G.I. Retro - Battle on the Roof of the World

In this episode of G.I. Retro, I break down Part 4 of the Revenge of Cobra - Battle on the Roof of the World! Spirit and Storm Shadow go one-on-one in a duel that begs the question - is THIS the greatest rivalry in G.I. Joe? Zartan plays everyone for fools and it all comes down to another Miracle on Ice!
 
Who are the greatest rivals in G.I. Joe?
Who was YOUR Episode MVP?
Who was YOUR Foul-Up of the Week?
What was your favorite But Did You Die? moment?
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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:04

There is too little air to waste it on pointless combat. Agreed. Soon we will either use up what oxygen remains or the sea will rise and take our lives.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

The race to rebuild the weather dominator continues. G.I. Joe is gonna need a miracle on ice. Plus, the duel between Storm Shadow and Spirit hits another level and has me asking the question: Is this the greatest rivalry in G.I. Joe? All that and more as we battle on the roof of the world. This is G.I. Retro.

SPEAKER_03 0:42

Now, back to G.I. Joe.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Yo, Joe, and welcome everyone, back to G.I. Retro, where we are revisiting and celebrating each and every episode of G.I. Joe, a real American hero, the Sunbow Marvel run. We are in the Revenge of Cobra miniseries, the penultimate episode of the Revenge of Cobra, battle on the roof of the world. And to bring you up to speed, in case you haven't been watching along, and I encourage you to do so, even if you don't have them on DVD, like I've said many times now on this channel, all the episodes are for free on YouTube. You can watch along, and really I think that's the most important piece of everything that we're doing here. But just in case you stumbled in here and you haven't, let me bring you quickly up to speed. One piece of the weather dominator has been recaptured by Cobra. The other two are still up for grabs. But before we get to that, we have to pay off our cliffhanger from last week's episode, Gung Ho and Shipwreck, falling towards what would absolutely be their death, this chasm that was caused by this catastrophic earthquake with all the crazy weather going on around the world. But enter Lady J and some G.I. Joe physics to make the save.

SPEAKER_03 1:57

Only one chance.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

That was a little too close for me, Lady J.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Beyond the amazing display of physics from shipwreck and gung-ho slingshotting themselves out of the chasm to safety, and that's exactly how that would work. It's it's science, and you can't convince me otherwise. But other than that, what I really liked here was Lady J showing off the variety of different uses that she has for those javelins. We've seen her use them in combat, and I also like seeing them sort of provide these non-combat type solutions as well. We see it here. I know we'll see it again in this miniseries and throughout the run of the animated series. And it's sort of very akin to the different arrows like Hawkeye has in the Avengers, or even closer to home, the different arrows that we've seen Scarlet be able to employ, like we did in the Mass Device miniseries. So I wanted to point that out, but we've got to recollect the pieces of the Weather Dominator. Cobra has one. G.I. Joe is down one to nothing. And so let's go back to the island of no return where G.I. Joe and Cobra, on a multitude of fronts, are sort of at a stalemate. We see, you know, Cutter in the Whale and Baroness in the urchin. Definitely should be a toy. We'll talk more about that again, I believe, this episode. But they're creating sort of a dueling smokescreen, definitely at a stalemate in the battle there. Zartan still sort of nowhere to be found. We know he's lurking underneath the waters in the submarine. So we've got a standoff on the outside, but it's what's going on inside the Island of No Return that I really want to focus on. This duel between Spirit and Storm Shadow over the piece of the weather dominator fragment they're fighting over. It continues here. And it's not only the best part of the episode, I think it really is a perfect illustration of what sets G.I. Joe apart as an animated series and what made it and its characters so incredibly memorable. And we see it all here in this duel between Spirit and Storm Shadow. Immediately we get the sort of mutual showing of respect between the two, and we get this idea that, yeah, even though Storm Shadow is a part of Cobra, he's a little bit different. He's set a little bit apart because he does have this sort of ninja code of honor and ethics to him that mirrors sort of Spirit's, you know, shamanistic, you know, the Native American code that he goes by and his sort of his warrior code that he holds himself to and everything like that. And then the battle's great. The animation's great, they're evenly matched. We see that multiple times throughout this battle. It's awesome. Like the way it plays out, no one really able to sustain an upper hand, and they both realize that it's sort of futile because they're running out of oxygen, and the water within this cave in the Isle of No Return continues to rise. And there's, you know, unless they figure out a solution, neither one of them are getting out of there alive with the piece of the weather dominator.

SPEAKER_03 5:27

We must dwell on this.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

And I I really do love the, you know, sort of the line, we must dwell on this, and then both of them sort of sitting there meditating. Again, mirror images of one another, but on opposite sides of this war. It really stood out then. I know for me and my brother as kids, G.I. Joe sort of informed our worldview about ninjas and how they conducted themselves and their code. And it really holds up today. Going back and re-watching this, it's really, really well done. And it got me thinking watching, you know, Spirit and Storm Shadow battle through this episode, show gratitude in this episode. And I remember it does happen multiple times throughout the animated series. So it got me thinking, you know, is this the greatest rivalry in G.I. Joe? And I know the default response is no, no, no, it's it's Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes. That's the rivalry. And I get that, I hear you. But like the Zartan hood versus hair thing, in all other media, that's the case. Uh, but here in the Sunbo Marvel run of a real American hero, it's not Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes. They only really, to my recollection, cross paths in this intro from The Revenge of Cobra. In the episodes themselves, it's Storm Shadow and Spirit that we see facing off multiple times and sort of again being opposite sides of the same coin. And it really works beautifully. We see it in this episode, we see it when they face off down the line. And I don't know, to me, I think that certainly you can make the argument that it's the greatest in this animated series. I mean, I think Cobra Commander and Destro also have an argument to be made. But I think at the very least, you would have to concede that this is the most underrated rivalry in G.I. Joe, or maybe the most under talked about, because Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow uh uses up a lot of the oxygen in the community. This one doesn't get talked about as much as it should. And I think it works better in this medium than Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes would, just by nature the fact that look, Snake Eyes, he can't speak, he's an awesome character. I love Snake Eyes, but for a kid's cartoon like this, it wouldn't work unless you subtitled it. And again, I don't think that would work the same way. And the dialogue, the banter back and forth between Spirit and Storm Shadow, it's just really finely done. And I like the sort of again, the sort of shamanistic philosophy that Spirit gets to impart. And Storm Shadow is sort of reciprocating in kind his own code. So yeah, in your opinion, is this the greatest rivalry in G.I. Joe? Do you go Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow? Because that's what dominates the rest of sort of the canon. Do you go something else entirely? Like I said, Cobra Commander and Destro, they have a great rivalry in their own right. And there are others. But in watching this and watching the duel, it just brought me back to when I was a kid. I loved seeing Spirit and Storm Shadow face off like this. And I think, at the very least, the most underrated rivalry. As we keep moving forward here within the episode, though, Spirit correctly finds the solution and surmises that there is a blowhole that will carry them to safety. That's exactly what happens along with the weather dominator fragment. And now, indebted to Spirit, Storm Shadow shows some gratitude and that respect once again.

SPEAKER_03 9:13

You have saved my unworthy life. The weather dominator shall be yours. We shall meet again.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

So, in a sort of life debt of gratitude, Storm Shadow letting Spirit take the weather dominator fragment, further showing that Storm Shadow is just sort of cut from a different cloth than the rest of Cobra. And again, the interactions between the two absolutely top tier, and we're not done in this episode. But as Spirit and Freedom are trying to escape with that fragment, Firefly and some Cobra troopers show up. And unfortunately for me, as a Firefly fan, this brings us to our foul-up of the week.

SPEAKER_03 9:54

You're here because you're the Dust Gross Pray Fallout. There's the piece of the Dominator. And only one Joe to worry about.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Yeah, just a tough scene for my guy Firefly there. And it's not even just getting overmatched by Freedom and knocked off the cliff. It's the peacocking that went into it, you know, very overconfidently talking about how only one Joe stands in their way for this weather dominator fragment. So he's acknowledging he's completely got the numbers game. And then he's the first one that's defeated and knocked off the cliff again by Freedom. Just not a great look. And in an episode where there's not a ton of contenders for fallop of the week, as I'll talk about in just a few minutes, sorry, I can't be accused of being playing favorites. So, Firefly, you are the fallup of the week. But on the heels of that, we get Zartan. Him and the Dreadnoughts are on the submarine, and we get sort of a window into Zartan. I talked about Storm Shadow being sort of a cut different from the rest of Cobra. We got the seeds for it last episode, and in this one, we are seeing it even more so that Zartan himself really playing into that mercenary aspect that he is being paid by Cobra, but his allegiance is to himself. And so we see him playing this renegade role, launching the torpedoes at the island of no return. That allows Spirit to escape with the fragment. So Cobra has one fragment, G.I. Joe has one fragment, one remains at the roof of the world. But before we get there, I want to get to our but did you die moment of the week.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

Did you die? I got shot. But did you die?

SPEAKER_00 11:51

This is sort of an interesting episode throughout, at least in the terms of the awards that we hand out here at GI Retro. And just like Fallout of the Week didn't have sort of the widest field for a contender this week, although there is one I will talk about in a moment here. Same for the DYD. There wasn't any sort of individual character moment that really jumped out in terms of the did you die? I guess I could have gone again with the cliffhanger, but I that didn't really speak to me. So what I'm going with here is Zartan fires these torpedoes at the island of no return. We have an entire island cracking apart, lava rising from the sea, all while we have not one but two armies stationed right there in this stalemate, and there's no casualties, zero body count. That is our but did you die moment of the week. I mean, it's just chaos, more havoc being wreaked here, and still zero body count. So there's our DYD, and I've got one more detour before we get to the battle on the roof of the world, and that's let's check in with roadblock in Honalu West, as they are still hiding in the back of this truck of Honalo's as they've all of her convoy has been captured, and now they are heading towards the Cobra Temple.

SPEAKER_03 13:12

What is this place?

SPEAKER_02 13:14

It ain't Toyland, babe. In fact, it's the last place I want to be caught dead in. And I'm talking dead with a very big D.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

That with a capital D caught both me and my wife's attention. Roadblock, you dog. Can't deny the chemistry between Roadblock and Honaloo West. But that's not really what I wanted to point out. What I wanted to highlight here is as Roadblock and Honaloo are now inside the Cobra base, we get another great Cobra Commander crash-out moment that leads directly into one of Roadblock's finest moments throughout the entire animated series. Not quite breaking the fourth wall, but incredibly self-aware nonetheless.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

Imbeciles! Why are great men always surrounded by lesser beings?

SPEAKER_02 14:11

I asked myself the same question.

SPEAKER_03 14:15

How did you get here?

SPEAKER_02 14:20

That's easy for you, saying sucker. Now shut up.

SPEAKER_03 14:25

Get the intruders!

SPEAKER_02 14:28

Splitting time, little buddy. Oh, he'll fight for freedom wherever there is trouble. G.I. Joe is here.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

I think most of us can relate to Cobra Commander in terms of how we feel about at least some of the co-workers we're surrounded by. But no, this the standout from this is Roeblock just beating on Cobra Commander while singing the G.I. Joe theme song. What an incredible moment. I loved it. But this is also on the heels of, so he's he's taking it to Cobra Commander, he's singing the G.I. Joe theme. It's great. But my question here, and this was almost the foul-up of the week, is what was really the endgame for Roadblock and Honda West here? You know, Roadblock's given them a good beatdown, but what was the point? How does that help them try and escape? All it did was announce their presence, and it led to them being captured by Scrap Iron and some Cobra troopers, and now they're trapped in the arena of sport, which I mean lets us know that Duke and Snake Eyes are still alive, but we don't know for how long. But that was almost the foul-up because what was really what was your plan there, Roadblock? You just, I mean, yeah, you got to you got to turn Cobra Commander into a punching bag for a little bit, but it didn't really serve you any good in terms of trying to escape. Quite the opposite. So Roadblock and Honalu now also captured with Duke and Snake Eyes in the arena of sport, set to do battle with some sort of Tron-like Cobra creatures, but we'll get to that in the finale. So now at last we can make our way up to the roof of the world where the laser core, the third piece of the weather dominator, awaits. And we have three distinct factions racing towards it. G.I. Joe and Cobra, of course, but then Zartan and the Dreadnoughts playing Renegade. Of course, we're up in the snow. So G.I. Joe employing snow job. They're making their way through the glacier on these sleds that he provided. Cobra, and I gotta stop here. This is our MIA missing in action figure. I could say this this cobra drill that they're using to get through the glacier to try and reach the laser core. But in reality, what continues to jump out to me is the Cobra Vulture. I wouldn't call it that if it was made in the toy line, but this giant cobra headed plane that they use throughout this miniseries, it baffles me that it was not made a toy. And I know I've already talked about it before, but I'm gonna keep talking about it because it is so prevalent through this miniseries and it is just so cool. I know there are customs out there, but as a kid, I would have been thrilled to see this in the main toy line. But Cobra is making their way through the glacier in that drill vehicle. I would have been happy to see that in the toy line as well. Sort of evocative, a little bit of the buzzbore to me. But then Zartan and the Dreadnoughts with seemingly the most difficult challenge climbing up the face of that glacier to this shortcut that Zartan knows. They also have to be sort of aware of the perils of the avalanches that can happen up there. But this is the race, and and it's the major action sequence of this episode. We get G.I. Joe versus Cobra on ice, essentially a deadly game of laser rifle hockey as they are shooting the laser core back and forth like it's a giant hockey puck. It's great. I loved it. I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that this is just like a hockey game uh between between the two. We've got Firefly using explosives for it to change directions. Just when one side thinks they have the upper hand, somebody else comes into play. Uh, G.I. Joe, I said at the top, you know, needed their miracle on ice moment. Unfortunately, G.I. Joe doesn't get that same happy ending here in this game, but we do get one more interaction between Spirit and Storm Shadow.

SPEAKER_03 18:46

We are even now.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

When next we meet, we meet as enemies. So there you have it. The life debt repaid, the rivalry is back on. The next time they meet, it will be once again as enemies. And I keep I go back to that question I posed in this episode. Is this the greatest rivalry in G.I. Joe? And in the Sunbow Marvel run, in terms of a one character from G.I. Joe and one character from Cobra, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better pick than Spirit in Storm Shadow. But again, let me know what you think. The battle's raging though, on the ice. Who can take control of the laser core? Looks like maybe it's Cobra, maybe it'll be G.I. Joe, but at the last moment, the wild cards, the Renegades, Zartan, and his dreadnoughts, they end up pulling a rabbit out of the hat and taking the laser core for themselves. And he unveils his plan, which is to sell the laser core to the highest bidder, and that he serves no cause but himself, much to the chagrin of G.I. Joe, but even more so to the side of Cobra. Destro has to feel very vindicated in this moment for just the amount of hating on Zartan and his band of mercenaries that we saw earlier in this miniseries. And as a final parting shot, Zartan with a blast of his laser pistol unleashes a massive avalanche. Cobra able to escape and their rattlers, but G.I. Joe not so fortunate in the heart of that glacial canyon. And that's the cliffhanger that battle on the roof of the world ends with. And so, overall, a really fun episode. Lots of very good action, very unique action as well. Again, sort of battling for the laser core in what essentially was uh a hockey game with lasers was very fun. Some great character development this episode, maybe the best that we've seen so far. And it's talking about characters that we still have one piece of hardware to hand out. So let's go ahead and get to this week's episode, MVP.

SPEAKER_03 20:57

On a night where you thought, well, he isn't quite himself.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

I alluded to it earlier that this episode was maybe the most unique or interesting in terms of how we are going to be doing the awards here at GI Retro. And that continues right now for MVP because we're making more GI Retro history. And I don't think it's surprising, but it is the first time ever we have a tie. The MVP for this week, without a doubt, is a tie between Spirit and Storm Shadow. Been talking about them throughout the entire episode, their rivalry, their dueling sort of code of honor. The battle between them was so great. They fought to a stalemate. So it's only fitting that it's also a stalemate for MVP, both equally deserving. So co-MVPs for the first time ever on GI Retro. It is Spirit and Storm Shadow. And I don't really expect that much dissent or disagreement, but let me know who's your pick for MVP, DYD, Fallop, and the like. But also, let's talk G.I. Joe rivalries. How do you view this rivalry between Spirit and Storm Shadow? Where does it rank in the GI Joe canon for you? Let me know. That is going to do it for this episode. Next time, it is the finale of the Revenge of Cobra Amusement Park of Terror. But until then, if you didn't know, now you know. Take it away, Flint.

SPEAKER_02 22:30

And knowing is half the battle.