G.I. Joe Renegades Got Canceled Because Of Conflicting Toy Line Concerns
Toys have been a part of marketing for shows and films for a long time. The Masters of the Universe line of action figures came before the animated series, as we learned in the Netflix docuseries "The Toys That Made Us." The first "Star Wars" film toys were part of a mail-away campaign in 1978 before they were ready to be shipped. Toy marketing has also caused controversy in the past. Just think of the #WheresRey campaign when her figure was left out of a "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Monopoly set (full disclosure: I was involved in that campaign, and the #WheresNatasha one after Marvel put out a set for "Avengers: Age of Ultron, leaving out Black Widow).
According to an interview /Film's own Rafael Motomayor did with animation writer Henry Gilroy ("Batman: The Animated Series," "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," "Star Wars: Rebels"), toys were a big reason for the cancelation of his animated series "G.I. Joe: Renegades." The show ran on The Hub from 2010 through 2011 for a single 26-episode season before being scrapped.
It's interesting to note that Hasbro created the G.I. Joe toy line in 1964, and though we had comics, the TV series didn't premiere until 1985. Toys are a big part of that franchise, though this time, it was to the show's detriment.
'We had really fun stories for it, but this, c'est la vie'
"G.I. Joe: Renegades" was a bit different from than "G.I. Joe" series of the past. This time they focused on a small group of U.S. military members who discover something suspicious at the Cobra Industries pharmaceutical company, and are branded terrorists for their claims. This small group is being hunted by both the U.S. and Cobra.
The writers were already working on a second season when "G.I. Joe: Renegades" was canceled, leaving the story with a cliffhanger. Gilroy tells /Film a little about the plans:
"We had a second season where literally Cobra Commander was Osama bin Laden, who's basically on the run full on [...] They were terrorists...Then the Joes were brought back to be special agents for the government who were hunting down Cobra terrorists so, it was going to be really fun. We had ... really fun stories for it, but this, c'est la vie."
It's a bummer when animated shows are canceled (something that is happening right now over at Warner Bros. Discovery), but the reason for this one is extra terrible. It has to do with conflicting toy lines.
'All those weird things, where the toys come first and then you write your story after'
The issue was that the 2009 live-action film "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" had a similar plot and a corresponding toy line. Gilroy tells /Film that they did ask Hasbro about it. He says, "We were like, 'Wait a second. You guys can't do that. That's what...' And they're like going, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah.'" Combining that with the Hasbro rule that said you couldn't have that many different toy lines around the same time meant that the animated series was canceled in favor of the film, which didn't exactly set the box office on fire with a worldwide take of $302 million.
Even more of a slap in the face was that this was all happening right before the release of "The Avengers," which led one executive to ask Gilroy, "Can you make all of the Joes into Avengers?" The executive also asked if Snake Eyes could be more like Wolverine or if Roadblock could be more like the Hulk. Gilroy says:
"And I think they were thinking, like, 'Oh, right, we're going to give Duke a bow, so he'll be like Iron Man and Hawkeye.' All those weird things, where the toys come first and then you write your story after."
It's frustrating when business decisions around toy marketing interfere with a story people want to see continue. At least we still have season 1.