I'll start out by saying that even I as a kid wanted the Cobra-La figures, and used them a lot while playing with my Joes. However, in retrospect, Cobra-La was probably one of the worst ideas to hit G.I. Joe in its entire inital 3 3/4 run... The LunartixEmpire nothwithstanding...;) I mean, the cartoon was way too sci-fi/B-movie in its plot approaches, although there were a few good ones. Then came the movie, and suddenly Cobra Commander wasn't even human, Golobulous was responsible for EVERYTHING, and Serpentor became the most supremely annoying character in Joe-history! Thank goodness the following DIC show gave Serpentor his just desserts and reinstated CC in Cobra... (Nothing beats Zartan's ironic arrow-shot from the comic, though!) Thankfully the toy used the comic as a basis for continuity, not the show...

A lot of things look worse in retrospect. Whats done is done.

Hasbro wasn't thinking. The movie is an abomination. But not as bad as Kiss Meets The Phantom. :D

It's not the best idea, but I still enjoy watching it.

I was always look at fiction from two perspectives, concept & execution.

I think the movie is a great example of bad concept, great execution. When I first saw the movie at age 11, I was thrilled by the introduction, cheered to see all the Joes wearing coats and boots including Quick Kick, etc. I hated the change in the lore, but thought they made Cobra-la look cool. The infiltration scene is great, even though it doesnt really fit the Joe universe.

I have been watching the Series I DVD's and some of those episodes ventured into even weirder territory than Cobra-La. The Egyptian god episode comes to mind. Also Excalibur. They just used one of the sci-fi plots for the movie instead of yet-another-COBRA-doomsday-weapon.

The thing is, if Cobra-La weren't tied into Cobra's origins like that, it wouldn't be so hated. The concept - living technology - is unique and kind of interesting, and the three main Cobra-La characters ended up being really popular. I fit them in by having CC be a human who accidentally/purposefully killed the Cobra-La noblemen, and just fooled Golobulus into thinking that he's not, thus getting the funding. This would actually explain a lot of things.

I just read on a Star Wars site that in Episode III, Palpatine will reveal the origins of the Sith to Anakin Skywalker as a race of malevolent penguins who live under the ice on Hoth who once dominated the galaxy until it got too warm, and they are called Empire-La, with their overlord named Golan-Globus, a winged monstrosity called Genesis Endorser, and a female they never make an action figure of called Banana.

And the first words James Earl Jones will utter as Darth Vader when he appears flying the prototype of his TIE Fighter is EMPIRE-LALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALA!!! Vader will stab Mace Windu with his lightsaber but it will be edited later with voice-overs that he was just in a coma.

I quite liked the movie, but would agree that my primary problem with it is the tying of Cobra-la to the established canon. I do like the concept, and the Pythona and Nemesis Enforcer characters are pretty good (not sure about Golobulos' big round *** tho'), but would have rather had them as a seperate force, not the ones who were always behind Cobra.