G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 (2005)

Our Review

G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 was Hasbro’s mid-2000s attempt to reset the franchise for the skateboarding generation: produced by the Japanese studio Gonzo, distributed by 4Kids, on 4Kids TV and G4 from September 2005, with a younger fire team under Duke, motorcycles that could fly, and two waves of thirteen episodes stretching from 2005 to 2007. The first five episodes were cut together for a DVD called First Strike, which is still the most coherent way in.

The verdict from the toy aisle holds. This is the hot shot era of G.I. Joe: an anime flavored art style the production could not always sustain, a rookie roster that bickers like a boy band, and plots aimed several years younger than the 1985 series it replaced. It has exactly one real claim on fandom loyalty, which is that it is the only Joe series that takes a hard anime swing at all, and Gonzo’s staging commits to the bit even when the writing cannot.

Skip it unless you are completing the franchise chronology, which is the only reason this entry exists. The full two waves sit free on the official G.I. Joe YouTube channel, so the completionist tax is just your Tuesday evening. The 1985 series, Resolute and Renegades carry the franchise’s actual case for the defense.