104: GI Bros - New Monthly Let's Read!

Summary
In this episode of the Comic Dudes podcast, hosts Dave and Matt dive into the world of G.I. Joe in the Energon Universe. They discuss their personal experiences with the comics, recap the first three issues, and explore character development, stakes, and themes within the series. The conversation highlights the importance of understanding the backstory of characters and the impact of new storylines on both new and veteran readers. In this engaging conversation, Matt and Dave delve into the evolving dynamics of G.I. Joe, focusing on character development, particularly Duke's leadership journey. They discuss their favorite characters, the complexities of the G.I. Joe hierarchy, and the refreshing portrayal of Cobra Commander. The duo also speculates on future storylines. It's a new monthly Let's Read!

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Comic Dudes Podcast
02:04 Exploring the Energon Universe and G.I. Joe
07:02 Recap of G.I. Joe Issues 1-3
11:55 Character Development and Stakes in G.I. Joe
16:54 Discussion on Characters and Themes
17:09 Duke's Leadership Journey
19:19 Character Favorites and Rankings
21:01 Cobra's New Dynamics
23:35 Cobra Commander: A New Era
24:36 Predictions and Future Storylines
29:20 The Brainwave Scanner and Its Origins
31:52 Ninja Influence in G.I. Joe
32:21 PSA: The New Cobra Commander

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Original Music by Alex Productions
Show notes include some AI generated content

Transcript

Yo Dave (00:01)
Welcome back to the Comic Dudes, podcast about comic books and comic book related things. My name is Dave with me as always, my esteemed co-host and new recruit, Matt. Matt, how are you doing?

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (00:13)
I am doing well. I have just packed up my things. I have moved into my cozy home in Springfield, an undetermined Springfield. We don't know where it's at, but some Springfield USA. That's what I thought, but like in the book, it just said Springfield USA. So I don't know. That's what I thought it was, but I'm in Springfield, Indiana and we're having a great time.

Yo Dave (00:25)
Indiana, we know. It's Indiana. It's always been Indiana. Yeah.

Great. I hope you brought your itty bitty, titty bag.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (00:40)
That's my joke. I was gonna use that later. That's all right. lot of continuity past listeners. A lot of continuity there.

Yo Dave (00:43)
Sorry, sorry. I got excited. Yeah. Yeah,

there's several episodes you should listen to before that. don't have to. So before we get started, just a reminder, you can connect with us in our discord. The link to join is in the description of this episode. You can chat with us there about whatever you want. Comic books, video games, itty bitty, titty bags. I don't care. Come join the fun. You can read along and talk about the episodes.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (00:51)
Hehehehe

You

Yo Dave (01:12)
That we talk about our let's reads in the discord. You can also follow us on Instagram We're in a pretty regular posting cadence over there. It's fun times and we could use the follows So share us with a friend or a family member your dog or your cat or your snake Or your battle Android trooper. I don't care Just share us to somebody You may have picked up by now that we've made several GI Joe references at the start of this episode and that's because we're talking about GI Joe

Specifically the energon universe gi joe comic that is three issues and what we're gonna do is make this a monthly thing It's gonna keep matt and I honest To keep it current and read it so yeah every month we're just gonna talk about that month's gi joe. Let me short episodes This one will be a little bit longer because we have three episodes to catch up on but then After this episode we'll be current with issue four or five, etc

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (02:04)
We know you all missed us so much, we just wanted to touch base with you one more time a month, even if it's for like 15 minutes. We just wanna talk to you about some comics, so yeah.

Yo Dave (02:13)
Yeah, I just want to put out a bunch of episodes. As many episodes as we can. good. I'm glad. OK, so here's what we're going to do. I'm going to recap what we read. We're going to just have a quick general discussion about the comics and then we have some maybe predictions or wants for the series going forward that we'll get into there and we'll wrap it up. So, yeah, like Matt said, these will be short episodes, even shorter when we're doing one issue a month.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (02:16)
Yeah. I love it.

Yo Dave (02:41)
But you get three this time because there three issues in. Matt, anything else you want to add before I get going on this recap?

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (02:47)
No, let's do this quick recap and then we can get talking.

Yo Dave (02:51)
Alright, so if you're starting the Energon universe with G.I. number one, first of all, that's weird.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (02:56)
Yes. Yes,

yes, me. That's me.

Yo Dave (03:01)
Yeah, that's

weird. You should go back and read Void Rivals and Transformers and then also all the mini-series that led up to this. So, Cobra Commander, Duke, Destro, Scarlet, and is there one I'm missing? Those are the four before GI Joe? Okay. You should go read all that stuff because it's really, really, really good. And a lot of stuff that happened in those is referenced in these. Don't be like Matt. Go back and read it all. You'll enjoy it.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (03:10)
Destro.

Nah, think that's, I think that's all, yeah. Yeah.

So I've started

all of them. I've gotten to like issue like two or three. And then like, I'm just like, I'm going to wait for, I'm not bagging and border this stuff. I'm just gonna wait for the trades to come out. And now I've got most of the trades except Scarlet. I don't think is out yet, but yeah.

Yo Dave (03:41)
You

know, if you ordered from MyComicShop.com, they would show up at your door bagged and boarded, ready to go.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (03:48)
I gotta save that money man, it's tight out here. It's tight out here. can't, those extra 10 cents is tight. We gotta... The bag and board, hey I don't know. Are they using those Mylar's man or what are we using here? What kind of quality materials are we using? I don't know man. I don't know about that but alright. Alright.

Yo Dave (03:54)
There's no extra 10 cents, they're not charging me for that. They're not charging me for that.

Who cares? They're free bags and boards.

Fuck me, I guess. Okay, well, here's what happened in GI Joe issues one through three. We kick off the series with the team kind of going through their trading paces. It's not going so well. Our team consists of Duke, leader, Cover Girl, Clutch, Rock and Roll, Stalker, and The Baroness. If you don't know why The Baroness is on Team GI Joe, you should go back and read all those mini-series that I was just talking about. Then you'll understand.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (04:09)
Yep.

Yo Dave (04:38)
they get their first mission from general hawk and that mission is to defend a piece of cyberchronian tech that is being transported to a safe location for study You'd know why that cyberchronian tech was there if you're reading transformers because that just happened in transformers While they're all they're waiting to defend or while they're defending this piece of tech cobra attacks led by mercer, the vipers show up

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (04:52)
I have no idea.

you

Yo Dave (05:06)
with one of their little Fang copters and in the fight Rock and Roll seemingly perishes. We learn in issue two that he did in fact die for real. I should have started this with a spoiler warning, huh? I'll put it in the description. Anyway, things go from bad to worse. The Valkyries show up and start shooting all of the wounded.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (05:22)
Yeah, maybe. It's alright. It's alright. You wouldn't get- we're pretty quick in. It's alright. It's alright.

Yo Dave (05:35)
Cobra escapes with that Cybertronian shard. As mentioned, Rock and Roll is dead. Stalker is severely injured and Clutch is presumed dead. Bearness and Duke and Covergirl also pretty heavily injured. They get back to the base. General Hawk introduces a new recruit that we saw briefly in the first issue. His name is Risk. Risk says something shitty about Rock and Roll.

He misnames him and then Duke punches him. get in a fight and that sort of plays out while Cover Girl and I'm sorry not Cover Girl, Baroness and General Hawk just watch it go before Stalker breaks it up. We also learned that Clutch actually survived the fight. He snuck away disguised as a Viper and he's in the Springfield compound trying to figure out a way out and what's going on. Our third issue starts

with knowledge of Dr. Archibald Monev and his brainwave scanner. And we find out that Cobra is after that for some reason. Clutch sends a transmission to the Joes, letting them know that Dr. Monev will be in DC that day and Cobra is going there to take him. So the Joes load up and try to intercept the doctor before Cobra can get him. He's already in a car with what turns out to be

Crimson Guardsmen and Duke and the Joes show up just in time to snatch him before they make a clean getaway. Tomax and Zaymott show up in a stinger, which is like a Cobra Jeep if you don't know anything about the cartoon or the toys from back in the day. We have ourselves a chase scene starting and those are the high notes of our first three issues.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (07:25)
Great recap. Very, yeah, good stuff.

Yo Dave (07:26)
Thanks. Thanks.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (07:31)
So, dude, this book has stakes. And I feel like that's what I want from some of these property books. Like I, I like picked this up, like, it was a GI Joe number one and all these, I've picked up the number one issues, even if I didn't get like all the issues, but like there's these beautiful Finch covers. so I picked, I picked up the Finch. Okay. So I picked up the Finch cover.

Yo Dave (07:35)
Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Yep, I'm getting all those.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (07:56)
And I was just like, whatever. I'm just going to read it and see how it goes. read it and like the end of issue number one, like I was hooked. was like, I'm really trying to not get these books in single issues, but like, I was like, this is one I want to read from month to month. Like I was in from issue number one and like just the stakes of like rock and roll getting blasted at the end of issue number one. And like, I don't, it's a Kirkman thing, man. Like anything he oversees or touches, like that last page.

He just gets it and like, you know, shout out to God.

Yo Dave (08:29)
No, was gonna say give give credit to Joshua Williamson because that dude can write

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (08:32)
That's the, was to say shout out to

Josh Williamson, like Tom, right? Tom Riley is the artist and Jordy Jordy bell airs the colors. Like, and you can read, I normally don't read the after pages, but I read like the first one after the first issue. And like, you can just read this book and tell that they have reverence for like the source material and how. Like they're putting their own, what we want, they're putting their own spin on it, but they're still respecting it. I mean, my only thing is like they're introducing stuff so quick. There's like.

every issue there's like a new character like Tomax is you know like I'm like bro like we're going like too fast we're going through everything but there's like a million GI Joe characters as well too so like it's fine.

Yo Dave (09:08)
No, it wouldn't. It wouldn't feel

that fast if you had read all the lead ups.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (09:15)
Well, this is the perspective of someone who just picked up GI Joe number one. And that's why I'm here as just the new guy. Like, Hey, it worked for me. It felt great. You know me, I'll jump in issue six of a 10 issue mini. Let's get it going. Let's get moving, baby. It's heresy, but I love it. Consistently.

Yo Dave (09:15)
This isn't the first time we've seen Tomax in Zayn Mott.

Yeah.

That's just, that's so incredibly feral. it makes my brain hurt that you do that. It's so difficult for me to understand how

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (09:44)
You

Yo Dave (09:44)
a person could do that. And this is coming from somebody that I used to jump in, you know, before they started to relaunch every comic over and over again. You know, I would just jump into any old comic and I didn't care if it was in like the 400s, the 200s, the hundreds, like whatever, you just pick it up and figure it out.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (09:49)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, man, we gotta get, that's my mentality. We gotta get moving at some point. Five issue mini, start me at three. Okay, I can't, I don't got time for those other two issues. Let's start at three. Let's get it. Yeah. Yeah.

Yo Dave (10:10)
I will, I do want to, I want to say that your comment about stakes, um,

one, I, I a hundred percent agree with you. That is one of the best things about all of the Energon books. The same is true in Transformers and Void Rivals. We've done some truly fucked up things in Transformers already. Um, dude, Sam, I don't want to spoil too much of it, but, uh, like all the stuff with the Whitwicky family has been kind of bonkers, um, particularly with his dad.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (10:27)
I gotta get back on that. That was a good book.

Really?

Okay.

Yo Dave (10:41)
I again, I don't want spoil it, but if you know, know. He's still with us, but he's not quite the same as he used to be. But when it comes to GI Joe, think part of the reason why it's easier to go a a little crazy here is because they still have real American hero. And that comic has been going now for what?

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (10:48)
Damn.

Yeah.

Yo Dave (11:08)
off and on for 30 some years. Started in like 86, right? So,

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (11:10)
Yeah dude like something crazy. Yeah, yeah that'll be 40 something years.

We're old. Yeah, we're old shit. 40 plus.

Yo Dave (11:20)
Matt,

that's not 40 years. No way.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (11:23)
Well, I mean, I don't know if it started in like 85 or 80, 30, 30 at minimum.

Yo Dave (11:27)
Maybe it's 40 years. I don't know, man. Maybe it is 40. Either way, I

feel like most of the purists will stick to Real American Hero. You know, if you're a fan of the old comics and the cartoon, the Real American Hero comics that are published today are the same characters referencing the same stories. It's familiar. And like the the oldest of the old heads probably don't like this series. And maybe maybe they just don't.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (11:36)
Yeah.

Yo Dave (11:55)
care about it because it's not real American hero. It's not quote unquote canon to the cartoons and the lore and all of the stories and characters that have been created in the last 40 years in that series. But I do feel like because they can get a little weird with it here, because it's not tied to the main property, it brings in new readers. least that's my hope.

is that people that have not been exposed to GI Joe before will now be exposed to it because it's part of something that Robert Kirkman is doing. It's tied really closely to Transformers. It's got this brand new IP that's really, really interesting and very sci-fi space exploratory and tangential to GI Joe and Transformers as well. That this brings new people into like that ecosystem of GI Joe. Like in Void Rivals, I think it was the last issue, the issue before

Python has showed up. Yeah.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (12:55)
Really?

See, I figured void arrival is going to be more connected to like transformers and have like no GI Joe in it at all. Like, damn it. I really, dude, I really, if they ever reprint it, like this, this, that issue of number one, that issue number one.

Yo Dave (13:02)
No. Incorrect. Incorrect. Hot Rod was just in it too.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (13:16)
Reminded me of that chuckle series I always talk about that Cobra is like last that Cobra series like Stakes that book was all about stakes and it like you said it was kind of off in its own little thing like they still have like real American hero was going on IDW had their own continuity and then like That book was kind of doing its own thing for a while and then they weaved it in but like that was stakes and it was such a good book so I'm waiting for them to reprint it, but Yeah, Yeah, they probably never will but

Yo Dave (13:20)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Well, you might be waiting a while.

Meh, you never know.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (13:48)
So this Mercer character too, like was he known? Like he was in the itty bitty ditty bag committee, right? Like he was, I did some Googling. I was like, is this like a completely new character? But no, he was with Sarge. He was a part of the hard asses or whatever.

Yo Dave (13:50)
Yep.

He was. He was. No. Yeah, well, he was.

But his origin then was also that he was a former Cobra Viper who turned to the Joes.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (14:09)
Okay, that's right.

All right. All right. So we might be getting that coming potentially down the

Yo Dave (14:14)
Yeah. Yeah. But

Mercer had his own action figure in the 80s, three and three quarter inch line too. He's been around. He's not the only the only net new character so far is risk.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (14:19)
Okay.

Murphy.

That was what I was gonna ask. like, I've never, this seems like a new character.

Yo Dave (14:30)
Yeah, brand new.

I do like him, by the way. I think he's very cool.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (14:33)
You're big It used to be a big Omega. Girl, La Casa.

Yo Dave (14:36)
Used to, yes.

Yeah, key phrase there being used to.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (14:40)
I know, I know, but yeah, okay.

Yo Dave (14:43)
Yeah, I think just risks whole vibe of being sort of like James Bond in a suit, but like a cage fighter is really cool There's something really cool about that character

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (14:52)
Yeah.

He's the anti-Duke too, so of course you love him. So don't like Duke, Duke was, cause you hate the leadership character. You hate the, you're like Duke's, I don't even know, Prime?

Yo Dave (14:58)
Yes. What does that mean?

No, I don't. Who's my favorite transformer?

Yes, I talked about it on the podcast before. told you I wept in the theater as a child when Prime died in the movie.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (15:12)
Wow. Wow.

Yeah, I mean, that doesn't mean it has to be your favorite though. He's just one of the good guys. Okay. Sorry. Push the cube into my chest, Sam. Okay. Also, you know, happy Black History Month. Stalker. Stalker is low key like my favorite G.I. Joe. Like, and he wasn't always. I really didn't appreciate Stalker until I read the comic book series. Like in the

Yo Dave (15:20)
I told you it was my favorite.

Damn.

Hehehehehe

Mm-hmm.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (15:47)
The show, the cartoon, Stalker was cool, but like, I really liked that character once I started reading like the Hamma books. Like him, him going back in the day and like Vietnam with snake eyes and stuff like that's pretty like cool. Like, I was just like, I like him in this book. Like he's, I liked the part where like the Baroness is like mouthing off, talking that shit. And he's, she didn't know he's like a translator and he heard everything and just like talk shit back to her. And she was like, him back and just.

Yo Dave (16:16)
I looked

up the translation of that interaction. Yeah, it was in Russian. So Baroness says, shut up, you stupid old pig, or I'll cut your neck while you sleep.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (16:18)
Oh did you really? Oh wow.

Yo Dave (16:29)
And then Stalker says, try it and I will not only kick your ass, I will drag you back to your mother and father and show them how their little princess has become a waste of life. They brought you into this world, so maybe they'll do us all a favor and take you out of it. Yeah.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (16:44)
Damn! Okay, I can see why she was taken back by that.

But then him also breaking up the fight with like, Risk and just like, like, Risk and Duke and just being like, yo, like, you guys gotta get your shit together. And then was also like, I gotta call Rock and Roll's family. Like, he's an adult. Like, he's an adult.

Yo Dave (16:54)
Yeah.

You know what's weird about that though to me? Stalker's not the leader of the group. But that for sure felt like a leader taking charge.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (17:07)
What's that?

He's not, but he's...

I think that we're, I think we're on the arc of like Duke, you know, learning the leadership role. He's a hothead right now. He's whatever, but yeah.

Yo Dave (17:19)
Yeah But

what is I mean Duke what is his rank he has no rank? Stalkers a sergeant. Isn't that higher than whatever Duke is? I don't know The hierarchy of GI Joe has always confused me I Think we talked about that when we talked about GI Joe the movie a few months ago, I think that came up there, too

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (17:25)
Yeah.

I don't know. Duke's Sondland. Yeah, this note. Yeah, true story.

Just off the top, just

off the top of your head, name the coolest five Joes. Like off the top of your head.

Yo Dave (17:47)
Snake Eyes, Sergeant Slaughter, probably Scarlet, I do really like Shockwave.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (17:51)
Okay.

Yep, two's in line.

Okay.

Yo Dave (18:01)
And I always, I always really liked spirit, but I don't think I can put him in my top five. I don't think he could be in my top five though. Like I think somebody, one of like the weirder newer Joe's like third and fourth wave Joe's like heavy duty. I loved heavy duty cause he had that big, like he wore that big ass thing of like the giant guns, he had a backwards hat on. I thought it was cool.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (18:06)
Okay, yeah.

Okay.

Yeah. Okay.

Yeah, I just,

I just like, I'd be like Duke, Roadblock, Scarlet, Snake Eyes, Stalker. that's kind of like, so like maybe that's why I'm like impartial with Stalker. What about Big Lob? Storm shit. Yeah, like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I really liked it. Yeah. I really liked that.

Yo Dave (18:32)
but then...

Nah, but when Storm Shadow turned to goods, was my he was probably my favorite of all the ninja characters. So. Speaking of when we're going to see more of him.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (18:51)
probably not going to incorporate her but they have that character helix in the other in the idw continuity i really liked her but who knows if they're going to bring her in but sorry

Yo Dave (18:57)
Yeah.

Yeah, I don't

know. mean she they created her for a real American hero She wasn't she was never part of the cartoon that was a newly created for the main real American hero comic character Even she has a figure in the classified series line like the six inch line Yeah, she's sort of like a ninja spy type of a character

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (19:04)
Okay.

I was just about to say, like, we got a Helix classified figure. All right.

Yeah,

it was, I liked it, it was cool.

Yo Dave (19:23)
Shit man, me some Dom Moreno too, I don't know.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (19:25)
This was good good stuff. We I know you have a schedule of things to do and I could talk we could talk about the book and Joe, but yeah, so

Yo Dave (19:28)
Yeah, anyway, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So there's a few little things that really like got me excited that were like subtle, but maybe not that subtle. When they're meeting in their little control room, whatever, to talk about that mission, to protect that piece of Cybertronian tech, Rock and Roll is looking over Clutch's shoulder and Clutch is like, yeah,

I'm sketching out this thing called a vamp, which is like an iconic GI Joe vehicle. They're like battle Jeep thing. The Valkyries, like they didn't do much other than show up and kill a bunch of wounded people, but I think the Valkyries are so fucking cool.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (20:25)
I agree. Just that panel of them was sweet. Like they were just killing people. Is that like a real thing? They're like an actual unit. didn't know if that was, that's cool. I like that. I like that.

Yo Dave (20:28)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, those are real, yeah.

In issue two, when they're fighting in that building over that piece of tech, I think it's Cover Girl is going to grab a gun and Mercer says, don't think I won't shoot a woman in the face. I'm like, bro, that has no place here. What you talking about?

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (20:53)
Yeah. What's wrong with you?

It does have a place. He's culprit. It's all right.

Yo Dave (21:01)
I I do think in general Mercer is just like he's his treatment here. I really really enjoy I Mean again the way that everything is woven together, you know Duke recognized Mercer from Way back in the Duke miniseries when he thought Mars was the one building the Transformers And he snuck into their base and he got into a fight with Mercer and got in with a bunch of BATs You know, they think they're

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (21:08)
Okay.

Yo Dave (21:31)
Their second meeting was really, really cool because then Destro and Cobra Commander are watching this thing play out. Cobra Commander's like, you know, maybe we should recruit this guy. He's insane. Like, I'm digging the vibe here from Duke. Should we talk to this guy? Like you said, there's just, the stakes are high and there's no rules that they have to follow here, which is why Baroness is one of the Joes. you know, there's just,

an entire world that they're building and the source material that I like the most from GI Joe, which is the cartoon and the animated movie is something that all the creators here really, really, really revere. And I think that's important.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (22:17)
So these, the mini-series is sort of in, the thing, I just didn't want to have like all these interweaving books. So like, it seems like with this, at least like, it's like an arc will end and when we move on for the most part. But like there, I see, I'm hearing there's some Transformers interwoven in there. So it's like, do I have to read all these books every month? Like.

Yo Dave (22:39)
There's only three, man. There's G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Void Rifles. That's it. That's it. Just three comics.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (22:45)
so much reading. Alright, alright.

I might, this is exciting, so even I might have to just do the digital thing, I just don't want all that paper.

Yo Dave (22:55)
I'm

doing GI Joe Digital when it comes out and I'm still buying the physical.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (22:58)
Yeah...

Just when you get it, I like it. I like collecting it.

Yo Dave (23:02)
just to have it.

I mean I learned my lesson on Missing out and all that real American hero stuff that IDW had done when the license changed hands. I Just I'm not gonna do that again. So Yeah, if I want to own it I gotta buy it when it comes out just the way it works a Couple other just general thoughts the more savage and calculating Cobra commander is extremely refreshing

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (23:15)
Yeah, never coming back.

Yo Dave (23:34)
the sort of buffoon version from the cartoons is He's just sort of like a caricature of himself at times And it just got more and more over the top You know, this is a really really cool take, you know I said this when we did our energon episode last year that The Cobra commander series was my favorite one by far of what had been released at that point I think it's still the

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (23:36)
Bubbling idiot. Good word.

Yeah.

Yo Dave (24:04)
strongest book that they've put out because of how much cool shit happened in that five issues. It introduced so many characters that I loved and that got me so stoked on the energon universe in general. But they set up then that this is a Cobra commander that should be taken seriously and that is still the case.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (24:27)
drop that man in a snake pit. Disrespectful.

Yo Dave (24:29)
Yeah, exactly.

I don't have any more general thoughts. Do you want to go to like predictions and things that we want to see? All right, you go first.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (24:39)
Yeah, we're good. Yeah, yeah.

I don't have as many nearly as you, but like, dude, I love the idea of the Crimson Guard. I just be sleeper agents. Like I kind of want just an issue dedicate. Give me a mini series on the Crimson Guard. Just, just normal everyday people. They're just sleeper agents. Like I just love that concept. And like that, that was an issue in the IDW run, them like following the Crimson Guard. So I think that's interesting.

Yo Dave (24:49)
Okay.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (25:14)
I want to know obviously where we're going with the cliffhanger at the end with Tomax and Zayn Mott, where we're chasing to, what we're doing. And I feel like we've gotten a lot of Cobra reveals. I kind of want to see who the next Joe is. Like who's the next Joe that we're going to bring on the team or, yeah. So that's all.

Yo Dave (25:37)
I think the next Joe is gonna be Scarlett.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (25:41)
That would be cool.

Yo Dave (25:44)
stalker and scarlet have already interacted in her mini so there she is a known quantity to stalker I've been telling you this man

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (25:48)
Okay. Okay.

Damn it, I have to get these books. I gotta get up on game. Up on game,

gotta get up on game.

Yo Dave (25:59)
I'm

you, I'm telling you, Scarlet was really good. The art was probably the weakest of all of the minis, but after an issue, I was okay with it. I got used to it. It was fine. Yeah. Yes, yes. I really, really, really want to see a Duke and Baroness relationship start.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (26:03)
Yeah, the art was turned me off. was like, ooh, I don't know about that.

Like the stories are good, so I'm like, whatever, but the art was like.

Little romance, huh? Little romance action, all right.

Yo Dave (26:25)
Uh-huh. And

in continuing that thought, I would also like Baroness to stick with the Joes. I don't want to see a heel turn. I really, really don't. I also, in some of my more extreme thoughts and considerations, I do think that there is the potential for that

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (26:33)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yo Dave (26:54)
little interaction between Cobra Commander and Destro, where Cobra Commander floated the idea of recruiting Duke, that there is a future where we get a Duke heel turn.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (27:05)
Woo, that would be something.

Yo Dave (27:08)
Hear me out.

Duke's whole AWOL bender in his miniseries was a direct result of Starscream killing his best friend in a plane.

In I think it was issue two, it was either issue two or three. Duke refers to the Transformers as their enemies. He has it already in his mind that all the Transformers are bad. Like my purpose with this team is to prevent threats that are.

Weapon in nature like new tech new weapons that could destroy humanity That's why gi jo is the thing that i'm passionate about because I want to prevent those threats. He's used the transformers as one of those threats What do we know about cobra? They're using energon to power their lasers to power the the battle android troopers to do pretty much everything they've unlocked energon And they did so because cobra commander was experimenting on megatron when he was still back in cobra law before

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (28:09)
Yeah.

Yo Dave (28:12)
the first issue of Cobra Commander's mini-series. I can see a future where Duke is so disenfranchised either by learning that some of the Transformers are good and he still believes Transformers bad or something, something, there's some other event that happens that just makes him think that Cobra wanting to control the Transformers and use them to their advantage.

is maybe the best way for him to get revenge on all of the Transformers, and he switches sides.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (28:43)
I'm following

you. Does he come back?

Yo Dave (28:48)
I don't know. You have to ask Joshua Williamson if he actually does this.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (28:49)
That

That'd be interesting. That'd

be a nice ripple. That'd be something different.

Yo Dave (28:56)
Yeah, and just just for the sake of I was right and I said it first, it's February 5th at 9 15 p.m. Central Standard Time. So if this happens like a year from now, there's no way they were planning that far in advance. I called it. I had the idea. Me.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (29:04)
Bucket. Bucket.

Book it.

I love it. Me, me, me, me.

Yo Dave (29:20)
The brainwave scanner. I want to talk about the brainwave scanner.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (29:25)
Alright, let's talk about it.

Yo Dave (29:28)
That's a Dr. Mindbender thing, yeah? Yeah, so Dr. Archibald Monev is not Dr. Mindbender. Dr. Mindbender has sort of a goofy origin. He was an orthodontist. And the brainwave scanner, used that to like, that was the way that they would anesthetize his patients. It was supposed to calm them for procedures and stuff. He ended up trying it on himself and then he went crazy.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (29:30)
Yeah, I thought so.

Yo Dave (29:58)
And when he went crazy, he turned to Cobra and the path of evil. But his real name was Dr. Brian Binder, not Archibald Monev.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (30:07)
Brian, I feel like

Dr. Venom though is the creator and something happens to him. like, I still feel like Dr. This guy was still the creator, like Mindbender takes it over though. I feel like there's something in my head about Venom and like from, read some of that real American hero stuff and I was super confused. Like this dude got trapped in the machine. Like Dr. Venom got trapped in the machine or some shit. Like I've just remember vaguely something like that. Like

Yo Dave (30:23)
I mean-

Okay, okay.

Yeah, I mean, for you, you can't do the Dr. Mime Mender Origin again. You can't make this dude an evil orthodontist. Sorry. Yeah, like, it's not gonna work. That'd be goofy.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (30:43)
Make him the- Yeah, make him one of the darst.

I just looked up the ju- I don't- I just looked up a little bit and it's like, yeah, Dr. Venom was the creator of the brainwave scanner.

Yeah, I'd have to read this whole article, but I'm not gonna read that.

Yo Dave (31:09)
Alright.

So my last set of, these aren't predictions, these are just wants. I want more Nemesis Enforcer. I want more Cobra Law. I want more Scarlet, I want more Jinx, I want more Storm Shadow, and I wanna see a lot more of the Arishikage. I need that.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (31:19)
Always.

Yo Dave (31:32)
Ninja GI Joe is my shit. I love it. I know a lot of people, a lot of the older GI Joe fans kind of tapped out with the Ninja stuff and the Cobra Law stuff. Yeah, not me. Not me. That's my GI Joe. So I'd love to see some more of that.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (31:34)
Yeah.

The Ninja Force, yeah. That's when you tapped in. That's what I tagged in.

All good,

Yo Dave (31:54)
Alright, I got one final thing for us. A little bit of a PSA. If you remember the G.I. Joe cartoons, they all ended with a PSA. So we're going end these episodes with a PSA as well. So it's best not to doubt or challenge Cobra Commander. We've seen him outwit Nemesis Enforcer in his miniseries. He brutalized the Dreadnocks. He threatened Destro with an energon gun. He could sense that Cobra Law assassinated in their midst in the Springfield base.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (31:56)
All right.

Yo Dave (32:21)
He shattered that dude's jaw with one hand and then threw him in a snake pit to die. It's safe to say that this isn't your dad's Cobra Commander. So now you know.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (32:31)
and knowing is half the battle.

Yo Dave (32:34)
Thanks for checking us out everybody. My name is Dave. We'll see you in a couple of weeks. Bye bye.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (32:36)
And I'm Matt.

Yo Dave (32:44)
this I could have just played the sound bite do you me to just play the sound bite you want to play it

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (32:46)
It's fine. It just,

it just came, it came from the spirit. I couldn't help it.

Yo Dave (32:52)
No, I love it, but I'll here.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (32:57)
You

Yo Dave (33:00)
There you go. You're welcome.

Matt - For Cobra-LA!! (33:01)
Thank you.