YO JOE!

Today is the day I have been waiting for since I was 8 years old. A GI Joe the Movie is released in theatres.

Now there was two animated movies that were released during the same time frame that the cartoon was on, but for some reason a live action movie always seemed feasible. There were no monsters to CGI or aliens to create, just some crazy army men running around shooting red and blue lasers at each other.

Early talk about the GI Joe movie has been pretty negative. The director left mid-way through shooting, there was script rewrites and they needed to re-film parts and they were going to have Snake Eyes be a talking character - WTF?? With all that being said I will still be in line tonight to see my favourite childhood toys battle it out.

I thought this would be a good time as any to name my top 5 GI Joe characters...

5. Shipwreck - He appeared in abnormally high amount of the cartoon episodes, never shied away from a fight and had some very witty one liners. Always one of the odd-ball characters and he managed to wear his sailor suit even when on missions in the Arctic. That is a real man.

4. The Ladies of GI Joe and Cobra (Scarlett, Lady J and Baroness) - The first love of every young pre-pubescent boy. There was something for every guy. The fiery red head Scarlett, the more tomboyish and athletic Lady J or the raven haired evil Baroness. These ladies never turned down an assignment or a fight - catfight catfight catfight (Kramer voice)

3. Destro - Chrome Dome as he was often referred, was Cobra Commander's sidekick and often the brain behind many of the Cobra operations. In the early cartoons Destro was actually a mercenary selling weapons to Cobra. The voice, the chrome head and his unwavering desire to take over the world puts Destro at number 3 on the list.

2. Storm Shadow - The first of two ninja's on the list. Storm Shadow was the ninja for Cobra. He was deadly, silent and dressed to kill in all white. He was loyal to Cobra without questioning Cobra Commander or Destro. As a kid you always wanted Storm Shadow to appear in episodes and when playing with the action figures you always wanted to use Storm Shadow.

1. Snake Eyes - The undisputed heavyweight of GI Joe characters. He is number 1 on everyones list. Dressed in all black, with his swords and faithful sidekick Timber, Snake Eyes was silent but violent. When Duke or Flint called on a mission that required stealth like cunning and determination to defeat the evil Cobra - Snake Eyes was the man. You could have always confused Snake Eyes as evil, but that was a big part of his charm.

Honourable Mention: These characters fell just short of making my top 5 - Roadblock, Tomax and Xamot, Zartan, Alpine and Bazooka