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Sergeant Slaughter
Voiced By: Bob Remus (G.I. Joe: The Movie, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, "Operation: Dragonfire" and G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, DiC series)
"AT EASE, DISEASE… AND WELCOME TO THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE!"
A fictionalized version of a certain legendary WWF wrestler, for he is who oversees the Joes' training and commands two sub-factions of the team, the Renegades and the Marauders. He is also skilled at driving armored vehicles, treating them the same way as he treats a new recruit: Pushing them to limits of their performance and specification.
- Ace Custom/Thememobile: The Tag Team Terminator Assault Tank. Later the Warthog Advanced Infantry Fighting Vehicle.
- As Himself: Every single time you see him in the cartoon, it's his voice that you've heard.
- Catchphrase: "Cobra can run… BUT THEY CAN´T HIDE!" and "AWE-SOME!"
- Chekhov's Skill: Studied Ancient Greek in college. This comes in handy during a time-travel episode of the cartoon.
- Cultured Warrior: Easily the most Schwarzenegger-esque member of the team in the cartoon, but turns out he's college-educated and knows how to speak Ancient Greek (which is VERY different from Modern Greek).note
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Second only to R. Lee Ermey in all pop culture.
- Dub Name Change: In Latin America, he is better known by his action figure's name overseas "Sargento Bravo" (Roughly translated as "Sergeant Rough").
- The Face: Robert Remus… the man, the character! He was more successful in being the franchise's poster boy than what Duke or Grid-Iron ever were. He's close to Snake-Eyes in terms of who's the franchise's most popular character. His was the mug in ads, cartoons, comics, toys and even during his AWA stint promoting the franchise, his persona and related merchandise.
- Wolverine Publicity: From 1986 to 1991 (when he was dropped from the franchise after his Real Life counterpart's WWF Iraqi Heel run), at least for the toyline and the cartoon. Not so much in the comics, where he just had a few cameos to promote his character.
- A Father to His Men: "We all go home or NOBODY goes home!"
- God Guise: In the "G.I. Joe and the Golden Fleece" episode of the Sunbow 'toon, after his team gets transported back to Ancient Greece, the locals mistake Sgt. Slaughter for Hercules.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: Taking a Cobra Viper by the wrist and performing the Giant Swing to clear the path… Head-bashing armed enemy troops? No sweat!
- Large Ham: Drill Sergeant meets Pro Wrestler. WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Sgt. Butcher from the DDP comics. He's also seen at Snake Eyes' funeral in ARAH #214; naming and trademark issues aren't really an issue there, as it's a silent issue.
- No Name Given: Unlike his Real Life counterpart, his real name is classified.
- No Indoor Voice: He actually did have one, but he only used it when things took a dark turn.
- One-Man Army: In the cartoon, he essentially filled the role Snake-Eyes did in the comics, as the Charles Atlas Superhero who could take on ninjas, robots, and Eldritch Abominations singlehandedly.Cobra Commander: That man has the constitution of a vending machine!
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: In The Movie, Sarge realized he was the only one capable to be a match for the overwhelming power of Nemesis Enforcer, since he posed a clear and present threat to each and every one of Sarge's teammates.
- Power Makeover: While the real Sgt. Slaughter was somewhat Acrofatic, the Joeverse version had the Heroic Build that was standard for most '80s action heroes.
- Sunglasses at Night: His mirrored aviators.
- Training from Hell: Played with. His training is brutal but it's designed to make sure that the Joes are at their absolute best.Sgt. Slaughter: My job is to whip you into shape, and I mean WHIP!!!
Gung-Ho
Real Name: Ettienne R. LaFitte
"I thought you wanted the job done right. Isn't that why you called in the Marines?"
Voiced By: Chris Latta (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Sunbow series), Scott McNeil (Valor vs. Venom), Charlie Adler (G.I. Joe: Resolute), Curt Bonnem (G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout)
A "Recondo", member of Marine Force Recon Unit, the Corps' special forces scouting and reconnaissance experts.
- Badass Family: His family can handle themselves in dealing with Cobra without the Joes' help.
- Badass Boast: A fountain of 'em.
"What... do you wanna live forever?"
"Of course they only sent one Marine, you only got one firefight here!"
- Boisterous Bruiser: Explicitly called the team's "crazy uncle" in the Animated Series' bio. His Action Figure File Card calls him the "Craziest jarhead ever to crawl out of Parris Island".
- Most of the time in a "Powerhouse diumvirate" with Roadblock. It was him who unhinged a Shellby GT Cobra door and totaled the car with it, and he was the one who placed a wooden support beam back on its place with his bare fist.
- Gratuitous French: During his first few appearances. Justified since Gung-Ho is from Louisiana and spends most of his off duty time having fun in "Na´ leans".
- He Who Fights Monsters: Downplayed in a rare but curious literal case. He was in charge of one of many sub-groups that spawned within the franchise early in The '90s called "The Mega Marines" whose mission was to fight against Mindbender's new army of grossed-out mooks called "Mega Monsters".
- Mama's Boy: In the cartoon, he apologizes to his grandma for being late for the reunion since duty calls.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Scarlett notes in an early issue of the comic that his Cajun accent seems to come and go.
- Parts Unknown: His birthplace, "Fer-de-Lance, Louisiana" is the only fictional one amongst the Joes ranks.
- Ragin' Cajun: Known for his rough and tumble attitude. Before enlisting in the military, he was a notorious brawler and knife fighter.
- Semper Fi: The first Corps' member in the Joe Team.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Normally only wears an open vest, revealing a large tattoo of the USMC crest on his chest. It gets lampshaded in one comics story where he doesn't change his clothing at all for arctic conditions.
Leatherneck
Real Name: Wendell A. Metzger
"There's only one kind of effective training... HARD, So get down and give me fifty!"
Voiced By: Chuck McCann (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Sunbow series)
Former drill instructor turned into vehicle driver and officer.
- Always Second Best: When you mention "G.I. Joe's jarhead" you'll instantly think of any other in this list instead of Leatherneck.
- Butt-Monkey: At least in the original Marvel saga, Leatherneck's attitude always have him receiving some sort of Laser-Guided Karma, if something bad is going to happen that is humiliating or embarrassing around The Pit, count on Leatherneck to be its recipient.
- The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Since both cartoons were produced by the same studio, you can bet Leatherneck inherited "Eric The Cavalier"'s traits in Dungeons & Dragons.
- Defeat Means Friendship: O.K. maybe "friendship" is a wild guess, but rest assured you can earn his respect if you beat him in some instance, as Outback demonstrated in the Marvel's comic.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: For some reason, his toys always depict him as having a dark brown bushy 'stache and straight hair. His cartoon and comics depictions always have him with wavy, curly laid-back black hair ala Captain Marvel and a pencil mustache.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Many Joes seem to despise Leatherneck habit of not being "one of the boys" outside of a task or a mission, keeping a full-time Drill Sergeant Nasty attitude towards his teammates.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In Sunbow's "Lets play soldiers" episode, we found out his soft-spot is for down-on-their-luck children who should have deserve better.
- Kavorka Man: Ironically since he has always find trouble on getting dates.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Wet Suit, they despise each other in the surface, but in some strange way they seem to understand the other quite well.
Mainframe
Real Name: Blaine L. Parker
"Just get me to the target, and I can crack any system"
Voiced By: Patrick Pinney (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Sunbow series), Lucas Schuneman (G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout)
The original team's hacker and master programmer.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: More often than not, if Zarana happens to be in the same room with him, you can even feel a Dating Catwoman foreshadowing coming through.
- Brought Down to Badass: According to his Marvel comics debut, he used to be a Retired Badass Army Airborne Staff Sergeant in 'Nam, until he re-enlisted again and changed his specialty to computers. You may not see him carrying a gun too often now, but he perfectly can.
- Cool Old Guy: A tech-savvy veteran. He also demonstrates a caring soft spot for rookie recruits.
- Dude in Distress: Nobody's sure why he always falls nose-first into this, but a swift Rescue Arc will be set in motion for him since he's the team's tech head honcho, and if that's not possible, you can bet Mainframe will find a way to bite the Cobra's butt back.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Of Sparks, one of the (at first) original cartoon-only Joes, down to their similar helmets-headsets and uniforms. You can even make a conscious account of every trope depicting Mainframe in here and apply it also to Sparks.
- In Sgt. Savage and his Screaming Eagles his role was filled-in by "Mouse", a clumsy mountain of a man, but is a down-to-business crack hacker.
