Exploring the Epic 1989 G.I. Joe Mini Series: ‘Operation Dragonfire’!
Story by Mitchell Smith
Welcome to the Outpost. Today I’m taking a look at the the 1989, 4 episode G.I. Joe mini series “Operation Dragonfire”. For me and I’m sure many others out there we had 12 inch Joes, 1982 Joes, and grew up on the original GI Joe animated series. The 1987 GI Joe the movie was when I stopped watching GI Joe. Not for any reason other than I was getting older and was playing sports, working, and partying and didn’t have the time. Somewhere in the world there was another generation still into GI Joe or perhaps just getting into the comics, cartoons, and/or toys. I loved the movie, I loved GI Joe, and even received figures up till 1990, but I never watched series 2 until a few years ago. Even then I watched all the episodes and didn’t pay close attention.
I had a chance to watch these three episodes last week and pay more attention to them. Some of my favorite characters were in it. Backblast, Downtown, and Long Range were all cool figures and were cool to see in the cartoon. This is also when Scoop was playing double agent and ended up joining the Joe team. Alley Vipers, Frag Vipers, and Night Vipers were all cool Cobras added this year. Cobra Commander was still a snake and Baroness was able to turn him back into the creature that helped Roadblock escape Cobra-La. For the life of me I don’t know why this figure was never made. For those who agree Slaughters Marauders color schemes are a bit off, why didn’t they make them like the characters in the show?
Simple green pants with brown blotches, predominantly dark brown or black tops, with a little of the blue sprinkled in. If they make more Classified Marauders other than BBQ, which it’s pretty certain they will, I hope someone watches this series on how to do the paint scheme. I won’t hold my breathe though, obviously they didn’t pay attention back in the day. For those who like the color scheme, I don’t hate it, just want to know why they are so different. We also got the Python Patrol which overall is a really cool sub team. 1988 seemed to be the breaking point for the older generation and the newer generation. Lots of changes happened and I am one who appreciates the entirety of GI Joe. Not to take anything away from the voice actors but, Hasbro could afford to go with Sgt. Slaughter and unknown actors that didn’t need to be great because GI Joe was selling itself at this point. But then again what kind of cast would you need to replace Neil Ross, Micheal Bell, Morgan Lofting, Chris Collins, Mary Macdonald, and all the other great voice actors of the original cartoon? Overall I thought this was a great episode and I look forward to watching the rest of the seasons. What do y’all think of this mini series? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below. Make sure to check back for our next discussion.
