How G.I. Joe Brainwashed An Entire Generation

During the Saturday morning cartoon boom of the 1980's, it seemed there was a direct line being established between its youth audience and the amount of merchandise being produced for their favorite shows. G.I. Joe, Transformers, Masters of the Universe, Transformers and many others started developing toy lines aimed specifically at kids. Week after week kids would watch their Saturday Morning Cartoons and be exposed to hours of commercials selling their favorite toys. But were these toy lines for animated shows actually brainwashing the kids watching the programs?
#gijoe #animation #nerdstalgic
Written by Ash Mitrano
Edited by Nick Murphy

[@Dats_Mark]

As a kid that grew up in the 80's and being told all my cartoons were just half hour toy commercials... my response is, I don't care... They were absolutely AWESOME.

[@FoodLaneAdventures]

That's my thought. I think when we were kids we didn't really separate these worlds. For some reason it's seen as some great evil today to have sold kids toys, yet our parents always bought them for us (or we saved up and bought them ourselves), and this led to countless hours of social fun and imagination. I think today's models of endless streaming screen time are much more dangerous to kids.

[@blueknight5754]

This video was a bit rough to me. I respect the work but to say it was apart of brainwashing is a bit of a reach. There were many other cartoons that had toys too such as Voltron or Smurfs that was due to the show being so popular. He neglected to mention how big Star Wars toys were and that was a movie.

[@dant.3505]

Here here!

[@wynonasbigbrowndragon6121]

I grew up during the transition from subtle toy advertising to Pokémon. That was the point where it became a lot more obvious. Hell, even the tag line was, "Gotta catch 'em all!"

[@ChrisControversial]

I mean if it wouldn't be brain washing if you didn't care or you think you aren't brainwashed.

[@SimpleTricksNonsense]

"GIJOE had long since disappeared from Saturday mornings" that's because GIJOE didn't air on Saturdays. GIJOE like Transformers, He-man, She-Ra and many others were Monday through Friday cartoons. Many of GIJOE's early adventures were 5 part series and specifically made to air Mon-Fri. I love the videos that say more about the writer or content maker than the actual video says about its subject matter. Tell me you were born after 1993 without saying you were born after 1993.

[@MichaelEarl]

Even the damn movie originally aired as a 5 part show. This guy must be confusing gi joe with X-men back in 92 and how they brainwashed kids to get the Covid vaccine so they can get mutant powers and shoot lasers out their eyes

[@gregorymoore2877]

I was wondering if I was the only one who watched GI Joe after school Monday through Friday. I watched Saturday morning cartoons too, but GI Joe was never on at that time.

[@Lastjustice]

I think it's secondary from DIC was actually run on saturday mornings, but the primary run by Sunbow up to the movie was all done monday-friday after school. It's possible some local stations tossed on saturday mornings from time to time but it's main air time was between 3-5 pm weekdays typically followed by Transformers when I saw it on WGN, channel in Chicago. People use saturday morning cartoons as a catch all for the 80s shows, but the reality is during the week plenty of cartoon ran. Some shows ran in both slots, while others were primarily a saturday morning affair like Dungeons and Dragons or Captain N.

[@erikfldt390]

It came on Saturdays in the 80s and 90s. I specifically remember that but they also came on M-F and it all depended on what region and local station. I used to have tapes of Saturday Morning cartoons (you could tell because the filming stops the second American Bandstand comes on.

[@lagbait3076]

Locally for me I remember it starting on Saturdays but from either popularity or the original planning moved to the M-F schedule. It was a race back in the day from the bus to the tv just to hear that Transformers intro.

[@Homemadegameguru]

I am a Gen X father now and I will say it here and now that I LOVED MY 80s CHILDHOOD! Of course they were 20 minute toy commercials - we knew that back then. I had parents with the amazing power of "no!" Got toys at birthdays and Christmas and that was it. I loved my cartoons and will always have fond memories of cereal, friends, awesome cartoons, Atari and Nintendo, arcades,, freedom to go out and do stupid shit before the lights came on and classic WWF!

[@mvan8307]

My folks were the same way. I'll never forget the one birthday when i received 6 new joes, i was shittin in tall cotton

[@jfricard]

Amen.

[@jasonwhite5125]

The 80s was a magical time!!! I miss the toons, toys, and even with the Cold War still fresh in our minds, there wasn’t a never ending feeling of doom and gloom! No chem trails, real clouds, fresh air and food that would nourish you instead of slowly poisoning and killing you….

[@anthonypease1072]

The all mighty power of "No!" I don't know how many times I heard no, it generally was for them stupid TV only things, " like otlrder now and well double the offer " I miss all that good cartoons with the ok animation, that stuff would inspire hours of drawing and imagination, and who didn't know that these cartoons were commercials, just like when they put the dang discloser in the commercials "toys don't actually talk or move on their own" 🤦‍♂️

[@sparkaward]

Similar experience as a gen Z with gen X parents. I always wanted to get new Transformers toys buy my parents had the power of "no".

[@217techguy]

GI Joe cartoons in the 80’s were better written than 90% of the movies today.

[@cocobeware6101]

@@Modok.Saint424that’s not a stretch. Sorry your current kid shows are garbage

[@ddsssa]

Completely agree

[@MysteryAGMLegend]

Very true

[@mr.vargas5648]

Yeah and they had charm,

[@meligoth]

Alot of us kids in the 80s were very aware of the marketing, but that alone was not the reason we wanted the toys. The cartoons were engaging that it inspired alot of imaginations to continue the adventures of GI Joe or My Little Pony once the cartoons ended and we went outside to play. Even it you were poor, a friend might have an extra GI Joe for you to borrow. Maybe that's the genius in the marketing in the 80s, the toys were for us to play with.

[@FoodLaneAdventures]

That's my thought. I think when we were kids we didn't really separate these worlds. For some reason it's seen as some great evil today to have sold kids toys, yet our parents always bought them for us (or we saved up and bought them ourselves), and this led to countless hours of social fun and imagination. I think today's models of endless streaming screen time are much more dangerous to kids.

[@dant.3505]

Almost no kid had ALL the GI Joe toys, there's so many different things. But between all the kids on our block was enough to make an entire army base. We played star wars and he man too but, the GI Joe toys and action figures was the best. In our neighborhood anyway.

[@bleachboys3623]

@@FoodLaneAdventures I also think things were better when I was young, and that society today is all wrong. This is unique only to me, not every generation ever.

[@kaiser1963]

Kids don’t even play with toys anymore it’s kinda sad

[@s0nicfreak]

Yep, I used the toys (in combination with toys I'd make myself, to have toys I couldn't afford, add original characters, or have a toy of a character that there were no toys of) to act out fanfics, which I sometimes wrote down. The toys were essentially a way to make and share fanfics before a kid could jump on the internet and find a fanfic community. I still write and read, and I still make toys (I make a good portion of my income selling toys I make). And I still love plenty of shows that are 99% toy marketing (there's still tons of Japanese shows like this), even though I don't buy (much) of the toys nowadays. I would love to see a study of the different imaginations and creativity of people that grew up with these kind of toys vs those that didn't.

[@BriGuyIL1980]

I've been rewatching the old GI Joe cartoon. It still holds up and I'm not embarrassed to say I like watching it.

[@EpicAdrian3D]

Same

[@MichaelEarl]

Just started watching the DIC run. Those are a little harder to watch than the Sunbow lol

[@73rexben]

Yeah man it's legit I love Hasbro put it on there KZbin channel

[@cobracommander9138]

You have to watch them in your underoos with a big bowl of cereal to get the full effect!

[@tacticianM]

Is does hold up

[@CaseyLau]

There is always a huge omission in these KZbin docs about this era. It was not Marvel and Hasbro magically getting together - there was an ad agency in the middle who's client was Hasbro. Griffin-Bacal Advertising - literally the 1980s version of Mad Men- made those first commercials and then started Sunbow Productions who sub-contracted it all out to the Japanese studio Toei Animation, and co-producing them with US animation studio DPE Films who was bought by Cadence and renamed: Marvel Productions. Sunbow did ALL the Hasbro toy cartoons - Jem, Inhumanoids, My Little Pony, Visionaries - before the entire industry imploded a few years later. The business story is much more fascinating than the witch-hunt of parent groups trying to shut the toy-toons down.

[@mysketchbook3402]

Yeah it is. It should be a course in marketing 101.

[@HENSLEYMB]

GI Joe did teach patriotism toward the USA and the value of teamwork. Also, it brought an interest of the military to young people after years of post Vietnam resentment towards the military. It also showed that a motley crew can still work as a team and accomplish the mission. There was one episode in which GI Joe and Cobra teamed up together to defeat an evil tycoon.

[@aliensyndrome4280]

If COBRA existed in real life it would be funded at Wall Street

[@keithharrissuwignjo2460]

Evil tycoon?

[@CrossOfBayonne]

That's something I do appreciate, Despite the overtly militaristic themes by now standards I guess it wouldn't be stupid to like it somehow

[@HENSLEYMB]

Games Master

[@erikbihari3625]

​@@CrossOfBayonne. Gi joe is basically what mortal kombat could've become with some focus, an expansive universe full of memorable and quirky characters!

[@firefly44220]

G.I. Joe was epic The PSA’s were not out of place. I moved a lot as a kid and my parents weren’t around and I was an only child. The morality of those PSA’s partially raised me and the characters were my friends

[@virtusethonos8588]

Precisely. The characters from our shows were indeed inspirational and warm-blooded.

[@darlalathan6143]

I'm glad they worked out for you! That takes a load off my mind, lol!

[@mysketchbook3402]

Well said.

[@rabidhamster8884]

So sad 😢

[@AkweliParker]

Don’t be a bully. Don’t swim alone. Wear bright clothes at night so you don’t become roadkill… Even if they were forced to do it, the cartoons’ PSAs are a positive legacy. I guess it’s just fashionable for KZbinrs to criticize everything nowadays, regardless of merit.

[@knightnomore]

I am 43yrs old. Im seriously sad that my son (5) will never know that almost Christmas feel of waking up before his parents on Saturday just to watch cartoons. And that slight fear of, “if i don’t watch it Saturday morning i may never get to see it” He will also never fully appreciate the fact that he can just bring up anything he wants to watch whenever he wants to watch it.🤷‍♂️

[@josephbrown9685]

I’m nearly 42. Such is the nature of time and change. We cannot expect our kids to really understand it. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be a kid with Internet access, but I’m grateful to have grown up when I did.

[@hereitcomes3912]

So damn true..

[@mattmccain8492]

True. I'm just about 50. I remember the time when these cartoons came out brand new and watched the first airings on a lot of them. It was something else as nothing like them existed in the late 70s. Saturday morning was indeed magical. Especially after a Friday night playing video games at the arcade after a hard week of school. And if you did miss that episode, it could be months or years before you caught it on a rerun.

[@Diggy22]

Saturday morning cartoons may have been ads for toys, but they were fun, and a great way to take a break from 5 days of school. Hell, they've been showing shows like G.I. Joe and Transformers on Tubi, and I've been on cloud nine. Looking back, the writing, voice acting, and animation on certain shows were quality, and they still hold up today. Edit: and as someone mentioned in the comments, G.I. Joe and Transformers were actually weekday cartoons, not Saturday morning cartoons.

[@mathijsuittenbroek7764]

The G.I. Joe toys from the 80s are still one of the best plastic boy toys ever made. And yes, the advertising helped to safe all of my pocket money to buy as much figures and vehicles. But the cartoons also stimulated hours of joyful play (indoors and outdoors), creating mindblowing adventures and battles and the construction of cobra and g.i.joe bases. It motivated me to draw my heroes, and write stories about them. I was 'brainwashed' to get inspired and 'brainwashed' to play and to create. I can imagine much worse forms of brainwashing, as we see in our world today. Besides G.I.Joe helped to teach a generation of boys the use of a compass in good and bad (evil) behaviour, and helped to understand that freedom is something we need to protect. Hasbro, thank you, for the joyful hours of creation and play! Yo Joe!

[@mysketchbook3402]

Very well said.

[@hypasteve]

I have no regrets about my love of transformers and gi joe. They were icons, along with those saturday morning cartoons. Saturday always was the Best. Day. Ever.

[@ianmedford4855]

"He'll fight for freedom wherever theres trouble, GI Joe is there!" *15 years later, and 4 kilometers outside of Mosul... "hey... wait a minute?!?"

[@mr.vargas5648]

Same my childhood would been a lot more boring without them.

[@thomasfardy1476]

G.I. Joe A Real American Hero! was never a Saturday morning cartoon, nor was it on any Network television (ABC, CBS, NBC). It was strictly syndicated on Weekday afternoons, and each season began with a 5-part series that was shown Monday thru Friday.

[@FrenchCelt]

Came here specifically to see if anyone else caught that glaring error about how the cartoon was broadcast. It was a weekday ritual for me as a kid in the mid-80s...come home from school and watch G.I. Joe, Transformers, Voltron, and Robotech.

[@jonathancook1096]

@@FrenchCelt I caught it to. I'm use to stuff like this from either people with no long-term memory or yahoos who make KZbin videos for click-bait but either 1) does not have first-hand knowledge of the subject matter or 2) too young to have been alive during the era and is just putting together stuff in bits and pieces in a sensationalized manner similar to a Fox News editorial piece for again, clicks. 🙄

[@MothershipCreative]

Came here to say this. This was after school viewing, for sure.

[@eddiez1247]

@@jonathancook1096 Well said. You absolutely said exactly what I was thinking watching this.

[@Lio_Convoy]

Yeah, this is kind of a goofy video without much solid info to prove the point alleged in the title.

[@ofb-jq5lc]

For being 20 minute commercials for toys, they sure had incredible story lines, themes, and heroic acts of courage. These helped me get through childhood and still serve me today.

[@sheldonsookoo6201]

It's amazing that this was a problem 40 years ago but not when social media and apps throwing enough ads at you render said app virtually useless

[@richardrude9087]

I don’t remember GIJOE being in Saturday morning cartoon lineup. I remember watching it after school

[@plasticbattles]

You're right in not remembering it. It wasn't.

[@drnockaable]

I watched after school too. How old are you if you don't mind saying. I'm 49.

[@richardrude9087]

@@drnockaable 42

[@richardrude9087]

@@drnockaable Now you know, and knowing is half the battle

[@SoulBroRyu]

You are correct. The show was syndicated, so when it went daily, it aired at whatever morning or afternoon timeslot your local syndication channel aired it. Prior to it going daily, there were miniseries that aired in syndications, usually on weekends, but that was once in a blue moon until the toyline reached peak popularity. A lot of these essayists get this wrong. Guess you had to be there. ^_^

[@cobracommander9138]

80's is the golden era of toys. With everything being digital now, VR, there will never be another great era of toys. I'm so happy I experienced it.

[@NoSubculture]

I thought this video was going to be about how GI Joe convinced a bunch of kids to enlist when they got older. I grew up in the late 90s/early 2000s, so GI Joe wasn't on air anymore, but I found the tapes at my local Blockbuster and Hollywood Video and would rent them all the time. Fast-forward several years later I joined the military.

[@russellj.s.257]

In the 80s,GI Joe also taught us good morals and patriotism

[@rc59191]

Lol that's unacceptable nowadays on today's world you have to hate everything and everyone slightly right of Marx.

[@mattmccain8492]

They also prepared us for future conflict with evil adversaries without boarders.

[@altarush]

Cobra teaches us how to rule the world.

[@jjrod2988]

Unquestioned "patriotism" is the very essence of brainwashing.

[@Bintzak]

Even here in Europe 💪🏻 Muricaaaa

[@nadavegan]

People had a major problem with toy ads, but no one seems to have a problem with the non-stop drug ads that run now, many of which have awful side effects. Makes sense.

[@bleachboys3623]

Exactly I turn on Nick and Disney and they are nothing but pharmaceutical drug adverts!!!! (Jk there is none, obviously)

[@rawgamerfootage]

Well said.

[@jliller]

Drug ads are targeted at adults, not kids.

[@nadavegan]

@@jliller predatory behavior is wrong no matter who is the target. And the consequences of a bad drug interaction are far greater than mom getting nagged about buying a toy.

[@jliller]

@@nadavegan My point is that children are expected to susceptible to manipulation and lacking the experience to make good choices. Adults should be resistant to manipulation be capable of making good decisions. Many people with otherwise reprehensible behavior consider children off limits for their crimes. I do wish we had laws prohibiting the advertising of any drugs. But the fact that they are effective is a condemnation of our dumb, gullible society as much as it is a condemnation of predatory capitalism.

[@afterburner94]

The Toys That Made Us is mind-blowing in revealing how the toy lines were made. Some crazy entertaining stories and larger than life characters in that documentary series.

[@MC---]

The Power Rangers episode was really good. Saban's idea to take the show from Japan, film some American scenes, and import the toys was a stroke of genius.

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

Stunts like that make me look down upon such toy franchises in my opinion...

[@ProjectStrum]

Gi joe was my childhood, I hold it dearly and as a adult collector of them now the feeling the cartoon and toys gave me in the 80s was magical. Thank you for the brainwash

[@davissunglasses]

I loved GIJoe! The live action just haven’t been able to muster that nostalgic feeling for me. Cartoons in the 80s were awesome.

[@witnesstheworld2010]

I have mixed feelings about this video, but you raised several valid points and are 100% correct about toy companies in the 80's exploiting young minds for large profits (Hasbro is still at it today). However, I very much enjoyed the fantasy & using my own imagination to create new ideas & stories w/ my action figures and they'll always have a special place in my heart because it was pure fun & adventurous. Corporate greed is one thing, but us kids had some amazing creative treasure back in the day & I'm thankful to the creative minds that gave us lovable & memorable characters, along w/ fantastic tales of heroism & friendship that still hold up today.

[@jonathanw1019]

But why is it wrong for a company to make toys that kids like to play with?

[@Beedo_Sookcool]

If you think Hasbro's bad when it comes to manipulation, Disney'll make your brains catch fire.

[@chowderwhillis9448]

@@Beedo_Sookcool agreed there’s literally a Disney Princess Syndrome in the medical field lol

[@Beedo_Sookcool]

@@chowderwhillis9448 Heh. And the one time Disney made a movie that even comes close to outlining what it's actually like to be a princess -- "The Princess Diaries" -- the shock and horror I saw on the faces of the women sitting next to me when duty, service, sacrifice, self-control, tradition, and the other real aspects of the life were mentioned were both hilarious and sad.

[@Dragonrider1227]

Yeah, it’s not wrong that every kids show shouldn’t be a toy ad, but acting like such shows should never exist is extreme

[@grapeshot]

I guess I was in that number of people who were brainwashed because I played with a lot of GI Joe toys. And the GI Joe movie from 1987 I still love that intro.

[@TheYellowKing779]

Mother of god let’s do it again and see what a second batch of generation look like

[@WillieFreeman]

G.I. Joe the Movie's song was and remains the JAM. Or by today's vernacular it is a whole BOP. It slaps. Okay I'm done.

[@CrazyLinguiniLegs]

That intro is awesome. I still rewatch it every now and then.

[@rocaez2143]

I also played a lot of GI Joe toys

[@jeffkaczmarek3577]

So much so that you proudly signed up for a socialist jobs program where you donned a camo costume, carried out the orders of corrupt politicians and became a parasite on the taxpayers for the rest of your life.

[@HUMDUDE]

I look at people that weren't kids in the 80's and actually feel sorry for them. It was a GREAT time to be a kid!

[@iriamuguillermo9678]

I don’t know about that. There was an HIV pandemic going around. And the Cold War was still going on.

[@ngmajora6986]

I love how because of the removal of the like/dislike ratio how much easier it is to tell the audience opinion by simply comparing views to likes

[@jameslarochelle8501]

It feels like some facts were massaged to fit the story. I'm sure it aired somewhere on Saturday mornings, but as many have commented, in most areas it was a weekday cartoon. The first two GIJoe mini-series did not have any PSA tags at the end. He-Man was the first cartoon to do that probably due to the lashback to the GIJoe miniseries. The full series of GI Joe started in 1985 and also put in PSAs to provide some "edutainment". I also struggle with the use of the word "brainwashing" due to the negative connotation. You'd have to be able to prove that the kids weren't predisposed to liking the toys in the first place. I think "conditioned" would be a more fitting word choice. A cartoon tie-in did not guarantee success, so the toys had to be fun on some level as well.

[@DaveGrean]

Yeah I never understood the "saturday morning" terminology. Is that really a thing in the US? Why would schoolchildren even be awake at that time? All the children's cartoons I saw in the '90s and early '00s were either at midday during supper (or dinner? I always forget), or in the afternoon long after school hours.

[@sidneysometimes2520]

@@DaveGrean It goes all the way back to the early days of American television and really took off in the 60s. Saturday mornings were set aside as a long five-hour block of children's programming and advertising. Initially live action shows and then eventually cartoons.

[@s0nicfreak]

​@@DaveGrean Well, in the 80s and early 90s I would get up on Saturday mornings specifically to watch shows that came on at that time. Or, at least, to turn on the VCR to record it and go back to sleep, once I had that option lol. It was a time that kids were likely to be home, not at school, not at after school activities, not outside playing yet, and maybe the parents weren't awake yet to take over the TV. It probably also goes back to when households only had one tv, and in the evening, the parents were more likely to be choosing what was watched.

[@jamaisj]

"Some facts"?

[@jameslarochelle8501]

I didn't want to dismiss the entire piece out of hand. :)

[@andreweckert2949]

As a 48 year old with a 9 and 11 year old It has been interesting how little my kids and their friends care about pretend-play with action figures compared to what I recall being all-consuming to my life in elementary school. But I have been able to sell off my old toys to other adults to put it in to my grown-up hobby of board games with miniatures. several of my GI Joe figures sold for $100+ each.

[@hugogieles4816]

If you dont mind me asking what keeps your kids busy now mostly

[@andreweckert2949]

@@hugogieles4816 My 9 year old son likes Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, and minecraft while my 11 year old daughter is big into drawing and crochet. They are also probably over scheduled with music lessons and soccer. Given the opportunity though they would probably sit around watching youtube or netflix all day. This probably relates to this video in that they have never had to watch their shows with kid-targeted commercials like we did. My son is a big Star Wars fan and I have started introducing him to some of the Star Wars tabletop games like X-Wing and Imperial Assault which I hope will be a great bond activity for us.

[@mausegetlit363]

@@andreweckert2949 given the opportunity they'd sit idle and not do a fucking thing...lmao great leadership loser

[@Asianevermore]

Wait until you hear how much Pokémon cards go for… card. Paper …. Edit: Pokémon cards , one that came out when I was in high school 95-98

[@EbonyPope]

Pretend play is an integral part of coke development. Yes of course they were marketed to make profit in just saying that it isn't necessarily a bad thing. Social skills are trained during these pretend play sessions where you have to abide by certain rules, accept authority, delegate work etc. The fact that children don't do that all that much is an observation I really can confirm regarding my nephews. It really shows in their problems to socialize.

[@jatats7743]

Give me a break. G I Joe and Transformers were such detailed toys, that, as a kid, I was obsessed. Loved em. Same with gundam and others. That in turn sparked my imagination in a lot of ways and helped teach me how to draw.

[@MichaelWilliams-oe5rn]

I bought my son some of the retro wave gi joes that came out in 2020. Gi joes were my favorite toys when I was his age. He loves them. They are still his favorite toys and he's a gamer. So that says alot about how fun they are to play with. I picked up quite a few to collect, but I end up giving him one or 2 a year now for birthdays or Christmas. He really loves them

[@theindiancop]

The effect of that show was astounding. I was a kid in a small town in India and I owned around 90 GI Joe action figures.

[@mfmageiwatch]

So? Why's that a bad thing?

[@theindiancop]

@@mfmageiwatch it wasn't. I loved those toys.

[@mfmageiwatch]

@@theindiancop nice. I misunderstood. Sorry.

[@dant.3505]

Action figures, the trucks, tanks, helicopters, aircraft carrier, all of it was awesome. Between all the kids on our block was just about everything for GI Joe. Good times.

[@jeffperdue2804]

90 is a good start

[@the16thGemini]

We was just having fun as kids 😂😂😂😂 Our generation wasn’t the first to have toys 😂😂😂😂. Nobody blinks an eye at how the adults have always got rope in living beyond their means with their shows and commercials 😂😂😂😂😂. GI Joe was just plain fun. Stimulate kids imagination through playing with the figures. And even as a grown up, you have an instant connection with others who watched it.

[@Lastjustice]

I lived through the supposed targetting/braining washing and I'm not even mad about it. My parents were only going buy so many toys, so at some point I stop asking for things especially after my dad got laid off. I had a variety pack of toys ranging from knock offs to the actual items. I played with what I had and I was fine. I did have a love for Jets(Yes I did want a Skystriker...but who didn't in the 80s?) as my favorite characters were typically pilots like Ace McCloud of Centurion or flyers like Starscream, Skyfire and the Aerial bots. I suppose that had a hand in my enlistment in the Air force. But if that's the worst that came of it all I think I ran the gauntlet of corporate greed fairly unscathed.

[@mysketchbook3402]

😆 I served in the Army cause my love and respect for this countries heroes started with GI Joe.

[@cocobeware6101]

It brainwashed kids to be respectful to others. At the end of each episode had a different message. Current shows for kids have zero messages. Only violence

[@Twone979]

I was clueless about this when I was a kid, but dam it man, the 80s had the best cartoon. My family was too poor to buy the toys, but waking up Saturday Morning watch cartoon with a big bowl of cereal was bliss

[@michaelwills1926]

Same 👍🏼💯🎯

[@knightnomore]

Same on all accounts!! I am 43yrs old. Im seriously sad that my son (5) will never know that almost Christmas feel of waking up before his parents on Saturday just to watch cartoons. And that slight fear of, “if i don’t watch it Saturday morning i may never get to see it” He will also never fully appreciate the fact that he can just bring up anything he wants to watch whenever he wants to watch it.🤷‍♂️

[@Sithman1776]

I feel bad for the generations after me who didn’t get to enjoy the brainwashing of GI Joe. I’m going to sit my kids down and make them watch every episode. Once they are fully brainwashed they beg me to buy them GI Joe toys, but little do they know that the toys I buy will actually be for me! Bwhahahaha!! (Cobra Commander would be proud of my evil plot).

[@Lastjustice]

COBRA!!!!!

[@salvadorortega8261]

COOOOOBRAAAAAA!!!!

[@Joe-rx7ht]

Don’t forget to show your kids how to “retreat!” Yo!Joe!!! 🇺🇸

[@virtusethonos8588]

Ahahahaha!!!

[@mysketchbook3402]

COBRA LALALALALALALA

[@TehFoog]

The title of this video should be: "Not understanding the 80s at all and seeing the generation as 'problematic'". 80's kids weren't so stupid as to not realize that their favorite TV shows were glorified toy commercials.

[@daffy72]

I had the U.S.S. Flag. No regrets. That and the death star were the two greatest toy playsets. Followed up by the empire strikes back ones (dagobaugh, hoth). Slave-1 was my favorite ship. The commercials never got me excited but the sears Christmas catalog each year did.

[@ChaosFox0]

GI Joe was a little behind He-Man on release (Like a week), and they were both Monday-Friday shows, as I recall, not Saturday morning ones.

[@agnosticbeliever138]

I'm pretty sure you're right, I remember GI Joe being on in the afternoons not Saturdays

[@ShadesMP5]

That's also something this video gets wrong. G.I.Joe was a SYNDICATED week day afternoon TV series. Only a handful of Toy centric shows aired on saturday morning in the 80s and 90s. Saturday morning Cartoons were under control of the big 3 TV Networks (NBC, CBS, ABC, and eventually Fox) with ALL sorts of regulations. Ghostbusters and TMNT were the only ones I recall being aired on Sat morning.

[@TalentCaldwell]

@@ShadesMP5 Also Muppet Babies, Snorks, The Smurfs, Land of the Lost, Beetlejuice, M.A.S.K., Silverhawks, LoneStar, and I don’t remember if DinoSaucers and Centurions were Saturday Morning shows or not. Edit: Oh also just remembered C.O.P.S and Dark Water.

[@jasonboyett8867]

@@ShadesMP5 and later,X-Men. With an Alice in chains, Man in the Box, lead in later on!!

[@Rocket1377]

G.I. Joe also only ran for 5 episode in 1983, and then 5 more in 1984. It wasn't until 1985 that it got a full season.

[@fsugrad03]

I grew up in the Chicago area and GI Joe was NOT a Saturday morning cartoon. It came on during the weekdays; 3 to 3:30pm. Transformers came on right after. I would rush home from school to catch both programs.

[@glyph241]

That would be tight. I was born in Aurora… but moved away as a baby. I always knew I missed something.

[@Lastjustice]

Yup WGN channel 9 baby!

[@RubenDCollantesG]

I don’t care if those programs were only toy commercials. The 80’s were awesome and many of those advices are part of the moral code of my generation. Yo Joe!

[@steveh.2334]

Long live the 80's!!! Great decade. Great cartoons.

[@leonnarddavis]

'84 myself.. and they definitely got us... I remember how upset I was in those last few years of '96-'98 where they basically ended Saturday morning and after school cartoons... and made us watch Jack Hannah play with Animals.. Damnit, I wanted Xmen, Spiderman, Power Rangers, and so many more...

[@dant.3505]

I loved GI Joe as a kid. All the kids on our block had the toys and watched the cartoons. Good times 😊

[@Ben-ph1bv]

DUDE! It's YOU AGAIN! ! The guy who makes videos about the 80s who wasn't born yet , but pretends they were there. GI Joa was not a Saturday morning cartoon. It aired after school. Also If you'd been a kid in the 80s , you'd know we were down with the whole scheme to get toys any way we could. We felt in cahoots with the creators because it's geared towards . . oh the heck. Dr Mindbender put you up to this to finally brainwash us here and now but Xr's know that Knowing is Half the . . .

[@jackgrimes4410]

Seriously....kids today. Just jealous their childhood sucked compared to ours.

[@alanpreston1822]

I don't recall GI Joe being a Saturday morning cartoon. That thing was after school during the week in the 80s.

[@rainbowbunchie8237]

As a 3 year old I sat down to watch cartoons and got visibly irritated when the commercials came on. Kids aren't stupid, they know what ads are. I'd probably describe it wrong and you'd think I knew no difference, but oh boy did I ever.

[@cmselby72]

Did the kids all run out to the stores and buy these toys on their own? Why aren't parents held responsible for any of this? None of this happens in a vacuum. We have personal responsibility for how we respond to marketing. We aren't helpless and we certainly aren't "brainwashed."

[@thebiguglyalien2032]

For real. Between this and the Mad Men video, Nerdstalgic has been promoting "victim complex" style thinking a lot lately

[@cmselby72]

@@thebiguglyalien2032 It is very strange. I totally get the idea of doing a video on the dance between toy companies and the FCC and how it shaped Saturday morning cartoons for a generation of kids. But the rest seems like a bit of a reach.

[@3haljordan]

These shows were awesome . We kids back then learned tons of useful information from those shows.

[@hereitcomes3912]

These shows mostly batman, superman, spider-man, x-men tas, and bond movies gave me more, than school ever could. And it's needed to say, that school never even really tried, to give me those useful informations. To teach you something is one thing, and to know how to teach it i mean, to bring it to your head, is completely a different thing.

[@MrBlink1980]

What I learned from this video is to blame ACT with why my two favorite afternoon cartoons GI Joe and Transformers stopped airing. These shows didn't "brainwash" a generation to buy toys. They had good stories that made children want to buy the toys. The GI Joe and Transformers dealt with grown up themes of fighting for something, death, loyalty, etc. The beginning of GI Joe the Movie was probably the most patriotic thing I saw directed towards children. I miss the days when we taught our children that our country and its ideals is worth fighting for. From GI Joe to Hulk Hogan to watching Red Dawn, the 80s was a good time to be a kid.

[@Windrave]

It was "concerned" people/parents like them that ruined shows like Captain Power and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Michaelangelo not using his nunchucks). If I could go back in time I'd love to say what was on my mind and what I thought of their concern.

[@alexanderball6326]

Its crazy to me that GI Joe stopped airing in 86. I was born in 86 and it was still huge until i was about 8 or 9

[@kennylanqua6512]

The a real American hero franchise had cooled down by the late 80s and really got cooler a few years later and was on life support by say 1993 which was 2 years after 1991s dic season 2 ended. You could tell things were about the end come 1994 when there the last of the reruns from sunbow on USA network and the reruns of syndicates dic stopped airing and the comic book was featuring transformers and then star brigade. While the toys also had the star brigade aliens. You also had gi Joe street fighter figures and even then (I was ten going on eleven in 93) I was like "huh?" The last time I saw a real American hero figure in stores was in 1995 and the next thing I know a real American hero was replaced by gi Joe extreme. So gi joe period regardless of what incarnation was definitely not huge in the mid nineties By the way the sunbow stopped airing in 86. It was picked up by six in 1989.

[@jliller]

It didn't stop airing in 1986; there just weren't any new episodes produced after that point. Reruns were being aired into the 1990s.

[@agrayer7104]

I used to do chores all week and get paid 3.25. That was enough to buy a single GI Joe figure. I would have an elaborate story about how either the Joe's or Cobra would rescue or recruit the new figure. The show inspired imagination and endless missions.

[@iotaeta-pi2770]

GI Joe taught me to treat female comrades solely based on their merit. And I played with the female figures along with the male ones because they were part of the team. That egalitarian mindset carried over to when I grew up and joined the army and influences how I raise my daughter.

[@robertmoncur3781]

I grew up in the 2000s and watched all the 80s cartoons and I had the toys and I don’t regret one single minute and I still watch today

[@raspberries6992]

I will never forget waking up one morning to my boyfriend at the time singing the G.I. Joe theme song in the shower, complete with the announcer dialogue. I fell so hard! Nostalgia is mighty!

[@oscartorrez5870]

Wrong: plenty of adults that grew up with GI Joe didn’t want to join the military mainly because of what the remanence Vietnam veterans with PTSD. Plenty of adults dissuading adolescence from joining. High School shop teacher even told me “they (US Gov) own you.” Still joined and valued my service to this Nation.

[@morwitzer34]

By the logic of this video's producer, it's fair to say that Star Wars brainwashed an entire generation too.

[@sethburkhart1021]

Great video! The funny thing is I was absolutely obsessed with G.I. Joe and I never even watched the show. It was the combat theme of the toys that made me like them, and much of the later 90’s Lego sets.

[@OttoMattak]

Your particular story undermines the assertions made in this video essay. Honestly I'm glad because this video is terrible.

[@sethburkhart1021]

@@OttoMattak I can see that! I agree it’s not entirely fair.

[@JasonPrice1]

Nah, it wasn't the shows. It was ALWAYS the commercials. I am almost 50 and my son went his whole life with no "regular" TV so no commercials at all. He loved all the old shows as I had them for him to watch but he NEVER lusted after toys like we did in the 80s.

[@Grayskull77]

Brainwashed or not, I'm glad i grew up in the 80's! I'm 45 years old and I still collect giJoe and Masters of the universe toys.

[@francoisregis2155]

Same

[@troyt6864]

Same

[@johnevangelista9733]

Same.

[@debbiebrantley61]

Great video man I miss those days.i loved all the toys they were selling as ads I loved super power ,silverhawks,transformers ,and liono

[@diezel2kable]

Well, we know this guy works for Cobra Commander. Yo Joe!!!

[@OttoMattak]

Nah, even Cobra Commander would have called this guy a lame brained poppenjay.

[@jonathanlego4930]

Grew up watching it. Was my favorite along with looney tunes, flintstones, jetsons. Grew up during the eighties.

[@jonathanlego4930]

And I did end up joining the Navy as I guess a real American hero. Didn’t plan to join as a young man, but I did.

[@schemar17]

@@jonathanlego4930 do you think Gi Joe influenced you to join?

[@jonathanlego4930]

@@schemar17 no. I just enjoyed watching it. But then someone my parents knew , told them how Gi Joes are violent and that I shouldn’t play with the toys or watch the show. So my toys were thrown away. Then I got into baseball cards.

[@jonathanlego4930]

And joining the Navy was an effort to provide for my family. A classified ad advertising to be a postal clerk, I answered it. Worlds greatest navy is what the guy on the other end of the phone said. I had to learn how to swim but I was determined to do what needed to be done, provide for my wife and daughter.

[@schemar17]

@@jonathanlego4930 thank you for your service, you are a true American hero👊

[@FoodLaneAdventures]

If only we'd known about the dangers of television marketing instead of learning a bunch of useless lessons about how to be brave, responsible, smart, and respectful. Such a shame. I'm a child of the '90s and I remember the huge shift toward educational programming. Some of the shows were cool, but most of us just got bored. We spent 40 hours a week learning at school, and all we wanted on a Saturday morning was to kick back with what we considered some good stories, and the ratings of even the well-known educational shows likely reflected that. With action cartoons mostly out of favor, studios scrambled to put something out, and we ended up with little more to watch than empty, vapid comedy. Again, some of this was great, but I distinctly remember being disappointed with the lack of "serious" (to my young mind) shows to watch. I wanted more Batman: TAS and I always ended up with more crappy Scooby Doo reruns.

[@robertspencer5219]

I was a child in the 80s and never felt like buying the toys. Enjoyed the cartoons though.

[@jonnyg9865]

No dude, I was alive back then and I can assure you us kids didn't need help from the cartoon or the comic to get into GI Joe. Each figure came with their own file card written by Larry Hama that went into what they were good at, their quirks, personalities, and a comment from one of their peers. The books and the show were just icing on the cake. I was already into GI Joe by the time 1983 rolled around and they started releasing new characters like the medic, arctic trooper, and diver that came with cool little accessories like skis, stretchers, and flippers. That's what got me hooked, well before the first series of cartoons that would come out later that same year.

[@Paradox-es3bl]

I don't think it had much effect on me. Certainly wasn't brainwashed. Just sometimes thought, "That you looks cool. I think I want it." But honestly, I think Rescue Heroes was most of what I got. Found out pretty quick I didn't actually enjoy the toys. I don't have enough imagination. Took my mother longer to learn that, though lol.

[@MichaelEarl]

No one was brainwashed. They put a product out and advertised it in clever ways and it was a product that kids enjoyed. Those damn executives were so damn evil by making toys that were wildly popular! How dare they!

[@hope-cat4894]

As a kid, I always felt bad when I would watch a cartoon and there were no toys for them. I would want to recreate the episodes or make my own version of the show. Toy tie-ins are popular for a reason.

[@kaylemathewcomendador6964]

@@MichaelEarl Network executives can already do some evil stuff normally. Does Nerdstalgic even have to try so hard to make them look bad?

[@katieandkevinsears7724]

I watched the cartoons with my brothers...and played with the G.I. Joe toys when they were over. My brother still has them in his basement. I have our baseball cards and my son has our Legos. I don't care that it was all a commercial. It was entertaining and had a decent good guys vs. bad guys plot.

[@michaelthorn5161]

So they tried to sell us superb toys through excellent cartoons. What a criminals!

[@leroyjenkins4811]

I loved those 80’s cartoons. I didn’t care that they were basically toy commercials. They were awesome. Kids from that era had imagination and creativity. I wrote a lot of short stories based on what I liked to imagine. The creativity helped me with critical thinking skills to come up with unconventional solutions to difficult problems I faced later on in life. The toys were also a reward for doing well in school and bringing home a favorable report card. My parents didn’t mind buying the toys. The toys kept us out of trouble. A childhood without toys isn’t a childhood at all.

[@rageagainstthewashingmachi2877]

Joes came in a bit late to India. I grew in the early-mid 90s and Gi joe was a huge success. Almost everyone had a joe growing up and we hardly had any "marketing" here. The toys by themselves were enough to be sold out. I still remember the first joes I got, storm shadow and beach head. It was only a bit later that we got cartoon network and gi joe show.

[@charlespuruncajas9663]

Independently of it’s obvious pro armament message, the OG Gi Joe cartoon showed us how different people (Whites, Blacks, Asians, etc) can work together against the corrupt (I really enjoyed how Cobra Commander was not just the generic “I’m a Naz!/Communist villain”, but a guy who has connections with powerful warmongers and millionaires).

[@ktstaywatchin]

Well said 👏🏾

[@jmgonzales7701]

Yeah it was great for america especially its the most diverse nation of the world

[@inuyasha989]

yeah lets see you tihs on the 2nd amendment when you no longer are able to own ANY weapons to defend yourself with tell me how that goes or better yet go to the uk and ask the families of those shot how they feel about not being able to defend themselves with nothing but a spoon you give up your snug and you give up your freedoms PERIOD end of discussion

[@fletchb2937]

Trust me. We were fully aware of the link between the entertainment and the advertising. We just didn’t care. Most of us also had parents who didn’t have problems telling us “No”.

[@mm39607]

As someone who grew during the 2000's, I also saw a lot of commercials of toys, but not this much. For example, I loved watching Ben 10, I still do, and although there were tons of toys of all the aliens and merch, I don't recall a single ad of said figures. I'm from Rosario, Argentina, and maybe the commercials weren't in spanish, I do remember watching them on KZbin around those years tho, in english of course. There were some ads of some other toys obviously, but not in the way you describe it. The shows were to enjoy as such, that's what I'm trying to say. Spectacular video, very interesting!!!

[@humulos]

Seeing the original GI Joe PSAs just feels wrong, I need a porkchop sandwich to recover

[@julianmunoz9085]

The Netflix show "The Toys that made us" goes way more into depth on the GI Joe toys if you want to learn more about this topic

[@joshanderson3716]

GI Joe was better than anything this channel could conjure up.

[@Shiftygism]

G.I.JOE was a syndicated cartoon that aired weekdays, not Saturday mornings.

[@wtk6069]

I showed my son GI Joe and Transformers several years ago. We ended up watching the entire run together. At one point he turned to me and asked, "Dad, why can't they make good cartoons like that anymore?". I just answered, "I don't know, son."

[@mbm-mindbreakmachine4968]

She-Ra and The Princesses of Power is the best modern reboot of an 80s cartoon IMO so unless your one of those people who care about keeping your son all macho man and never exposing him to any femininity then I’d recommend the She-Ra reboot

[@jonathanw1019]

You say "because of the Government, son."

[@kaylemathewcomendador6964]

I’ve encountered some good new ones. I guess you & your son need to look for them a bit harder.

[@Dragonrider1227]

Have you seen the cartoon “Final Faction?” It’s very much like something from the 80s and 90s and it’s on KZbin for free. It’s also got a toy line at Dollar Tree.

[@barricadedpurifier]

I like GI Joe. Japanese manufacturers like Figma should take a crack at making some action figures. They have been making a killing at making various toys recently especially anime figurines. They take more care, polish, and pride than most western toy makers.

[@drnockaable]

Knowing is half the battle. I'm 49 and this was all me. I remember G.i joe , he man Transformers , volition (the lions and the cars ) Thundercats. To put it short the 80s was awesome.

[@iaa1981]

The cartoons such as GIJoe, Masters of the Universe, Transformers, Thundercats, Swat Cats, Supetman, Spiderman etc all carried an important lesson of Good vs Evil...it built character and imbued morals in us which I cherish till date... Today i c youngsters with very less morals & values and very few who have them. Times hav changed.

[@GothPaoki]

I do seem to remember that gi joe was a big thing back in the day and I'm not even American. Kids all wanted these figures. Just goes to show how successful the marketing was and how influential were these shows to an entire generation.

[@ashaw1016]

I dont think it made it over to here in the UK at the time. Thundercats, transformers and He-man all did though.

[@rockoorbe2002]

It definitely made it to Mexico and it definitely fit into the more macho culture here.

[@AkumaKristian]

@@ashaw1016 The toys were released under the Action Man line in the UK so I reckon the TV networks weren't that interested.

[@ashaw1016]

@@AkumaKristian they seem quite different though, it was all that large barbie doll size. So not the smaller size that usually seems more popular for action figures.

[@AkumaKristian]

@@ashaw1016 Yeah, let me make a slight correction. The original toys from the 60s/70s were released as Action Man. The two brands had become more distinct by the time the show launched.

[@robertbeckman2054]

I grew up in the ‘80s. G.I. Joe was a weekday afternoon cartoon, not a Saturday morning. Also, it was strictly an ‘80s cartoon, not a ‘90s.

[@jasontodd9]

DIC's GI Joe series which picked up after GI Joe the movie, aired from 1989 to 1992, so it ran into the '90s a little bit.

[@reggiefurlow1]

Those old commercials still give be the feels

[@Artessnow]

The poster is clueless. GI Joe was a classic.

[@ScottWaa]

I remember GI Joe PSA's teaching the right and wrong thing to do.

[@nadavegan]

GI Joe was my church.

[@vylbird8014]

Though not usually very well. It was the political background. The FCC was run by a string of quite conservative commissioners in the 80s - four of them, all Republican appointed, all holding to a quite neoliberal ideology that looked poorly upon any government intervention in the free market or any regulation of business activity without a very good reason. So though congress tried at times to regulate children's TV and advertising, the FCC was not politically inclined to do anything to enforce the laws. It ended up with a sort of informal, unspoken agreement: The program producers would put on a paper-thin excuse by which they could claim that their shows were educational, and the FCC would accept this excuse without questioning just how valid the educational content might be. So any cartoon could be classed as 'educational' so long as the characters spent thirty seconds at the end telling the audience to be nice and wear a bicycle helmet.

[@finish_my_projects]

@@vylbird8014 yep, and look at the billions of dollars in economic growth we enjoyed from it, not to mention massive creative growth and spreading of our culture to the world (because people LOVE these characters and stories)... lol just think of how stagnant we could have been if we listened to that hag and put an end to cartoons, eff that bitch

[@agnosticbeliever138]

I feel like I remember GI Joe being on in the afternoon after school not on Saturday morning, but maybe I'm wrong. Either way, me and my brother had a lot of GI Joe toys.

[@michealcormier2555]

Naw, you're not. It was a weekly syndicated show.

[@jsgrayesq]

That is such a cynical viewpoint. Animation was expensive to produce in those days and the pearl clutching adults who sought to limit advertisements ultimately doomed Saturday morning cartoons because they couldn't afford to air them anymore. For a kid with strict parents who were literally never home, didn't have anyone to practice sports with them so we weren't popular at school, cartoons and toys and cereal were 90% of the positive, happy experiences from my childhood. I'd look forward to tomorrow instead of feeling lonely and miserable and afraid all the time. If those concerned adults had spent as much effort encouraging parents with PSAs to actually raise their children I might feel different, but some things never change.

[@vylbird8014]

I wonder if there could come a point when there's no need for new cartoons. You just need enough really good ones that they can be looped over a duration equal to the cartoon-watching years of the target demographic.

[@32ndspecialist]

Gi Joe actually came on in the afternoon after I got home from school.

[@VoiceDisasterNz]

5:15 Angry video game nerd starts breathing heavy

[@robt.v.8688]

Laughing-Joking-F*cknuts 😁

[@raycar9827]

And we never saw another ad again....

[@Cyril29a]

Hahahaha! Exactly... So much whining when the real problems are political and not economical.

[@philv2529]

Every youtube video gets this one thing wrong about GIJoe; It wasn't a Saturday morning cartoon. It was an after school cartoon that aired around 4pm Monday through Friday. The same goes for transformers he-man and Thundercats.

[@anonymousm9113]

Like many other commenters, GI Joe defined my childhood to an extent. It wasn't brainwashing, or anything else of the sort, at least not like what younger generations see today with all of the propaganda leading them down permanent paths of self-mutilation and emotional distress. The cartoon and toys were interconnected. I could never amass a collection that let me recreate any given cartoon episode, but the figures and vehicles I did have led to some memorable battles. I kept getting GI Joes into the early '90s, long after any sense of realism left the toy line, but Lift Ticket and Low Light could still hang with whatever neon colored new-gen Joe I had to defeat Cobra. There are YT channels devoted to creating stories using not only original GI figures, but other vintage toy lines to create rather decent narrative arcs. As a solid late Gen-Xer, I can attest to the time that GI Joe saw its greatest popularity. We still did regular nuclear attack drills, as I grew up less than 100 miles from DC, and my high school still had a fallout shelter in the basement. The late Cold War era marked a time of uneasiness, with our military having fairly recently suffered its first "loss" in Vietnam, and the "Ugly Stupid Stinking Russians" having their own debacle in Afghanistan. We had acorn fights and later BB gun wars (one pump max was the rule), Reagan was President, we knew we were going to triumph over Communism, and American kids like me dreamed of one day becoming Duke, General Hawk, or Lt. Falcon. I did my time post-9/11, retired from a military career wholly unlike those listed on the file cards of my old action figures, and now just watch nostalgic content. Sears could be accused of brainwashing kids into wanting toys just as easily. Their annual catalog contained dioramas of different scenarios that made us kids want everything they sold. Then we'd get to the video game section, with the simple box art and brief description piquing our curiosity. There was a solid barrier between our wants and reality, though: our parents. Unlike so many of today's kids (admittedly including my own), we could watch cartoons daily, study the Sears catalog, and stare longingly at the Kmart toy aisles, without ever having a chance of getting what we wanted. "I want these GI Joes and an NES". Come Christmas, I was lucky to get a Go-Bot and a Lite-Brite. My kids, like so many others, can just say "I want" and all but expect they'll get it at the next semi-important moment, even a sibling's birthday or National Audobon Day. What can I say? Largely due to GI Joe and my life decisions partly influenced by that cartoon and toy line, I have a higher disposable income than my parents had, and things are much more convenient these days.

[@lethalwolf7455]

I only remember seeing GI Joe as an afternoon show, after school, Monday thru Friday. I don’t recall it ever being on Saturday mornings. Maybe I’m wrong it’s been awhile

[@FrenchCelt]

You're right. They screw up little details like this all the time, it seems.

[@inuyasha989]

@@FrenchCelt or they are just trying to push bs like saying gi joe was bad for kids do these clowns even WATCH whats on tv these days? >.>

[@lethalwolf7455]

@@inuyasha989 I can say this much, I watched GI Joe and Transformers after school every day in Junior High School, and thinking back on them, they were very wholesome and taught great life lessons.

[@hiredhand9394]

I know I’m old because I get genuinely upset when younger people read aloud the abbreviation “Bros.” as “bros” and not the proper way, “Brothers”. It’s the “Super Mario Brothers”, damn it!

[@billscarnage]

Give me Saturday morning cartoons over the garbage today. We knew and didn't care.

[@CPTBlackDragon07]

These weren't just Saturday morning cartoons. Monday-Friday from 3pm-5pm were cartoons on ABC. The narrator apparently didn't have a good childhood! Bwahahaha 😂 😂 😂 G.I. Joe, He-Man, etc made cartoons from the toys to also teach morals and character.