Why is GI Joe so great? GI Joe is great because it inspired a lot of kids to become better people. That's a bold statement. Bold? Yes, but true. Maybe you don't know much about GI Joe. Maybe you only know of GI Joe through the movies they made a few years ago. GI Joe hasn't been in the pop culture spotlight very much lately. So, it may be hard to understand why GI Joe is so important. It is important and influential. Why is GI Joe so great? First, when I talk about GI Joe, I'm referring to the toys and the surrounding media that began in the 1980s and continued to the 1990s. That was my error. But I love the 1960s GI Joe too. The toys we got in the 1980s and 90s were great. We had whole armies of action figures and they were small so they could fit in your pocket. We had airplanes. Shhh. We had tanks. Go, go! We had an aircraft carrier. We had co-braaaaaaah! We had file cards that gave background and personality to every character. Great toys means great play time and great play time means fond memories with friends and family. It means shared experiences with millions of other kids who are playing with the same toys at the same time. Why is GI Joe great? GI Joe was great because we had more than just the toys. We had a cartoon series. We had comic books. And they were great. The animated series was groundbreaking for its time. It gave voices to the toys we played with. It made them feel like real people. And thanks to the cartoon series, we always have the same reply when anyone says, Now I Know. And knowing is half the back. GI Joe! We have to say it every time. We can't help it. The comic book was great. It gave GI Joe a more realistic setting and a more authentic military feel. It was written by Larry Hama. Oh, GI Joe was great because we have Larry Hama. Larry Hama is a comic book writer, artist, and editor. And he was selected by Marvel Comics to write the GI Joe comic book series pretty much because he was the only one willing to do it. That was great luck for GI Joe fans because Larry Hama brought a death and intelligence to the series that inspired a generation of children to learn more about the world in which they lived. The 80s was a scary time for children. We were in the Cold War. Countries had nukes pointed at each other. We had hostage crises. We had terrorist bombings. We had hunts for red October. GI Joe helped kids understand and conceptualize the scary events that were going on around them. There were references to history, to politics, to current events. And it was never assumed that kids couldn't understand these things. We were never talked down to. I can't emphasize enough. GI Joe is great because we have Larry Hama. But GI Joe is just Cold War propaganda. GI Joe is great because the writers were smart enough to avoid propaganda tropes. Of course, GI Joe existed in the Cold War and used Cold War themes. But our enemy in the Cold War, the Soviets, were not demonized. In fact, great effort was made to humanize them, to give them faces and names, and put them on an equal footing with our own side. The enemy, of course, they were. To pretend otherwise would be to deny reality. But they weren't monsters, and they could be allies too. GI Joe's enemy wasn't just Cobra or the Soviet Union. GI Joe's enemy was cynicism, corruption, greed, and the profit motive. Those traits were embodied in GI Joe's fictional foes. You'll find those themes repeated in the comic book. GI Joe taught kids that war is fun. There's no denying that GI Joe is a war toy. But if that's all it was, it would not have endured. GI Joe is great because it did not shield us from the consequences of war. Fear, death, the loss of friends, lifelong wounds, and scars. PTSD, alienation. These were all topics covered by GI Joe. And for a lot of kids, it's the first time in their lives these topics were talked about. As children, we weren't shielded from these things. GI Joe is great because it didn't shield us. Is GI Joe perfect? Of course not. Nothing created by human effort has ever been perfect. But some things are great. And GI Joe is great. GI Joe is great because it's diverse. In GI Joe, people of every color and race fought alongside each other. Men and women fought on equal footing. It was just normal and natural and expected. The idea that women couldn't face danger or the person of color couldn't lead, well that just wasn't GI Joe. But of course, GI Joe was a toy for boys. Except a lot of girls liked it too. So now as adults, there are plenty of female fans. And you know what we like to do with those hot lady GI Joe cosplayers? We like to treat them with respect because we're mature adults. GI Joe is great because it's international. As early as the 1960s GI Joe toys were enjoyed by children around the world. 1980s GI Joe toys may have been called a real American hero, but you could find versions of these toys in Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, India, South Africa, almost everywhere. That means kids from Illinois or Texas or California were having the same playtime fun as kids from India or England or Brazil. And thanks to the internet, we can now all bond over those shared experiences. It's like having all your friends in your backyard playing GI Joe. Except your backyard is the entire planet. GI Joe is great because it inspired me to a lifetime of learning. At a young age, it taught me to not fear the larger world. It taught me to care about history. It taught me to not be too trusting of politicians or businessmen or anyone else trying to sell me something. It taught me that building is better than destroying. It taught me that the world is filled with people that were different from me. And that's not a bad thing. It even taught me to respect people who don't like GI Joe. That was explicitly stated. More than once. Weird, huh? That's why I think GI Joe is great and that's why I like to make videos about it. I call myself Hooded Cobra Commander 788 on YouTube. I know it's way too long. It's too late to change it now. You can shorten it to HCC 788. I humbly ask you to subscribe to my YouTube channel. Maybe you think GI Joe is great. Maybe you don't even know about GI Joe. Either way, I'd like to have you along for the ride. You don't have to be a hardcore fan. Although I do hope the hardcore fans enjoy the show too. You don't have to be a collector of the toys. Although I do hope collectors get something out of the videos. You don't even have to like GI Joe. But if you watch my videos, I'll bet you'll discover more about GI Joe than you ever thought possible. You may discover that a lot of people were influenced by GI Joe and more profound ways than you would expect. You may even decide GI Joe is great. In the GI Joe fan community, of course we have some trolls and haters because every fan community does, unfortunately. But not around here. In this place, you will not be shamed for being new or for not having all the same information as somebody else. That's just not what we do around here. I want to welcome everyone who wants to just enjoy sharing the love of GI Joe, sharing their experiences and their childhood and just having a good time connecting with other fans. On this channel, we look at the entire GI Joe toy line from 1982 to 1994. We provide background and context to how it fits in with the time, the culture, the history and where it fits within the toy line. A lot of it is great, but we even look at the stuff that's not so great. There was some weird stuff in GI Joe. Some GI Joe fans think the weird stuff is great. I don't, but that's okay. GI Joe fans have a lot of different reasons for why they love these toys. You may really like a toy that I think is a stinker. And that's all right. We'll talk about that too. If you watch my videos and you like them, I humbly request that you consider supporting the channel on Patreon. Patreon has enabled me to purchase new video and lighting equipment, a new editing software, and other things that I need to keep going and improve the show. Even if you don't want to support the show, if you don't want to subscribe, if you don't want to watch the videos, I hope you will still take a few moments to think about GI Joe. I hope you will think about why some people care about it so much. I hope you will believe there's more to it than plastic army men. GI Joe will re-enter the pop culture consciousness again someday. And when it does, I hope you'll give it a look. Give it a chance. You may think it's great too. Thank you for watching. Thank you for subscribing if you choose to do that. I have to go work on a review now. I'll see you soon. Until then, remember only GI Joe is GI Joe.