", trading warfare for exploration in exotic locations. While the drastic change allowed ''G.I. Joe'' to survive Vietnam, the line was eventually ended in 1976. The following year, Hasbro tried to keep the franchise going with the successor ''Super Joe'', a line of 8-inch figures with a ScienceFiction theme, but this ContinuityReboot lasted only two years.
9
10The second incarnation of the franchise began in 1982, four years after Hasbro's rival Creator/{{Kenner}} launched their popular ''Franchise/StarWars'' toyline. Unlike ''G.I. Joe'', which had 12-inch action figures, ''Star Wars'' figures were 3¾ inches tall, allowing them to also sell playsets and vehicles at low prices and thus make even more money. [[FollowTheLeader Seeing the massive profit Kenner was making]], Hasbro decided to relaunch ''G.I. Joe'' in the new scale and hired Creator/MarvelComics to create a story, characters, and media tie-ins for the line. Marvel eventually came up with a premise that is still the core of the franchise today - G.I. Joe was no longer one person,[[note]]except in some continuities, where the team is named in honor of General Joe Colton, the man responsible for its creation,[[/note]] but the name of an elite American military unit engaged in a battle against the terrorist organization Cobra and its plans to TakeOverTheWorld. To promote the line (now dubbed ''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero''), Marvel launched two tie-ins:
11
12[[index]]
13* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'', an animated series from Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions. Though the more remembered of the two continuities today, the cartoon is also infamous for its less realistic depiction of war: [[FamilyFriendlyFirearms both sides used lasers instead of bullets]], [[NobodyCanDie there were no deaths]], and whenever an aircraft was destroyed its pilot had to be shown parachuting out of it. Sunbow produced two seasons and a movie intended for theatrical release, but the failure of ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie'' caused it to instead be released direct-to-video. Creator/DICEntertainment took over following the movie and produced two more seasons before ending the show in 1991.
14** ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeTheMovie''. The 1987 animated film.
15** ''VideoGame/GIJoe''. An arcade game created by Creator/{{Konami}} based on both versions of ''G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero''.
16** ''VideoGame/GIJoeARealAmericanHero''. A 1991 Action platform game for the [=NES=].
17* ''ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel'', a comic book written by Creator/LarryHama. Before the relaunch, Hama had an idea for a Franchise/MarvelUniverse comic called ''Fury Force'', which would have seen the son of ComicBook/NickFury put together a team to fight Hydra, Marvel's resident terrorist group; his ''G.I. Joe'' series was based primarily on this unused pitch. In an unusual move, Hasbro arranged for the series to be advertised on TV, an unprecedented marketing move for the medium. The toy company arranged this when they realized that while toy advertising was strictly regulated in the depiction of toys in animation, those regulations did not apply to advertising for a literary product, so the commercials for the comic book could introduce new characters and equipment. Compared to the cartoon, the comic was the more mature of the two, since it allowed characters to be killed off and contained a functioning canon. The book proved to be very popular, and at one point it was Marvel's best-selling comic; the famous issue 21, which [[NoDialogueEpisode told a story without using any speech bubbles or sound effects]], has been endlessly homaged and parodied.
18[[/index]]
19
20By 1994, ''A Real American Hero'' was officially dead at retail, but Hasbro has since launched several other incarnations of the franchise, though none have ever gained the longevity of the original. The versions of the brand released since the end of ARAH include:
21
22[[index]]
23* ''WesternAnimation/SgtSavageAndHisScreamingEagles'', a 1994 30-minute animated special starring [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica a World War II soldier given superhuman abilities and awakened in modern times]] to fight alongside the Joes. A corresponding toyline (with figures in the 4.5" scale rather than the traditional 3.75" scale) was made, but very short-lived.
24* This eventually led into ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeExtreme'', a 1995 series about a new Joe team being formed to fight the masked dictator Iron Klaw and his evil SKAR organization. Embracing the visual style of MediaNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, the series ran for two seasons and ended in 1997. It had two tie-in comic book series, a four issue miniseries and a short-lived ongoing that also lasted only four issues.
25* ''ComicBook/GIJoeDevilsDue''. In 2001, Devil's Due Publishing (a spinoff of Creator/ImageComics) acquired the comic rights to ''G.I. Joe'' and launched a new series, set in the same continuity as the Marvel Comic. They published an ongoing title - once again called ''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'', but later relaunched as ''G.I. Joe: America's Elite'' - and several miniseries exploring the backstories of the characters. Devil's Due lost the comic rights to IDW Publishing in 2008, and their final issue was printed that July. All of these books have since been declared CanonDiscontinuity and are now known as the "Disavowed" comics.
26** ''ComicBook/GIJoeReloaded'': In 2004, Devil's Due attempted to branch out with a [[UltimateUniverse more realistic]] AlternateContinuity. After two one-shots that established Cobra and the Joes, the series lasted for fourteen issues, with a massive retool halfway through.
27** ''ComicBook/TransformersGIJoe'': A {{crossover}} miniseries between ''G.I. Joe'' and ''Transformers'' by Dreamwave
28** ''ComicBook/GIJoeVsTheTransformers'': A quadrilogy of crossover miniseries between ''G.I. Joe'' and ''Transformers'' by Devil's Due Publishing.
29* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeReelFX'': A series of direct-to-video films made in the mid-2000's, consisting of ''Spy Troops'', ''Valor vs. Venom'' and ''Ninja Battles''.
30* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeSigma6'', a 2005 {{Animesque}} animated series that coincided with the launch of an 8" scale toyline. Animated by the Japanese studio Creator/{{GONZO}}, the series continued the storyline of the Reel FX films. Like ''Extreme'', ''Sigma 6'' only ran for two seasons, and the toys went back to 3.75 scale in time for the 25th anniversary of ARAH.
31* ''ComicBook/GIJoeIDW''. As mentioned above, IDW acquired the comic rights to the franchise in 2008 and began publishing their own comics in 2009. This time, instead of continuing the Marvel/Devil's Due storyline, IDW opted to start over from the beginning and [[ContinuityReboot create a brand new canon]]. Three ongoing titles in the new continuity (''G.I. Joe'', ''Snake Eyes'', and ''Cobra'') were made. In 2016, the IDW comics became part of the ComicBook/HasbroComicUniverse.
32** ''ComicBook/TransformersVsGIJoe'': [=IDW's=] {{crossover}} series between ''G.I. Joe'' and ''Transformers''.
33** ''ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroIDW'': A new continuation of the Marvel Comics ''Real American Hero'' series that [[CanonDiscontinuity supplants the Devil's Due continuation]], even going so far as to continue the issue numbering of the original Marvel comic and bring back Larry Hama as the main writer. After a 12-year run at IDW, concluding with issue #300 in 2022, the series moved to Creator/ImageComics in 2023.
34** ''ComicBook/Revolution2016'': [=IDW's=] miniseries that will establish the worlds of ''G.I. Joe'', ''Transformers'', as well as ''Action Man'', ''ROM'', ''Micronauts'', and ''M.A.S.K.'' as being [[SharedUniverse one and the same]].
35** ''ComicBook/GIJoe2016'': The first IDW G.I. Joe series following the establishment of the ''ComicBook/HasbroComicUniverse'', and a more fantastical take on the franchise (featuring the Transformer Skywarp as a member!).
36** ''ComicBook/{{Revolutionaries}}'': A crossover series featuring the Joe member Mayday, and guest starring the likes of Snake-Eyes, Mike Power, and Cobra Commander.
37** ''ComicBook/GIJoe2019'': A reboot series where Cobra has actually succeeded in taking over the world and the dwindling number of Joes have to do their best to turn the tide and liberate the world from Cobra's tyranny.
38* ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'', a 2009 live-action movie directed by Creator/StephenSommers of the ''Film/TheMummyTrilogy'' fame. After the wild success of the Creator/MichaelBay ''Film/{{Transformers|FilmSeries}}'' films, Hasbro and Paramount decided to make the first live-action entry in the franchise. The movie made a number of changes to the established mythos, including making the Joes an MultinationalTeam rather than solely American. These changes ended up [[BrokenBase fracturing the fandom]], and while the film made a profit at the box office its gross paled in comparison to the ''Transformers'' movies.
39** ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation'', the 2013 sequel to ''Rise of Cobra.''[[note]]It was originally set for a June 2012 release, but was bumped up a year later due to the studio wanting to add 3D, as well as some reshoots of certain scenes.[[/note]] Featuring a new director, Wrestling/DwayneJohnson, Creator/BruceWillis, and about half the original cast returning, the movie quickly turned heads by just how different it felt from the first film while still being clearly set in the same universe.
40* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeResolute'', a 2009 animated miniseries written by Creator/WarrenEllis. Aimed at the now-adult original fandom, ''Resolute'' is easily the [[DarkerAndEdgier darkest animated entry in the franchise]]: both sides fire actual bullets, blood and death are shown, and the entire city of UsefulNotes/{{Moscow}} is destroyed within the first five minutes.
41* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeRenegades'', a 2010 animated series airing on [[Creator/DiscoveryFamily The Hub]], a network owned jointly by Hasbro and Discovery Communications. Taking inspiration from ''Series/TheATeam'', ''Renegades'' recasts the Joes as a group of soldiers falsely accused of terrorism, and the series follows their efforts to clear their names and expose the real enemy: the sinister MegaCorp Cobra Industries. After one season, the show was put on hiatus; it is currently unlikely it will ever return.
42* ''VideoGame/GIJoeOperationBlackout'' (2020), a team based ThirdPersonShooter developed by Game Mill Entertainment.
43* ''Film/SnakeEyesGIJoeOrigins'' (2021), a film that stars Creator/HenryGolding in the title role.
44* [[spoiler:''Film/TransformersRiseOfTheBeasts'' reveals in its final scene that it and its prequel ''Film/{{Bumblebee}}'' exist in a universe with its own version of G.I. Joe. Whether it's the same continuity as ''Snake Eyes'' or not is currently unknown.]]
45* ''Literature/GIJoeClassified'' by Kelley Skovron, a YoungAdult HighSchoolAU where the GI Joes are high school students in Springfield, fighting against a secret Cobra takeover. It was released in 2022.
46* The ComicBook/EnergonUniverse, a SharedUniverse of ''G.I. Joe'' and ''Transformers'' comics produced by Skybound Entertainment and published by Creator/ImageComics beginning in 2023.
47** ''ComicBook/{{Duke}}'', the first of four ''G.I. Joe'' origin miniseries, following Duke's efforts to unearth the truth about the Transformers after he survives a Decepticon attack.
48** ''ComicBook/CobraCommander'', the second of four ''G.I. Joe'' origin miniseries, following Cobra Commander's goal to use Transformers technology to take over the world.
49* ''G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra'', a 2024 side-scrolling BeatEmUp in the style of ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesShreddersRevenge''.
50[[/index]]
51
52Looking at this list, you may have noticed a number of crossovers with ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'', another Hasbro property. ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' Generation 1 cartoon and the ''A Real American Hero'' cartoon were both produced by the same companies, and were implied (though not outright stated) to take place in the same continuity.[[note]]''The Transformers'' character Marissa Faireborn was implied ([[WordOfGod though not confirmed until long after both cartoons had aired]]) to be the daughter of ''G.I. Joe'''s Flint, and there was also [[Recap/TransformersG1OnlyHuman an episode]] with a character ''very'' heavily implied to be a washed-up Cobra Commander[[/note]] The franchises have significant fanbase overlap, and even without the crossovers, the ''Transformers'' series would occasionally make a nod to ''G.I. Joe''.[[note]]In ''Anime/TransformersEnergon'', for instance, the character Snowcat transformed into a vehicle reminiscent of the ''G.I. Joe'' vehicle of the same name[[/note]] But it wouldn't be until 2022 that the ''Transformers Collaborative'' crossover toyline featured ''G.I. Joe'' vehicles transforming into Cybertronian robots.[[note]]For example, Megatron transforming into a Cobra H.I.S.S. tank[[/note]] Suffice to say, the two toylines can be considered sister franchises to one another.
53
54In celebration of the franchise's 50th anniversary in 2014, ''G.I. Joe'' was licensed for Kindle Worlds (allowing the publication and sale of {{fan fiction}}).
55
56Quotes page is currently a (W)hiskey (I)ndia (P)apa. Examples are needed for it, please.
57
58----
59
60[[foldercontrol]]
61
62----
63
64!!Now I trope:
65
66[[folder:A-F]]
67* ActionGirl: The G.I. Nurse, introduced in 1967, is both the TropeNamer and the first female character in the series. On the other hand, she enters a MisaimedMarketing territory since neither Hasbro nor the store managers could tell whether the G.I. Nurse should be placed alongside other G.I. Joe figures or with the Barbie dolls. Today, she becomes a collector's item.
68** The cartoon's Pyramid of Darkness mini-series had Satin, a lounge singer in a Cobra-controlled city forced against her will because Cobra had her father framed somehow. When Snake Eyes and Shipwreck arrive to escape the city, she assists them, claiming they are part of her band until the end, when she tries to kill Cobra Commander by slamming his head into an electrified console. If not for his helmet shielding him and getting him magnetically stuck, he'd be dead.
69* ActionFigureFileCard: The toys for ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'' are the UrExample.
70* ActionFigureJustification: G.I. Joe is actually the originator of the term "action figure". In 1946, Hasbro created a line of soldier toys with articulation and accessories such as weapons, naming the line "G.I. Joe" after a popular nickname for US troops in World War II. Recognising that the term "doll" implied they were playthings for girls, Hasbro coined the term "action figure" to differentiate.
71* ActualPacifist: Lifeline the medic. Becomes a ReluctantWarrior when Lifeline is chosen to fight in "GI Joe Special Missions" #4 using his aikido against his Oktober Guard opponent, Horrorshow. He uses Cobra's "black boxes" to buy back the lives of the Oktober Guard when it's implied they'd be killed if he didn't. "The Million Dollar Medic" has Lifeline know some techniques to stall Cobra before Joe reinforcements can save him and Bree Van Mark.
72* AdvancedTech2000: The subteam [[http://yojoe.com/action/subteams/battleforce2000.shtml Battle Force 2000]], whose toys were released between 1987 and 1989.
73* TheAggressiveDrugDealer: the Headman
74* AlasPoorVillain: Cobra Commander in [[WesternAnimation/GIJoeTheMovie the animated film]].
75* TheAlcatraz: the Coffin
76* AllAmericanFace: If the tagline[[note]]"A Real American Hero"[[/note]] didn't make it obvious, then the red-white-blue tailstripes on the iconic G.I. Joe logo should.
77* AllegianceAffirmation: In one episode, a joe succeeds in thwarting Cobra Commander's EvilPlan and wrecking his satellite base. The Cobra officers flee from their defeat, leaving hapless mooks behind. One of these is a woman, who gets rescued by joes from a CollapsingLair. As the joes fly away from the scene, Command inquires if there are any prisoners taken. The woman [[InsigniaRipOffRitual tears off her Cobra insignia, and flings it into the sea]]. "Negative, Command, just one survivor," reports the joe.
78* AllBikersAreHellsAngels: The Dreadnoks.
79* AmericaSavesTheDay
80* AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle: The TropeNamer
81** CluelessAesop: What do these morals have to do with military factions firing lasers at each other?
82* AndroclesLion:
83** The origin of Snake-Eyes' wolf Timber in the cartoon; Snake-Eyes stopped to free the wolf from a bear trap, while lethally irradiated.
84** A similar origin is given for Timber in the IDW Origins comic, where Snake-Eyes frees Timber from barbed wire whilst infiltrating an airbase, setting off an alarm in the process.
85** And again in Renegades, where the caught in a trap trope is played again, with Timber immediately sensing kinship with Snake Eyes and helps him throughout the episode afterwards.
86* AndSomeOtherStuff: In an issue of ''G.I. Joe: Special Missions'', Lightfoot explains how how he is MacGyvering a fuel-air explosive out of supplies found in an enemy bunker. However, the panels have censor boxes placed over them so the reader cannot see what he is actually doing.
87* ArgentinaIsNaziland: In ''Special Missions #2'', an [[NaziGrandpa elderly Nazi]] is hiding out in a special jungle fortress.
88* ArtisticLicenseBiology:
89** Croc Master's pet is actually an alligator
90** And the giant tube worms from the Mass Device miniseries are unquestionably eels, as real tube worms don't even have mouths, let alone eyes, fins and gill slits.
91* ArtEvolution:
92** When DIC took over.
93** Also prevalent in the comic during its end days, when everyone at Marvel seemed to try and emulate Creator/RobLiefeld's style.
94** On the toy side of things, the shift from the older "Real American Hero" molds to newer, more detailed sculpts in the line's resurrection in 2002 counts, as well as the switchover to the "25th Anniversary"-style molds.
95* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: Again... Stalker. Despite being a lowly sarge, the man can certainly throw his weight around when needed.
96* ATeamFiring:
97** Only in the original animated series. But while they were forbidden to kill anyone off, head writer Chuck Dixon tried to show people getting wounded often enough to get across the fact that war is dangerous, kids.
98** Mostly averted in the comics, which had many of the main character often suffering from gunshot wounds and some were actually killed. In fact, the times in the comic that this seems to occur - such as when the future Storm Shadow rescues Snake-Eyes during Stalker's flashback to 'Nam (issue 26) - are so rare and unusual that they're major, heavily commented-on events, in this case establishing Storm Shadow's almost superhuman speed and anticipation.
99** Made a shocking return in WesternAnimation/GIJoeResolute where Duke and Scarlett stand smack in the middle of a crossfire against twenty Cobras and don't get hit once. This was likely in reference to the original series.
100* AwesomeAussie: Outback.
101* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Helix
102* BananaRepublic: Sierra Gordo.
103* TheBaroness: The TropeNamer
104* BaseOnWheels: During the heyday of the toyline there were a whole series of massive vehicle playsets; the Defiant shuttle launch complex, Rolling Thunder, Mobile Command Centre...
105* {{BFG}}: Since some Joes are heavy weapons specialists, this trope is pretty much mandatory. Still, the most noteworthy example is Roadblock, who uses a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M2_Browning belt fed 50cal M2 Browning]] as his portable, standard firearm. At one point in the comics, two average sized Joes (Rock & Roll, himself a machine gun specialist, and somebody who escapes recollection for the moment) unload the machinegun from a car that is already buckling from it's weight. They state that the two of them can barely lift it off the ground and ask how Roadblock can possibly wield it in battle. [[TheBigGuy Roadblock]] takes it in one hand and calmly responds "good diet and high pain tolerance".
106* BigBad: Cobra Commander, even though he screws up constantly in the animated series.
107* BittersweetEnding:
108** Not every episode had a happy conclusion. "Computer Complications" was essentially a tie between G.I.Joe and Cobra; "Sink the Montana", despite concluding with the Joes foiling Cobra's plot, still had a somewhat depressing ending.
109** Same goes for the comic, which especially under Marvel had the Joes frequently running up against the complexity of international politics and conflicting interests within the U.S. government.
110* TheBlank: Cobra Commander's mask is either a featureless reflective plate or a blue hood with eyeholes cut out.
111* BlindWeaponmaster: The Blind Master
112* BloodierAndGorier: ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeResolute''
113* BodyHorror: "Glamour Girls" had Low-Light stop the "Transferance Machine" from stealing the youth and beauty of his younger sister, Una by destroying the linkage to her. The backwash, though, caused the machine to leave Madam Vale, the intended recipient of the stolen beauty, [[TheBlank without a face]]. The [[DiscretionShot reactions]] of Lady Jaye (horror) and Low-Light (hiding Una from the sight) show how bad it was--and only that we hear Madame Vail bemoaning her loss prevents it from being AndIMustScream.
114* BrainwashedAndCrazy - Most characters underwent this trope at some point in the cartoon but special mention must go to Flint who suffered this at least three times in the series. The Marvel series ended with at least three major characters in this state as well.
115* {{Bulungi}}: Equatorial Kalingaland, which only showed up in one issue of ''Special Missions''.
116* CameraAbuse: A Cobra paratrooper smashes the lens of a news camera in the opening sequence of TheMovie.
117* CanonDiscontinuity: After obtaining the ''G.I. Joe'' comic license, IDW declared the Devil's Due run to be non-canon and proceeded to produce their own continuation of Marvel's original comic book (in addition to doing their own continuity reboot), resuming numbering from where Marvel left off with issue #155.5. The newer collected editions of Devil's Due run are published under the ''G.I. Joe: Disavowed'' branding to indicate their non-canon status.
118* CanonImmigrant: Certain characters were originally created for the comics and cartoons before they were introduced to the toyline such as the Baroness, General Flagg, the Oktober Guard, and Kamakura.
119* CanonWelding: The DDP comics run was mainly based on the Marvel run, but liberally incorporated elements from the Sunbow cartoon series.
120* CaptainCrash: Ace, Wildcard
121* CareerNotTaken:
122** Roadblock's first choice of work was culinary in nature, as he wanted to be a chef. However, he was convinced to join the army when a recruiter pointed out that he could train to be one ''while'' serving. He's considered quite the cook, with even COBRA grunts being aware of his skill in the kitchen, but he sticks with the Joes because he feels a sense of responsibility for his fellow Joes. And to make sure they actually get good stuff to eat.
123** Gridiron was a fairly successful American football player, but he joined the Joes out of a sense of patriotism and loyalty. He'd like to go back to the sport, but he feels he does more good as part of the Joes.
124* CasanovaWannabe: Shipwreck occasionally gets this way in the cartoon; Clutch was the definitive version in the comics.
125* CatchPhrase and BattleCry:
126** "Yo Joe!"
127** Fans often suggest Cobra Commander's CatchPhrase is "RETREEEEEAT!"
128** For Cobra, "COOOOBRA!!!" in the original series and "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUw8cN6R8o0 COOOOBRA LALALALALALALALA!]]" in the animated movie.
129** Action Force, The UK adaption changed the battle cry to "Full Force!"
130** In Japan and Latin America, the battle cry was instead changed to simply ''G.I. Joe!''
131* CastAsAMask:
132** Whenever Zartan had to put on a disguise, he was then voiced by who previously played the person he was disguised as until he was revealed. Michael Bell played him and the French Scientist he impersonated in "Countdown for Zartan," while Neil Ross played both Shipwreck and Zartan-as-Shipwreck for "Once Upon A Joe".
133** The same goes for Baroness, who sometimes would even disguise herself as a male. In "Twenty Questions" she's revealed to have been in disguise as a cameraman for most of the episode... a cameraman who until TheReveal previously had a male voice actor.
134* ChainsawGood:
135** Buzzer and his diamond tooth chainsaw
136** And now the G.I.Joe member Bench-Press.
137* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: Inverted. Firefly and Zartan, arguably the two biggest badasses in Cobra after Storm Shadow, are both French (Firefly is the son of a French plantation owner in Vietnam and Zartan received military training at the [[MilitaryAcademy École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr]]).
138* ChefOfIron: Roadblock
139* ClingyCostume: In [=IDW's=] rebooted ComicBook series, Destro is trapped inside his metal suit due to a FreakLabAccident.
140* CodeName:
141** The characters will only rarely refer to each other by their real names, and [[ComicBook/GIJoeIDW the IDW series]] goes so far as to have Hawk tell one potential recruit that if she joins, her Code Name will ''be'' her name. Invoked hardest with Snake-Eyes, as Creator/LarryHama has never revealed whether or not the character was ever given a name. (The most that has been revealed is that his first name ''might'' start with N and his last name with J.)
142** Somewhat subverted by Duke in the original cartoon; he often introduces himself by his rank and last name (First Sgt. Duke Hauser). Of course his code name IS his IRL nickname (his real first name is Conrad).
143*** Another two-part episode in the original series has Cobra finding out several of the Joe's secret identities (Scarlett, Barbeque, Shipwreck, and Duke, among others). In an interesting continuity nod (unusual for 80s cartoons known for hitting the ResetButton), episodes afterwards had Cobra using this knowledge (IE against Shipwreck in "There's No Place Like Springfield" and Cobra Commander would often address Duke as Sergeant Hauser).
144* ColdSniper: Lowlight.
145* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Gunfire from the Joes' weapons was red, and gunfire from Cobra's weapons was blue. (Although in the first miniseries, both sides' shots were simple white streaks.) A parody of this show on ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' called "Cheat Commandos" even called the villains Blue Laser.
146* CompositeCharacter: General Flagg and his assistant General Austin from the comics were merged into one character for the FiveEpisodePilot of the animated series who bore Flagg's name and Austin's appearance.
147* ConfrontingYourImposter: In one issue of the Creator/MarvelComics series, Zartan infiltrates the Pit, and moves about shifting his appearance from one Joe to another as he goes. However, he shifts into looking like Gung Ho just as the real Gung Ho enters the room; alerting the Joes to the fact that one of them is an imposter.
148* ConservationOfNinjutsu: When the only ninjas were Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow, the series was a hit. When more were added, the series got canceled.
149* ConspiracyTheorist: Mainframe in the IDW comic.
150* ContinuitySnarl:
151** Due to a strip by Creator/DanAbnett that merged ''GI Joe'' and ''Action Force'', Scarlett was apparently fighting Cobra in America and Britain simultaneously.
152** The first season of ''G.I. Joe: Sigma 6'' established the series as a sequel to the CGI ''G.I. Joe'' specials (''Spy Troops'' and ''Valor vs. Venom'') produced by Reel FX. The biggest evidence of this is the fact that General Hawk is still in the hospital recovering from the "Venomization" process he suffered during the events of ''Valor vs. Venom''. However, a later CompilationMovie of the first five episodes (called "First Strike") added a scene that established that the Joe team from ''Sigma 6'' were not the same Joes from the CGI specials, but new members who inherited the codenames of their predecessors 20 years after the original members retired. Somehow, most of the Cobras also got identical successors as well and they managed to get a new Storm Shadow who just happens to be the rival of the new Snake-Eyes.
153* ContrivedCoincidence: The [[AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle PSAs]] that ran at the end of some episodes makes one think: Why is it that a GI Joe always happened to be close by when a kid was about to [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin do something dangerous, wrong, or just plain stupid]]?
154* CoolBoat: The ridiculously gigantic ''USS Flagg'' built into a seven-and-a-half-foot long, three foot tall aircraft carrier, making it the largest playset in the line (though not the most expensive) and one of the biggest toy playsets ever released. Many futile notes to Santa were written requesting it.
155* CoolCar: The Dreadnoks' Thunder Machine: A vehicle about the size of a humvee cobbled together from disparate parts, including tank armor plates, two large-caliber {{gatling g|ood}}uns on the hood, and ''a jet engine''. It wouldn't look out of place in ''Film/MadMax''.
156* CoolPlane: Both the Joes and Cobras have some pretty impressive aircraft in their respective fleets.
157* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Tomax and Xamot.
158* CreatorProvincialism: An unusually high number of the Joes are from the very small state Rhode Island, according to their file cards. Where Hasbro just happens to be headquartered at.
159* {{Crossover}}: Multiple times with ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' in the comics; once, sort of, in the TV show. Twice with the ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' games- the 1990s Hasbro ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' toys were branded as part of G.I. Joe, and now a published crossover comic series. Once even with ''Franchise/MortalKombat'', with both a line of figures based around the games, and one based on [[Film/MortalKombatTheMovie the first movie]].
160* CulturalTranslation: In the UK, the good guys were called Action Force, the theme tune called them International Heroes instead of Real American Heroes, and some of the {{Action Figure File Card}}s were rewritten to give certain team members non-American birthplaces. Over time this slowly changed to "GI Joe, The Action Force" (it was as awkward as it sounds) before eventually just using the GI Joe name.\
161\
162This dates back from the 60's, when Palitoy licensed the original G.I. Joe figure as ''Franchise/ActionMan''. Two decades later, ''Action Force'' was launched as an independent extension of the Action Man line. This changed with Hasbro's acquisition of the Palitoy assets, after which the Joes were introduced with European birthplaces.
163* CustomUniform
164* DarkerAndEdgier:
165** ''GI Joe Extreme'' and ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeResolute''. A notable aspect of them, plus the live-action ''Rise of Cobra'' and more recent comic books is the fact the "YO JOE!" kid-friendly action team of the original comics and animated series have been replaced by a group of soldiers that actually shoot straight and kill people (see, for example, how Scarlett dispatches various Vipers in ''Rise of Cobra'' by shooting them in the head with her crossbow, and another one is impaled on a forklift). Although the prevalence of heavy weapons, and giving Scarlett weapons such as a crossbow from the beginning constitutes a "no-duh" that the Joes would be expected to leave a body count on most missions, the use of ATeamFiring and other family-friendly storytelling elements in the original tended to gloss over or outright ignore this fact. Which is one reason by ''Resolute'' in particular was controversial when it showed scenes of the Joes shooting Vipers dead in full view.
166** Back in the 80s, the original comics, especially after issue 12 or so, must have seemed this way to people coming to them from the cartoons (though the comics actually came first).
167* DeadMansSwitch: A terrorist wears an explosive vest linked to a dead man switch in the first 'Special Missions' story.
168** In the comic (issue 19 if memory serves), Dr. Venom, a Cobra-affiliated MadScientist from before Dr. Mindbender was invented, is killed by a makeshift one.
169* DefaceOfTheMoon: "Lasers in the Night"
170* DemotedToExtra:
171** Like LongRunner franchises with many characters this was bound to happen and in certain cases it did, some more than others of course. For example after the original animated series for the Dreadnoks unless your name is Zartan feel lucky if you get ANY screentime at all. This was fallout from the MerchandiseDriven nature of the franchise: Hasbro wanted the newest figures and vehicles showcased, and the writers had to fight to keep a few of the older faces around for some consistency.
172** In particular, Snake Eyes, one of the most iconic Joes, suffered this in the original cartoon. After appearing prominently in each of the three five-part pilots, he was then shifted into the background for the remainder of the series. One apparent reason was because of him being TheVoiceless, so the producers thought that his lack of dialogue would make it harder for kids to root for him.
173* DenserAndWackier: Combined with TheSeriesHasLeftReality -- by the early 90s, the relatively realistic battle fatigues and army vehicles were long gone, replaced by many different sub-lines clad in neon colors, equipped with spring-loaded missiles and loaded with gimmicks and strange designs.
174* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: From [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLL67CN2hnw the original 1960s G.I. Joe commercial]]:
175-->'''[[CaptainObvious Narrator]]''': Remember--only G.I. Joe is G.I. Joe!
176** This was actually justified however--at the time, they were trying to actively market the toy against similar, competing toys that began to come out after G.I. Joe began.
177* DependingOnTheWriter: Several of the characters in the comic have very different personalities in other mediums.
178** Cobra Commander in the comic books tends to be an extremely competent and ruthless military leader that has the general loyalty of his follower. He's still evil and prone to ambition but is a genuinely terrifying EvilGenius. In the cartoon, he is a bumbling fool and DirtyCoward. Some adaptations split the difference by making him extremely competent but willing to throw everyone else under the bus to save himself. His backstory also changes from line to line.
179** Serpentor in the comics is an AwesomeEgo and AFatherToHisMen who is able to leverage public opinion to win others overt to his side. He's also able to hide his overwhelming ambition and even be AffablyEvil. In the cartoon, he is even more of a EvilIsStupid blowhard than Cobra Commander and has no strategy other than AttackAttackAttack.
180** Destro tends to range from being a NobleDemon with his own BlueAndOrangeMorality that makes sense only to him to being a ChronicBackstabbingDisorder TheStarscream always plotting to take over Cobra for himself. Whether Destro is even a member of Cobra often varies between lines.
181** How loyal TheBaroness is to Cobra Commander and Cobra as a whole depends greatly as she goes from being his fanatically loyal number to TheStarscream more often than Destro. Also, whether she's involved with Destro or not is also known to vary.
182* {{Determinator}}: Sgt. Slaughter, as seen in the ''Arise Serpentor, Arise'' miniseries wherein after being subjected to medical experiments that should have left the Sgt unconscious for weeks, he woke up after just a few ''minutes'' and proceeded to [[OpenSaysMe break into the door controls]] '''using his bare hands'''!
183-->'''Cobra Commander''': ''"That man has the constitution of a vending machine!"''
184* DeusExMachina: In WesternAnimation/GIJoeResolute, [[spoiler:Duke manages to figure out everything there is to figure out about Cobra's direct-energy weapon and reprogram it to fire on the Cobra base...in under twenty seconds, with plenty of spare time to get out of the Cobra base himself.]]
185* DirtyHarriet: In the ''G.I. Joe: Cobra'' miniseries, Jinx went undercover at a strip club in order to make contact with Chuckles.
186* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
187** In UsefulNotes/TheSeventies, Miller had just launched a memorable campaign for their light beer focusing on drinkers arguing whether it "tasted great" or was "less filling". One scene of the kid-friendly cartoon had the biker punk Dreadnoks violently disagreeing about... whether [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certs something]] was a "breath mint" or a "candy mint". Which was based on an old Certs ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5AeYLQrkpo
188** Creator/WarrenEllis, writer of ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeResolute'', states that he was completely unfamiliar with the G.I. Joe franchise when he wrote the script. That might be, but it definitely at least appears as though he's played ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer''. Cobra Commander acts a bit like Kane and even ends up taking a Ion Beam to the face, leading to NeverFoundTheBody. Kane was a little calmer, though.
189* TheDragon: Destro
190* DrillSergeantNasty: Sergeant Slaughter and Beach-Head. In the ''Reloaded'' continuity, ''before'' he joins the Joes, Beach-Head is teaching pretty much every single special ops division in the US armed forces.
191* ElaborateUndergroundBase: Several of Cobra's bases; G.I. Joe's "Pit" from the comics and TheMovie.
192* EmbarrassingCoverUp: In the IDW comic, Kwinn and Lighthorse are smuggling Snake-Eyes across a border in a coffin inside a hearse. Lighthorse looks nervous and the border guards ask him what is wrong. Lighthorse responds with the phrase that Kwinn taught him the local language. This translates as "I'm a little girl. I'm afraid of ghosts". The border guards laugh and let them through. Lighthorse, who has no idea what he has just said, wonders what they found so funny.
193* EnemyCivilWar: Destro's Iron Grenadiers vs Cobra Commander's side of Cobra vs Serpentor's side of Cobra (which the Joes reluctantly supported for political reasons). Although, the Grenadiers never fired a shot at either side[[note]]though a D.E.M.O.N. did fire on the Thunder Machine, after the Dreadnoks' vehicle had crashed against the tank; it was a pragmatic move to get the vehicles dislodged as quickly as possible, and the Thunder Machine had been evacuated first, and ''[[MadeOfIndestructium still ran]]'' afterward[[/note]]; once they established their position on Cobra Island, they literally kicked back and drank tea while the two Cobra factions slugged it out, until it was over, and Destro simply retrieved the Baroness and left.
194** Cobra vs. the Coil in the Devil's Due books.
195** A new Cobra Civil War in the IDW relaunch.
196** Also instigated by the Joes and [[spoiler: non-evil alternate Baroness]] in the cartoon's AlternateUniverse storyline.
197* EnemyMine:
198** GI Joe and their Soviet counterparts the Oktober Guard were often forced to team up against Cobra.
199** The Joes and Serpentor's forces during the [[EnemyCivilWar Cobra Civil War]] in the original comics, against Cobra Commander's forces.
200** [[EvenEvilHasStandards Zartan]] broke Low-Light, Dialtone, Flint, and some other Joes out of a Cobra holding cell in ''Glamour Girls'' in order to save his sister Zarana from Madame Vale's [[MacGuffin face transfer device]], because Dr. Mindbender was being uncooperative.
201** Another time, the Joes and Cobra combined their efforts to rescue Flint, Lady Jaye, Cobra Commander and the Baroness from a PsychopathicManchild calling himself "The Gamesmaster" who had kidnapped the four and forced them into his bizarre "games".
202** Late in the Sunbow run, Destro teamed up with the Joes to force an EldritchAbomination he normally tried to appease back into hibernation after Cobra Commander let it loose to try and destroy Serpentor.
203** In a special anti-drug two-parter from the 90s [=DiC=] series, the Joes & Cobra form an awkward alliance to stop the drug-dealing villain Headman. While the Joes want to stop the Headman from selling drugs, Cobra Commander is simply after the drug kingpin's vast amounts of money.
204* EnigmaticMinion: Scarface, a lowly Cobra trooper who proves utterly instrumental in the group's operations, and Kwinn.
205* EvenEvilHasStandards:
206** In the original MASS Device pilot miniseries, Snake Eyes is thought to be fatally irradiated. Major Bludd keeps the Cobra troopers from firing on him for this, and has a brief twinge of sympathy as he said he wouldn't wish what happened to Snake Eyes on his worst enemy, adding "Poor blighter."
207** Both the comics and cartoon had Cobra Commander working with the Joes to stop the drug dealer Headman- the comics play this straight, as Cobra Commander is highly disgusted by a drug dealer peddling the stuff and goes undercover(without his mask) to bring him down. The cartoon averts this, as Cobra Commander only wanted access to Headman's wealth.
208* EvilChancellor: In the Devil's Due comics, White House Chief of Staff Garrett Freedlowe - actually Cobra Commander in disguise - tries to have the President replace G.I. Joe with a unit secretly made up of Cobra agents.
209* EvilPoacher: Gnawgahyde
210* ExactWords: In ''Special Missions #2'' the Joes go dig up a former Nazi scientist holed up in Argentina with Neo-Nazi guards. Turns out, Mossad operatives are there right at the same time to capture him for a war crimes trial. The old guy says he'll help the Joes if they promise to keep Mossad away from him, which they agree to. Near the end of the story it is revealed that he had turned traitor to Germany during the war for his personal gain, which understandably pisses off his guards. As the Joes leave, the man is pleading for them to protect him as they promised. The Joes respond that the deal was to protect him from Mossad, not from his own men.
211* ExpansionPackPast: The Marvel comics series revealed one by one that Snake-Eyes' pre-Joe days held significant connections to Storm Shadow, Baroness, Destro, Cobra Commander, Zartan and Firefly. In other words, almost every major villain in the series had Snake-Eyes looming somewhere in their backstory.
212* ExpositoryThemeTune
213* {{Expy}}: Red Star and Big Bear from the toyline were based on Colonel Brekhov and Horror Show from the comics respectively, who were already killed off by the time it was no longer politically sensitive to make action figures of Russian heroes. Red Star later appeared in the comics and his resemblance to Col. Brekhov was referenced as well. The actual Oktober Guard members later got figures of their own.
214** Possibly, Cobra as a whole and the 1982 revival of G.I. Joe, to Marvel's Hydra and D.C.'s Kobra. The Former of the two appeared in 1965(but were first mentioned in 1954). The latter of the two in 1976 premiered Kobra #1 ,which had international Terrorist Jeffery Burr lead an organization named Kobra, bent on [[TakeOverTheWorld ushering in a new world order]]. Both organizations would repeatedly came in conflict with the few organizations made out of the best the world had to offer... any of this sound familiar?
215*** In ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeTheMovie'' it's revealed that there's a mystic and religious parts to the organization much like DC's Kobra, which in many ways is a Cult who who worship Burr as CrystalLizardJesus.
216** The Dreadnoks are somewhat based on the Hell's Angels.
217*** Buzzer's file card indicates he's based loosely on Hunter S. Thompson, specifically Thompson's time spent with the Hell's Angels- except Buzzer joined them.
218** At least in the cartoon, Baroness is practically [[WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle Natasha Fatale]]. Morgan Lofting even managed a decent June Foray impression.
219* EyepatchOfPower: Major Bludd and Billy.
220* TheFaceless:
221** Cobra Commander, usually. He was actually shown unmasked in the comics a few times and was definitely human, unlike his appearance in ''GI Joe: The Movie''-- and then you wish it hadn't been.
222** Snake Eyes' face is also rarely shown, and never in the cartoon, but is a standard handsome if scarred face in the comics. At least it is once he gets it fixed by a top plastic surgeon. In the issue before the operation we finally get to see him, and find he had good reason to wear those rubber masks. Sigma Six shows him to be a blue-eyed blond (as he was in the Marvel comics), but the lower portion of his face was never revealed.
223** [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Madam Vale]], [[spoiler: at the end of the episode ''Glamor Girls'']].
224* FacelessGoons: It seems like all Cobra uniforms include face-obscuring helmets or masks.
225* FamilyFriendlyFirearms: The laser guns in the cartoon.
226* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler:Cobra Commander is left an unresponsive vegetable on Earth when Hawk absorbs the power of the Matrix of Leadership. The body of Serpentor Prime that the Commander was mentally controlling then short-circuited as a result, leaving the robot's body a wreck, and the Commander's mind separated from his human body]], in the end of volume 3 of ''GI Joe vs. the Transformers''.
227* AFatherToHisMen: Sgt. Stalker
228* FiveEpisodePilot: The original Sunbow series had four: "The MASS Device" and "The Revenge of Cobra," which aired before the start of the series proper, and "Pyramid of Darkness" and "Arise, Serpentor, Arise," which were used as premieres for the show's two seasons. The DIC series premiered with one called "Operation Dragonfire." ''Sigma 6'' also had one of these.
229* FiveTokenBand: The later series that paired down the team would do this. Tunnel Rat, who was never a big character in the original line, keeps regualarly getting work in the new Joe shows, cause, well, he's the only Asian they have (besides Jinx, but they already have a girl and a ninja).
230* FourStarBadass: Hawk and Keel-Haul.
231* FriendlySniper: To a degree, and depending on which incarnation of the franchise, Scarlett. That crossbow isn't just for show.
232* FunWithAcronyms: Much of Cobra's arsenal are named with these, i.e. H.I.S.S., B.A.T., etc. The M.A.R.S. conglomerate does it even more.
233* FutureCopter: The G.I. Joe Skyhawk is basically a one-person helicopter cockpit with rotating turbines and landing skids strapped to it. The Cobra Flight Pod serves a comparable role, supplanting the earlier, more traditional (if compact) F.A.N.G. helicopter. Later aircraft include the Joes' Skystorm (an X-wing chopper/jet fighter) and Iron Grenadiers A.G.P. (a flight pod similar in principle to the earlier Skyhawk, using rotating turbines for VTOL and flight), while some vehicles classified as "hovercraft" (such as the H.A.V.O.C.'s recon sled or Battleforce 2000's Vindicator) use open ducted-fan turbines to generate lift.
234[[/folder]]
235
236[[folder:G-L]]
237* GasMaskMooks: Destro's Iron Grenadiers.
238* GatlingGood: Naturally shows up here and there, but by far the most delightfully ridiculous example is Rock n' Roll ''DualWielding [[http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/gi-joe-1982/97-3.jpg twin gatlings]]''. How the recoil doesn't knock him over is anyone's guess.
239* GenderFlip:
240** Devil's Due made Doc female in ''GI Joe Reloaded''.
241** ''Resolute'' did the same thing to Dial-Tone, which is maintained in the IDW reboot.
242* GeneralFailure: Cobra Commander
243* GiftedlyBad: Maj. Bludd, whose poetry almost left the Commander at a loss for words.
244* GirlsNightOutEpisode: In several treatments
245* GratuitousFrench: In the comics, the Cajun Gung-Ho sneaked a French phrase into practically every sentence he spoke... but they were all the kind of things you learn in French 1 in high school. It was dropped eventually - Diable!
246* GreaseMonkey: Clutch
247* HawaiianShirtedTourist: Chuckles is usually wearing one (a shirt that is, not a tourist). He is also the Joes' best undercover operative. A frequently mentioned point is that most people would never imagine an undercover operative to stick out like a sore thumb as he does.
248* HazmatSuit: The Eco-Warriors line of toys (the one where the Joes got uniforms that changed color when wet) had Cobra troops wearing bulky, leaky, cut-rate hazmat gear to protect themselves from their toxic waste based weaponry.
249* HeelFaceTurn: Storm Shadow, in the comic. Brainwashing, etc led it to becoming a case of HeelFaceRevolvingDoor. Zartan, Destro and Baroness also went through both of the above in the comics, though they were more neutral than Storm Shadow after the first turn.
250* HighDiveEscape: Major Bludd does this to escape from the Baroness after his attempted coup is uncovered in IDW's ''Cobra'' series.
251* HighlyConspicuousUniform: The Cobra uniforms, in spades.
252* HostileHitchhiker: One issue of ''Special Missions'' has an operation go seriously bad with Outback being the only one to escape. At one point, he buys a truck from a gypsy and tries to drive to a friendly country. He picks up a hitchhiker because he figures the authorities are looking for just him and a second person in the vehicle might throw them off. The hitchhiker then tries to hijack the truck and rob him. This quickly turns into MuggingTheMonster due to Outback being a highly trained soldier who then kills the hitchhiker and crashes the truck.
253* HowDidYouKnowIDidnt:
254** In the Marvel comic, Sgt. Slaughter is confronted by two Gung-Hos. He punches one in the face who turns out to be the shapeshifter Zartan. When asked how he knew which one to punch, Slaughter replies, "Lucky guess."
255** Duke manages to do something similar in the new continuation: Zartan shifts into Snake-Eyes and enters the combat zone right next to Duke, who promptly knocks him out. When asked, Duke simply says that he didn't ''have'' to know. The ''real'' Snake-Eyes would never have been caught flat-footed like that.
256* HumongousMecha: In Devil's Due Publishing's ''GI Joe vs. the Transformers'':
257** Cobra, besides the initially-controlled Transformers (referred to as "Battle Android Troopers" by Cobra Commander), also develop powered SNAKE Mecha. Storm Shadow uses this to take on Brawn and Gears (Brawn admits, "That may not have been a REAL Autobot or Decepticreep, but he sure HITS like one"), and in battle beheads Trailbreaker after the Autobot wonders "How can they think this is a good idea?" (Storm Shadow's response? "Don't be hasty. Right human in suit... makes a difference.") Even after Gears, Ratchet and possibly Bluestreak dog pile his SNAKE and rip off the head and chest units, Storm Shadow tries to use the rest to face off against Bumblebee. Baroness uses her SNAKE to stomp Rumble flat before he could harm Destro or Zartan.
258** To counter this, The Autobots let GI Joe access their technology at the end of Volume 1. In return for helping them get back to Cybertron, the Autobots help GI create mecha of their own to counter the SNAKEs. To prevent Cybertron tech from going into the wrong hands, though, Optimus asks the Joes to willingly rid of the mecha around the start of Volume 3. We do have where the mecha-piloting Joes help out the Autobots before the Serpent Organic Robot aka "Serpent O.R." overrides the Joes in the mecha. In particular, Scarlett and Arcee have some "mecha girl to Autobot girl" bonding.
259* ISurrenderSuckers: At the end of "Arise, Serpentor, Arise!", Serpentor (having taken control of Washington DC) demands the surrender of the president and several prominent politicians. The president kneels before him...only for him and the rest of the delegation to reveal themselves as disguised Joes, and begin shooting at Cobra.
260* IconOfRebellion: COBRA, naturally enough, has a red cobra's head with it's hood open.
261* ImprobableWeaponUser: During the infamous breath mints/candy mints fight, Zandar comes out and clobbers another Dreadnok with an ''alligator''. Also counts as a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}.
262* InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals: The Crimson Guards
263* InkSuitActor: Wrestling/SgtSlaughter played his cartoon version--and his "Real American Hero" angle carried over into the WWE for a while. Also interesting to note as he's credited by his birth name (Bob Remus) throughout the cartoon run, but credited as Sgt. Slaughter (as himself) in the movie opening credits.
264* InsertGrenadeHere
265* {{Introdump}}
266* InvulnerableKnuckles: Nearly all the Joes qualify, but Hawk deserves special mention for slugging it out with Destro in the comic, and Sgt Slaughter for punching through a brick wall in the cartoon.
267* IronicEcho: Roadblock's first face to face meeting with fellow machine gunner Rock and Roll involved him introducing himself as the later's replacement. Years later, Roadblock meets Heavy Duty (a new character and machine gunner) and asks him if he is going to replace him.
268* ItsPersonal: A few times Cobra members have aided the Joes:
269** The Baroness helped the Commander's attempt to replace Cobra troops with the "Phantom Brigade".
270*** "Worlds Without End" showed an alternate-universe Baroness as one of LaResistance.
271** Zartan aided the Joes when Zarana was nearly turned into one of Madame Vale's potential targets.
272** Destro didn't appreciate the Commander trying to make a Synthoid of ''him,'' and helped the Joes stop his conspiracy.
273** Xamot needed the Joes to rescue Tomax when the Baroness gained the power in "Spell of the Siren" to control the males of both GI Joe AND Cobra.
274** "The Greatest Evil" had one Cobra fighter have his sister addicted to the Headman's drugs around the same time Falcon become an addict as well--and both he and Duke find an EnemyMine situation.
275* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Larry Hama said he only became writer of the comic because Creator/JimShooter was turned down by Marvel's other writers, who felt a toy comic was beneath them and would damage their careers. Hama was apparently not too keen on it initially, either - saying he only accepted the job because he had no other writing offers. Well, as noted above, the comic lasted twelve years.
276* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: Done at least twice in the comics.
277* JanitorImpersonationInfiltration: Scarlett attempts it in the NoDialogueEpisode "Hush Job" in ''G.I. Joe Yearbook'' #3. In an attempt to rescue Snake-Eyes, he sneaks into Cobra HQ disguised as cleaning woman, with Snake-Eyes' wolf Timber hidden inside a cannister vacuum cleaning. However, the Cobra sensors pick up the huge amount of weaponry she is carrying and she is exposed.
278* JumpingOnAGrenade:
279** In issue 28 of the Creator/MarvelComics series, Tripwire attempts to save the lives of other Joes by throwing himself on top of a makeshift bomb. Roadblock safely disposes of the bomb and lectures Tripwire on unneeded heroism.
280** Similarly, Flint does this (or tries to) when faced with a nerve agent in the episode "The Spy Who Rooked Me."
281* JustBetweenYouAndMe: In ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeResolute'', when Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes meet for their final duel, Storm Shadow reveals that his [[NobleDemon supposed honor]] was really all just a facade to screw with Snake Eyes, out of jealousy.
282%%* KillSat
283* LamarckWasRight: Serpentor's "genetic evil".
284** Averted in the Devil's Due series, where General Rey, a later clone of Serpentor, ends up being one of the good guys, even leading the G.I. Joe team for a brief time.
285** And in the original Marvel comic, the use of famous historical bad guys' DNA for the cloning is blatantly spelled out by Mindbender as symbolic. Of course, he mentioned he would condition the clone to think like the subjects anyway.
286* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: As the 1980s toy line went into the 90s, many very weird concepts started popping up in an attempt to keep kids interested, such as mutants, robot battle suits, cyborgs, space combat and alien visitors.
287** At least in regards to the toy line and comic book... the cartoon has already dealt with ghosts, animated clay soldier statues, inter-dimensional travel, time travel, the Egyptian gods, Greek mythology and... you get the idea.
288* LegendFadesToMyth: In one episode, the Joes end up in ancient Greece, and their actions contribute to various Greek legends (e.g., Sgt. Slaughter performs one of Hercules' labors).
289* LipstickAndLoadMontage: The Baroness gets one at the start of IDW's ''G.I. Joe: Cobra'' #1 before she infiltrates an enemy mansion in Ecuador. It is contrasted with a more standard LockAndLoadMontage later in the issue.
290* LongRunners: The ''A Real American Hero'' franchise has been around since 1982, while the toyline as a whole has existed since 1964.
291* LovableSexManiac: In the original series Shipwreck does get to occasionally have some fun with this as he got slapped by Scarlet when he tried to hit on her.
292[[/folder]]
293
294[[folder:M-R]]
295* MacGuffin: The "[=MacGuffin=] Device" from "Once Upon A Joe."
296* MadeOfIndestructium: Thrasher's Thunder Machine. Cobbled together from various vehicle parts (including the front bumper of a [[CoolCar Trans Am]]), reactive armor plating, and a stolen jet engine from a mothballed A-4 Skyhawk, the vehicle survived a point-blank blast from a state-of-the-art D.E.M.O.N. tank, which merely flipped it over. Thrasher then used grenades to flip it back over, and it ''still ran'', although the grenades had damaged the engine.
297* MagicalNativeAmerican: Spirit
298* MalignedMixedMarriage: Quick Kick's father is Japanese and his mother is Korean; as a result, he was never accepted by either the Japanese or Korean kids in his neighborhood. And he was [[HumiliationConga too short to play basketball]].
299* TheManBehindTheMan: Serpentor
300* MarketBasedTitle: Rather more extensive than usual:
301** At a basic level, the cartoon's {{tagline}} ("A Real American Hero") was changed to "The International Hero" outside America.
302** In the UK, the original 12" figures were renamed ''Franchise/ActionMan'', and eventually gained their own, separate {{canon}}.
303** Later, the 3 3/4" figures were sold in the UK and elsewhere as ''Action Force''. This incarnation reimagined Action Force as a European anti-terrorist organisation based in Europe, which sometimes cooperated with GI Joe.
304** The changes later happened in reverse, when the ''Action Force'' comic changed from a weekly to monthly publication schedule, and was renamed ''Action Force Monthly''. This was then sold in America as ''GI Joe: The European Missions''.
305** Finally, in the late 80s, a short strip that appeared in a couple of Marvel UK comics had GI Joe and Aciton Force merge into a single entity to more efficiently fight Cobra. Henceforth, it was known in the UK as ''GI Joe the Action Force''. This made Scarlett's situation incredibly confusing (see ContinuitySnarl above)
306* MasterActor: Zarana.
307* MasterOfDisguise: Zartan and the Baroness.
308* MayContainEvil: Cobra's schemes in the episodes "Cold Slither" and "Let's Play Soldier".
309* MechaMooks:
310** {{Goddamn|Bats}} [[{{Pun}} B.A.T.s]].
311** The odd mention of B.A.A.T.s isn't a case of SpellMyNameWithAnS, but a case of two similar sets of FunWithAcronyms; B.A.T stands for "Battle Android Trooper", while B.A.A.T stands for "Battle Armored Android Trooper".
312* MerchandiseDriven
313* MerchandisingTheMonster: In the ''Creator/IDWPublishing'' comics, where a character wears a t-shirt emblazoned with the [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Decepticon emblem]]. At first, this was merely a ShoutOut to the most famous of Hasbro's properties. However, a {{Retcon}} later placed the events of the G.I.Joe comic in the aftermath of ''ComicBook/TransformersAllHailMegatron'' (where the Decepticons launched an invasion that, among other things, resulted in the death of the US President of the time and the massacre of the entire population of Beijing).
314* MindScrew: Done to Cobra in "Once Upon A Joe" when Shipwreck activates the "Macguffin Device": it causes the imagination of the holder to become reality--and constructs from Shipwreck's story to come alive and attack the Cobra forces.
315* MixAndMatchMan: Serpentor
316** The third volume of ''GI Joe vs. the Transformers'' adds one other element: Decepticon technology with Megatron's programming, causing the "Serpent Organic Robot," as "Serpent O.R." is known, to claim himself to be "The Son of Megatron" to the remnants of the Decepticon forces. When he gets the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, he's turned into an enlarged Cybertronian version of himself, Serpentor Prime.
317* TheMole: '''[[spoiler:Duke]]''', in ''GI Joe Reloaded''.
318* MookFaceTurn: Mercer, from nameless rank and file Viper to G.I.Joe.
319* MoreDakka:
320** At one point Rock & Roll's toy featured DualWielding ''twin miniguns''. [[http://http://www.yojoe.com/comics/joe/joe97.shtml See for yourself.]]
321** Roadblock was ''introduced'' hip-firing a 75-pound, 50-caliber, M-2 heavy machine-gun, normally only mounted on vehicles. His first act in the comic was to knock out an enemy plane.
322* MultipleChoicePast: Cobra Commander had a different origin in each series:
323** In the comics, he had been a used car salesman until his brother died in an automobile accident. He went insane as a result, blamed the government and turned towards pyramid scemes for money and to recruit others to his cause, eventually founding Cobra. His unmasked face was shown several times in the comics, the most famous and clearest shot being from issue 61. Both this and Billy's memories show him to be a white male with brown hair, favoring a mustache and wearing glasses.
324** In the cartoon, he was a scientist from Cobra-La sent by his leaders into the world to form Cobra as a means to take over to allow Cobra-La to rule the world. He was originally blue-skinned until turned into a large green snake.
325** The live-action movie shows us that he was Rex Lewis, a private in the US Army, possibly in the Iraq War who was almost killed in a bombing raid carried out by the Air Force. He survived with serious injuries and was taught science by Dr. Mindbender, eventually working for MARS Industries and planning his eventual takeover and founding of Cobra. Oh, and The Baroness is his sister.
326*** Then the toys themselves had to complicate matters. A few older toys had partially-unmasked faces under the hood showing him to be a middle-aged white guy with black hair, his mouth covered by a bandanna.
327** Palitoy's ''Action Force'' canon further complicated this when their canon had Red Shadows leader Baron Ironblood take on the identity when Palitoy licensed the band for sale in the UK. However this only applied to Palitoy's own canon- it was never mentioned elsewhere and Hasbro later declared Action Force and Red Shadows as separate teams, with Baron Ironblood remaining a unique character.
328* MusicalAssassin: Metal-Head
329* MysteryMeat: One issue of Creator/MarvelComics series had a group of Joe recruits being put through deliberately harsh training to see who cracked. Lunch was "mystery meat on a shingle". One disgusted recruit asks "How do they get it so grey?".
330* {{Nanomachines}}: ''The Rise of Cobra'' has "nanomites," which Cobra uses for purposes such as [[MonumentalDamage destroying the Eiffel Tower]], MoreThanMindControl and [[spoiler:making up Destro's mask]].
331* NebulousEvilOrganization: Cobra is one of the classic examples. In most versions, it's actually a conglomerate of various evil factions, notably the arms manufacturer MARS, under the control of Cobra Commander.
332* NGOSuperpower: Cobra
333* {{Ninja}}s: Snake-Eyes, Storm Shadow, and, by late in the original line, pretty much everyone. The toyline even featured a squad called "Ninja Force". As this was the early nineties, most of them were [[HighlyVisibleNinja neon]].
334* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed:
335** Cobra combat trainer Big Boa was originally part of a plan for a ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' tie-in; This fell through, but much later in the comics his history was revealed to be eerily similar to Rocky's, except, like, evil.
336** The DIC version had Jackie Love, who was a take on Bob Hope.
337** ''ComicBook/GIJoe vs. The Transformers: Black Horizon'' based Joe Colton on ''Chuck Norris.''
338* NoDialogueEpisode:
339** The famous "Silent Interlude" issue of the Marvel comic.
340** When Devil's Due had the GI Joe comics, they also made their Issue 21 a no-dialogue story. Subverted, however, when IDW published their 21st issue.
341*** Although issue 19 of the IDW GI Joe Origins was a silent issue written by Larry Hamma, where Snake Eyes infiltrates an airbase. As another plus, it has Timber!
342** "Hush Job" in ''G.I. Joe Yearbook'' #3, which is a follow-up to "Silent Interlude".
343* NobleSavage: Inuit mercenary Kwinn
344* NobodyCanDie: While the comics averted this, the animated series mostly played this straight.
345** The closest the series ever came to killing off a bunch of Joes was in the "Worlds Without End" two-parter, where {{alternate universe}} versions of Steeler, Clutch, and Grunt died during a failed battle against Cobra (we see their skeleton remains in a mass grave), so their counterparts from the regular universe decided to remain there and help out that world's Baroness, who is secretly a Joe sympathizer and the lover of that universe's Steeler. The writers subtly killed off the three Joes without actually having them die on-screen, as they never appeared again for the rest of the Sunbow run.
346** Originally, Hasbro wanted Duke to be killed in ''TheMovie'' from the mortal wound from Serpentor's snake-spear. However, the scheduling between this movie and Transformers (where Optimus Prime suffered the same fate[[note]]The other franchise in Hasbro's 1986-87 movie blitz, ''My Little Pony'', didn't, obviously, lend itself to bloodshed of that type.[[/note]]) ended up being released first. When Hasbro saw the intense backlash from kids and parents over Prime's death, Hasbro went into an immediate about face and demanded that Duke ''not'' die. Since the film had already been completed, the best that the production staff could do was to call in the voice cast to make an emergency voiceover, recasting the celebration over having defeated Cobra's plot into a celebration that Duke had pulled out of his coma.
347*** This afforded Buzz Dixon a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}} 25 years later, as, in the commentary track for the Blu-Ray release, he mercilessly deadpan quoted from [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus the dead parrot sketch]] to explain what was intended to happen.
348** The only character to undoubtedly die in the cartoon was the drug lord Headman, who overdosed on the drugs he was selling at the end of the "Greatest Evil" two-parter written to cash-in on the "War on Drug" hysteria.
349* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok-DrfFJAgw There's even a line]] in the animated movie's opening that says they (The Joes) "NeverSayDie".
350* NocturnalMooks: Cobra's Night Vipers are [[EliteMooks elite troops]] that live windowless barracks with no interior lights and are constantly trained in stealth and darkness, almost never seeing the time of day. Their helmets have built in night vision and sound enhancing capabilities, and their suits as a whole are made to make them invisible to radar. However, they do have a weakness of being easily blinded if someone manages to shine a bright light into their face, as a result of living in complete darkness.
351* NonLethalWarfare: Blue and red lasers! Yay!
352* NotQuiteDead: Quite a few characters.
353* NotSoHarmlessVillain: In ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeResolute'', Cobra Commander, ''vaporizing Moscow'' just to prove a point, addresses a cadre of Cobra goons. He states that his GeneralFailure tendencies were all ObfuscatingStupidity, designed to make his subordinates think and weed out traitors. Now that it no longer suits him, he's no longer going to tolerate disobedience or failure.
354* OfficialCouple: While the subject does have a tendency to be subjected to the DependingOnTheWriter trope, Destro / Baroness is one of the more consistent as in the original series where Destro wasn't exactly subtle, especially for a kids' cartoon, on how he was so wanting to nail the Baroness (lucky for him it was pretty mutual). However there is the potential triangle between Duke, Scarlett and Snake Eyes where which side Scarlett is going with depends on which story we are talking about here (and who's writing it).
355** Flint and Lady Jaye are official in the comics, and at least hinted at in the cartoons. Assuming the expanded canon also holds, Marissa Fairborne, a major character in Transformers season 3, is their daughter.
356* OffscreenVillainDarkMatter: Just how does Cobra afford to field and equip enough soldiers to put up a fight against the US military? Especially when so many of their plans are thwarted? Different continuities have different explanations:
357** In the Marvel comics, they actually had ties to legitimate businesses, including dealing arms they themselves invent.
358** The Sunbow cartoon is pretty vague about it. One episode has them trying to raise funds with a ''pirate broadcast telethon'' (the prize for meeting the donation goal was the live execution of some Joes). The same episode suggests that they run a special academy to train criminals. At various points it's hinted that their financial interests are hidden behind a dummy company called Extensive Enterprises.
359** In the IDW comics they created a cult called the Coil and used it to fleece wealthy converts.
360** The ''Renegades'' version of Cobra never had this problem, because they were publicly known only as a completely legitimate corporation.
361* OneWayVisor: Cobra Commander
362* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Storm Shadow vs. Snake Eyes. In the cartoon, inexplicably, it was Storm Shadow vs. Spirit, whose street brawling managed to hold its own against a ninja master. Presumably there'd be less opportunity for witty fight banter with [[TheSpeechless Snakes]].
363** Only in the ''Revenge of Cobra'' mini-series. Most other times in the TV show, Storm Shadow's foil is more often [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Quick Kick]].
364* OpeningNarration: Quoted above; it played during an instrumental break in the ExpositoryThemeTune.
365* OrganicTechnology: Everything in the Cobra-La hideout in TheMovie
366* PaintballEpisode: The IDW comic has the training exercise variation. A group of Joes armed only with paintball weapons have to attempt to infiltrate the Pit. A pair of Cobra commandos kill most of the group (who mistake them for their opponents), leaving three essentially unarmed Joes (Cover Girl, Downtown and Tripwire) to take on the Cobra soldiers.
367* PieInTheFace: A Macguffin Device-created SuperDeformed version of Leatherneck splats Dr. Mindbender with a cream pie in "Once Upon A Joe."
368* PinPullingTeeth: As usual for a property involving the military.
369* PirateGirl: Sarawak Sally from ''G.I. Joe Special Missions'' #4.
370* PirateParrot: Shipwreck's parrot
371* PocketRocketLauncher:
372** Destro has gauntlet-mounted rocket guns in his ''Real American hero''iteriation.
373** Metalhead, a member of the Iron Grenadiers, totes around missile racks on his back and thighs which he uses in combat. Every incarnation of the character is shown to be a bit unhinged, which one might expect from a man strapping high explosives to himself.
374* PoweredArmor: Both sides have used these at one point or another: Cobra has SNAKE armor and Cobra Commander's battle suit, while the Joes have the Mega-Marines and Armor-Tech suits, and a scene in the new movie shows the Joes using "accelerator suits."
375* PraetorianGuard: the Crimson Guard
376* PreachersKid: Lifeline was a type 1 (angelic); his dad was a minister.
377* PredatoryBusiness: In the 80's show, the Red Rocket franchise pops up all over in one episode, even planing to buy out Roadblock's family restaurant (the owners won't sell, of course). Then it turns out that Cobra is involved, and the rockets adorning the buildings are carrying their latest [=WMD=]s, the warhead shaped Photon Disintegrators. The Joes stop the plot, and Roadblock's family restaurant becomes "The Joes' Place".
378* PresidentEvil: One storyline has Cobra's private island lair, the incredibly obvious "Cobra Island", declared a sovereign nation, and thus outside Joe jurisdiction.
379* PunnyName: Cutter's real name is Skip A. Stone. You might think he's a navy man, but actually he's from the coast guard.
380* PutOnABus: Clutch, Grunt and Steeler ended up staying behind in a parallel universe run by Cobra (in the cartoon). The three were part of the much plainer 1982 lineup, and thus were being written out in favour of the [[MerchandiseDriven "cooler" new characters]]. At least they got a send-off in a two-parter episode and not just ignored (poor Zap).
381* QuicksandSucks: Once or twice in the old Sunbow cartoons. The old Marvel books had it in issues 26, 27 and 143 where Scarlet is the victim and needs rescuing by Rock N' Roll.
382* {{Qurac}}: Trucial Abysmia
383* RaceLift: Ripcord (for Resolute and the RoC movie), Breaker (for RoC).
384* RaginCajun: Gung-Ho
385* RecycledScript: Three of the cartoon series feature episodes where a G.I. Joe member pretends to defect to the enemy to sabotage their operation and only the G.I. Joe team leader knows about the plan: the ''A Real American Hero'' two-parter "The Traitor", the DIC episode "Shadow of a Doubt" and the two-part finale of ''G.I. Joe Extreme''.
386* ReassignedToAntarctica
387** An assignment to Toxo-Viper duty in Cobra is a punishment for poor performance. Since Toxo-Vipers work with hazardous materials and the suits aren't airtight as a cost-saving measure, anyone who receives the punishment is unlikely to slack off or screw up again.
388** Also, dropouts from the normal Viper program are sent to the desert as Desert Scorpions. Desert Scorpions who mess up are naturally put on Toxo-Viper duty.
389** In Marvel's ''G.I. Joe'' comics, washouts from the Joe training program would be transferred to Thule, Greenland or Fez, Morocco. Whether this was to stop them talking about details of the training or to dissuade those who were unsuitable from applying in the first place isn't clear. Although given just how epically it sucks to be assigned to Thule, it was likely the latter.
390** An episode of ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeRenegades'' opens with two hapless Cobra guards standing in front of a remote bunker in the middle of a frozen wasteland. A brief conversation between the two reveals that they both ended up there by failing to prevent the Joes from getting into secure areas. Naturally, the Joes show up again. One wonders where they'll get sent next time...
391* ReformedCriminal: Stalker was the leader of a street gang during his youth. Before he decided to turn a page and enlist ''to be all he could be''.
392* TheReliableOne: Snake Eyes is frequently considered the guy that you can give any difficult job to and he will somehow find a way to get it done.
393* RougeAnglesOfSatin: One episode ended with the Crimson Twins tearing up their "elbction" ballets.
394* {{Ruritania}}: Borovia, which actually starts as a Soviet-bloc country and goes through a successful war of independence over the course of the Marvel Comics run.
395* RuthlessModernPirates: Sarawak Sally and her river pirates in ''G.I. Joe Special Missions'' #4.
396[[/folder]]
397
398[[folder:S-Z]]
399* SacrificialLamb: Averted in the ''MASS Device'' pilot miniseries, when Snake-Eyes gets fatally irradiated... and then implausibly cured by the BedouinRescueService.
400* SamusIsAGirl: Part of Scarlett's EstablishingCharacterMoment in the first cartoon miniseries.
401* ScaryBlackMan: Handily averted by comics version Roadblock. A fellow who despite his formidable size and ability to dismantle cars with his bare hands, is one of the more diplomatic Joes. His trademark gun on the other hand...
402%%* ScopeSnipe
403%%* TheScrounger: Billdocker, from the IDW comics, was recruited specifically to fill this role.
404%%* SemperFi: Gung-Ho and Leatherneck
405%%* SergeantRock: Duke
406* ShadyScalper: A common complaint of the 2020 onwards G.I.Joe Classified series of action figures is the fact that the toys are so hard to find people generally can't even buy them... unless you're willing to go online and pay much, much higher than retail.
407** Things aren't helped by distribution: while a carton of six having two of each character (e.g. 2 Flints, 2 Lady Jayes, 2 COBRA Troopers) sounds reasonable, ''no one'' ever buys just '''one''' COBRA trooper since they're the franchise's most famous {{Mook}}s.
408** Worse, some popular characters being exclusive to certain stores is unfortunate but understandable. However, the COBRA Vipers (the other famous FacelessGoons of the franchise) being exclusive to the department store Target is much less understandable. Add to that an already poor distribution, and you have ripe scalper fodder.
409* ShootYourMate: In IDW's ''G.I. Joe: COBRA'' series, Chuckles is asked to kill his lover Jinx, while undercover. [[spoiler:He actually does it. The series goes out of the way to paint G.I. Joe as almost as vicious as Cobra, at times.]]
410* ShoutOut:
411** The Eiffel Tower falls in much the same way it can be felled in [[VideoGame/TwistedMetal Twisted Metal 2]]
412** In the recent "Pursuit of Cobra" toyline, at least four figures have been references to the ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'' franchise. Spirit Iron Knife is Billy (and the strongest reference), Recondo is Blaine, one of the Dukes is Dutch, and Shadow Tracker is the Predator.
413** In the two part episode "There's No Place Like Springfield" Shipwreck wakes up with amnesia six years in the future but he's haunted by nightmares of Cobra torturing him for information. His home's address? [[Series/ThePrisoner1967 Number 6, Village Drive]].
414** There's also the fact that Shipwreck's voice obviously sounds like Creator/JackNicholson's US Navy sailor character in ''Film/TheLastDetail''.
415** The Cobra [[https://www.yojoe.com/vehicles/86/nightraven/ Night Raven]] is a spitting image of the titular plane from ''Film/{{Firefox}}''.
416* SignificantAnagram: Cobra fronts have a bad tendency of doing this in their names. They include the Arbco company (or sometimes A.R.B.co.) and the towns of Broca Beach in New Jersey and Rancho Corba in California.
417* SingleMindedTwins: The Crimson Twins, Tomax and Xamot
418* SittingDuck: What the Joes do to the airforce of Trucial Abyssmia in ''G.I. Joe Special Missions'' #3.
419* TheSmurfettePrinciple:
420** While there have always been a lot more male characters than female in the G.I Joe series, the original series did make an effort in trying to avert this, as Lady Jaye and Scarlett (and to a lesser extent Cover Girl) for the G.I Joe team did appear often, and had good screentime. (While not as successful as G.I Joe, Cobra did make some effort in averting this with Zarana and Baroness.) However, the other G.I Joe cartoons that came afterward pretty much played this straight, though, as unless your names are Scarlett or Baroness you will either be DemotedToExtra or be on the receiving end of ChuckCunninghamSyndrome. (With WesternAnimation/GIJoeResolute being the only arguable--and I repeat, arguable--exception.)\
421\
422In the comics this was better avoided. Both sides had their token female from the start, Scarlett for the Joes and Baroness for Cobra and neither one was the conventional "girl". Cover Girl was introduced to the Joes in issue #16, Lady Jaye in issue #32 and Jinx in issue #59. Conversely, Cobra got their second female, Zarana in issue #51. Both the Joes and Cobra have had a few other female characters introduced later, but with only very minor appearances.
423** Averted by necessity (almost hilariously so) in one episode of the TV series where the Baroness got a hold of a magic conch horn that incapacitated all men who heard it. Suddenly, both Joe and Cobra had a 1:1 male/female ratio.
424* SnowMeansCold: In "The Revenge of Cobra", Destro uses the Weather Dominator to create an instant snowstorm in the desert.
425* TheSpeechless: Snake-Eyes, when we are given a reason for his silence
426* StealthHiBye: Storm Shadow makes a habit of this in IDW's continuation of the Real American Hero comic.
427* SubvertedKidsShow: WesternAnimation/GIJoeResolute, which is a rare example of this trope taken seriously.
428* SuperReflexes: One issue of Marvel's ''Joe'' comic featured the Star Viper, a Cobra pilot who could connect himself to a computer to gain augmented speed and reflexes.
429* SuperSoldier: Cobra's Neo-Vipers in ''The Rise of Cobra'' have been chemically augmented so that they no longer feel pain or fear.
430* SupremeChef: Roadblock in all versions, as he is also a gourmet who knows good food when he sees it and probably can cook it even better. He even develops the "Marvin Hinton Grill" and when overeager Drednoks try to destroy the studio, Roadblock fights them on stage, which increases his popularity (and grill sales).
431* TankGoodness: While GI Joe does have some pretty sick tanks, Bazooka's bio card averts this. Bazooka used to be a tank driver before he came to the realization that an illiterate farmer with a $200 rocket launcher his mom bought him over the internet could take out a tank by himself.
432* {{Teleportation}}: The MASS Device
433* ThermalDissident:
434** Iceberg may have been born in Brownsville, Texas, but he absolutely prefers frigid temperatures. His [[ActionFigureFileCard toy's filecard]][[https://www.yojoe.com/images/resize/w/MAX/imagestore/110/16635.jpg]] said that as a child he saved for an air conditioner and when he signed up for the Army he requested duty in Alaska. [[note]]Brownsville, Texas, is the most southern city in the continental United States outside of Key West, Florida.[[/note]]
435** On Sub Zero's[[note]]the GI Joe arctic trooper released in 1990, not the Mortal Kombat character[[/note]] [[ActionFigureFileCard file card]], it is said that all the other G.I.Joe Arctic specialists like the cold, but not Sub Zero. It is just that he likes to be "'''mean'''", and being in the hated cold weather makes him "'''mean'''".
436* ThirdPartyStopsAttack: In issue #15 "Red-Eye To UsefulNotes/{{Miami}}" Snake Eyes, Doctor Venom and Kwinn escape from crazed mercenaries in Sierra Gordo aboard an old but functional Lancaster bomber. During the flight, Dr. Venom tries to drop Snake Eyes out the bomb bay doors, but fails. An angry Kwinn then lifts Dr Venom over his head and is about to throw him to his doom. Snake Eyes puts a hand on Kwinn's elbow, belaying the execution, because Venom is the only one who can land the damaged aircraft safely. Fridge Brilliance because as a mute, Snake Eyes can only communicate through gestures.
437* TitleByYear: The Joes have a subteam called "Battle Force 2000", whose purpose is to "field-test experimental equipment under battlefield conditions". The figures and vehicles were introduced in 1987 and stayed in production for a few years, then were reissued as fan club exclusives in 2017.
438* TitleThemeTune: Amped up for TheMovie.
439* TookALevelInBadass: Cobra Commander has become this in ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeSigma6''. But in ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeResolute'', Cobra Commander proves how DarkerAndEdgier he's become by destroying UsefulNotes/{{Moscow}}.
440** And the speech he gives to his troops in episode four is downright awesome.
441*** And then he takes five levels in Complete Boob in the climax.
442** At the beginning of "G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero", which picks up where the movie left off, Cobra Commander is still a snake, but is restored to human([[LizardFolk oid]]) form by the Baroness and Gnawgahyde. He wrests control of Cobra back from Serpentor, gets revenge by turning Serpentor into [[ForcedTransformation an iguana]], and then when he goes after the Joes they actually have a hard time defeating him!
443* ToylessToylineCharacter:
444** The comics had quite a few such as Kwinn the Eskimo, Bongo the Bear, Dr. Venom (Dr. Mindbender's predecessor), General Flagg (the original, not his son), Mangler, Scarface, and Cool Breeze just to name some. The animated series mostly averted this with two exceptions: Sparks, a communication officer who appeared only in the second mini-series and two later episodes, and Big Lob, a basketball player from ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeTheMovie''. Most of them later got made into figures as part of comic-based sets or as fan club exclusives.
445** Pythona from The Movie never got made into a figure, even though Golobulus and Nemesis Enforcer were released as part of a Cobra-La Team pack along with a Cobra-La [[EliteMook Royal Guard]]. The collector club later made toys of them, albeit 20+ years after the film came out.
446* TrademarkFavoriteFood: The Dreadnoks sure do love their grape soda and chocolate donuts.
447* TrainingFromHell: The file cards like to go into the details of how tough the Joe and (especially) the Cobra training and recruiting regimens are. Since Larry Hama was in the Army, he based it at least in part on his own experiences.
448* TrashcanBonfire: One appears in a bad part of town in the episode "Cold Slither".
449* TruthInTelevision: No, really, knowing ''is'' half the battle. Knowledge and intel are vital for any successful military operation.
450* TunnelKing: Tunnel Rat in this case.
451* UltimateUniverse: Devil's Due attempted an "Ultimate G.I. Joe" with the short-lived but very inventive''G.I. Joe Reloaded''. ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeRenegades'' is an animated attempt.
452* UndeadCounterpart: In the early 90's, Hasbro released a series in ''G.I. Joe'' called the Eco-Warriors who had an environmentalist theme. One of the figures in this line was the Toxo-Zombie, a Cobra Toxo-Viper who's had too much exposure to toxic waste and mutated into an undead soldier.
453* UndercoverModel: One issue of ''ComicBook/GIJoe Special Missions'' had Scarlett, Lady Jaye, Cover Girl and Jinx undercover as dancers on a parade float.
454* UndersideRide: In ''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' #181, Darklon escapes from his cell in the Pit. He then gets out of the Pit by clinging to the underside of the Hammer when it is sent out to search for him.
455* VillainousBSOD: In one of the comics.
456* VillainousLineage: Serpentor is a [[DesignerBabies designer baby]] who [[PlotRelevantAgeUp grows up real fast]] with DNA from conquerors, murderers, and madmen.
457** And in ''GI Joe vs. the Transformers'' volume 3, he's also got Megatron's programming as well as Decepticon technology from Area 52 as well to back his claim of being "the son of Megatron."
458* VillainSong: Usually averted, but TheMovie added some opening lines to the TitleThemeTune about COBRA's evil intentions.
459* VitriolicBestBuds: Wet Suit and Leatherneck.
460* TheVoiceless: Snake-Eyes, when we are not given a reason for his silence.
461** The original Marvel comic run covered it in issue 27 in that during a mission to the Middle East, an attack in a helicopter badly scarred Snake Eyes while he tried to rescue his love Scarlett. In a later issue, the mission is gone over in more detail with Doc even stating that Snake Eyes could lose his voice permanently if not treated ASAP, but Snake Eyes in a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome writes out in the desert sand that the team ''must'' continue the mission. Theres a reason this guy is popular.
462** ''Resolute'' has it as a result of getting shot through the throat with the same bullet that killed his master
463** Devil's Due's crossover with the Franchise/{{Transformers}} had him losing it (and getting his face badly burned to boot) after getting a tank shot out from under him by Starscream. (Before that, Snake Eyes got in one "Snort!" before Hawk tells him "I'm the only one who ''didn't'' bet you couldn't keep your mouth shut this entire trip, so don't make a liar out of me!" Snake gives him an A-OK sign.)
464** The 2009 movie on the other hand has it that Snake Eyes keeps a vow of silence...and the reason is to mourn the Hard Master's death. Yeah.
465* WalkingShirtlessScene:
466** Dr. Mindbender, who also counts as FetishRetardant.
467** And Gung-Ho, whose debut in the comic was in ''Alaska''. Lampshaded by another Joe who can't believe even a marine would go so far to show off his corps tattoos.
468** That's nothing - Quick Kick is often seen only wearing karate pants, and his debut scene of the cartoon was set in Antarctica. Not only was he shirtless, but he was walking ''barefoot'' on solid ice!
469* WeakenedByTheLight: Zartan and his weakness to sunlight.
470* WeaponizedLandmark: The comics reveal that the Joes have an orbital KillSat hidden inside the Chrysler Building.
471* WhamEpisode: IDW's ''G.I. Joe: Cobra'' #12 in which Chuckles [[spoiler: shoots Cobra Commander dead]] and then [[spoiler: blows the body, the base and himself up with a nuke]].
472* WhatIf: ''GI Joe. Vs. the Transformers'', where in Volume 1 Cobra had found the Ark and almost all the Transformers (the ones to escape were Bumblebee and Wheeljack). As a result of making them giant Battle Android Troopers, Cobra showed they were a lot more dangerous than previously thought.
473* WheelOfPain: Cobra keeps these around for no readily apparent reason.
474* WorthyOpponent: Snake Eyes to Storm Shadow, and in one comic, Ace to Wild Weasel (when their dogfight was a draw due to them being out of ammo, both men saluted the other, did a crossover fly-by...and went home, their female gunners wondering what just happened).
475* WrenchWench: Cover Girl. According to her bio, this was actually a [[InvokedTrope conscious decision]] on her part, having grown tired of her previous career as a fashion model.
476[[/folder]]
477
478----
479
480And knowing is half the battle.
481

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