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Admirals
Admiral Keel-Haul
Real Name: Everett P. Colby
"I don't know which is better, commanding an aircraft carrier or flying jets, that's what I do both."
The director of Naval Operations for the team, operating from the U.S.S. Flagg supercarrier.
- Ace Pilot: Flew F-4 Phantoms in his younger days, and he can still climb into the cockpit if the need arises.
- Adapted Out: Never appeared in the Sunbow cartoon, where his role was filled by regular Navy commander, Admiral Warren Ledger.
- Cool Ship: He was in charge of THE U.S.S. Flagg, the HUGE-ASS G.I. Joe flagship that could carry up to three Sky Strikers!
- Dreadful Musician: Plays the clarinet, but apparently not very well.
- Expy: Of Top Gun's Head instructor, Viper. Down to the Tom Skerritt look.
- Frontline General: Admirals are close to this anyway,note but Keel-Haul will also double as an extra pilot if his carrier group is low on manpower.
- Hidden Depths: He's a nationally rated chess player.
Sailors
Barbecue
Real Name: Gabriel A. Kelly
"Makes no difference to me if it's a four alarm fire or a warehouse full with oozing, toxic sludge. As long as i get a chance to knock down doors with my axe, you can count me in!"
Voiced By: Loren Lester (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Sunbow series), Lee Jeffrey (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, DiC series), Jerry O'Connell (Renegades)
The Emergency, Fire, and Rescue specialist for the team.
- Ax-Crazy: A literal case... in the very first incursion in Cobra Island and after running out of options, he just jumped over a Hiss tank to bash its cockpit's plexiglas with his axe.
- Dub Name Change: In Brazil, he's called Fogueira (Brazilian Portuguese for "fire pit").
- In the Blood: A seventh-generation firefighter. His father and grandfather were part of the Boston Fire Department, but Barbecue decided to become a Navy Fire & Rescue Tech instead.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: In the Sunbow episode "The Viper Is Coming", he mistakes a terse appointment reminder from a heavily accented window washer ("Ze Viper is coming, 575 Vest Corner") for a cryptic warning from Cobra. Sure enough, this misinterpretation inadvertently leads the Joes to a Convenient Enemy Base and a few other strange coincidences.
- Those Two Guys: With Airtight, especially in the cartoon. Both men were jovial pranksters off-duty, but were considered the go-to guys when the Joes needed soldiers for a hostile environment situation.
- Working-Class Hero: In Renegades.
Deep Six
Real Name: Malcom R. Willoughby
"Of course is cold, wet and dark down there on the sea bottom... That's the way I like it."
Voiced By: Hal Rayle (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Sunbow series)
Mini-sub pilot and and master diver for the G.I. Joe team.
- Animal Companion: For a while he had a diving partner, a dolphin called Finback.
- Embarrassing Hobby/Incredibly Lame Fun: His main hobbies consist in bottlecap collecting, playing solitaire and solving the New York Times crossword puzzles.
- Made of Iron: He has demonstrated an incredibly endurance to withstand the crushing depths of the ocean.Torpedo: "Down in the depths where light doesn't reach and the water pressure can crush you like an eggshell-that's where Deep Six likes it!"
- The Quiet One: He lives for himself, so many other Joes haven't ever hear him speak once.
- Undying Loyalty: Make no mistake, Deep Six may be an aloof and unresponsive fella' but if any Joe is in danger, he'll be there to make the saving. Once in the original Marvel saga, he had to stand by himself against Firefly and Wild Weasel only to protect some of his fallen comrades who had been injured in battle.
Shipwreck
Real Name: Hector X. Delgado
"I've never seen a more useless crew of lubbers as the GI JOE team at sea. If it wasn't for a salty dog like me, they'd all get swept overboard at the first squall."
Voiced By: Neil Ross (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Sunbow series), Lee Tockar (Reel FX films), Carlos Alazraqui (G.I. Joe: Renegades), Mark Oliver (G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout)
Navy Senior Petty Officer, SEAL, and the Joes' maritime warfare expert. He was a huge character in the cartoon, featuring as a major player in more episodes than anyone short of the main cast (Duke, Flint, Lady Jaye, Destro and Cobra Commander).
- Animal Companion/Pirate Parrot: Polly.
- Casanova Wannabe: Flirts with quite a few girls over the series, but only succeeds with Mara.
- Cast as a Mask: "Once Upon a Joe" had Zartan impersonate Shipwreck, so Neil Ross voices Zartan-as-Shipwreck.
- Composite Character/Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Sort of, in the cartoon. He seemed to have absorbed many of Clutch's personality traits (the ones he didn't already exhibit) and seemed to be to the cartoon what Clutch was to the comic.
- In G.I. Joe Extreme "Harpoon" is basically him in a wet-suit.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: In the cartoon, he's generally a Plucky Comic Relief, Butt-Monkey and rather lazy. This doesn't mean he can't handle Cobra goons.
- Deadpan Snarker: Not above making sarcastic remarks, but in Image/DDP comics he produced veritable jewels.
"...so we blast the doohickey with one o´those "Star Wars" missiles that isn´t supposed to exist, and be done with it!"
- Happily Adopted: In "Captives of Cobra", he is informed that his nephew is upset about learning that he was adopted. He cheers his nephew up by informing him that he was also adopted and that adoptive parents can be just as caring and loving as one's natural parents.
- Hunk: He's manly, handsome and muscular with a few shirtless scenes and a great beard.
- Interspecies Romance/Starcrossed Lovers: In Sunbow´s "Memories of Mara", we have him romantically involved with a very attractive mermaid note . At the end of the episode, he has to tearfully wave goodbye since she can breathe air for just about five minutes before she starts to very painfully suffocate, and thus has to stay in the ocean.
- Lawyer Friendly Substitute/No Celebrities Were Harmed: Was based, in part, off of Jack Nicholson's character from The Last Detail. You can watch it here.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: Not so much as Clutch, but in the original series Shipwreck does get to occasionally have some fun with this as he got slapped by Scarlett or Cover Girl when he tried to hit on them (he eventually got a formal relationship with Cover Girl in the comics).
- No More for Me: His
deleted cameo from My Little Pony: The Movie (1986) would've involved him seeing one of the ponies, pouring out his drink and frantically praying. Hasbro's response was "Very funny, no." - Official Couple: With Cover Girl in Devil's Due comics. Played for Laughs in Renegades where "Courtney Krieger" is still a famous top model hottie he named his tugboat after.
"Hey, she may be not that pretty, but at least this one's all mine!"
- Spanner in the Works: In Sunbow's cartoon.
- TWICE in "Twenty Questions": With Hector Ramirez and his crew, Shipwreck foils what seems to be a smear campaign against the Joes, painting them as a needless expense to the taxpayers. He shows the existence of COBRA, the enemy the Joes fight, is too real to deny. "Arnold," one of the crew, is also revealed to be the Baroness, who complains Shipwreck ruined everything.
- When the rescue party is pinned down in a cache of explosive gas canisters, Shipwreck runs a Cobra drilling machine over other gas canisters (laughing gas, itching gas and tear gas) to cause enough of a distraction to get them out and rescue Hector and Tom the cameraman.
- "Once Upon A Joe" had him capture Zartan, who'd earlier impersonated Shipwreck. Seizing the MacGuffin device, he activates it and the characters from the story he'd told the orphans come alive to attack the Cobra Forces; Dr. Mindbender gets a Pie in the Face TWICE: once each from a Super-Deformed Leatherhead and a Super-Deformed Shipwreck.
- "There's No Place Like Springfield" has Polly help him remember Dr. Mullaney's "Hot Water" formula and mix up enough of Mullaney's formula to turn water into explosive chemicals. When the Dreadnoks open fire on him, they hit the sink he'd just poured the mixture down, setting off a chain reaction that the Joes also witness.
- TWICE in "Twenty Questions": With Hector Ramirez and his crew, Shipwreck foils what seems to be a smear campaign against the Joes, painting them as a needless expense to the taxpayers. He shows the existence of COBRA, the enemy the Joes fight, is too real to deny. "Arnold," one of the crew, is also revealed to be the Baroness, who complains Shipwreck ruined everything.
Torpedo
Real Name: Edward W. Leialoha
"You want a quote from me? I don't give quotes, talk is cheap! I just do my job."
Voiced By: Michael Yama (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Sunbow series), Phil Hayes (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, DiC series)
The first SEAL to join the team, specializing in stealth and demolitions. He is also a certified diving instructor. Larry Hama named him after Steve Leialoha, one of his co-workers at Marvel Comics.
- Ascended Extra: Originally just popped up here and there (and was only a frogman). After IDW picked up the ARAH comic where Marvel left off, he was upgraded to a squad leader and saw more land-based/amphibious action.
- Child Prodigy: Became a black belt in three different martial arts (Wushu, Kenpo, and Go-Ju-Ryu) before the age of 19.
- Combat Pragmatist: He isn't avert to use weapons to solve confrontations every time he meets with the enemy, specially his trademark harpoon and scuba knife.
- Depending on the Writer: The original filecard describes him as a Consummate Professional with a "cold fish" type personality. In the cartoon, he's considerably more laid back (to make him a better Foil for the gruff Deep-Six). The comics split the difference.
- Determinator: You don't become a SEAL if you're not one.
- Hidden Depths: Is a strict vegetarian.
- McNinja: He's actually NOT a ninja, but he's about as close as a "normal" Joe can get to one. And as shown in Silent Option, he has no problem keeping up with Snake-Eyes and Helix.
- What the Hell, Hero?: In Silent Option, he has this reaction when he discovers Snake-Eyes is carrying white phosphorous grenades (banned for good reasons).
Wet Suit
Real Name: Brian M. Forrest
"Well, with all due respect, nobody told me NOT to blow it up, SIR!"
Voiced By: Jack Angel (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Sunbow series), Maurice LaMarche (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, DiC series) and Phil Hayes (Valor vs. Venom)
The Joes' resident under water demolitions expert. During the Sunbow's cartoon last few seasons, he was one of the most constant presences in the team's roster.
- Devilish Curly Hair: In most of his portrayals, we have him with light brown/"dirty" blond curly hair except for his v3 action figure, where he's seen rocking a quite badass mulleted buzz-cut around.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: He's depicted in toys, cartoons and comics as "way too nasty". He's one of the very few Joes none of his teammates has a single nice thing to say about beyond his job proficiency.
- Mad Bomber: A sub-aquatic variant. He's the go-to Joe for specialized UDT.
- No Social Skills: Always depicted as "175 pounds of mean on the hoof."
- Surpassed the Teacher: Even his instructors at the S.E.A.L. academy, known for being the toughest and meanest, admit to their dismay that he's even tougher and meaner than them.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Leatherneck, both of them being possibly the more despised within Joes' ranks.
Coast Guard
Cutter
Real Name: Ronald "Skip" A. Stone
"Semper paratus. And I mean it - I'm always ready to take on COBRA on the high seas. Sure they're as nasty as a nor'easter in the dead of winter, but then again, I'm even nastier."
Voiced By: Gregg Berger (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Sunbow series)
The sole Joe from the U.S. Coast Guard.
- Ace Custom/Cool Boat: His main role is as skipper of two of the Joes' most iconic vessels this side of the U.S.S. Flagg, the Killer Whale hovercraft and the Shark 9000 interceptor attack boat. Both of them carry amongst their main armament SeaMines.
- The Captain: Second lieutenant in fact, but still.
- Determinator: He pestered his local congresspersons to get an appointment for the USNA in Annapolis because his only ambition was a life and career in the seas. After seeing he lacked of two important things (money and influences) opted to joint to the Coast Guard instead. He did exactly the same after finding out the Joes didn't have a Coast Guard representative.
- Mundane Utility: Turns out that Cutter could as well be a shrewd Windbag Politician, so if the Joes are facing a big, fat trouble with Uncle Sugar or some Obstructive Bureaucrat a**holes, you can count on Cutter's sharp tongue to deal with it.
- Punny Name: His is one from a popular game where you must make a little flat pebble "skip" over the water surface as many times as you can.
