So my relatives got me a flip book from G.I. Joe, Rise of Cobra for Christmas. Probably got it at Goodwill, I don't think the ancillary products did so well. Anyhow, we're reading the stories, and she says "Who is Cobra?"

And in full Jackson Beck mode, I reply:

"Cobra is a ruthless terrorist organization, determined to rule the world! Um...any more questions?"

"Umm...no."

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My 22 month old son is too young to ask such questions but I can't wait until he does.

I gave him a very simple Han Solo figure, no articulation other than hips and shoulders, he runs around yelling:

"Han Sobo....Han Sobo."

and waiving the figure in the air.

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wait til he's 5 and he's eyeing that pile of fodder you talked about elsewhere to see which items he can pilfer for his own use. lol.

It's about to get doubly so for me, as my 7 month old is already watching very intently every time his brother plays with a figure.

edit: just don't be surprised if he shuns the G.I. Joe product for Star Wars or Superheroes or whatever else actually has a show on tv. Having a media presence is imperative to win over the youngsters. For us as kids, Joe had that. But not these days.

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Once in a while when I hear a story like this, I sort of miss not having had kids...

It's as simple as that.
Weekly TV presence will sell the toys for you.
A big budget Hollywood blockbuster will move some merchandise, but once the 2 hours are done, the "passion" is already fading while a weekly episode will keep that fire burning.

Worked on us with GI Joe (that's why we're here) and it's still creating phenomenons like Pokemon, Yugioh, Ben 10 and many more. Even Power Rangers is entering its 20th year.

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I'm prepared for full brainwashing. I have almost all the GI Joe series not only in AVI format (Divx) to play through XBox or PS3, I also converted them to MOV so they can be played on any iPad, iPhone, or iPod video. He will be well exposed to GI Joe in all its glory. Commercial free and on demand.

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Dusty, even that is gonna be a hard sell with your kids...

The 80s and 90s joe toons look like they are from that era and when given the choice between that and shiny, flashy newer toons it will show it age.
Plus kids won't get how awesome it was to SGT Slaughter in cartoon format instead of in the ring. Kids need a joe toon of their own for guys like Dwayne Johnson or Brian Urlacher to guest star on... besides ARAH was our Joe, don't our kids deserve characters of their own to get excited about, thats why I loved renegades (no matter how much it was just a rehash of the A-Team, each jioe was just different enough to be the new generations version) just like Dr. Who - mostly the same each generaton still gets their own actor to focus on.

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I dunno, maybe mine are just young, but they LOVE what they call "daddy cartoons." Even some I think are crappy. Not that it's crappy, but my girl who is 4 was obsessed with the old D&D cartoon for awhile, then Thundercats, and then Super Heroes. She's just like me, she'll get in a phase. She also digs Bionic Six and will ask for an episode every now and then.

Bro, dated or not, having the ENTIRE RUN of multiple cartoons is something we as kids would have killed for - and our kids know how awesome it is to have all of them on tap!

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I have all the transformers, all the He-man, all the Disney afternoon shows, too much to name. I get them from Netflix and convert to DIVX and MOV. If Netflix doesn't have them, I buy them, convert them and sell on ebay to get most of my money back. My kids will be well entertained on road trips. And my niece and nephew love the old cartoons and shows too. They love Fraggle Rock for pete's sake and that looks like home video. They also love the classic Scooby-doo from the 70's. They love coming over and loading their iPad with shows.

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i dont have kids and never wanted them so im not disagreeing with people here but when i was a kid we never watched the joe cartoon. i dont know how it started but we all just liked joe because all our other friends liked joes and we had a ton of fun out in the backyard playing with them while all our parents watched the news or whatever, stopping us from having access to the tv.

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Maybe showing my age here, but there was no cartoon when I started playing with Joes. There was a comic, but that was it. I liked my joes because they were the coolest, most articulated figures around. And had the coolest vehicles.

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I would have killed for it, because growing up I had access to 5 channels on the tv, and only a handful of hours per week where cartoons were aired. In contrast, my five year old grabs my ipad when he wakes up before us in the morning, opens up my Netflix app, and watches any episode of virtually any cartoon property he cares about, and watches as many as he wants at will. When he gets bored with that, he grabs the Comast remote, and pulls up an episode of the current TMNT show.

Point being, things are different now man. This generation and the one coming simply has no appreciation for what it used to be like, even keeping the discussion as narrow as just media/entertainment options. This is the On-Demand Generation that's coming, and someone's stash of 80's cartoons on VHS just isn't going to keep the attention of a kid nowadays (more often than not, at least) who has access to anything he or she wants to see, at will.

As an aside, the only properties where my son's interests overlap with my childhood interests are those where new/current/relevant media presence has been established. Think Star Wars, Superheroes, any property which has made an appearance in a LEGO videohame, and to an extent even Scooby Doo (in that he doesn't care for vintage episodes, but watches the hell out of the crappy more recent style cartoons and movies). Same with Looney Tunes. Makes me turn off the vintage stuff, but enjoys the lame Cartoon Network show.

Anyway, sorry to ramble on. I have had a couple successes in terms of getting him into the vintage toons, namely the Pink Panther and Woody Woodpecker. And he shocked me by finding Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends on Netflix all on his own, and actually watching it. But he groans if I put G.I. Joe on.

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My nephew loves watching GI Joe cartoon intros. Especially the one from the movie.

He's wanting his first Joes for his fourth birthday, so I've been quite happy to oblige.

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Once in a while when I hear a story like this, I sort of miss not having had kids... [/quote]

No worries, I here you can pick them up for free after school, just tell them that their mom has been in an accident and the police said they told you to pick them up and everything will be fine.

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