G.I. Joe

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G.I. Joe was originally a line of action figures & toys from the 1960s based more on the real-world version of the US military. It's as generic as it sounds, which is probably not why you're here. In the early 80s, the toy line rebranded to be based on a fictional elite team of specialists gathered from across the US military's different branches to battle the forces of COBRA, a terrorist organization/cult that sought world domination. They gained enough attention that they earned an official comics line from Marvel Comics, but the main reason it tends to be remembered is because of the batshit crazy 80s cartoon "G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero", which basically turned the premise more into a low-key science fiction setting.

As Hasbro has released an official roleplaying game for the setting based on Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, and it's a legitimate inspiration for a campaign of d20 Modern, we've gone ahead and added a page for it.

The Basics of the Joeverse

G.I. Joe is an elite anti-terrorism unit in the American military founded to battle the actions of COBRA, a terrorist organization and borderline (if that) cult created to overthrow the existing world order and replace it with the iron grip of COBRA. The setting has a distinct science fiction slant, although how much of a one depends on which universe; even the 80s comicverse eventually added things like genetic engineering and robots.

Notable Characters

Given this was a universe built out of action figures, it makes sense that both the Joes and COBRA have plenty of unique figures.

G.I. Joe

Being the main characters of the franchise, the Joes get the Lion's share of unique and interesting characters. It helped that lead writer Larry Hama was himself a Vietnam vet, and managed to make the Joes fell like real soldiers in spite of the standards of the time.

Hawk was the original field commander of the team, taking command of almost all situations until the death of the original commander, Gen. Flagg. A good commander, in the sense he earned personal respect of the team along with the recognition of his rank, he also led the expansions of the team through the years. One constant has been Hawk's willingness to go to bat for his people, up to and including ordering them to go underground when the US government has accused several Joes of being targets rather than trusted soldiers.

Roadblock serves as the team's heavy machine gunner. Specifically, the M2 Browning Heavy Machine Gun. Those who don't know the franchise but know their weapons are asking, "Wait, one guy on the Ma Deuce?" Yes, he is one guy on the Ma Deuce. One guy that can carry it like the rest of the team carry assault rifles. He's also a qualified gourmet chef.

Gung-Ho was the first Marine to join the Joes, hailing from the deep bayous of Louisiana and basically acting as the living embodiment of the Marine Myth in the series. In his first mission, he essentially assaulted a civilian by literally tearing the man's sports car door off, then beating the rest of the car with it. Which eventually morphed into the in-Joe urban legend of him lifting a COBRA tank off his foot after it ran him over. Noted for always running around with a bare chest, which means he can show off the massive Eagle, Globe, and Anchor tattoo on his pecs.

Snake Eyes is one of the most recognized Joes, thanks to his distinct appearance of always wearing a black bodysuit and never speaking. A member of a Long Range Recon Patrol in Vietnam with fellow Joe Stalker, horrific wounds in battle were compounded by the deaths of his family in the same car accident that killed Cobra Commander's brother. A period of training with a clan of ninjas later, Snake Eyes was recalled to serve on the expanding Joe team to assist in even more covert actions against COBRA's followers. Infamous among the enemies of the Joes for being more like a force of nature than physical being.

COBRA

COBRA's official head honcho is the mysterious figure known only as Cobra Commander, his face perpetually covered either by a blue cloth mask probably ripped off of Marvel's Baron Zemo, or a much more iconic and cool-looking helmet with featureless polished faceplate. He is generally depicted as a brilliant (if insane) and highly charismatic figure with great ideas but also terrible tempers and a raging ego. Even in the 80s cartoon, whilst best known for shouting "retreat" when it seemed battle was going against him, a lot of his plans were genuinely quite clever! The 80s animated movie presented an alternative origin for Cobra Commander, in that he was an exile from a lost civilization of biotech-using Serpentfolk hidden in the Arctic who planned to reclaim the world they had ruled before the destruction of the dinosaurs... most people prefer to forget this iteration exists, if only for the HFYness of his 80s comic backstory, where he was a failed used car salesman who went mad after his family were killed in a traffic accident, and subsequently reinvented himself as a world-threatening supervillain.

Contrasting the Commander, Destro is a cold, calculating arms dealer hailing from Scotland, and looking like he should be dancing to Boney M in his spare time with his plunging neckline. Supplying COBRA and all other bad actors worldwide with weapons and mercenaries, Destro's most defining trait is the metal mask he wears to look like knockoff Dr. Doom. In universe, it's a tradition in his family after his ancestor was sentenced to have a mask fitted to his face after he sold arms to both sides of a medieval conflict. You'd think that with his money he could move on, but then the Scottish traditions should not be mocked.

The Baroness rounds out the high leadership of COBRA, a blue-blooded aristocrat who's as much of a gifted genius as she is absolutely corrupt to the utter core. Her intelligence and personal wealth is of such a scale that it's very likely that she's the power behind the organization. She's also responsible for a lot of...awakenings for many young boys in the 80's, considering she's evil, some sort of Central European, and typically wears spandex and glasses.

Storm Shadow is pretty much a palette swap of Snake Eyes, being a ninja, except wearing white - and thus defeating the point of being a stealthy ninja. Despite being of the same clan as Snake Eyes, he decided to go renegade and get hired to act as Cobra Commander's personal bodyguard.

Specific Continuities

The original G.I.Joe continuity is known as G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero. And even that is split into two distinct continuities; the very much lighter and softer 80s cartoon universe, and the darker, more mature and realistic Marvel comic.

The G.I.Joe: ARH cartoon got a movie, which was highly controversial. It was then followed by two seasons officially set post-movie, released by DiC Entertainment instead of the Marvel/Sunbow teamup, but these were so bad they got the series canceled.

But you can't keep a series down, and G.I.Joe began to see reboots both in animation and in comics.

The Transformers Connection

Since G.I.Joe and Transformers are both products of the same company, Hasbro, one has to wonder whether or not the two worlds interlock. The answer is a... maybe. It really depends on the continuity.

Some fans have theorized that the 80s cartoon takes place in the same world as both Transformers and Inhumanoids, a nightmarish 13 episode mini-series about a team of Power Armored scientists trying to prevent humanity's conquest or annihilation by primordial giant horrors that have emerged from the center of the Earth. Considering that two episodes of the 80s cartoon actually feature giant monster deities, plus the weirdness of the movie, it's not that hard to envision.

There are several different official "Transformers meet/fight G.I.Joe"-themed crossover comics by different publishers.

Finally, IDW publishing officially welded both of their Transformers and G.I.Joe comics together by placing them in the same universe, leading to things like ex-Decepticon Skywarp actually joining the Joes.

G.I.Joe: The RPG

Released in 2022.