Sunbow G.I. Joe Season 2

[Swindle]

Last Hour Until Doomsday

* A rare chance to see the Baroness without glasses.





* Baroness jumped from the Cobra Moray Hydrofoil rather than be captured. How long was she swimming in open sea until she was picked up?  That's pretty amazing she survived.

* Lady Jaye looks pretty hot in the Baroness' uniform.

* Flint and Lady Jaye get a lot of focus in this episode, while Mainframe and Wetsuit provide support.

* Wild Weasel shows up.  Cool.  Only season 2 appearance? Hmmm

* I was always obsessed with these grey Firebats.  They showed up in season one, as well.  Wonder why Hasbro never released a grey repaint.  Guess it was too cartoon obscure.

* Cobra security guard not doing his job, while reading Cobra Life. 

* Definitely a season one like touch.  Destro and Baroness feeding Lady Jaye and Flint to octopus.

* Dr. Mindbender and some Vipers show up.  Rest of the episode used Cobras.

* Cobra Commander losing his temper and destroy equipment.  Classic.

* Lady Jaye and Flint having trouble with a BAT was always a memorable sequence from this episode.  Lady Jaye beats it with a hairpin.  

* "The three biggest snakes got away."  This has to take place before Arise Serpentor, Arise.

* The gag with Shipwreck and the BAT hand is great.

Overall, this definitely felt more like a season one episode with Lady Jaye and Flint as the stars, with the season two people sprinkled in. 

[Bravo]

It was written for season 1 but not produced. IIRC, Buzz Dixon said the episode's writer was ill or died, and they made some edits to put it into Season 2. Yeah, it should take place before Arise, Serpentor, Arise. The only problem with that is that in part 1 of that miniseries, the Joes act like they've never faced BATS before. There were other scripts that Serpentor was shoe-horned into, as they were already preparing season 2 when Hasbro decided to add Serpentor. That's why Serpentor has ever-changing throne rooms and computer monitor appearances.

Wild Weasel got a season 2 speaking part but Bludd didn't. (IIRC, he only appears, in a tuxedo, in Cobrathon.)

Grey Firebats, the closest thing is that light blue Retaliation one they renamed Sky Sweeper and made for GI JOE, sadly they also added big tailfin engines.

Interesting the Cobra pilots that appear there and nowhere else. Also, never made into a toy.


Even in season 2 in their few appearances, they kept using Cobra Officers as security troopers...I have to wonder if that was a misinterpretation that stuck: "Cobra security officer". Because they are used more often in that role than in any leadership role. Sometimes they turn into Cobra Troopers in the next scene!

Another rarity, a season 2 water moccasin appearance. How huge water moccasins are here!

[Swindle]

Computer Complications

* The Transportable Tactical Battle Platform! Cool!

* Something as simple as Shipwreck fishing shows why he's so popular. I just don't understand why some comic fans don't get it.



* Cobra subs: Anger, Revenge, Dagger! I love Sunbow only vehicles.

* This episode also has Cobra Commander acting as the Cobra commander, while still answering to Serpentor. Makes sense.



* Dreadknoks camped out right outside of G.I. Joe HQers. No Thrasher to be found in this episode, I believe. Why doesn't G.I. Joe sweep the area after Zandar botched his mission?



* One of my pet peeves is Zarana is not animated very attractive except for in G.I. Joe the Movie. She's very pretty in her disguise.

* I imagine standard military getting a chance to serve time on the G.I. Joe HQers is a sought after assignment.

* Why is the forth in command of G.I. Joe pulling guard duty at the computer division?



* Mainframe fixing stuff. One of the reasons I will never put DIC on the level as Sunbow. The Sunbow-verse felt like a real, lived in world. DIC just felt like a cheap toy commercial.

* They don't have great body language to begin with. Mainframe was a bit of a jerk.



* Zarana briging along a lunchbox. It's details like this that make it feel like a real world to me.



* Zarana's heavy boxes nearly get her, save for Mainframe, and the ice is broken and they go out on a date.

* Big time error on Serpentor.  I also hate it when his helmet shields his mouth.  His throne room looks like it's in a basement somewhere.

* "At once, At once!  Everything with him is, 'At once!'" "I must have control of the Joe subs... at once!"  "... but of course Commander, we always do the impossible at once."  - Love the exchange from Serpentor to Cobra Commander to Zartan.  It may be my favorite part of the episode.  Cobra Commander is as bad as Serpentor.  LOL

* Zarana and Mainframe go on a date!... it ends up being a beating up Dreadknoks date.

* That poor owner.  He lost everything thanks to Zartan.

* Maskless Beachhead makes an appearance! "Blast Duke and his rule bending."

* Nice gag involving tools she's going to use to knockout Mainframe, but he kept needing to use.

* Is this the second one screen kiss in the Joe toon? Destro and the Baroness is the only other I can recall.

* "I was told being on the Joe Team was exciting, but I had no idea how exicting.  Please, the lights."  Whoa, what did Mainframe think was going to happen? LOL

* There is a sense that Zarana has made a mess of things once she reveals the truth to Mainframe.

* For some reason, as a child, I thought the Flagg sank in the "There's No Place Like Springfield" 2 Parter.  The two carriers crashing is a cool moment.

* Duke calls this a draw.  Rare for G.I. Joe not to win.

* Rewatching this episode, after not seeing it for so long, Mainframe/Zarana does seem a little more earned than I remember.  A life as a Dreadknok doesn't offer much romance.

[Bravo]

I rewatched that one recently.

They made that Serpentor error a few times, making me wonder why there was never a rust-red repaint of him in the past 15 years.

Mainframe was clearly sexually harassing Zarana in disguise.

The odd thing is that those GI JOE robot subs were pretty effective as weapons in whoevers hands, but never seen again.

Wet-Suit's wet suit error appears a few times in this one.


Another one-appearance Cobra specialist.

[Felix]

Baroness can be seen without her glasses in Worlds Without End

I know I've probably ranted this stuff a hundred times to you guys, but...

Season 2 is lacking in the characters that were developed in season one. The best parts of season 2 are the episodes that feature season 1 characters!

Hawk is rarely seen, kind of weird since he's an original, but never got any use. His character is one of the most important to discuss because of the conflict with the comic. Comic Hawk looked like Duke. In my universe these guys are the same character. The General Hawk in the cartoon is General Flagg to me. For comic purists, just omit the 4 issues Duke appears in, or pretend Dukes Hawk and they simply misprinted his name. For cartoon purists, I actually thought Duke was Hawk in the beginning of MASS Device. Duke wasn't available yet, and Hawk was the only blonde Joe besides Rock N' Roll and Short Fuse...and Hawk was the team leader, it just made sense. I like to think that Duke is a nickname, and Hawk is his actual code name.

Since I've made Duke and Hawk the same guy, I'm going to do the same with Sci-Fi and Flash.
Flash was probably the most popular Joe from 1982, who never got an updated figure. When I saw Sci-Fi, I was sure it was Flash.

Mainframe seemed like Breaker to me, even though Dial Tone was the communications officer.

Frostbite and Clutch are the same guy. He has the thick black beard and that goofy grin...and drives the Artic VAMP! AKA Snowcat.

Leatherneck is Gung Ho. The toy may not be as muscular, but the toon made him out to be.

Wet-Suit is Deep Six.

Iceberg rarely gets used, he could have been Alpine.

Then we have someone who was actually updated for 1986, Roadblock.

Then we have the next set of popular characters, Flint and Lady Jaye, who appear throughout Season 2.
Now, except for Roadblock and Shipwreck, the rest of the old team is rarely seen
Quick Kick, Alpine, Bazooka, Barbecue, Airtight, ect, they're just gone.

Cobra Troopers trumped Vipers, they're the same guy too, but equipped for war. The troopers are seen more often I assume to not be confused with Cobra Commander, and they're probably easier to draw...or they we're able to reuse animation cells.

You could tell Sunbow didn't like the 1986 line up. They made stabs at the product line which I'm surprised they got away with. In Arise! Hawk wonders why Cobra is using STUN vehicles and says "They're not armored and don't pack as much punch as the old HISS tanks!" Well, it's something like that anyway.

You could see in GIJOE the movie, that snow battle would have been so much better with Snowcats instead of the HAVOC (Horrible Assault Vehicle with Oversized Canopy). Again, you can tell Hasbro probably made them push the newer product onto the screen.

Beachhead on guard duty, I think this is another stab back at Hasbro, forcing them to use new characters. This would have been a better job for Gung Ho. Although I believe he does appear in the restaurant brawl. I think Sunbow squeezed in their favorites any chance they could get. Plus, Beachhead looks like a COBRA! Just a standard COBRA without the penis helmet. 1986 had too many Cobra figures though, so you're a JOE now Beachhead....and you've got guard duty! 4th in command doesn't mean anything, GIJOE is a team.

I think the best example of this is actually after Sunbow left. 1987 Outback. Issues 62,63,64,65,66 and a Special Missions #6.
Outback and Snowjob are sent on the same mission. Snowjob gets injured and Outback has to escape. He does so in cold weather, and actually uses skis!!!! The cover of special missions shows our survivalist shivering in the cold, if only he had some cold weather gear like Snow job to help him survive! In short, Outback is Snowjob.

Hasbro had all kinds of surprises when they started the 1:18 line. They wanted to sell vehicles, that was what they thought was cool, but the figures we're much more popular. They never expected that. So they kept making new guys. They also didn't expect we would be so attached to certain favorites, but we did. 1985 we got Snake Eyes back. 1986 Hawk, Roadblock, sort of Flash, and Cobra Trooper. 1987 Falcon is Flint. Even in the movie, when Flint meets Falcon, Flint says "Never thought I'd be glad to see you!" While Falcons story doesn't work with Flints, toy wise, it's who he represents most. Falcon pretty much never appears in the comics, he does lead a mission on Cobra island during the civil war, but guess what, they actually draw him as Flint! Not only that, Flints on the boat pissed off about not being able to go on the mission
It's not till 1989 we start getting new versions. In fact, it seems at this point Hasbro knows the formula. We get new versions of Snake Eyes, Stalker, Cobra Commander, Destro, Firefly, Zartan, Scarlet, Duke, Shipwreck, Dusty, Rock N' Roll, Zap, Crimson Guard, ect. Heck, there's even the straight up repaints of Tiger Force, Night Force, and Python Patrol. I believe the only problem was Sunbow wasn't making the cartoon anymore.

Thanks for putting up with my rant

[Bravo]

Yes, it's odd that after Arise, Serpentor, Arise, most of the 1985 Joes are non-speaking background characters. Earlier characters, I can understand, but 1985 ones would've still been in stores. Maybe part of that is voice actor budgets. A lot of the 1986 additions used new actors. Some actors only did one character, like François Chau who did Quick Kick, so to call them in for a few lines would've been extra money. Whereas, if Chris Latta was there for a recording, he can do Gung-Ho, CC and Ripper, all of whom still had roles in season 2.

IIRC, Hasbro concept art of Beach-Head had him labelled a Cobra. Mutt was the same. Explains Mutt's weird mask. We wouldn't get a Cobra dog handler until Rise of Cobra!

From what I gather, Hama often pushed for new Joes to be new versions of earlier Joes, like Airtight would've Flash in bio-hazard gear, Footloose could've been Grunt. But Hasbro just wasn't keen on that.

Sending Outback and Snow Job on the same mission was weird...actually neither belonged on that mission. A ski expert and a wilderness survivalist posing as a foreign businessmen? If only Long Range had also been there...maybe Big Bear, too. Red Beard Bunch.

Falcon leads failed mission to Benzheen where Joes died (curiously Duke was a part of) and led the failed Joe mission in Sierra Gordo where 4 of the October Guard died.

Proposed Sunbow season 3 would've been odd, because they probably would not have gotten Don Johnson to return as Falcon, assuming he'd even be used.

[Swindle]

Sink the Montana

* This episode is probably too dramatic for my tastes.

* It does feature an American Flag being destroyed.

* Snake Eyes shows up!
 

* Sigh, Shipwreck is presented very much like a comedic foil in this episode, dressing as a pirate. 

* Cover Girl sighting! Cool.

* So, its a General Hawk episode.  I've never been a fan of his to be honest.

* It was good seeing Destro.  They should have had the Baroness in this episode too, in my opinion.

[Felix]

Sink the Montana I remember that one.

Aside from Computer Complications, my favorite season 2 episode is the one about Low Light.

And lets not forget "The spy that rooked me!"

There's another one that deals with "Dust Children" it's got Gung Ho and Leatherneck in it and the Dreadnoks.

[Bravo]

I haven't re-watched Sink the Montana lately.

The BAT crewed ship with Destro on board is almost a callback to Destro's ship from The Synthoid Conspiracy.

Funny how Cobra can turn an old battleship into a superweapon, but still can't win major victories.

They played the "someone a Joe's past joins Cobra" card twice in season 2, here, Hawk's navy friend and in The Rotten Egg with Leatherneck's old enemy Buck McCann (How come all these bit cartoon Cobra characters, only Clay Moore has made the transition to any action figure?). Dic had Evy, Ambush childhood pal.

[Swindle]

Let's Play Soldier

* USS Flag is still in service, so it takes place before Computer Complications? Hmm

* Leatherneck isn't very interesting separate from Wetsuit.



* I do like Zarana's cobra communication device.

[Bravo]

Monkeywrench cops a feel on an asian hooker



Cross Country carries another hooker into the police station. She must've robbed him.


Both women were actuall Zarana, in some offensive racist "yellow-face" disguise.

Too much Gung-Ho without his hat in this one. That's wrong. Even Beach-Head wears his mask while eating dinner.

[Swindle]

Once Upon a Joe

* Fat Strato-Viper! I always remember that guy even though I haven't watched this in ages.



* The Dreadknok philosophical debate always cracked me up. I like that it was used as an excuse to focus on Zartan.



* I love that Zartan has a Cobra Commander target. Ha!





* Shipwreck's imagination. I do like the climax when all his stuff becomes real, hmmm, but I do think the setup went on a little long.





* Unmasked Beachhead!



* "I hate that sailor!" hahaha, quote of the episode for me.



* Joe Gal pixies rock!

[Bravo]

The episode where the "MacGuffin" plot device is actually named the MacGuffin Device.

[Swindle]

Million Dollar Medic

* I quite like this episode because I am a big fan of Lifeline in general

* Serpentor coloring error as he flies off after laying into the twins

* I love how booming and authoritative Serpentor's voice is



* Twins and Dreadknoks rocking the coats when they are going to rough up the Van Marks, very cool



* Lifeline's new uniform made me laugh



* Great part of this episode, the attack on GIJoe HQers, Cobra using BATS, HISS Tanks, Stuns, etc. Just cool all around.











* Cover Girl gets a speaking role. Cool.

* Cobra CAT and a strange escape vehicle for Cobra... hmmmm

[Bravo]

Strange to see Cobra troopers in Stuns.
Closest to a Lift-Ticket episode we got. Lifeline got two episode, his chopper flying pal got sidelined.
Cobra Snow Cats, they must've stolen them during the attack on GI JOE HQ.

In addition to Bree's teeny bikini and other cheesecakery, we get a Scarlett side-boob shot.