G.I. Joes
"G.I. Joe is the codename for America's daring, highly trained special missions force. Its purpose: To defend human freedom against Cobra, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world."
Known as "Special Counter–Terrorism Unit Delta" by the Pentagon, G.I. Joe was created by Generals Joseph B. Colton and Lawrence J. Flagg to serve originally as America's main counter-strike force and later as the Global Integrated Joint Operations Entity for NATO.
In General
- Adaptation Origin Connection: G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers has the Joes formed to stop Cobra when the terrorist organization has enslaved the Autobots and Decepticons for use as weapons after the Cybertronians' arrival on Earth. Optimus Prime eventually manages to break free from Cobra's control and convinces the Joes to liberate his fellow Autobots to turn the tide against Cobra and the Decepticons.
- Artistic License – Military: Although Duke and Flint form a Command Triumvirate with Hawk in most continuities, First Sergeants and Warrant Officers are actually fairly low on the chain of command. If a Real Life Military command structure was utilized, Beach Head (Staff Sergeant), Stalker (First Class Sergeant), Sgt. Slaughter (Gunnery Sergeant) and Shipwreck (Chief Petty Officer) would be of equal rank, then Duke (First Sergeant) and Flint (Flight/Chief Warrant Officer 3) outranking them, and all of them being outranked by Torpedo (Chief Warrant Officer 4), Steeler (Second Lieutenant), Falcon (First Lieutenant, later Captain), Ace, Doc and Grid-Iron (Captains). Likewise, Keel-Haul (Vice-Admiralnote ) would outrank Hawk (Colonel, later Brigadier Generalnote ).
- Bigger on the Inside: Many vehicles, especially aircraft, are depicted hauling up to 3 characters when there's only 2 seats. The Sky Striker fighter and Dragonfly attack chopper are infamously remembered for doing so.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: In the comics: Ninjas = Jedi but Wet-Suit and Torpedonote could also qualify.
- In the cartoon: Spirit, Quick Kick and Sgt. Slaughter, hands down.
- In comics: Only Sgt. Slaughter (again) and Outback.
- Code Name: Each and every member has its own, and that's the name most fans identify them with. For starters: G.I. Joe is the codename for the officially called "Special Counter–Terrorism Unit Delta".
- Dub Name Change: Initially called Action Force in foreign markets, until G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra made the original name an acronym that worked on an international level.
- Expy: As A Real American Hero was born out of Larry Hama's Fury Force pitch to Marvel, they are essentially a mixture of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Delta Force.
open/close all folders
- GI Joe Air Force note
- GI Joe Army note
- GI Joe Marines note
- GI Joe Navy and Coast Guard note
- GI Joe Ninjas and Martial Artists note
- Slaughter's Renegades note
Other
Big Lob
Real Name: Bradley J. Sanders
"When Big Lob makes his Big move, he always shoots to score the Big win!"
Voiced By: Brad Sanders (G.I. Joe: The Movie)
G. I. Joe's "grenadier" reservist. A fan favorite that, nevertheless, has never been seen outside The Movie.
- The Ace: Excelling in six different sports, but favoring basketball, hence his Code Name.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: He's unmatched throwing grenades, being this his specialty.
- Announcer Chatter/Third-Person Person: To the annoyance of his teammates.
- As Himself: He was named after his own voice actor.
- Child Prodigy: His physical condition is very well tuned, demonstrating all of his tremendous abilities since elementary school.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: He was part of the Beach Head's Rawhydes.
- Shout-Out: If his jersey is not giving you a hint, he's from Chicago. Most likely a big fan of "Butterbean" Bob Love.
- Those Two Guys: With Tunnel Rat.
- Toyless Toyline Character: He had to wait 23 years to get his first action figure up to 2010.
Chameleon
Real Name: Erika La Tene
A French-Vietmanese intelligence officer, half-sister of Anastasia De Cobray, also known as the Baroness.
- Cain and Abel: Abel to her half-sister, the Baroness.
- Magic Plastic Surgery: Used in conjunction with her already existent physical resemblance to the Baroness to help infiltrate Cobra.
- Palette Swap: Her toy is a repainted Baroness, with her file card explaining the resemblance via replacing the imprisoned original.
- Toyless Toyline Character: Inverted. She was a very rare toyline-only case, until she appeared in the IDW comics.
Scoop
Real Name: Leonard Michaels
"I always strive to do my job... and then some."
Voiced By: Michael Benyaer (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, "Operation: Dragonfire" arc of DiC series)
G.I. Joe's private reporter.
- The Hero: He's the centerpiece of Operation Dragonfire.
- Heel–Face Turn: In Operation Dragonfire, Scoop starts out as an undercover Crimson Guardsman spying on G.I. Joe, who he blames for destroying his home. Of course, he eventually learns Cobra is the true culprit.
- New Meat: One issue of Special Missions had him tagging along on a covert op to record everything that goes down to satisfy a new DOD directive. His squadmates resent having to educate him every step of the way on the things that aren’t covered in basic training.
- Tuckerization: He is modeled and named after the NBC reporter Mike Leonard.
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: As pointed out by multiple commenters, Scoop's specialisation as a reporter is rather dubious for a military unit.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: However, his media savviness does sometimes help in convincing government higher-ups that the Joes' mission achieved an overall positive result, even if it did not exactly fulfill the goal that was laid out beforehand.
Shockwave
Real Name: Jason A. Faria
"I never know what's on the other side of a door when I kick it down. Do you think I'd do that if I knew what's behind of it? Get real!"
Voiced By: Gary Chalk (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, DiC series)
Special Weapons And Tactics officer from the Detroit police department working for the Joes. A late addition to the team in the last DiC's cartoon episodes but he was a prominent character in Special Missions comics by Marvel.
- Adaptational Name Change: Since 2008, Hasbro changed his code name to "Shockblast" in order to avoid confussion with the Decepticon. Plus they had already registered that trademark when they couldn’t use the name “Shockwave” previously.
- Ax-Crazy: Turns out he gets quite a bit enthusiastic to kick doors down. Hawk stated that this is precisely what makes him the ideal candidate for pointman on urban assault missions.
- Child Prodigy: He enrolled for training in the Detroit's police academy at 16, approving all the subjects with flying colors.
- Determinator: Being the pointman means that you'll be the first element within a squad to literally call all the shots and get involved into an ensured firefight.
- Hidden Depths/Religious Bruiser: His second specialty is choir, he's still singing hymns for some services when it's required.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: During the period where Hasbro couldn’t get a trademark on the name “Shockwave”, a nearly identical character named Wide Scope was introduced to the relaunched toyline, similar to the way Heavy Duty was repurposed as an ersatz Roadblock. The only tangible difference between them without looking at Wide Scope’s filecard bio is that he has a Non-Human Sidekick, his beloved K-9 Lamont.
- Tenor Boy: His singing voice.
Specialist Trakker
Real Name: Matt Trakker
The head of MASK and apparently also a member of GI Joe after the franchise was purchased by Hasbro.
See his character profile on M.A.S.K..
