ANI-MOVIES, *G.I. Joe: Resolute

You mean the guns actually shoot bullets this time?! Awesome! This online series was first premiered as a single compilation movie on Adult Swim, and was used as a kickoff to a line of action figures, in pretty much the same way that the Sigma 6 anime series did. But Resolute acts as sort of a "mature audiences" finale to the G.I. Joe animated lineage that's built up for the last 25 years. It was also meant to respark interest into the franchise when the first live-action movie came out. Originally, this was shown as a pilot at the San Diego Comic-Con.

The series picks up on its own not recognizing the pilot as Snake Eyes has apparently been with the group for a while. In fact, Resolute occurs sometime after alot of history between Joe and Cobra has gone on. In it, Major Bludd is killed trying to warn the world of Cobra's latest plot, which is using the very atmosphere to send particle beams down to nuke cities. Moscow goes up in a blinding light, so the Joes mobilize to stop Cobra. What, again? Yes, again! Snake Eyes takes off to have a final showdown with Storm Shadow which is brutally wicked, but filled with more flashbacks than the entire series of Kung Fu. Meanwhile, Gung-Ho, Roadblock and a few others go to stop Destro and Baroness from taking over a research area, as Tunnel Rat heads off into space to single-handedly take down Cobra's entire satellite network. Duke and Scarlett take on their mission to confront Zartan and some cronies from using an abandonned Russian complex for a nuclear power source. They then find out that Cobra's secret base in in Springfield U.S.A. of all places(Damn you, Bart Simpson!). Duke storms is to find Cobra Commander left in an impregnable men's room, but reprograms Cobra's particle beam weapon to target the base, with Co-Co's corpse of course no where to be found in the wreckage, leaving room for an eventual sequel.

Even though the animation seems like a seemless anime feature, it was actually done by Titmouse who also did Megas XLR and Metalocalypse. It was written by comics author Warren Ellis whose work in Planetary, Transmetropolitan, and The Authority really shows up in the scripting. The first few episodes of the series are now officially online, and the DVD is out too featuring the original pilot too. There's some seriously great action and dynamically upgraded animation from previous Joe incarnations. So now you know...