G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 Online

By the mid 2000s, anime was big. Hasbro had already took Transformers down the anime route, producing mediocre titles such as Transformers Armada and Energon, both straight from Japan with all the typical bells and whistles of its genre. Action lines, cheap animation short cuts, lame humor, rambling dialog, "anime anatomy" like bulbous eyes and exaggerated expressions. G I Joe, being the next big property from Hasbro, naturally followed suit. So in 2005, Hasbro and Gonzo (the studio that animated Vandread, Full Metal Panic and Last Exile) teamed up to produce two new anime series based on Hasbro's toy properties. One was "G I Joe Sigma 6".

The series begins with a station in antartica getting attacked by cobra robot soldiers. This is all part of a clandestine plan to free Cobra Commander from his prison. AS the Cobra forces are once again united under cobra Commander's leadership, the G I Joe team, now christened "Sigma 6" must.............as usual, stop them.

G I Joe Sigma 6 was meant to be a continuation from where "G I Joe: Valor Vs Venom" left off. While the ensemble of characters were the same, the discrepant designs and different portrayals of the same character between Sigma 6 and its predecessor. For example, most of the G I Joe team got de-aged back to looking like young people in their early to mid 20s at most. Female characters like Scarlett, Jinx and the baroness seem to have undergone breasts enlargements for fanservice sake and it would not be a sci-fi anime without high tech gizmos and MECHA. The animation is an uncomfortable mix of stiff 2D animation for the human characters and cel shaded CGI for the vehicles, mecha and Cobra robot soldiers. And yes, the typical animation shortcuts like over usage of stock footage or camera panning across a still shot are apparent here.

Now the original G I Joe cartoon was not exactly "Apocalypse Now", it was simple enough to be enjoyed by children yet had a certain appeal to some adults. But Sigma 6 has got to be the most childish installment of the G I Joe franchise yet. Characters are one dimensional, the dialog is cheesy and episodic plots cross the line from simple to simplistic.

Even the voice acting is no better than a typical Saturday morning anime like Pokémon. But perhaps the worse offender is the sound effects. Nearly every single sound effect seems like they are commonly used in too many anime. And sometimes, the wrong sound effect is used. for example, one of the Cobra Dreadnocks fires and pumps a pump action shotgun. Yet the sound effect is one of a laser gun. Slip Shod sound engineering or stupid attempt at censorship? You decide.

Anime is not entirely bad. There are many great anime shows out there that G I Joe Sigma 6 could have drawn influences from. Instead it becomes a collection of all the reasons why some critics hate Japanese anime. Limited animation, clashing styles of 2D and CGI, rambling dialogue, over the top voice work, oh and Cobra Commander becoming some super powered mecha suited "warrior king".

I'm a product of the 80s generation and I've never seen anything that was so poorly conceived, poorly animated, and so poorly put together. This show is so bad that I don't even want to bother with the show or the toys. It's not the same as G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. The lip sync is horrible and the jokes are even worse.

Safficed to say I am not very impressed with this latest incarnation of G.I. Joe. I was even less impressed with Sigma Six than I was with G.I. Joe Extreme and that isn't saying very much. I will be all too happy if 4KidsTV finally canceled Sigma Six in favor of something that's not a painfully obvious rip-off of the original G.I. Joe TV series.

i don't know who has made the sigma six but its awful what happened to the other characters what happened to general hawk ltd.falcon and other main characters. also the biggest problem is about the duke after twenty years he is still young and fresh to fight!!!!!!!!!!!!! the worse member of the group is tunnel rate his characters in the former squall's was according to reality but this one is just a junk. i hope the real American hero's com back in their on place and i hope this series will not be included as a sequel for g.i.Joe. and this shall be asked that what is happening to the new generation buy watching such things?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Although, not many people liked it but here is my take on it.

The good:

Excellent voice acting

Pretty neat anime style animation

Good character designs

Good humour that can actually make me laugh

Got introduced to characters that i am not familiar with from the G.I Joe series.

Good 22 minute format for a series.

The bad:

Cheesy dialogues

Not a very good concept with the Sigma 6

Annoying music except for the end credits

Poor censorship

Overall it wasn't bad nor it was great it may have not been as good as the 1985's series that everyone loves, GI Joe Resolute or even GI Joe Renegades. But it was okay, plus I only watched cause I wanted to have another GI Joe cartoon to watch.

Plus it is not the worst attempt I have seen at a reboot i.e Teen Titans Go! but it is not the best though.

First of all, Sigma six is the anime version of G.I. Joe. The only reason why this G.I. Joe is not that patriotic is because this one tries to make an appeal to all audiences especially now that USA is such a diverse country. They still want to stick to the high tech gadgets and team work. Sigma six has a lot of 3D effects that have never been used in G.I. Joe. Voices are okay but many of the voices come from Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon.It is 4kids so, what do you expect? For example Eric Stuart also does the voice of Brock(Pokemon)and Seto Kaiba(Yu-Gi-Oh) If you like anime+American army fighting this show is for you.This is nothing compared to the original.

Anyone who has grown up in the 80's will know G.I. Joe is probably one of the best cartoons ever produced. It gradually disappeared and in the recent decade, it's reputation has been tested over and over with brand new ideas and shows - which have ended up in failure. Sigma 6? It ain't a failure, but it ain't a hit either.

Like most of us have noticed, there is a huge lack of the actual Joes themselves. It's like watching Transformers Beast Wars and wondering why the hell there's only 12 transformers in total fighting each other.

You could understand however - kids nowadays are looking for fast paced cartoons that require little thinking and analyzing - they just want things to be blown up or the bad guys get their ass kicked. Because there's such a huge market now for action cartoons, everyone has to do something to stand out - so the more action, less thinking, the better.

Anime. Sigh. America is infested now way Anime-crazed kids who only want to watch anime-style shows. SO it makes sense that investors would decide to produce G.I. Joe in Anime style format. But it's tiring and has been done. Anything you see in G.I. Joe Sig 6, has been done in hundreds of others.

The style however is sharp, intense, and has several computer graphic animations that is very pleasing to the eye. The fighting scenes are gripping and essentially is the only thing that saves the show.

In Sigma 6, Snake Eyes has been the main focus in almost all the episodes - which is a smart move because he has always been the favourite of all G.I. Joe fans. No one can turn down a hand to hand ninja combat with his vengeful brother, Storm Shadow. However, each fight ends up with Storm Shadow either giving in, giving up, helping or just losing the fight, saying "I will destroy you for betraying our clan....um...some other day...brother." WTF. Just have a fight to the death and get it over with. Don't get me wrong - the fight scenes are amazing - but to no result.

Although in some episodes, they reveal tiny bits of Snake's past with Storm, and at times it is interesting to learn, Snake Eyes can't carry the entire show.

Die hard fans are questioning the plot behind the show - because it seems like there isn't any. We're not even really sure what Cobra wants to do with a zillion robots and nuclear warheads - other than to carry them around in the park - only to be intercepted by the Joes before he can think of something to do with them.

Overall, if you're looking for a meaningful plot in this mess of a cartoon, don't bother. But if you're looking for pure action and awesome ninja fights, and still manage to choke down dry-humor and a stupid plot, stick around for the next episode.

Personally, I wish Sgt. Slaughter would come back and teach them all a lesson.

After viewing the first episode of Sigma Six, I was well prepared for an incredibly horrible series based on G.I. Joe. To say the least, I think many people were under the same impression and while some still are, some have come to see the light.

There is much to appreciate in the series as an old fan or a new arrival to it. Granted, the show is fast paced and action oriented, people must realize that kids today want action, it's what keeps them watching. Let's face it, not all the Saturday Morning cartoons are amazing, or anywhere near some of the stuff most of us grew up with in the 80s or 90s, but they're not meant for us. Sigma Six was designed with this in mind. It doesn't have deep, complicated plots, it's to the point with light, G rated humor. It also gets one simple point across, good wins against bad and will always fight bad. That's not too shabby for a kids show. Plus the violence is mild and limits the human vs. human combat.

Now, for the avid fans of the original G.I. Joe (A Real American Hero and others included), Sigma Six seems to be trying, to say the least. At least, for 13 complete episodes, we haven't seen Snake Eyes' face, nor does it seem likely that we will (let's face it, plenty of people want to see it), the show managed to pick up from Valor vs. Venom the movie and while the voice casting isn't amazing, it doesn't sound like a low budget anime (Nor is it, to have some of the voices, i.e. Duke). There has been a lot of argument over Heavy Duty being Road Block. This issue was addressed in Spy Troopers, Heavy Duty is Road Block's cousin. And it seems a lot of people are disgruntled by Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow being brothers. No where in the series do they say they're blood related (yet). The idea of Snake Eyes and Scarlet having a relationship may be voided simply because of the fact it's a kids show, but let's face it, Snake Eyes is almost always saving Scarlet. The idea is underlying.

(For the visually aware, some may even recognize character design style from the hit Playstation RPG Xenogears. To some, that really says something. Scarlet/Elle, anyone?)

Not to mention the show has revived people's interest in G.I. Joe, which is the idea. The toys are selling like crazy and some of them are impossible to find. People are already eager to see a Season 2 in fact. And from the trend of the series so far, it seems very intent on covering a LOT of back story on Snake Eyes and possibly other characters in the series which would benefit fans by filling loopholes.

In the end, yes, it's a vastly different approach to G.I. Joe but at least it's working and people need to realize the show wasn't made to meet or exceed expectations of a scrutinizing fan base but to increase the fan base itself. With Sigma Six, G.I. Joe will continue to survive as an icon in the cartoon and action figure world.

Before reading the rest of this comment, don't get me wrong. This show is quite entertaining, especially for the new generation of JOE fans. There are a lot of big problems with it though.

First off, WHERE DID ALL OF THE JOES GO?!!! There are only 10 Joes in this show. There were like 60 in the original show. I miss Flint, Lady Jaye, Gung-Ho, Shockwave, Barbecue, Quickquick, Shipwreck. The list goes on.

Second off, what's with everyone making Duke the "leader?" Whatever happened to the other leaders, such as Flint and Lady Jaye. And Snake Eyes and Scarlette have been demoted to regular soldiers. And why is General Hawk nothing but a bed-ridden old man? I mean, Duke was okay and all, but he wasn't this high and mighty leader. He was just a more predominate main character.

Third, who the heck is Hightech? Where did he come from? What happened to Dial-Tone and Mainframe. This guy's nothing but a sit at the base wimp, while Dial-Tone and Mainframe at least helped out in battle.

Fourth, who are they fighting for and where is their base? The old Joes fought for America and their main base was the Pentagon, while the new Joes fight for who knows who, and their main base is some triangular shaped, in-the-middle-of-no-where fort.

Fifth, Cobra is also missing a bunch of its clan. Where's Firefly, Tomax and Xamot, Dr. Mindbender, and all of the Dredknocks? There's like 3 Dredknocks and only 2 of them are from the original show. It's also missing the Vipers and Crimson Guard. They were all replaced by the B.A.T.S. I guess the creators did this just so they could have something to shoot, unlike the original cartoon where no one died.

There are good things about the show. Cobra Commander is no longer a pathetic wimp. That is good. The Baroness doesn't have an stupid over-exaggerated accent. That is better. And the best thing of all. There is no stupid Serpentor. He was the number one mistake of the original series. This I command.

Today a lot of people only know how to complain and judge but don't know the backbone of how hard it truly is to create a perfect cartoon. Its always complain, complain and complain. For rubbish shows they will post a "Well done" but for shows that consists of more work and difficulty its always this bad thats bad and all that crap! Well Sigma six might not wet the 80 fans it is for the 21st century fans! I think the show is excellent and deserves a lot of credit. It might be missing some Joes and Cobra but as far as I can see its no loss! Sigma Six is a well worth effort and I say big up to the producers! This is worth watch show it has humor, team work two things that kids need to learn. So as far as I am concerned Sigma Six gets a thumbs up from me!

The new version of GI JOE focuses on a small covert special missions force as opposed to the large army of the 80's. Cobra is even better than ever, taking away the cannon-fodder troops and replacing them with BAT robots. Cobra Commander is much braver than his coward counter part but he still is just as evil. Destro and Snake Eyes are Twice as awesome. The team is a little small, but it has a good feel. The tech has been upgraded for the 21st century, and new characters such as Scott Abernathy make it a new amazing feel.

Action: 5 Animation: 4 Coolness: 5

YO JOE!!!

If you haven't watched the episode "VACATION" don't watch it. Because in that Scarlett and Tunnel Rat has to infiltrate a for tress underground. I didn't watch the whole episode, but I seen the end of that episode. Tunnel Rat and Scarlett were like holding hands and Tunnel Rat said "We make a good team don't we?" then Scarlett said "yes". After that Tunnel Rat act all silly like he has a crush her. Seeing a Scarlett with Tunnel Rat almost made me about to vomit. I mean Tunnel Rat is such annoying bug-eating trashy soldier! Plus Snake-Eyes and Scarlett never had a moment with other!! Well their are only 13 episodes so far and I hope they give Snake-Eyes and Scarlett a moment together in the next season episodes.

I didn't grow up with G.I. Joe action figures, so I wouldn't know how this compares to the patriotism the originals carried. But this adaptation was indeed col. I mean, sure it was a 4Kids show, but the show had some really cool action scenes from really cool characters (I think my favorites are Long Range and Snake Eye), it had a cool story going on (I'm not going to mention the story), and the animation was extremely good for its time. Congrats, Gonzo (Gonzo is the animation studio)! Would I have liked different voice actors and music? Sure. Watching 4Kids shows, it's a little tiresome hearing the same kind of orchestra perform the same style (not the same compositions, but similar styles) that they use in other 4Kids shows. Plus, hearing voice actors like Veronica Taylor and Jason Griffith all the time can be tiresome. Still, it's good enough to watch.

Everyone is being way to harsh on this series! It may not be like the ones from the 80s but it still teaches kids that they always need to have each others back and that technology isn't the greatest thing. I mean I'm only 20 and I've seen the originals and they are GREAT but to me it lacked spark to me. It wasn't as entertaining and wasn't realistic. This is slightly more realistic and who am I kidding? I love anime. And just because I wasn't born when the older shows came out doesn't mean I'm not a fan of them and I know in order to keep fandoms going they have to keep up with the time which the 80s are outdated and only people who are interested in seeing what it is will go and see what it is. Say what you want but I love this show as well as the original!