First of all… spoilers are ABOUND.
If you have not yet watched G.I. Joe: Renegades and you don’t want to be spoiled, turn away now. Discussion will be forthcoming about the events in the original 2-parter…
Okay, then.
One of the long lasting events of the G.I. Joe: Renegades 2-parter was the apparent demise of Ripcord. This was met with mostly disbelief by Joe fans, thinking that they wouldn’t really go that far in a kids cartoon, and they also pointed to the fact that Ripcord was in the animated series’ opening, which meant he was likely to return.
Well, over on Clement Sauve’s excellent DeviantArt page, he posted a very nice new image of the G.I. Joe: Renegades cast. But the true nugget of information was posted by Clem down in the comments.
“I must say that throwing in Ripcord at the last minute to make sure nobody saw his death coming was pretty clever of Randy.”
This is in reply to someone’s comment about Ripcord being in the opening.
So it would certainly seem that Ripcord appearing in the intro to G.I. Joe: Renegades was in fact a swerve of sorts, which also means that Ripcord is likely to be… dead.
Interesting.
NOOOOOOO! hopefully this doesn’t mean we won’t get a Renegades Ripcord figure once the toyline launches.
I can’t believe I’m saying this but that makes me a little sad.I kinda like his character.
mark these words….
ripcord is alive. he is on critical life support at a Cobra facility. He will become Mindbender’s “volunteer” as the next step in the Bio-Viper program–more intelligent and easier to control. he will be saved and thusly seperated from the Bio-Viper programming in an obligatory, formulaic “Rip. Its me Duke!” scene.
dont get me wrong….this isnt what i want to see happen…..its just what i feel is in store for Mr. Weems.
“Renegades” is no “Resolute” but if Rip is actually dead, that goes a long way toward communicating the idea the writers are taking it seriously. Now, recognizing this isn’t a documentary, I do with they had a military adviser. This whole thing with calling Sergeants “Sir and “Ma’am” and saluting Lady Jaye gives me a headache.
Not trashing the show, I did really enjoy it the more I think about it, but I do see room for improvement, which all shows should strive for.
If Ripcord is dead, I think the biggest message here is that the writers are listening to fandom. How many people were whining when the movie was coming out that Ripcord changed skin color? And then whining more when Hasbro wouldn’t give us a 25th anniversary Ripcord because it would confuse the kids? So the writers figured out how to incorporate this main character from the movie into the cartoon, while not alienating the fans who remember the 1980’s Ripcord – kill him off in the first episode.
I think it’s a brilliant nod to the fans from the 1980’s (“Yes, we know you hate when a classic character is changed for no apparent reason”) while at the same time bowing to pressure to make a more racially and gender-balanced cast (i.e. making Lady Jaye Hispanic).
I wish they had changed the Lady Jaye character’s name. Allison Hart-Burnett does not have that Latina feel to it.
The show has a great feel already in the first two episodes. The whole family is watching but confused Ripcord is already dead. i like the thought of them pushing the envelope, but in the first episode? We like to think he is coming back.
Yeah. Who’s gonna make up their code names now?
J/K. I hope that dead is dead on this show. Larry Hama wouldn’t bring him back. Probably.
We don’t need a repeat of the 1980’s and 90’s G.I Joe where every character lives. There are tons of better characters that can easily replace Ripcord.
Changing a G.I. Joe character’s “real name” like “Hart-Burnett, Alison R.”???? And you call yourself a G.I. Joe fan?????? Deal with it
That’s the problem… people who are not real G.I. Joe fans are the ones who are whining and bitching like hell.
“Renegades is no Resolute”… that’s a very, very good thing.
Writer Warren Ellis admitted that he knew nothing about the comic books when he wrote it and that he didn’t care for it. The so-called story, plot and action were crap, the only reason why it’s liked is because of its animation (that’s the only thing people talk about) and action junkies will take anything if it looks good. The back-stories were non-existent, the plot was Sunbow-sequel to say the least, but that gets completely glossed over simply because of the “look” of the animation.
“According to this article, not only did the debut of these two new programs drive ratings up triple digits for the fledgling network, but they also drove the Hub to lead all of kid’s cable networks in co-viewing.”
Here’s for more Renegades!!!
What a bunch this place has…
They killed off Ripcord like they killed off Cliffjumper in the new Transformers cartoon. He is no longer in the opening credits. Will Ripcord ever come back? Maybe, this is a cartoon after all.
I think they killed him off because being a soldier is dangerous and in the first episode you can kill off a character because it can help drive the storyline. Hay, we are here talking about it.