G.I. Joe Renegades - "Knockoffs" - Talkback [03/18]

[The Huntsman]

Today @ 6:00 PM ET on The Hub

I'm happy that these episodes are now airing in their intended order. At least I think they are. Hopefully they don't botch the episode order again in the future, holiday or otherwise.

Lady Jaye and Flint use Zartan to track the Joes. Meanwhile, the Baroness tries to sneak a camouflage suit to Cobra.

[animeshark]

I have been really enjoying the episodes for this series. I found this episode in particular to be a fun watch. Really enjoyed how Roadblock tried to get the others to open up to each other and said some funny tidbits about himself. Zartan this episode was very interesting and now that the suit belongs to him due to how it was created.

[Monte]

Seems we got another Joe cameo in this episode with Wild Bill

While it was better than Zartan's first episode, i still don't really care much for him.... i mean the only difference now is that he's a common thug with a super powered suit. Hell instead of being selected as the best man to wear the suit, he needed a plot convenient reason to become cobra's master of disguise. I enjoyed many of the changes they made to the villain cast, but Zartan really isn't one of them.

On a different note, Some of the stuff in the beginning irked me about the episode... First flint not having any addtional troops with him to take down the Joes aswell as bringing Zartan along when it seemed like he did not even need to be present to help flint track them down... and then there's the baroness firing on flint, really that seemed like a really stupid idea. Honestly we can atleast hope that flint IS getting highly suspicious of her. Hell then there's the end where she turns off zartan's suit in front of flint... not only should that get flint thinking, but it kind of ruins that "top secret" element that baroness was trying so hard to cover up. Also wiping out the mind of a brilliant scientist to keep him quiet seems like a major waste of resources... hell the end of the episode only pointed out how stupid of a move that was.

[TheVileOne]

Flint is officially dumb as a post. I mean look there is suspension of disbelief, but you have COBRA grunts firing on American MP. So you are telling me that this would NOT get reported or they would not be arrested? For Flint to just accept, "Sorry our property was stolen so we fired on you by accident" is bloody mental. And then Flint is so thick that he says, we'll take you along Baroness and use your weapons. NO! JUST NO! You arrest her for freaking firing on the freaking military without provocation. Saying you were upset for having property stolen is not feasible. Maybe Baroness gets put through the system and she's out in about a minute but it at least characterizes Flint as having a backbone and having a brain larger than that of a pea. Flint is supposed to be like a road scholar and class valedictorian. Ed Lover says, "C'mon son!"

I know in storytelling you have to sometimes suspend disbelief otherwise you don't have a story. But I mean there is no way if the Joes have the tech to hack into secret COBRA frequences and conversations between Baroness and Cobra Commander then there is no way they cannot record or whip out a little cell phone or video camera to just digitally get it all down and disemminate it. There is no way. In the age of Wikileaks and Droids and Ipads and Iphones this is just flabby storytelling.

Still don't like Renegades-Zartan.

Besides that I liked all the interaction between Snake Eyes and Scarlett. I think Road Block even said that the two have a personal bond. I liked that Snake Eyes was smart enough to figure out which Duke was the fake and Scarlett explained his physical gesture of the heart beat. In the Hama comics, Scarlett would sometimes translate Snake Eyes' sign language.

[ktk]

I thought this was an above-average episode of the show, though I'll agree that the credibility of Flint's character has been stretched beyond thin.

I liked the way the Zartan story arc evolved in this episode. I wasn't a fan at all of his initial appearance, but now I'm kind of digging the fact that he's already been introduced as a biker thug, and now has basically stumbled into his disguise ability. I actually appreciate it when they do things differently in this show compared to the more familiar character histories we've learned over the years.

Anyone else think we're getting way too much of the Baroness in this show? The Joes are running into her a bit too often.

Snake Eyes was as awesome as ever, if not even moreso this week. His silent interaction/communication with Scarlett was great, and is turning out to be one of the more entertaining aspects of this series (though it was especially cool this week).


Best part of the episode: Baroness turned into Dr Girlfriend!
I swear that popped into my head right away when Zartan started talking with her face and his voice.

[RoyalRubble]

Pretty cool episode. Liked seeing Zartan again, and him gaining some shape-shifting abilities. I thought it was great how they presented the relationship between Scarlett and Snake Eyes so far.

[AlgeaX]

Seems we got another Joe cameo in this episode with Wild Bill.

Guess Flint must have got him transferred from the Hulk-busters over on A:EMH.

[Monte]

I liked the way the Zartan story arc evolved in this episode. I wasn't a fan at all of his initial appearance, but now I'm kind of digging the fact that he's already been introduced as a biker thug, and now has basically stumbled into his disguise ability. I actually appreciate it when they do things differently in this show compared to the more familiar character histories we've learned over the years.

I don't really care if they change things, like i said i've enjoyed some of the changes but zartan is not one of them... He's still the exact same stupid thug he was in the first episode. Frankly i think i'd have appreciated him more if he was a more skilled and intelligent character, or if they could have atleast did a better job with his personality quirk of wanted to take something special from those he torments. Maybe if he was like ex-special-ops before being discharged and turning into a biker; give him the skill and intelligence to be a threat even without the super suit and to use the suit to its fullest. Not to mention he could have maybe impressed Baroness enough to select him to use the suit rather than it all being contrived coincidence that he be the only one who could use it.

Anyone else think we're getting way too much of the Baroness in this show? The Joes are running into her a bit too often.

Well part of the problem there is that there is a lack of characters that can fill her role... Most of cobra's operatives are not really suited for the kind of work that the baroness does; for the most part she handles buisness and delicate operations. However i might expect things might change if and when Xamot and Tomax become regular members and trusted to work for cobra; though they don't have the baroness's physical ability they might be well suited for jobs that require more intelligence than muscle. Frankly those two will be brilliant at handling public and business relations. Though all in all, the baroness is the only with a combination of Brains and skill and who can appear in public

[TheVileOne]

She opened fire on military police. How is she not rotting in a jail cell?

[AlgeaX]

She opened fire on military police. How is she not rotting in a jail cell?

Rhyming lawyers?

[GregX]

She opened fire on military police. How is she not rotting in a jail cell?

It was friendly fire, she thought she was firing on known wanted terrorists, who were in front of her and firing at her.

[Gold Guy]

This was definately one of the better episodes. I was pretty interested in how it would turn out, but yes, I also think that Flint is a block-head. And I used to like him, too!

[CyclonatorZ]

Guess Flint must have got him transferred from the Hulk-busters over on A:EMH.

Actually, I think it was confirmed that the guy in the helicopter in "Hulk Versus the World" was actually Dum Dum Dugan.

Anyway, this was a decent episode, but I agree that it doesn't do much for Flints image. I was hoping that after his last encounter with Duke in Homecomign Part Two, he might have started to question things a bit, but it seems we're right back to square one. Disapointing.

[ktk]

That's the problem when you have such frequently recurring antagonists. If the good guys get the drop on them episode after episode, they lose any semblance of being a serious threat or challenge that they may have had.

And yes, I know this has been a problem in many cartoons since the beginning of time. I just really thought that this would be one of the different ones, since it seems to such a unique and fresh new take on the GIJoe story.

So instead of Flint and Baroness showing up week after week, lets see more of Firefly or now Zartan since he's become more of a threat. Apparently Storm Shadow is showing up next week, so that's a step in the right direction.

[TheVileOne]

It was friendly fire, she thought she was firing on known wanted terrorists, who were in front of her and firing at her.

How is it friendly fire when they are civilian private company. They are NOT military or federall. Friendly fire does not apply here.

[W.C.Reaf]

I was expecting Zartan to get stuck in the suit based on the malfunction Scarlet had with it trying to take it off. But then we wouldn't have gotten the most interesting part of the episode for me:

The Commander actually had the suit made, and specifically as a one of a kind, just so he could go out as his DeCobray persona. So the question is if he's that desperate to make public appearances so no one begins to suspect anything will he employ the less than trustworthy Zartan to do so?

[Monte]

It was friendly fire, she thought she was firing on known wanted terrorists, who were in front of her and firing at her.

no, she outright states that they fired on flint because they thought he was with the joe's, so the firing was on purpose; not to mention they fired directly on the jeep so there's no way it was an accident. And this occurred AFTER flint showed up and announced "This is the US military"... she could have gotten a pass if they only concentrated on the joes, but not for openly firing on real officers who announcing who they are.

The Commander actually had the suit made, and specifically as a one of a kind, just so he could go out as his DeCobray persona. So the question is if he's that desperate to make public appearances so no one begins to suspect anything will he employ the less than trustworthy Zartan to do so?

Oh a severely doubt cobra would be stupid enough to trust an common thug for something THAT important. More than likely they just don't want to waste a super suit and thus decided to sign up zartan so that they could find a new use for the suit.

though this does actually raise another question. If the Commander's only purpose for the suit was to use it himself then why was it programmed to mimic ANYONE? it would be simpler to program to mimic just decobrey. Also to jsut use the suit for public appearances seems like an incredible waste since you have the ultimate infiltration stool. And if they did want to use it for more useful purposes then why make only one a frag the scientist that made it... much better to have the data and means to make more of them. Hell the scientist would have been incredibly useful, but instead of permanently signing him up like mindbender they decided to get rid of him... i mean really, god forbid the suit would break. This is all part of me thinking this episode was rather contrived.

[AlgeaX]

Actually, I think it was confirmed that the guy in the helicopter in "Hulk Versus the World" was actually Dum Dum Dugan.

I know this is incredebly geeky and nitpicky but that wasn't Dum Dum, Dugan was in the Captain America shorts along with the rest of the howlers.

no, she outright states that they fired on flint because they thought he was with the joe's, so the firing was on purpose; not to mention they fired directly on the jeep so there's no way it was an accident.

Isn't that pretty much the definition of friendly fire? Firing on an ally you mistakenly thought was an enemy.

[TheVileOne]

No because doesn't friendly fire involve the military? COBRA aren't military.

[AlgeaX]

No because doesn't friendly fire involve the military? COBRA aren't military.

Well okay,then it's whatever you call it when a civilian accidentally shoots someone they thought was shooting them.