Those of you born in the early 1980s probably don’t remember enough of the time period to fully grasp the impact that the end of the Cold War and the Fall of Communism had on those of us who were older. Just as I’m too young to fully understand the impact of the Civil Rights movement, even though many of the events that shaped it took place only six years before I was born.
Looking back now, it’s hard to remember the honest fear we lived in that we would some day be subsumed in a nuclear war. I remember learning in junior high that my hometown, a tiny podunk cowtown in Northern Indiana, was within the range of not one but three potential nuclear strike targets. I remember being obsessed with post-holocaust stories and ideas, even to the point of being near-hysteria if the subject of a war came up on the news. A boyfriend of the time had, in all seriousness, a plan for what he was going to do if/when the missiles hit (which basically amounted to one big ol’ debauch before the big Mushroom, since his city was a prime strike target). The thought that one day we were going to get nuked was just one of those inevitable things everyone accepted. Of course the world was going to end in a hail of nuclear fire. It was just a matter of time before Us or Them finally got the stones to do it.
Except that it didn’t. The Cold War ended with a whimper, rather than a bang. For which, of course, I’m eternally grateful since living in a Mad Max style dystopia was not on my Top Ten List of Favorite Futures.
‘Course, into every life a little rain must fall. Yeah, the world was saved from the brink of nuclear annihilation. Sure, I’m not scrabbling around trying to hunt down rats while my hair falls out in clumps. But…damnit, won’t someone think of the effects the end of the Cold War had on GI Joe?!
See, in the 1980s, GI Joe was going strong. We had the Evil Commies, so the idea of a large, unseen Empire threatening the safety of the world at large was well entrenched in our minds (heck, it had been since the 1950s). The idea that the Joes were fighting for freedom against an evil terrorist organization out to rule the world made sense within the boundaries of what we knew of the world. Good Guys vs. Bad Guys wasn’t just on our TV screens, it was part and parcel of the world we lived in. The threat of the Russians had been a part of American life since the end of World War II and was the reason/inspiration for much of what we as a nation did. We went into Vietnam to defend against the spread of communism. The Space Race and the subsequent emphasis on math and science education in the US came from the Russians’ launch of Sputnik. Tang exists because of Communism.
Then the Cold War went and ended and suddenly there was a big void in terms of a national villain. The Cold War was over, so therefore the threat from the Russians was over so the idea of fighting a villainous, evil army was just passe.
So, Joe had to diversify because times had changed and ‘patriotic’ toys were no longer popular with the kids of the day. In an effort to regain their share of the boys’ toy market, Hasbro added new subgroups to GI Joe, hoping to cash in on various other popular causes of the day such as environmentalism and the war on drugs.
In his book Toy Wars, G. Wayne Miller has this to say about the early 1990s GI Joe:
For many fans, the Eco Warriors seem to typify the worst of the early 1990s GI Joe: bright neon paint jobs, non-traditional specialties and action features. Let's face it, protecting the environment is all well and good, but it's not exactly the sort of job you hand over to a counter-terrorist group. What's next? Delta Force working to Save the Whales?
The Eco Warriors:
The conceit behind the Eco Warriors was that they were " An emergency unit assembled to prevent Cobra forces from bringing down civilization through environmental damage." (Propadeutic) Their counterparts were the evil Cesspool and his Sludge and Toxo-Viper legions who sought to, well, bring down civilization through environmental damage, of course.
The Eco Warriors included Flint, Ozone, Clean Sweep, Barbeque and Deep Six. Two other characters, Outback and Snow Storm were scheduled to be included with the Eco Warriors, but were moved to another subgroup when the line was cancelled in 1993. Oh yeah, and Deep Six came with a trained dolphin named Finback.
The only Eco Warriors who ever made it into the DIC episodes were Flint, Ozone and Clean Sweep. Probably this is partly because these were the characters who were released in 1991, while Barbecue and Deep Six came out in 1992.
Flint, naturally enough, is the main focus of our essay this time around so I'll be talking about him the most. Let's begin, shall we?
Eco Warrior Flint -- Filecard:
Flint is the leader of the Eco Warriors. Why this is the case, I'm not sure. It would have made more sense to me to create a new character for the position, but then, Hasbro does seem to be all about the recycling of the molds and such. Flint was probably chosen because he's a Joe officer and had an available mold.
The character's filecard doesn't seem that much different from any of his other incarnations. The Eco Warrior stuff is more or less tacked in but doesn't really add much to the character. Flint's still a former Rhodes Scholar, though there's no mention that his scholarship was in English Lit (whohoo!). We're told that "Flint was a natural choice to head up the new GI Joe Environmental Force" but we're not really given any idea of *why* this would be the case.
We're also told, by the file card, that "[w]hen equipped with a HALO […] parachute, Flint can also be inserted into a Cobra toxic sludge operation with his Anti-Tox missiles and laser weapons system and stop evil polluters before they can do their damage." Apparently, Anti-Tox missiles and laser weapons systems don't do any damage.
And last, but not least, we get the following quote about Flint himself:
Hear that, toxic waste Cobras? Do *NOT* smoke in an elevator with Flint!
Eco Warrior Flint -- Cartoon:
We don't actually get to see Flint cram a cigarette down anyone's throat in the cartoons, though that might have been a fun moment. Instead, we get a few episodes of rather dubious environmental protecting action.
The Eco Warriors only showed up for two episodes of the DIC cartoon, "Sludge Factor" and "Infested Island." Flint himself shows up for a third episode, "Messenger from the Deep" without his Eco Warrior backups.
The Sludge Factor is the episode that introduces us to the Eco Warriors and is also the origin story for their arch-nemesis Cesspool. The Eco Warriors are at the Super Grow Fertilizer factory, listening to the CEO of the company tell them about how his plant turns toxic waste into useful fertilizer that is "safe enough to swim in." Cobra attacks the factory and the CEO ends up being knocked into a vat of the fertilizer which turns out to be anything *but* safe enough to swim in. The CEO blames Flint for his fall into the fertilizer but presumably is killed since the Joes don’t' find his body afterwards.
A few months later, the Eco Warriors are startled when they're attacked at their base by strange, non-Cobra troops. Considering that there are apparently no other terrorist organizations in the GI Joe universe, perhaps this confusion is rather understandable. The new enemy fires toxic waste at them (Flint can tell by the odor) and eventually Flint and Clean Sweep are captured and dragged off by the strange, new helmeted villain.
To make a long story short: the new villain is Cesspool, the CEO we saw at the beginning of the episode. He was scarred by his fall into the toxic waste and has since decided to get revenge on the world by making everyone else as ugly as he is now. (Which really isn't that bad, I mean, he's not "put a towel over him so I don't throw up" ugly or anything; a good plastic surgeon could probably fix him up in a jiff.)
Continuing to shorten the story: Cesspool wants revenge on the Joes, particularly Flint, whom he blames for his disfigurement (If this were an SAT question it would be: Cesspool is to the Joker as Flint is to Batman). Cesspool manages to capture Flint and Clean Sweep and takes them off to Cobra Commander as a "howdy, let's join forces!" present.
Cobra Commander and Cesspool join forces; Cobra Commander is still out to steal the world's food supply in order to make a fortune with his Cobra Mart idea, while Cesspool pursues his own agenda. Basically, he wants to blast his supply of toxic ooze into the atmosphere and mutate everyone on the planet so they look just like him. Oh yeah, and he hates beauty and niceness and kittens now too.
Of course, the Joes manage to stop him. 'Course, the way they do it would, realistically, cause world-wide environmental chaos but that's okay 'cause we don't watch GI Joe cartoons for documentary style realism.
Infested Island: features the second appearance of the Eco Warriors and turns Ozone into a big bug. This is one of the three DIC episodes that managed to be released to VHS so you just might have a chance to find this one out there somewhere. Check Ebay and/or your local flea markets. Again, the episode is long on "the Evils of Pollution!" but short on actual science.
Messenger From the Deep: Messenger From the Deep falls between The Sludge Factor and Infested Island and is the only episode of the DIC run that features Flint without the other Eco Warriors. The episode showcases Flint pretty well; he gets to do a lot of Flint-type stuff without having to be concerned about second-hand smoke in elevators. The episode was written by Marv Wolfman (Blade, Daredevil, Teen Titans) and Noel Watkins.
Summary: If you're looking for Sunbow Flint, forget it. The voice actor has changed, Flint's lost the beret and he apparently got the chin cleft filled in (either that or I've just managed not to notice it, entirely possible considering the quality of some of my tapes). Instead, he's running around in day-glow coveralls and sounding almost Texan (his voice has a kind of drawly quality to it). Then again, if you're looking for Sunbow Flint, watch the Sunbow episodes. DIC isn't Sunbow and isn't supposed to be Sunbow so get over it already.
Taken without the Sunbow baggage, Flint's pretty cool. He seems a lot more level-headed than his fellow Eco-Warriors, which may be why he was put in charge. The powers that be in the Joeniverse may have figured that the 'science boys' like Ozone and Clean Sweep needed a man of action type to help keep them from, I dunno, sciencing themselves to death.
Flint/Jaye shippers are going to be disappointed however, since there's no mention of F/LJ's romance in the series. Heck, the two characters aren't even featured in the same episodes and Jaye seems to have moved on other guys like Grid-Iron and Night Creeper Leader.
Then again, romance in general doesn't get mentioned much in DIC. Scarlett seems to be dividing her time between Duke (Chunnel) and Snake-eyes (The Sword) and none of the DIC era Joes seem to have time for dating. Which leaves me divided between being not in the least disappointed and wanting to go "Hmmmmmm" a lot. But that's for a different essay at a different time.
Given my druthers, I honestly like the Sunbow Flint better. He's the one I'm used to, after all. But the DIC Flint is still pretty cool and it's nice to see the character without the baggage of the Lady Jaye relationship (just like it's nice to see Jaye without the Flint baggage). The whole Eco Warriors thing was a lame idea, but I don't think it's worth all the seething hatred it gets. Yeah, day-glow uniforms were dumb; yeah the idea is silly but given a choice between the Eco Warriors and Captain Planet, I'll watch the Eco Warriors any time because they at least didn't pretend to be educational.
Captain Planet vs. Eco Warriors: It seems pretty natural to me to compare the Eco Warriors to Captain Planet. After all, both groups fought to protect the environment, both were animated by DIC and both were created by corporations to help sell something. In the case of the Eco Warriors, it was toys. In the case of Captain Planet, it was an ideology. The main difference between the two shows, to me at least, is that only one of them sucked.
Sweet Christ, I hate Captain Planet.
It's not so much that I don't like the idea of educating kids about the importance of protecting the environment as much as I really hate preachy shows. Especially preachy shows that FUBAR the very message they're trying to get across.
Now…before I go much further, I really should admit htat I've only seen bits and pieces of Captain Planet episodes and that I saw most of those over ten years ago. I've never watched an episode of the show all the way through, though I did look to try and find one when I first started this essay. I didn't succeed so please take any further comments with a grain of salt and the realization that I would not walk across the street to pee on Captain Planet if he were on fire. Unless I could pee gasoline. And even then only if I didn't have something more important to do.
The problem I have with Captain Planet is actually the same problem I have with the Eco Warriors: environmental 'terrorists' aren't the biggest threat to the planet. Corporations that are allowed to skirt environmental laws and consumers who choose environmentally unfriendly products are. Great, you guys shut Cesspool and/or Verminous Skumm down but meanwhile Joe Schmoe and thousands like him are still driving pickup trucks to work in city jobs. (Pickups are like big dogs, they should live in the country, run through fields and come home dirty.)
Then again, I can see the problem from the other side: an episode about lobbying Congress for stricter environmental guidelines or an effective and cheap nationwide public transportation system or attempting the long and grueling clean up after an oil spill just isn't going to be very entertaining. And entertaining kids is the name of the kidvid game. If the kids aren't entertained, they won't stick around to listen to your message, whether that's "Buy my toys!" or "Buy my message!".
Still, by and large, GI Joe seems to have succeeded much better than Captain Planet did. While GI Joe, both in DIC and Sunbow incarnations, seems to have been widely regarded as an Evil Attempt to Turn Kids Into Mindless Consumers, Captain Planet actually won several awards for being a Good and Educational Show That Enlightens Children.
Oddly enough, however, Captain Planet seems to have very little in the way of fan sites, especially as compared to GI Joe. You can't swing a dead cat without smacking into hundreds of Joe related fansites, but Captain Planet seems to have only a few supporters on the Internet, one of which is the official site from Turner Broadcasting which seems to be about the least kids' friendly kids' show site I've ever seen. I mean, Hasbro.com has all kinds of games and stuff for the kids who come there while the Captain Planet site has articles on watersheds and preserving the Mayan language that seem more suited to adult readers than the bitty set.
'Course, part of the reason for the lack of Captain Planet fansites could also be that the kids who loved CP just haven't started whinging nostalgic for their childhood shows yet. Captain Planet came out in the early to mid 1990s. Most of the kids who would have grown up watching it are just now entering their 20s and may not yet be into the same navel-gazing yearning for the past that those of us who were kids in the 80s seem to have. Then again, original Power Rangers toys are being considered 'nostalgic' so who knows?
What it really boils down to is this: I can forgive the Eco Warriors a myriad of sins because they're Joe characters and I like GI Joe. Captain Planet annoys the ever-living badword out of me because I have no emotional attachment to him or his backstory and generally think he's just cheesy as hell.
And, last but not least, just a brief touch on: Eco Warrior Flint -- Comics: The Eco Warriors also show up in the comics, naturally, since Hasbro wasn't about to lose the chance to cross-promote the new figures. The idea of the Eco Warriors is just as silly and unrealistic as it is in the cartoon, but Hama's treatment seems less jarring than the cartoon.
Like the cartoon, the Eco Warriors only surfaced briefly in the comics (#123-125), where they fought and defeated Cesspool in a way that was much more realistic and emotionally satisfying than in the cartoon: they sicced lawyers on him, effectively shutting down his operation. As I recall, Cesspool shows up again in later issues, still working for Cobra, but I don't think the Eco Warriors ever did show up again after #125.
And, I gotta go on record as saying that issues #124 and #125 are among my favorites. "Triptych" and "Diptych" are just cool to me; I like the way that the issues jump from story to story to story, effectively telling three stories in one issue and two in the other. The cuts help introduce the DEF and the Eco Warriors without bogging us down in separate origins for each group. The end results are in many ways much better than their cartoon counterparts.