The Cartoon Controversy of Rambo: The Force of Freedom

Taking an R rated property like First Blood and Rambo and turning it into a cartoon suitable for kids was not an easy task and not without controversy.
But it was done and what resulted was the animated series Rambo: The Force of Freedom from 1986.
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[@bagoftrix]

If Rambo was too much, wait till they get a load of Robocop 😂

[@Getwright-]

We almost got an Aliens cartoon too.

[@Edjs2004]

Miss those too,went through them roll of snapcaps in minutes,the ED-209 (or 260 or another number on the package) was awesome too

[@chancepaladin]

mmmmm robocop commercials mmMmMMmmm

[@FictionFactoryGames]

I think Robocop kinda got a pass because of the sci-fi angle. "Robot cop fighting crime" is easier for parents to swallow than "Traumatized Vietnam veteran with a machine gun."

[@JonathanMCook]

@mojo Damn, beat me too it. 😂 That and "Can you flyyyyyyyy Bobby?" 😁

[@alarin612]

There's a special kind of irony to sending a death threat to a TV station because you don't like how much violence is in their shows.

[@siasti]

Same kind of lunatics that threaten to kill (and sometimes actually kill) abortion doctors

[@yusukeelric]

You call it irony. I just call it moral activism in a nutshell.

[@derekclay9314]

@@yusukeelric nut job is more like it

[@ahobimo732]

Stupid is its own kind of wonderful.

[@caiolimacaldas]

if this cartoon had Sci-Fi stuff, perhaps wouldn't suffer cancellation.

[@DudeWatIsThis]

Rambo's knife: - In films: **carves people's throats out** - In cartoons: **used to cut ropes to drop lamps on enemies**

[@SimpleManGuitars1973]

There was also that really cool machine gun but I thought that knife was super awesome. I will tell you what's funny though is I don't know if you're an 80's kid or not but I am and I always thought the sets where they filmed the commercials would have been awesome to go play on and still to this day they don't make cool looking commercials like that anymore. Did you ever also want to go play on the sets where they filmed the commercials because you thought they were like "real" places and looked cool with all the fog and jungle type atmosphere?

[@DudeWatIsThis]

@@SimpleManGuitars1973 Nerver thought of it, lol, but it's an interesting thought. I'm also a 90's* kid like you, by the way. We were born in the late 80's, but missed all of the cool 80's shit :P

[@SimpleManGuitars1973]

@@DudeWatIsThis I feel like I got the best of both worlds because I was born in 82 and got to be the target audience of every legendary brand of toys and games. It was a golden age for both.

[@DudeWatIsThis]

@@SimpleManGuitars1973 Aw man, must have been sweet. I'm quite happy I grew up without Internet, in any case. Kids today are spoiled. Remember having your first VHSs?

[@SimpleManGuitars1973]

@@DudeWatIsThis Yeah actually my mom would record stuff for me and I'd watch it over and over. I also had a vcr in my room and would watch Ghostbusters 2 and TMNT on a daily basis. LOL!

[@419Films]

Yeah, everyone needed a ninja in the 80s. Military toys? Give them a ninja! Fantasy toys? Give them a ninja! Supernatural toys? Give them a ninja! Ninja toys? Give them a SUPER ninja!

[@SimpleManGuitars1973]

My little girl is going in to 2nd grade in a couple of weeks and one of the books she has to read before school starts back is a book about these kids that live in a tree house and even IT has ninjas in it! LOL!!! You're right about the 80's though. I was born in 82 and ninjas were the bomb back in the day.

[@petervonfroster8i]

Ninjas! Just like Spider the Mark 4 Cybercommando!

[@uiopuiop3472]

NANJAS

[@lifehackertips]

David Loewen 80s kids still buy ninjas but now they’re household appliances

[@caiolimacaldas]

The ninjas was pretty popular back in the day. That's why these shows had one.

[@jamesmorgan3212]

Man ! the 80’s was such a great time to be a kid. I was born in 1979. So I spent my whole childhood in the 80’s . I was so fortunate to be a kid then. And I loved this cartoon .

[@SimpleManGuitars1973]

Yep the 80's was a golden age for toys and cartoons and also a great era for gaming. We had it all back then. I'm still a collector to this day actually.

[@BanCorporateOwnedHouses]

Damn, growing up in the 80s as a kid, and living out your teens in the 90s? That is so damn lucky.

[@grumblekin]

We had it good but didn’t know it. I’d love to go back to 1986....

[@philmuller-geib3361]

Likewise!

[@fakshen1973]

We got toy guns that looked like guns, candy cigarettes, lawn darts, and helmetless bike riding. So many scabbed knees, road rash and ankles torn up by metal bike pedals... with a cheese-grater attached to stop your shoes from sliding off of them. Today's kids would be winded by lunch.

[@shaider1982]

RIP Brian Dennehy, the guy who played the arresting officer in Rambo 1

[@shaider1982]

@Joseph Shmo ahhh....if you hate the character, you must then love the actor. 😃

[@CaptApril123]

@@shaider1982 Same thing happened to the actor who played 'Joffery' in 'Game of Thrones'... He played the role so well that he actually started getting death threats and had to completly drop out of social media.. thankfully that whole thing has died down.

[@uiopuiop3472]

RIP

[@kegaan]

Irish Jester those movies are just great . Same as Avengers

[@melissacooper4282]

Any idea if Malcom McDowell got death threats for playing Alex in A Clockwork Orange?

[@pokeroot2876]

I see the Weird Al clip shoved in that montage. Hilarious.

[@AaronAbbotttheoncomingstorm]

Yep. Gotta love UHF just kinda spliced in there.

[@johnathan7258]

@@AaronAbbotttheoncomingstorm I'm glad to know other people remember UHF the movie heck I wonder if people remember UHF the TV reception😂

[@AaronAbbotttheoncomingstorm]

@@johnathan7258 I own UHF on Blu-Ray and I still remember tuning knobs on TVs. UHF, VHF...good times.

[@JohnDoe-kv3kd]

@@johnathan7258 I do, there was some good programming on there. As a child of the 80s and 90s I remember the good old days when they had some great stuff on there.

[@CatsClaw44]

😂😂 UHF classics!

[@dbeane43]

As a kid I was more baffled at Police Academy getting a cartoon. But my biggest lament was that we never got Rambo, Chuck Norris, Mr. T, Mr. Miyagi, and Hulk Hogan in a crossover. If you threw in John Candy from Camp Candy I'd really lose it.

[@mightyfilm]

Police Academy was baffling to begin with. But EVERY cartoon based on a movie back then was strange. And I don't just mean R rated indie flick Toxic Avenger becoming Toxic Crusaders. Go back and watch Ghostbusters again, and remember they made a kid's cartoon based on that.

[@bjpalm1994]

That crossover would have been EPIC!!! Lol

[@freakshowfilmfestival3591]

I would love to see that.

[@Clay3613]

Police Academy was essentially a live-action cartoon by the 4th movie.

[@JonathanMCook]

The FIRST Police Academy was "R" rated. It's adjoining sequels were "PG". Though as addressed, the "R" rating was rarely ever a serious enforcement unless it was for something like "Basic Instinct". Remember, we're the United States: violence against people not like "us" = A-Ok! Boobies! = Nooooooooooo!!!!!!! 🙄

[@kaprelesartware]

Colonel Trautman picks up the red phone: "Get me ... Rambo!"

[@greatest_bumble_bee_dude]

Colonel traupman was total punk who actually made things even worse for the situation involving johnny rambo

[@manundermask6601]

Yet another battleground in the eternal struggle that is the Peter Cullen/Frank Welker war of cartoon voice acting supremecy.

[@jasondavidson1889]

It was a tie... because both are awesome!

[@aaronkidd9383]

God, I love the 1980s...

[@edbraun383]

I miss that simpler time so much.

[@Edjs2004]

It was all fun and games until the old peoples got in the way and took it all away..

[@user-si9fx4xb6v]

Me Too! I was born in 1982, and I have fond memories of my childhood. From music, to television shows, to movies to toys, the 1980's seemed to have all a person could want and more.

[@edwardstewart6372]

Real action figures in the 80's were the most fun especially with action moves, projectile weapons, talking & projectile vehicles, and action lairs.

[@souljastation5463]

@@edwardstewart6372 I want a toy Trautman, fucking absurd

[@mregoli1461]

I remember having these figures and teaming them up with the Chuck Norris line. The childhood imaginations of the 80s Kid was the true birth of the "shared universe. " LoL

[@bjpalm1994]

Hell yeah! me too, lol.

[@alucard624]

Oh hell yes. Chuck Norris, Rambo, He-Man, and Lion-O would always team up against Cobra, Skeletor, and Mumm-Ra when I was a kid. That was a great time to be a kid.

[@akaiseigo]

And Karate Kid toyline. It had multiple action stuff but more expensive than Rambo.

[@HumpD624]

Inhumanoids were great toys, that chuck norris cartoon was amazing, only the blockbuster by my aunt had it, I miss blockbuster

[@OscillatorCollective]

Yes....imagination...the best toy I ever had...(and all those action figures sure did help foster it).

[@MementoMorituri]

"Ninja's because the 80s." They never made toys or a cartoon from Cannon's American Ninja. Still waiting for a Michael Dudikoff action figure. (Heck, still waiting for him to show up in The Expendables franchise.)

[@bruthamann5697]

Exactly. Really underrated action star.

[@liljenborg2517]

They never made any toys for Gymkata either . . .

[@edwinlocke9217]

Expendables 4 with Michael Dudikoff and Cynthia Rothrock! Now that, I’d love to see!

[@ryanbwags]

When I was a kid in the 80s, I remember purchasing a Ninja action figure. It had the American Ninja artwork all over the package, the still of Dudikoff swordfighting with the main bad guy at the top of the card, but the figure was pretty generic. Fairly certain it was a knockoff.

[@greatest_bumble_bee_dude]

Yep, yep - totally agree First blood film along with American ninja 👤 Were the best 2 action movies ever made

[@namelessjedi2242]

Isn’t it interesting that they were worried about death threats from the people supposedly bothered by violence on tv....

[@markuswolf7884]

That stood out to me in the story too. Stop putting violent ideas into kids... or we'll kill you.

[@behindthescenesphotos5133]

Reminds me of a Berkley protestor accusing someone of inciting violence, and punching him 50 seconds later.

[@kalphil4385]

How ironic

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@behindthescenesphotos5133 More like Antifa, where they clam to fight against injustice, and violence, when they are ones wearing mask, and beating up innocent bystanders with lead pipes nearly killing them, yet they mostly get off scot free, and most the MSM stands up for the worthless scum.

[@DarthMacchio]

Holier than thou types are always full of shit. They're often the sickest people of all behind closed doors

[@Getwright-]

"So... we've got 2 different 300 million Stallone franchise we can go with here guys, the world champion athlete, family man with a cast of colorfully named opponents and an actual freaking robot sidekick? Or the soldier with ptsd?" "Clearly, we're doing the second one"

[@victoracevedo7698]

Best comment with sound logic!!!! Haha!!!

[@kevinwebster7868]

TheBd62 Rocky would have never sold.

[@Clay3613]

What the hell was Rocky going to do in animation? Fight aliens?

[@souljastation5463]

Rocky had nothing special for making toys, he didn't have a special car, no weapons, no planes, no boats...

[@manofsan]

It was because of GI JOE - they were just looking for a way to jump onto the GI JOE bandwagon, and that's what they had their sights firmly fixed upon. Rocky just didn't fit with that pre-conceived agenda.

[@markusfavors6711]

If Stalone had done PSA'S like Mr. T and Chuck Norris during the cartoon it might have lasted a couple more seasons.

[@RichV20]

I can't imagine John Rambo in a PSA telling you to trust your friendly local Sheriff when you are in trouble.

[@restionSerpentine]

Not the Last R rated movie to get a kids cartoon, Conan and Robocop did the same.

[@treyjohnson82]

Toxic 'Cruisaders

[@kalphil4385]

Police Academy , cartoon and action figures.

[@CommodoreFan64]

what about Spawn? Yes i know it was not specifically marketed to kids, but I know a few kids in school who really got into it, and bought the toys, comics, video games, and watched the short lived HBO cartoon after seeing the movie.

[@UttRConcrete]

Tales from the crypt keeper

[@jonnydarkfang2816]

The Alien franchise got a toy series as well. Before the whole "video nasties" thing, movie ratings weren't as strictly enforced. I used to regularly, at 10 years old, pick up horror and war movies at my local video shop and no-one would bat an eye. Then the Bulger case happened and suddenly it was a hot topic. Suppose it was a good thing but I never felt traumatized by the blood, guts and gore.

[@Paur]

Holy shit, I need to read First Blood. Didn't realize how much they toned it down for the movie, he was unabashedly batshit there.

[@RetroHabit82]

That's what war does to you. Your programmed to kill with no questions asked.

[@donkrouskop1582]

The novel FIRST BLOOD is incredible. As much as I enjoyed the Stallone film series, I've always wanted to see it adapted faithfully to the screen.

[@ILoveFilm247]

No mention of the fact Cobra got a new member that was coincidentally a boxer named Big Boa (which sounds suspiciously like Balboa), after the plan to have Rocky Balboa as a GI Joe fell through?

[@jeromykriege]

So glad I’m an 80s kid-it was absolutely the best time to be a kid.

[@SimpleManGuitars1973]

No doubt!

[@damienthonk1506]

My vote would be somewhere between the 1990's and now. I'll agree it would probably be better than the 70's!

[@TheAtroxious]

I was a '90s kid (well, mostly, since I was born at the end of the '80s) and that was pretty great, but I hear stories of what it was like growing up in the '80s and I can't help but feel a little bit jealous of all the fun things there were for kids back then. I'm hooked on these videos of expanded universe toylines. If only kids toys had the same effort put into them these days.

[@knightjedi666]

I absolutely love this toy line, I still have my S.A.V.A.G.E. Strike Headquarters and the box.

[@Sevenigma777]

This is why ppl like me who were raised in the 80's are as tough as can be. Our toys are rated R properties, our toys had sharp edges and could potentially kill you, we had cabbage patch dolls that would chew your finger off or rip your hair out, our water pistols look like real guns and you could get shot by cops and even our Halloween candy had razor blades in it. Kids these days can't even play dodgeball lol

[@SvennyMcG]

Fantastic. Growing up through the 80s and 90s was wild for cartoon adaptations. You got Rambo and Robocop. The Mask & Dumb and Dumber cartoons. Back to the Future & Teen Wolf. It was this atmosphere that gave us Batman: The Animated Series, but also Hammerman.

[@RockandrollNegro]

I'm still pissed that we never got a toyline from Stallone's first cinematic masterpiece, Party at Kitty and Stud's.

[@AC-gb7do]

Marvin Harrison Smith II 👏👏😂

[@freakshowfilmfestival3591]

We did but you could only buy them in Turkey.

[@treyjohnson82]

Only action feature would be a strategic placed little wire

[@SimpleManGuitars1973]

Death Race 2000 figures would RULE! If you've never seen that movie I'm telling you right now it's one of the best cult classics you'll ever watch. Sylvester Stallone is a bad guy in it too. David Carradine is also in it and so is Martin Kove who was Kreese on The Karate Kid. It is about a cross country race set in the future where you get "points" for how many people you can literally run over and kill on the way to the finish line. Seriously. LOL! You should DEFINITELY watch it if you can find it.

[@treyjohnson82]

@@SimpleManGuitars1973 they missed a bet with the cars and die cast version if the drivers included

[@robk.6591]

That's a great all-star voice cast! Plus Don "In a world" LaFontaine voicing the intro!

[@poolboyinla]

I still have my Rambo action figure.

[@jacobinghoy3551]

Hey,it's the adawbawng manacc guy

[@napoleonwilson6499]

You are a man among men

[@quoththeraven3985]

Nerd'

[@darthhamill6788]

i display mine in the houseplants.

[@GOFLuvr]

Me too. I had all of my 80's action figures in various boxes that I recently took out of a storage unit. I still even have the M-60 machinegun and RPG-7 rocket launcher.

[@EdsRetroGeekOut]

I used to have a vhs tape with Saturday morning cartoons and the line up was rescue rangers, Captain Planet Gi Joe, Widget and Rambo animated series. Never owned the toys but I did have the roleplaying gear with the knife and gun and I loved that show even before seeing the actual movies!

[@midus0013]

Seeing all of the cartoons with laser fire, parachutes, and people jumping out of the vehicles right before it explodes was cool, then I saw Robotech. Everyone died in Robotech, and I never looked at another cartoon the same again.

[@anthonybutchelli]

Can't get enough of Carl Weathers, "Baby, you got a stew goin'". I had to rewind a few times to hear it again and then to finally finish the video.

[@tommywestphallssnowglobe164]

Ey guys! It's a pleasure that you used mi video! Help me grow, please!

[@RodimusPrimal]

"Here's a present Havoc!" Good God do I miss the 80s!

[@mightyfilm]

I'll hate this cartoon eternally for legally denying us a freakin' G.I. Joe Rocky Balboa action figure. Imagine the G.I. Joe episodes they would've made with Rocky in there. Constantly getting into fights with Shipwreck. Damn. That would've been awesome.

[@kevinwebster7868]

mightyfilm you literally just found out about the Rocky GI joe thing.

[@slacknhash]

Worse, we were denied seeing John Rambo amongst the Joes! Hokey schemes to build a weather dominator or hypnotise people via subliminal messages in music hold little terror compared to the crap he had to put up with in First Blood. Or indeed in 'Nam. Duke: We know Cobra are hiding out in the rainforest, but we don't know where, so we're going to need these signal trackers -- Rambo, put your hand down. We're not just gonna 'defoliate the area and croak the survivors'... Rambo: Really? That's a relief. I got buddies messed up bad by agent orange, Duke.

[@mightyfilm]

Totally. I remember reading it back when Cracked was a website. I started even typing that before it was mentioned on the video. I don't know about anyone here, but a mediocre Rambo cartoon vs G.I. Joe with Rocky in it, yeah. We lost out. Would Clubber Lang be a Cobra operative then?

[@boxtank5288]

@@mightyfilm Cracked are kinda hacks though.

[@RockU2Death5150]

I remember walking into Kay-Bee Toy Store with my brother and seeing all of the Rambo toys on clearance. We each had $50 to spend. Essentially bought the entire toy line. Had so many righteous battles in our basement playroom. And of COURSE our parents had already shown us the movies. Come on, R-rated was fine for kids ages 7 and 9 as long as they had dads to explain everything. 😬

[@SimpleManGuitars1973]

Is anybody else mad that Faces of Death was never made into a Saturday morning cartoon? I mean we were all watching it back then anyways. LOL!

[@jamescarroll0615]

What we need is Rambo the Anime. No issues with censorship there.

[@jamescarroll0615]

@AKIRA ASMR I've seen Berserk and read the Manga. I can't agree that they are similar.

[@kforcer]

Action for Children's Television: one of Cobra Commander's most successful front organizations.

[@Jake_E57]

There was a point in time my mother told me I could pick any toy I wanted as long as it didn't come with guns. Then she bought me Rambo.

[@kevinoswald4136]

john rambo dies at the end of the book.great read,fast paced,never stops. he has a large body count by the end.

[@adamplentl5588]

It's weird that this was your take away from that book.

[@kevinoswald4136]

@@adamplentl5588 thats not my only take away from the book,but considering this was a post about the cartoon, I thought I would just highlight some differences between the movie and book.

[@jamesmoss3424]

Rambo is a tuff guy you don't want to piss him off.

[@maxordman4100]

I loved your joke on the Savage acronym! You have such a wonderful sense of humor! Great work on this episode. Thank you for sharing this information with us. Truly your channel is always a delight!

[@HughMacEachern]

I always wondered why Cobra had an action figure with boxing gloves. I learned much later in life that this was the action figure put in place for the cancelled Rocky Balboa figure. Big Boa? I see what you did there.

[@heisenbat]

I love small details like your G.I. Joe hoodie while saying Rambo is a Real American Hero :)

[@joewojtecki9991]

We got it all on UHF

[@cjhedrick6418]

Ah, yes. I remember James Avery's roles well. Like when Shredder declared, "I'm gonna slap you with so many lawsuits, your grandchildren are gonna need lawyers.! Or when Uncle Phil said, "Tonight I dine on turtle soup!" ...I did get the names right, didn't I?

[@batnerd5148]

Hey, I was born in 2002 and _I_ got the joke, so I think you’re good there.

[@SimpleManGuitars1973]

Yeah that was right on the money. James Avery, Lorenzo Music, Frank Welker, Allen Oppenheimer, Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Alan Young, Rob Paulsen, and Don Messick were some of the greatest voices of my childhood.

[@melissacooper4282]

I think you got them mixed up. I believe it was Shredder who said he wanted to dine on turtle soup. Uncle Phil made the statement about the lawsuits. And yes. They were both played by James Avery.

[@cjhedrick6418]

@@melissacooper4282 ...Dats da joke.

[@batnerd5148]

@@melissacooper4282 r/whooosh!

[@bjpalm1994]

Hell yeah! Loved Rambo as a kid, lol. The cartoon and figures were great. The ammo attached to a rope gimmick was great because you never lost it, lol. I always wondered why I never saw a whole lot of cartoon episodes but the time slot it got stuck in explains it. Ahhh, gotta love the 80s. Cartoons or toys made from Rambo, Aliens, RoboCop, Predator, Terminator.......Man, good stuff, lol.

[@808v1]

ahhhah - I'd forgotten about that 'Rambooooo - the force of freedom' jingle from way back then!! Such great battle action!

[@wstine79]

I remember having a Rambo M-16 toy and a Rambo 3 bath towel.

[@EdwardDanks009]

I remember the M-60 sectional toy weapon.

[@djgongral]

Watching this makes me want to see what you have to say about the Conan cartoon. You have definitely become one of my favorite KZbin channels!

[@CouchCit]

...and remember kids: wear as little protective gear as possible in the battlefield when fighting your wars!

[@chiefcuningcoyote4906]

I grew up watching these episodes on VCR and the one quote that I still remember to this today is from a villain, “it’s seems like you have 9 lives Rambo, get ready to lose your last”

[@brycevo]

The figures were so awesome. This show is a classic

[@tedjomuljono3052]

First Blood is basically Joker, before Joker was a thing, and by that i mean the Joaquin Phoenix one

[@i__skins__i]

I swear, 80’s toys were great!!! Now kids only have/want electronics...

[@zephyrleapold6796]

That's because most of the video games back then sucked but now the video games are amazing the action figures are better than ever and the adults buy them

[@PsychoWerekitsune]

I hope this is the first step in covering all the great R-rated film properties that ended up being developed into animated shows and toy lines for kids. Excited to see the Police Academy and Robocop stuff!

[@ARCWuLF]

Does anyone else remember the "Commando" line of toys sold at some discount retailers around circa 1985?

[@namelessjedi2242]

Yes I still have Matrix and a couple of the bad guys.

[@timothylewis2527]

I actually wanted a few of these. GI Joe sized, right?

[@TrigsTimeVault]

I loved this show when I was a kid!! And I had only a few of the figures, which I thought were fantastic. I always keep an eye out for some of the other figures anytime I’m at a convention, but as long as I’ve got the original Rambo In my collection, the Force of Freedom lives on in my toy vault!

[@randocommando8527]

I HAD THE RAMBO AND CHUCK NORRIS TOYS BACK THEN, ah the 80s, what a great era for imagination!

[@2buxaslice]

As a kid I never understood how both the Toxic Avenger and Super Dave Osborne got cartoons.

[@briantodf3968]

He blocked it with his rocket launcher that takes skill😅

[@bdo7765]

That Wikipedia screen grab @9:35 succinctly explains why the 80s was the most amazing decade for kids' cartoons. From Fowler's appointment in 1981 to the Children's Television Act of 1990, there existed a one-decade window of pure market-driven indulgence. I know that people like Charren were just trying to protect us, but speaking as a kid from the era, that unbridled decade was the best possible childhood. The cartoons and toys were hugely enjoyable and impactful, kicking my imagination into overdrive on a daily basis. I'm so glad I was there.

[@Grandmaster-ry1uz]

Can you do History of Hulk Hogan's Rock N' Wrestling please

[@ronpowell9461]

I second that!!!

[@treyjohnson82]

That one needs a DVD release

[@whirlwind8361]

I counter the only R rated movie character made into a cartoon With one word. Robocop.

[@doctorskelestein6068]

Not gonna lie, Black Dragon Ninja is a top 10 all time figure to me. The accessories for this line were also above and beyond.

[@aldusxenon]

I had and LOVED the Master System game. I also had the Genesis Rambo III game. The Hind gunship boss fights were my favorite parts of the game...

[@92Raider-art]

Dad has told me many times how he ordered the Rambo knife in the 80s and how he was so excited. Just to find it was a trash of a knife

[@noonebesides]

Yes. Yes it was.

[@steveguy7165]

I was gifted the knife from a cool uncle. He got it from an ad in the tv guide. It was a chunk of shit and fell apart in a week. Lol

[@SimpleManGuitars1973]

@@steveguy7165 LOL! That's hilarious because I also thought that knife was the bomb. I also loved that big machine gun you could get too. I seriously miss the days of non politically correct toys and am still a hardcore collector of 80's toys to this day.

[@steveguy7165]

@@SimpleManGuitars1973 with the plastic ammo belt the feed out the side? Cause I had that too :-)

[@BronzeAgeBryon]

You've really upped your game with that intro Dan. Nice. Plus you've almost got the Superman hair curl starting to form.

[@NotThatGuy_YepThatGuy]

The 80s had a bunch of wonderfully inappropriate toy lines

[@rrag9165]

I loved this cartoon as a kid! I watched it before I even watched First Blood or Rambo II. I wish I still had the toys.

[@robvegas9354]

they should have made the Rambo figures the same scale as the GiJoes and SW figures

[@Desslar]

Great video as always. I think Mike Chain got a little confused in that interview article you mentioned - Rambo's original run did not air on the ABC network. It was a syndicated series airing 5 times a week (as he also mentions) on weekdays on local stations. Maybe he was talking about some local station with "ABC" in the name.

[@rmac8878]

this is gold, i still have all the action figures....

[@freakshowfilmfestival3591]

What amazed me as a kid was you pulled the string to fire the rocket.

[@davelovelock4007]

Great video..BUT THAT INTRO?!?! Awwwhawwww man..Sweet VHS love..Max headroom..nailed it..

[@Robalini1]

Please tell me you're doing an episode on Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos...

[@CraftyArts]

Now that's Toumuch

[@jondurrett9277]

I used to watch it when I was a kid. At the time my favorite movie was Rambo and my dad still tells stories about how I actually wore out a vhs copy of it. I remember having some of the toys and even a couple different chuck Norris figures. The 80s were such a great time to be a kid

[@DUARTE99]

Oh man. I remember this.

[@Hitchiker1000]

Rambo is a name from a Apple tree . The tree however was named after a mounten called Ramberget here in gothenburg Sweden where the Swedish People who named the Apple tree came from

[@kalphil4385]

How about making cartoons based on other Stallone movies like Cobra, Over The Top, Tango And Cash, Cliffhanger , Demolition Man, The Expendables, and Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot.

[@chrissawyer1484]

They did make action figures of Over The Top.

[@doro626]

Strangely, the Demolition man movie is structured like the pilot for a Tv series. They gave him all this retro stuff that you know was going to feature weekly, like that car.

[@yakuza01]

If it's any consolation, Demolition Man did get a toy line if I remember correctly.

[@SimpleManGuitars1973]

@Bob Cook I LOOOOOOVED Over the Top back in the day. If they were gonna make another Stallone cartoon though it should have been from Death Race 2000. LOL!!!

[@richardgonzales8502]

FOX picked it up here in Texas around 1987 ; and We watched it every afternoon at 4pm right after Thunder Cats until 1989 .

[@Goose_Willis]

I know exactly what you mean. 2019 Last Blood was very "meaty". It was glorious in all the worst ways. Loved it.

[@duane8620]

Excellent video! Man, as a kid I had a few Rambo toys but I was WAY to addicted to GI Joe to look anywhere for a similar show. I never seen the actual show in the past, makes me want to seek it out and catch up on some missed out childhood memories. I have to say, kids today have no idea what they missed out on. Saturday Morning Cartoons and the after school lineups were some the best in TV history. (opinion)

[@jonny-nava-367]

I want to see a kid's cartoon of Brazzers, starting Johhny Sins.

[@LordsofMedia]

I bet you want to play with the action figure too.

[@ZeroWalker26]

Man I miss the 80-90s when Cartoons where fun and had action today it´s all about rainbows and hugs and politics.

[@JoeSelf1982]

Great stuff!

[@jasonbuchanan9662]

well done articulating the nuanced context around the issue, and nice Weird Al blipvert too

[@darkwoods1954]

I can't believe we still have doo gooders who want to ruin childrens shows and franchises even in 2020.

[@namelessjedi2242]

Sadly there are always zealots out there trying to ruin other people’s fun.

[@ShinSeikiEvan]

Fortunately Peggy Charren is finally dead, so we won't have to hear from her anymore.

[@johnroush1099]

Looking back, we really did watch some crazy shit. I think I turned out alright, but I also had parents that taught me right from wrong and weren't afraid to challenge my intellectual growth as a child. I can't really say if it did some sort of harm, or distorted world views, for those with less attentive parents.

[@Mentocthemindtaker]

I can't believe one of the richest countries in the world that is responsible for the proliferation of a great deal of popular culture influences is having massive issues with public violence, over-saturation of media culture that distorts their perception of reality and an obesity epidemic. Huh. I wonder why that would be?

[@liljenborg2517]

I was always surprised at the political clout a bunch of meddling, nosey women who didn't want kids to watch ANY tv at all, and if they absolutely had to (you know because some Libyan terrorist was holding a gun to their mother's head or something) they could watch Mr. Rodgers (and even *he* could be edgy - he spent a whole week on the set with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno talking about that nightmare inducing Hulk show!) had in Washington, DC. These are the same people who considered the magic in Smurfs problematic! They zealously tried to stop ALL non-PBS/educational children's programming and advertising aimed at kids (because the poor little sheep couldn't resist whining about buying what the commercial told them to - and parents were too weak to tell them to take a hike and would buy the stuff). The 22 minute toy commercial was one of the best things to happen to television and it gave us some of the best storytelling on TV. Yes, a lot of it was formulaic, and the 5-minute Filmation "moral of the story" segment (an attempt to convince FCC police that their shows were actually "educational") was old when they were doing it at the end of their Batman and Tarzan TV shows (long before He-man). My little brother was young enough to get in on all of this. When I was little in the early 70s boys had four toys: Hot Wheels, Cap Guns, plastic army men or the big GI Joe (a Ken doll in fatigues) - but there was a degree to which these weren't all that attractive as we pulled out of Viet Nam, and sporting equipment. Even Legos only had 4 colors. My little brother got Adventure People, Star Wars toys, Micronauts, Space Legos, and Transformers. My little sister got My Little Ponies, Strawberry Shortcake, and Care Bears. Our younger cousins got GI Joes, He-man, and Ninja Turtles. (Still waiting, Toy Galaxy, on that Adventure People vid). And that was all born out of the success of Star Wars and toy companies borrowing Japan's business model of marketing toys with TV shows (or marketing TV shows with toys - it works both ways), and Reagan cutting the tv-should-be-so-boring-all-kids-will-go-outside-to-play-baseball (football being too violent, of course) regulations on programming for kids.

[@napoleonwilson6499]

Had all these,luv the movies,cartoons,toys,the man himself. Hell,I even had the Over The Top action figures

[@WhiskeyBrewer]

Coming this Fall to Cartoon Network: Jeepers Creepers

[@arfm6824]

That is why the 80s was the best decade.

[@1beatcher]

I agree, and I'm surprised that we didn't get a scar face, and a godfather kids tv show.

[@wstine79]

This would be like if the SAW series was turned into a cartoon series.

[@namelessjedi2242]

Rambo was not a horror film.

[@Gideon0297]

No no not even close Sir.

[@lifehackertips]

80s kids still buy ninjas but now they are household appliances

[@Jbtorresmedina]

I Love that show! It was one of my favorite cartoons as a kid and definitely played the hell out of the toys. Great memories right here.

[@JohnSmith-de5zc]

The 80's were full of great actors playing cool action heroes even getting cartoons made of them

[@Voucher765]

Ever saw The Expendables which is a throwback to that era

[@dacobu1]

Please consider covering "The Bots Master"! French-Canadian animated series, circa '93. Loved this show. Loved even more that it was kinda that... obscure-cool action series that only a small handful of other kids at my school knew about, lol!

[@shaolin1derpalm]

Ths 9ne thing that stands out to me is in one episode, colonel tells him he cant go in this one area because it's restricted for military. Rambo reminds him that he's a civilian so he goes in... driving a tank.

[@chrisw6164]

First Blood is a superb book. And everyone knows how awesome the movie is.

[@billpagan3070]

Awesome job on this one Dan and Greg! I love some Rambo! I bought a Rambo on card and opened him up. Man, his accessories are so well made.👍. And the detail on the figure itself is top notch thinking how old it actually is.

[@godlessveteran2431]

Well the best thing from this video for me is finding out Topless Robot is back. Last I had seen it was bought by someone else and had the name changed and then the person decided he was too busy to run it and shut it down. So that just made my day. Gonna check it out!

[@brandonpage7087]

Screw A.C.T.! They helped destroy Saturday morning cartoons for generations of kids to come! What was the big deal with the companies selling toys & other products to children, through these cartoons?? Really, what was the harm in it??? I was lucky enough to view Rambo: The Force for Freedom, in its original run, & I had the Rambo action figure. Good times!!!

[@LoganCharlesII]

"The Rambo who gets arrested and ends up killing a bunch of cops, soldiers and bystanders in his attempt to escape imprisonment. Who settles on suicide by exchanging gunfire with his arresting officer while attempting to blow himself up with dynamite."

[@adamplentl5588]

War Crimes and Untreated PTSD the Children's Toy

[@TheAtroxious]

@@adamplentl5588 Sounds wholesome.

[@LlanoRiverBlue]

Thanks for continuing to pump out great content Toy Galaxy!