This is the place for throwing ideas on what we'd like to see done, and man, I've been thinking about this one for two days now.

The Renegades are ... pretty cool. But technically only two of them have been in the comics so far. I'm always throwing out the idea of a Special Mission: Istanbul to get some Taurus (thought about that one ever since I read From Russia With Love).

But I just watched Ronin, and I've been reading a lot of Suicide Squad back-issues, and it got me thinking ...

The Renegades could be the G.I. Joe universe's Suicide Squad.

The premise:

A diehard, almost fanatical patriot is tasked by a major "black ops" player to do some unconventional recruiting for a Dirty Dozen style mission so dangerous that odds are, this mission is suicidal. It's completely off-the-books, major player wants plausible denial and nobody gives a flying crap about any of the recruits lives themselves, but if they make it out (after a few of these suicide missions) ... they win their freedom.

Because the recruits are naturally prisoners, villains, nefarious types.

Now, everyone would expect Sergeant Slaughter to lead this merry band, but not me. First, the Sarge's ties with the Joe series are still pretty good, but he hasn't been used in ages, and he was never a leader in the comics.

In this, Slaughter would fill the role of Drill Instructor - whipping the squad into shape. Go figure, right?

The leader ... the Lee Marvin ... the Rick Flag.
PHILIP REY

The first member is of course, SLAUGHTER. The man acts as trainer and ass-kicker of the unit, and if any of these Renegades gets out of line, Slaughter is there to deal with them. Probably lethally. It's Sgt. Slaughter ... you know he's going to crush you with his bare hands. He's also responsible for training the team off-duty. And we all know what a fun trainer he is ... (he'd be filling Bronze Tiger's role).

The next member is someone Rey has worked with before. Somebody with a handle on the enemy, and somebody the "good guys" don't really like to fraternize with. But Rey has faith in him, something he's never had from a leader before ... plus in his probationary status as an advisor to the Joes, he pretty much can't say no to anything, or he goes to jail

... the cocky, smart-mouthed one. Captain Boomerang ...
MERCER (Super ironic that the new Boomerang's name is Owen Mercer) That kind of lip isn't going to make the Sarge like you ... no surprises here.

The next member has been acting as an informer for INTERPOL to try to keep himself out of jail. Rumor has it he was one of the eastern world's greatest saboteurs, in the higher-tier (along with the likes of Firefly). However, like all great saboteurs, eventually he grew tired of obscurity and began showing off, eventually getting pegged by the Authorities.

He's the wild one, the show off, expert with sabers, knives, bombs and "Plastique";
TAURUS

A uniquely resourceful man, the next member is a guy so stealthy, so silent, he can appear like a ghost. He was found as a pure accident, by Philip Rey, and has since become a loyal soldier, although like the others, his rowdy and rebellious nature, and his lack of devotion to any cause or ideal, or country causes some contention when it comes to shady dealings in the name of the government.

He's cooler than ice and deadlier than "Nightshade";
RED DOG (On that note, I decided on no female members. This one is a boy's club, through and through. I pondered Mayday, Quarrel ... they were just too ... good guy).

Now for the last few, the surprises;

The next member starts on death row, an ex-soldier who had been trained in a program so advanced, he's one of the top killing machines on the planet. He disappeared into the underground, becoming an assassin-for-hire and killing anybody for money without remorse ... until he was finally tracked down and captured by the Pentagon agency responsible for him.

A cool customer in any situation, a bit of a Jason Bourne analogue thanks to his filecard, and a veritable "Deadshot" with any weapon ... this recruit is;
RAPID-FIRE

The next man, a former villain of some importance, has been long believed dead. In reality, he had been smart enough to leave a decoy of himself in case of betrayal - but he was caught trying to escape the charred remains of his criminal smuggling empire into the confines of the underworld. Since then, he has been in and out of mental institutions along with prison ...

This guy is the manic depressive smuggler and evader, whose striking uniform is sure to give an enemy "Vertigo" ...
DARKLON

The last man isn't somebody anybody on any side really "wants" to work with, and in a worse way than Mercer, who was just a Cobra Viper. This man is a killer. Sheer brute force, combined with sheer wolf-like cunning, even Sgt. Slaughter couldn't do anything about him. Last believed dead, but with no body found, this man respects nothing, or nobody ... except for one man ... the one man who has ever handed him his ass in a fight. And luckily for the Renegades, even if they don't know it ... Philip Rey happens to be the genetic "brother" of that one man ...

The "Bane" of Chuckles ... Wade Collins ... Hammer Team ... Scanner ... and so, so many more ...
OVERLORD

......

Ah, to brainstorm.

And the irony of Sgt. Slaughter being Rey's right-hand man ... when Rey is basically Serpentor ... is not lost on me.

Heck, this whole thing is replete with irony.

Mercer defected from Cobra to G.I. Joe, albeit indirectly (history would be elaborated on). And Mercer is the MOST loyal, even if he's the biggest smart-alec jerk of the whole unit? Say wha?!

Overlord defected from Cobra to the Coil (history would be elaborated on ... but three words - Crimson Guard Immortal). Overlord also has a history of being blackmailed into government service.

Taurus could have conversations with Overlord about Russia/Turkey relations, how Derenko worked with Firefly ... but would they really be "friends"?

Darklon? The wild card ... where does he fit in? Aside from driving fast vehicles and bemoaning his fallen empire? Is he the least likely man to try to try to escape the Squad and make a play, or is he the most likely? He did run an entire country once ... as a former M.A.R.S. associate, he'd also no doubt have good knowledge of M.A.R.S. tech - he'd be the tech guy, along with the vehicle driver guy.

Slaughter? Well ... there's no changing Slaughter. I guess I'd try to surprise people with how cool he could be. I'd definitely give him a combat uniform too. The fatigues and tank top is great for training, but not missions. Aviators stay though. ALWAYS.

Rey? Rey is Rey. He's conflicted, of course. But he'll never show any weakness to this rabble. If there's even any weakness in there. He's so loyal to America it hurts. He knows these feelings were implanted in his head by brainwashing and such, and he doesn't care. But will he start to, once he's asked to move into some pretty straight up "black" territory?

Another irony? Half these characters came with weird one man vehicles. The Evader? The Dictator? The Air Chariot? Slaughter's Triple-T tank!?

As for who the power player is? Well, that'd just have to be top secret ...

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2013, NEW SPRITES!

That's an awesome idea. I would defintely like to see Sgt Slaughter get back into the action. Not sure how I feel about Overlord being a member, but if handled properly it could be really cool. Now if they made it a Special Mission set against the back drop of whats going on with WWIII in AE that would really rock.

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G.I. Joe: Keeping Cobra on the endangered species list since 1982!

That would be a great idea, I always liked Sgt. Slaughter, although I don't know if I want Overlord on the team.

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I came, I saw, I blew it up!

Sounds good. However I think, from a comment that Phil made in another post, we are only getting AE for the remainder of DDP's run on the book. This is of course all speculation on my part, but after the Data Desk issues I don't think we are getting anything else other then AE and trades. I Also remember reading that Mike had another Declassified he wanted to tell during WW3, but get the impression that it was not going to happen.
Duke would fit in as the "power" player in your idea. He's the one with black ops doings in between the Marvel and DDP run. I'm not really feeling the use of villans in the team. Otherwise it's a good idea and I like it.

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"Those with knowledge and information,not guns and ammo,have the true power over others."

Yeah.

Granted, all DDP is going to be releasing is AE.

Until they, hopefully, retake that license.

As for the power player ... Duke would be good. In Hama-like fashion, I haven't really decided yet.

Duke? Hawk? CHUCKLES? I don't know who I'd want it to be, but you could bet it'd be a good and surprising choice.

Maybe even ol' James "Iron-Butt" Austin. (Who had a heart-attack, but is I imagine, still around in some capacity).

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2013, NEW SPRITES!

Not a bad idea at all. Only thing is I think that Sgt. Slaughter will probably never be seen in a comic in anything other than a back of the book reference or in a background shot because of the complications of his trademark name.

True enough.

Luckily this group is operating under a different system of operation, and so rank is dropped ...

Just plain "Slaughter" ... that could do.

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2013, NEW SPRITES!

Well, if the Renegades are gonna be used, then odds are good whoever gets the Joe license will have to talk to Vince McMahon's WWE because Larry established that the Renegades answer only to Sgt. Slaughter, and , as Scott Wherle noted, Sarge is a different licensing scheme altogether.
It is odd that in the DDP Joe series, Mercer is referred to as having been a Joe before when DDP's GI Joe Vol. I #23 was his actual debut.
If the Renegades will be used, let's hope they're portrayed as dirty tricks specialists, the 1987 toy brochires descibed them then as the 'dirty quarter dozen' ; the way the conduct missions are supposed to be a far wider latitude than even the Joes. so, hopefully, we'll see them play nasty & dirty to fulfill an assignment.

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"In war, there can be no sustitute for victory."
-General of the Army Douglas MacArthur
"Speak your mind. After all, it's a free country."
-Captain America
"Risk is our business."
-Captain James T. Kirk

I'm not sure about Sgt. Slaughter not being avaible, as he was listed on the map at the end of #28 as being on active duty, unlike Fridge who was listed as unavalibe

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I came, I saw, I blew it up!

We still will probably never see him again. Hasbro would probably have to pay out royalties to use the character again. Since I am sure the origional deal has long been expired. Look at how they let the trademarks on character names go. Dropping the name in a list isn't exactly the same as having the character appear in the book. It would be nice if DDP could use him, but I doubt it wil happen.

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"Those with knowledge and information,not guns and ammo,have the true power over others."

Sarge still does the occasional promo appearance for Hasbro. In July, he was at the Hasbro booth at Comic Con, promoting the 25th Anniversary stuff. So if they REALLY wanted to depict (i.e: "draw") Sarge, I'm sure some negotiations could make it happen.

I always loved the Renegades concept. Like alot of other kids I'm sure, I would take some of the GI Joe knock-off toys and make them into my own "new recruits" for the Renegades. I had a purple Rambo looking figure from REMCO's "American Defense" line, whom I named "Contra" and had him join the Renegades as a Nicaraguan freedom fighter.

I remember really liking the Suicide Squad comics of that era (1986-1987), so I may have consciously or subconsciously based some of my Renegade "black ops" stories on that.

I like your idea of expanding the concept, but I'm not sold on the members. I think the Renegades should be misfits or foreign soldiers of fortune..not necessarily reformed former bad-guys. Guys who the Joes see as allies, but they can't officially join since GI Joe is essentially a US-only organization.

To make one suggestion, I think Daina would fit the mold perfectly as a Renegade. So I'd go with Sarge, Red Dog, Taurus, Mercer and Daina.

Rey? Sure, there' still more that can be done with him, but I think another concept could work for him. This sounds lame, but work with me here: Super Trooper.

This wouldn't work in the current DDP canon, where GI Joe seems to have the full-backing of the US government, but here's my pitch: another government branch is concerned about budget and the expenses of funding a team like the Joes. So they theorize about creating ONE super duper ultra trooper that can do the job of 40. One man on the payroll is better than 40. So they shoot up Rey with some cybernetic enhancements (his Serpentor DNA makes him an ideal vessel for this) and convert him into Super Trooper.

He'd need a slick, Maxwell Lord/Bobby Heenan type of mouthpiece though. Some wormy suit or politician who calls his shots and verbally spars with Hawk, Joe Colton and others. Super Trooper would appear, unannounced, during Joe combat missions, primarily as a nuisance. You could even work it so that, through a stroke of luck, it appears to the higher-ups (or even the media) that Super Trooper saved the day.

It'd be tough justifying Rey's willingness to cooperate with such a program, though. He's already been manipulated once or twice before...so using him again might seem redundant. But, a previous manipulation might make him the perfect subject for such a project.

Okay...my big tangent's over!