Less:
Flint: I always found him to be way too vanilla and boring. I much preffered Duke, he was a great leader but also had a bit of a temper and occasionally let his ego get the better of him. The flawed hero is always much more interesting.
Shipwreck: I really liked him as a character. He provided great comic relief but also showed alot of competence. However, there were way too many episodes that focused on him. And Polly could grate on the nerves at times.
Serpentor: Just never was a fan. Also his creation made no since because through the entire first season Destro had ambitions of becoming the new leader of cobra, so when The Comader's troops began to lose faith in him why would Destro help to create a new leader rather than seise the power for himself?
Sgt. Slaughter: Even as a child I found the idea of having a pro wrestler as part of GI Joe to be silly. He was also a bit of a Mary Sue, it was like the guy could do no wrong. Even Duke, Hawk and Flint had their lesser moments (for example Duke couldn't seem to keep himself out of the Cobra brig), but I don't remember the Sarge ever taking a single misstep.
Lady Jaye: Much like flint she was way to vanilla and was a poor replacement for the previous female lead, Scarlett who at least had some attitude. And her array of javelins was as hokey as Adam West's utility belt.
Red Haired Covergirl: Really just a Scarlett clone. What was the point?
Moreover, there was one episode where they hinted at a love triangle between Scarlett, Duke and Covergirl. This certainly could have made her role more interesting but they never explored this any further so again, what was the point?
More:
Firefly: Way underused. He had such a badass look and yet he was one of the few Cobra's that was not heavily featured. Destro, Zartan and the Twins all got tons of face time so why not Firefly. Hell, even Major Blood got more screen time than Firefly.
Duke: As I said before, the show needed more Duke and less Flint.
Snake Eyes: Should have explored his relationship with Stormshadow. They could have done a two parter about this, but as far as I remember Snake Eyes and storm shadow never even shared a scene. Moreover, while a variety of Joe's were featured in various episodes I can't remember a single one that focused on Snake Eyes.
Airborne: Airborne was part of the second wave of GI Joe Toys. This wave just happened to be the latest and greatest thing when the cartoon series began and thus most of them were heavily featured e.g. Wild Bill, Gung Ho, Ace, Covergirl, Snow Job and Torpedo. Yet, somehow Airborne was seldom seen. Now I have to admit that at first I didn't understand why Airborne was even included in the toy line. He was just another pilot who was not as good at flying Skystrikers as Ace and not as good at flying Dragonflys a Wild Bill. So how could this character be made interesting. Well, in the one episode that did feature him it was revealed that he had extra sensory perception or ESP. This certainly did make Airborne a lot more interesting but for some reason they never explored this ability any further. In fact, following this episode Airborne immediately faded back in the the background and his ESP was only mentioned in one other episode.
Grunt, Grandslam and Flash: Because the second wave was the latest, greatest thing when the cartoon began many of the original Joes were neglected. Sure Scarlett, Snake Eyes and Breaker got a lot of face time, Stalker was prominent during the first mini-series as were Clutch, Zap and Steeler and even Short Fuse and Rock-n-Roll had some memorable moments. These three, however, were almost completely neglected. In fact, I don't remember Grunt even appearing in the series until "Worlds Without End" the episode where he, Steeler and Clutch were permanently written out of the series.
Rock-N-Roll: He was always my favorite of the original crew.
Copperhead and Wild Weasel: It was a rare thing that we got a cobra vehicle driver that was not just a generic ________Viper of some sort. None the less, despite their status as individuals their characters were left undeveloped and unexplored relegated to the occasional cameo appearance.
Blond Haired Covergirl: In the first mini-series she had her own distinct look and personality and actually looked like someone you would put on the cover of a magazine. Sure, she was kind of a girly girl, but this made a nice contrast to the tomboyish Scarlett.
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