Trivia / G.I. Joe Extreme

• Creator Backlash: Tatsuya Ishida is not fond of his work on the GI Joe Extreme comic.
  "I botched G.I. Joe Extreme. I did a real slipshod job on that one. Several pages were so poorly drawn they had to get another guy to redo them entirely... I was running on fumes creatively, and my days as a comic book artist were winding down."
• Follow the Leader: Extreme was basically conceived to cash in on the craze Toy Biz had with its Liefeldian-and-poorly-articulated X-Men and X-Force figures. In fact, X-Force figures were even used side-by-side with Extreme prototypes in a Hasbro meeting to show off the compatibility.
• What Could Have Been:
  • According to producer Lloyd Goldfine, the show would have explored the connections between SKAR and Cobra had it lasted longer.
  • The book Toy Wars give several early names for the characters:
    • Metal-Head was "Headbanger".
    • Harpoon was "Shark"
    • Inferno was "Scorch"
    • Rampage was "Rage"
  • The original concept for Extreme (also described in Toy Wars) by Chris Connoly was darker and more post-apocalyptic. The original backstories for the SKAR characters were especially morbid and bizarre:
    • Iron Klaw used mind-control to amass his army of followers, and his hideout was at the site of a toxic waste accident (now overrun by giant mutant plants).
    • "Scorch" lived in a nuclear waste dump: his motivation was to build a bomb big enough to "blow up the Earth".
    • Wreckage was "the result of a genetic experiment gone wrong" and could communicate over the internet by plugging a phone jack into his brain.
    • "Rage" was a psychotic manchild still living with his parents. His weapon implemented a microchip into the target's brain, and his minions were internet hackers called the "Cyber-Hacks".
  • Before Iron Klaw was released as part of the G.I Joe Collector's Club in 2013, there was an aborted attempt to introduce him into the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero brand, specifically in 2009, where he was planned to be released at the tail-end of the 25th Anniversary line before it was cancelled. Rather than being an individual character, this version of Iron Klaw would've been a generic class of elite soldiers within Destro's Iron Grenadiers.