Talk:G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

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How does a recent addition to G.I. JOE like Kamakura rate over better known characters? Ask the average Gen Xer and they'll have no idea who Kamakura is, but they'll know Bazooka, Spirit, Alpine, Gung-Ho, Lifeline, to name a few. The omission of Gung-Ho from prominent characters is appalling when Wild Bill and Jinx are deemed worthy of distinction. This page reeks of comic book fan bias, and like so much of wikipedia, is a disservice to those seeking real information.

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[edit] Main Image

Shouldn't it be more appropriate to use something from an old toy add (the inserts would be a good idea)? RAH is primarily a toy line - the comic and cartoon were meant to support it, not the other way around. Certainly an image from the recent Devil's Due comics, as pretty as they are, shouldn't be used as the most prominent picture in the article. DPr77 06:12, 5 January 2007 (UTC)


I agree. The comics and cartoons (and other media) were really in all argument, advertisements for the toys. The toys should be the first and foremost identified thing on this section. The sagas and canon that came from the other media sources should be really left in their respective sections for discussion. We need a new main page picture.

[edit] Image Copyright

Guys, I've already changed the image copyright info thou I don't know if it will pass. --Destron Commander 04:26, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Prominent Joes

I agree with the statement about Kamakura, to a point. Gung Ho certainly should be added but Kamakura definitely stands out as the most prominent and often used character created within the last few years. DPr77 10:08, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

Probably make another article that divides the two Joe continuities like the Transformers?--Destron Commander 09:07, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
This article shouldn't be about continuities - GI Joe was primarily a toyline... But then that brings about the question as to whether any characters introduced after 1994 should be mentioned at all, unless they were given a 3 3/4" action figure with RAH-style construction (ie: comic 3-packs, 1997/98 TRU exclusives, etc...). DPr77 06:07, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

I think that their should be a division made. As to anything after '94, put it under the label of "a real american hero II." Or soemthing. It would be like listing Star Trek DS9 subjects under the general Star Trek heading; same species, different animals.

Good enough for me - since Kamakura was never a RAH figure, I deleted him. On that note, whatever that "list of fictional places in GI Joe" is, I don't think that should be merged with this article, as it clearly refers to the comic and/or cartoon, and should be placed in those articles, if anything. DPr77 03:30, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Technology"/Toy Design/"The Toys" Section

I have a problem with some these, such as this quote about sub teams like Battleforce 2000, etc: "...which helped keep the GIJOE team more specialized, more interesting, and more fun than traditional real-life "army men" toys" That's an opinion, not encyclopedic fact. The writer should probably be made aware that GI Joe's popularity steadily declined as the toy line became more and more "out there", to the point where it was cancelled in '94. Collectors today generally dislike the "Cobra-la" concept and the movie, and Larry Hama himself reportedly refused to write them into the comic series, despite Hasbro's wishes. DPr77 03:38, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

I think popularity levels should be disregarded, or perhaps made into their own subject; adult collectors. ARAH went south because of people who can't get past having anything BUT Duke in an Awe Striker, '82- '85 seems to reign supreme but I think that is due to more the "glory days" of collectors childhoods being in those years (prior to Teenage mutant ninja turtles and Power rangers taking the market lead anyway, to name a couple exapmles--). GIJOE ARAH is not a strict military toy line, nor has any of its previous incarnations or even Sigma six. All are GIJOE, but none are really military toys in the general sense. Action and adventure sum GIJOE up a little better, and whatever crazy tools (vehicles) it takes to have that imaginary adventure, ya know? Some people like that Star Brigade angle, while others dig the guys in green from '82. It's all good, "popularity" levels and things that would make it appear as if anything past '85 was bad and should not viewed should not be present. Rather, I would hope any ARAH fan would be more than happy put a positive spin that encourages further exploration of the entire aspect of arah, not just the popular ones. Ya make it sound like Cobra La was "deth of teh line." What about the Kenner merger? There was more to it all than just colors that ended the line in '94. Perhaps a section about the book "toy wars" should be here, too.

Let's look at the facts. Cobra-La WAS a major turn for RAH, and coincided with the death of the popular Sunbow cartoon series. Sure, GI Joe always had a sci-fi element to it, but it certainly became more prominent after Cobra-La, Battleforce 2000, the Defiant Space Shuttle and Star Brigade were introduced, NOT a fictional but totally realistic mini-tank like the Armadillo. (Whoever edited that section, at least get the years and spelling right, please.) I don't have any exact numbers, and I would welcome them if anyone does, but it's a fact that the latter years of RAH GI Joe are considerably more difficult to collect, as production numbers were much lower. Besides, I never said that was the REASON the Joe line was cancelled in '94, I just indicated that the two (conveniently) coincided. If you have any hard facts, please feel free to add them. DPr77 03:15, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

So, can you prove that so many of these early designs were based on the actual real life vehicles? Just because the Dragonfly looks like the Cobra, doesn't mean it was based off it. Or do you have FACTS to prove this? That information about real life military hardware is not needed.

All you have to do is look at an AH-1 Cobra and the Dragonfly to know they are one and the same. Besides the fact that Larry Hama was ex-military himself, the evidence is right there in front of your face, so yes, it is a FACT. I've also re-added the bit about the sci-fi aspect of GI Joe designs and tried to make it sound more objective.DPr77

Actually, this whole technology section discussion has got me thinking... Since we're talking about a toy, primarily, it would be far more appropriate to call the section "Toy Design", since we're talking about the vehicles and playsets. I'd like to add a paragraph preceding the ones we already have that gives a brief description of the figure construction, too. Sound good? DPr77 02:25, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Oh yeah, and since it is a toy first and foremost, once I made that change, I realized that it's really a whole lot more important than the characters and such, so I placed that section before the others. I mean, this is a toy, so physically describing the toys and their design aspects is more important than the characters, which were really only written to make the toys themselves more interesting. DPr77 02:27, 21 January 2007 (UTC)
BTW, whoever made that addition, thanks! But I don't think there was a need to remove the bit talking about the realistic and science-fiction aspects of the line - if nothing else, it really fleshes out the section, and without a whole lot of pictures to go on I think it's very relevant. I've re-added it but edited a lot out of it to make it more concise. I like the idea of calling that section "The Toys" a lot better, too! DPr77 03:50, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Supporting Characters

These should be put into the comic or cartoon sections, they have nothing to do with the toys.

Although I definitely think the toy should be first and foremost considered with regards to the article in general, I think that overall we can include general concepts (such as this) from the cartoon and comic, as they were an important part of RAH. The characters that were developed from the file cards, cartoon and comic are a large reason why people loved this toyline... Instead of deleting it completely, I'd suggest having small sub-sections that address the comic and cartoon, with links to the main article if the reader wants to go into more detail. A small list of these stand-out characters can still be included here, I would think, as long as it doesn't get too long or detailed. DPr77 20:23, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sonic Fighters

When was it ever established that Falcon was the leader of this group? Is this being assumed because of his rank? He actually shares the same rank with Psyche Out who was also a member.

[edit] "The Toys"

Quoted from the article: "The most notable changes were the second series' addition of "swivel-arm" articulation in 1983 (initial figures had "straight arms"), and the fourth series' ball joints replacing the former swivel necks, both dramatically increasing a figures poseability."

Is it common practice to make up new words for encyclopedia articles? Because "poseability" is not part of the English language. Caped Crusader (talk) 20:55, 9 January 2008 (UTC)