If you see anyone on the web complaining about the new GI Joe pictures that have popped up on HissTank.com, know that they’re nuts. These pictures, which appear to be the ID cards that get put on the back of GI Joe figures (I used to clip them and keep them in an index card box when I was a wee lad), are fucking awesome. If you didn’t know what kind of movie Stephen Sommers was making before, now you do. It’s campy scifi, boldly over the top. Hell, the Cobra Viper above looks like he just stepped off the set of Flash Gordon, and that’s how it should be.

See, GI Joe is based on a cartoon based on a toy line which was itself based on a previous doll. This isn’t high art, and it’s not some sort of modern myth or resonant metaphor – it’s dumb and it’s for 9 year old boys. And these pictures (from the left: The Doctor (I’m assuming Dr. Mindbender, Breaker and Cobra Viper. There are many more at HissTank.com) show that the film embraces this element. This looks to be coming right up on the edge of camp. In fact, if this movie takes itself seriously, I’ll be disappointed (but it should play it all straightfaced).

So for me these new pics only solidify the idea that this is going to be a fun movie, a movie that accepts its origins and doesn’t try to become a dark and gritty mess just to appease 30 year olds who can’t get past their toy collections.