JoeDeclassified.com

Apparently when the first season is complete, Renegades will go on "hiatus" pending the second film. As someone who detested "Rise of Cobra" and has become fond of Renegades, I have already contact Hasbro to see where to send the letter writing campaign. Sure, it's just a TV show, but in the vast wasteland of cable TV, I find this one to be a gem worth saving...

Not to be a pessimist, but I have little faith a letter writing campaign is going to solve much. At this point, even if they change their minds and decide to do another season within the next month, it wouldn't be ready until 2012, and by that time, it's so close to the movie, there is no chance they would put anything contradictory on TV.

Honestly, to me, this is just deflating.

I mean, look back at the history of G.I. Joe in media:

1 - Sunbow. Lots of notoriety, but admittedly a silly representation with overwhelming caricatures, and insanely ridiculous, unrealistic stories. A lot of dumb slapstick humor and not much to take seriously.

2 - G.I. Joe: Extreme - Darker and more serious, but barely seen on TV and had almost no real connection to the familiar RAH mythology.

3 - CGI DVD Releases (Spy Troops/Ninja Battles/VvV) - Honestly? These are near ridiculous. Valor Vs. Venom was okay, but they were definitely made for the kid's crowd and not to be taken seriously by adults.

4 - Sigma 6 - UGH. That is all.

5 - G.I. Joe: Resolute - A pretty serious, grim feature that collectors absolutely love, but had very little outside influence.

6 - Rise of Cobra - Yeah. Not so much.

G.I. Joe: Renegades was something that kids could get into, but it was mature and smart enough for adults. It was rewriting the mythology, and doing a pretty decent job of it...but as usual, Hasbro just doesn't seem to know what they want. They simply cannot commit to ANYthing. Or if they do decide to commit (Rise of Cobra) it's to something that ends up not being worth committing to.

I can understand the desire to have a more cohesive style, but if that's the case, why did they go so out of the realm for the Renegades designs in the first place? Why even bother marketing an animated series that was destined to be canceled?

Of course, you have to know it all comes down to ratings, but they've said repeatedly that since the show is essentially owned and operated by Hasbro themselves, they could absorb bad ratings to try and build the brand.

Guess not.

I manage to keep somewhat emotionally uninvested in most of this stuff, I've seen so much Joe come and go over the years, but I felt really good about where Renegades was going and what it might do for the brand. But instead, it's just another entry in the ever-growing annals of failed G.I. Joe history. It's got a hell of a lot of company.

Adding to my frustration about the issue is the Hub's ridiculous self-aggrandizing over Transformers: Prime, which is just flat-out awful.

No kidding. The dialog is terrible, the animation is stiff and clunky...the atmosphere is barren and dull as dirt. Even the voice actors sound uncertain about what they're doing... not to mention the Transformers are just around as screen fodder until the 8 year old kid can save the day.

Renegades is 100% smarter, more interesting, and much more character-driven, but in the end, it's just brand recognition and advertising dollars. Quality means shit.

I'm pretty disappointed about the hiatus in renegades myself. G.I. Joe, while a great brand that we all love, has had some major problems defining itself for quite sometime now. While I did enjoy ROC, I'd wiish that this back and forth attitude Hasbro has about it would let up, as its hurting the brand.

THIS.

The writing for Renegades is far better, the characters are better, and even the animation (while not preferred my many) is still better than the cheap CGI crap they are using in Prime. Yet they renew Prime for a second season and CANCEL Renegades. Yes, cancel. We won't see it again. We know what "hiatus" really means. And really, what is all that different about Prime compared to all the other TF cartoons? It is always the same thing. Prime and Megatron, bitter enemies, sucking Earth dry for resources. Renegades is a dramatically different story, and a good one at that, yet they take a giant steaming dump on it anyway. VERY FRUSTRATING.

The idea of a hiatus or cancellation didn't bother me near so much until I read the "corporate" response, and I cry foul.

The idea of pulling one "version" of Joe to make clear the market for the movie-themed junk is the same reason that was given to DDP prior to the end of their license. Sure enough, IDW started right up, with no more than a tie-in comic and increased story-telling versatility right after.

Concentrated effort? More like concentrated bull.

A-MEN. I know I've spent year upon year defending Hasbro's corporate speak, and by and large their decisions are business based, and actually make sense, but this one just boggles the mind. The fact that they need to halt production on an animated series 18 months before the movie to create "continuity" is such overwhelming BS, especially considering Brian Goldner himself has even said there might not be any real continuity between movie #1 and movie #2.

Hell, even if there is, what FAN out there do you know that wants to subscribe to the movie-based continuity as the "one continuity"? Anyone? I didn't mind the movie nearly as much as everyone else, but I still don't want that to represent the single cohesive story or universe that represents G.I. Joe.

Now, I have no proof of this, but putting the pieces together, I think Hasbro just wasn't wild about Renegades from the start. They thought it would tank, they had no confidence in it, so they didn't even make an effort to back it up. Well, suddenly, it turns out the writing is really good, the fans (by and large) are digging it, but too late. By now, Hasbro has had their head in the sand for so long that they can't possibly spin Renegades into a viable branding because they lacked the wherewithall to give it the push it deserved. So, now, once again, because Hasbro themselves couldn't quite figure out what they wanted to do, we end up with another splintered attempt that falls on its face.

Suppose we should be used to it by now...

While Renegades started out a bit slow, the writing started picking up a few episodes ago.

I can understand the need to try to focus on a specific continuity, but look at Star Wars, the property that every boys toy is judged against, it does well with multiple toy line, from their Vintage collection, the Saga (or whatever they are calling it this year) collection, and the Clone Wars collection. I don't see why Hasbro can't do that with Joe.

Considering the director of the next film is the guy who directed Step Up 2 and 3, and the Justin Bieber film, along with reports of the storyline going in a different direction, I think Hasbro has become confused on the property again.

Perhaps there has been too much turnover in the Brand Manager position, and with that every person wanted to put their own stamp on the line. I am looking forward to seeing Darryl DePriest in charge of the line, it seemed in good hands before when he had it, perhaps it will be again.