There have been plenty of iterations of GI Joe action figures throughout the years, with the newest being the 6” Classified line. While some versions are highly regarded, such as the A Real American Hero line of the 1980s-90s, others are not looked on fondly by the Joe community.
One of those maligned iterations was the GI Joe vs. Cobra/SpyTroops/Valor vs. Venom era of the early 2000s. Some of the criticism is justified — the proportions were often horrendous, paint applications were sometimes soft, and many figures looked downright janky — but this line also had many positive qualities that get overlooked today. Here are 8 ways GI Joe of the early aughts kicked ass:
Note: All pictures belong to Justin Bell unless noted. Check out his site, generalsjoesreborn.com, for excellent GI Joe-related news and reviews!
Better Articulation: The beginning of this era was a step back for a brand that prided itself on articulation that went beyond the pale, but just like the original 3 ¾” line in the ‘80s, Hasbro found ways to innovate the designs to allow for more articulation than ever before. Swivel wrists were introduced, as were articulated ankles. B.A.T.s were given different joints in the elbows that made them look more robotic than ever.

Towards the end of the line, rivetless, injection-molded shoulders were introduced, giving a streamlined look to the arms, and ball-jointed necks also made its introduction, both of which carried over to the 25th anniversary line.

The Accessories: This era of GI Joe also made strides with accessories. Webgear, capes, ghillie suits, belts and other wearable accessories became more commonplace, allowing characters to easily change or mix-and-match looks.

Furthermore, figures began coming with working holsters, allowing them to carry their weapons on their body. That’s a pretty big step forward! And there were instances of Hasbro putting a lot of thought into new weapons, such as Roadblock’s minigun with detachable handle and ammo box…

the B.A.T. backpack that held all of his accessories (including an awesome sword arm), Wide Scope’s riot shield and Slash’s cool double sword.

While many accessories were reused and molded in a single color (almost always black), there were also instances of paint apps being used for accessories, and I can’t think of a single instance where a gun was fluorescent orange…
The Reissues: The early 2000s was actually a pretty good time to be a GI Joe collector. If you wanted new stuff, you got new stuff, but if you wanted reissues of old figures, you got that too. There were continuations of Tiger Force, Night Force and Python Patrol subsets…

…as well as new themes including desert patrols, urban strike forces, and, of course, ninjas. There were also 3 packs of classic figures with newly sculpted heads (with… varying degrees of success…) and fan-favorite characters made into figures for the first time, like members of the October Guard and Kwinn.

Lastly, there were figures given new life with repaints that blew the old versions away. Shock Vipers, Fast Blast Vipers, Alley Vipers, Shadow Vipers, and Sub Vipers were all repainted figures that helped people gain an appreciation for the molds that were degraded with bad (usually neon) color schemes.

The Colors: Now that I think about it, most of this era’s color choices were pretty spot-on…
Re-imagining of Old Characters: This is where I think this era deserves the most credit. Unlike the later GI Joe lines, the early 2000s line was not afraid to go into very different directions with established characters. Some of these new takes didn’t work, but you’d be surprised by how many did! We got a version of Torpedo that blew the previous version out of the water (excuse the pun…).

We got cool new looks for Blowtorch, Airborne, Nunchuck, Heavy Duty, Destro…

…Storm Shadow, Ripper, Torch…

…and Gung Ho…

…that could be argued are better than the originals — or any other version, for that matter. It took Hasbro over 20 tries to improve on this version of Snake Eyes…

…and this version of Shipwreck has been adopted as the preferred look for the character.

The Hasbro designers weren’t afraid of changing up the formula and updating looks for characters that were already ~20 years old, and they deserve credit for having the courage to do it in the face of a fanbase reluctant to change.
Creating New Characters: This is the other area where Hasbro deserves major credit. Instead of going to the same characters again and again and again (in the case of Snake Eyes, 68 times and counting…), Hasbro did a pretty impressive job of mixing in brand new characters with more established ones. This era introduced us to Kamakura, Dart, Cross Hair…

Barrel Roll, Depth Charge, Wide Scope, Hard Drive, Switch Gears, Agent Faces, and many other new Joes. They also gave us a new female character for the first time in ~15 years with Bombstrike, who was, without a doubt, the best sculpted female figure created up to that point. They also filled out the ranks of Cobra, introducing us to both new troopers and Cobra command. We got Neo-Vipers, Pit Vipers, Sand Vipers, Swamp Rats, Snow Wolves, Cobra Coils…

Razor Troopers, and (my personal favorite) Heavy Water to army build. What is more impressive is that they filled out Cobra command with characters that filled obvious holes, such as sniper (Black Out), medic (Scalpel)…

and, uh, squeezer (Coil Crusher). And, for my money, Venomous Maximus is cooler than Serpentor ever was…

New Vehicles: Looking back, the amount of vehicles released during this era was surprising. At a glance, they released just as many vehicles as the A Real American Hero line did during their heyday in the ‘80s. There was a good mix of smaller vehicles, such as motorcycles and gliders, and larger vehicles like airplanes, tanks and boats (including a few repaints of the awesome 1985 Hydrofoil). Not every vehicle was impressive (some looked… kind of chubby and too kid-friendly (which is really understandable since toys are ostensibly for kids…))…

…but there were a number of vehicles that truly were impressive. If you want realism, they released a line of humvees that were just as realistic as any Joe vehicles from the early ‘80s…

…an updated battery-powered tank in the Patriot Grizzly Tank, and a really cool motor-powered swiftboat, the Piranha Attack Boat. If you want futuristic, there was the arctic-themed Ice Sabre…

…the Sting Raider sub, and really bad-ass mechs, something I had always wanted with my Joes.

Then there were the big boys, the R.O.C.C. and the R.H.I.N.O. And, finally, there was the Night Adder, a snake-themed Cobra plane and an updated H.I.S.S. tank, that looks ridiculous in all the right ways.

Again, I am shocked at how many good vehicles there are from this era.
GI Joe Was Back: I don’t know about you, but I was pretty ecstatic when GI Joe came back in the early 2000s. It was gone from store shelves and public consciousness for ~7 years, and it is a nice feeling when something that meant so much when I was a kid can still reach people today. I played with these figures with my nephews, and had a great time. It brought the property back into the public eye, with everything from McDonald’s Happy Meals to direct-to-video movies (the less said about those the better…). It was a success in spite of no popular cartoons or commercials that GI Joe in its heyday enjoyed, and I’m sure its success was a major factor in future releases, such as Sigma Six (complete with cartoon), the 25th Anniversary reboot, and the 6” line coming out now. In short, anytime GI Joe comes back and proves itself is a reason to celebrate. Yo Joe.