Leanne’s favorite, and not without good reason, the Funhouse has a lot in common with Cobra Stops the World. The animation is stunningly good. The story showcases a large number of Joes without being overwhelming, and the premise of trapping them inside a labyrinth of traps that they must overcome to reach Cobra Commander is exciting. The episode really lives up to its name.

Essentially, it’s a more compelling version of the Jungle Trap plot but with a lot of great humor and a definite Dungeons and Dragons influence. Cobra Commander wants revenge on G.I. Joe. I don’t know if this is for a specific defeat, or if he’s just generally fed up with them. So he’s dedicated a Meso American Cobra Temple to exclusively to that very task: the titular Funhouse.

To lure the Joes innocently into his trap, Cobra Commander kidnaps a number of prominent scientists. There is a nice scene at the beginning in which Zartan turns transparent and kidnaps the final scientist of the bunch. The art is at just about the absolute peak for the series! There seem to be extra frames and additional time put into the realistic movements… in short, exceptional animation!

Cobra Commander contacts the Joes and allows them to triangulate his location. Within no time at all, the Joes have a massive assault force in range of the temple and pummel the small Cobra army.

I love this shot of Gung Ho reacting to narrowly avoid his head being ventilated.

Flint leads a small team inside the temple to capture Cobra Commander while the bulk of the Joes wait outside… This is where the fun happens. Sealed inside, the Joes are presented three doors that lead deeper into the Funhouse and decide to split into three groups to continue forward. This is fortunate because I’m sure the Commander would have been really pissed if Flint had decided they would all tackle each root together.

Airtight and Dusty stop to admire hundreds of falling balloons, but when one bursts between Dusty’s fingers, gas envelopes him. Dusty begins hallucinating that Airtight is Cobra Commander with snakes pouring out of his hands and face. Airtight is forced to knock out his team mate and continue on alone.

Bad idea!

Elsewhere, Alpine and Bazooka meet a robot announcer who invites them to step aboard the Cobra Express, a sort of rollercoaster ride. I never ever understood why Alpine and Bazooka accepted and got onboard. I can understand why Bazooka would do it, but Alpine? Maybe there was no other way forward? Still, wouldn’t it make more sense to walk back to the main hall and try to rejoin the others since this path is an obvious death trap?

See! And we all know why Bazooka stuck his head up and got shot. He and Alpine were talking during the enemy laser fire and he momentarily forgot… because he is retarded. I have no problem with mentally challenged people, I just don’t see how or why they would be able to cut it as G.I.Joes. Cobra Quake establishes that Bazooka can’t even disarm a bomb despite it supposedly being his specialty. So, tell me what he can actually do other than chew gum and get shot in the head?

Alpine continues on alone, but is quickly dispatched when the hallway becomes a bowling alley and he is knocked unconscious under one of the pins.

Finally, Lady Jaye and Flint encounter an army of life-size, toy robots in the guise of Cobra Commanders. They do a great job destroying them while dodging lasers, but Cobra Commander is determined and one of his robots catches her off guard while she is trying to save Flint. Lady Jaye collapses to the floor and Flint freaks out!

“I can’t get a pulse!”

Of course you can’t, you asshole… you have your gloves on!

Cobra Commander’s minutes are numbered as Flint goes into a “Lady Jaye is dead” frenzy and makes short work of every trick and trap the villain has left. At this point, only a nuclear bomb could stop him.

Cobra Commander and gang flee and set the base (heck, the whole fucking island) to explode. Which it does, but fortunately everyone manages to high tail the fuck out just in time. So, I guess even a nuke couldn’t stop Flint in the end. The Cobra desert temple / palace shows up at the end too, for another epic Joe assault abbreviated down to less than 2 minutes.

Of note is Zap, the original Joe team member who is good with explosives and bazookas. Zap’s only other appearance of any significance is Cobra’s Candidate, which is a long way from being a good showcase for any character (except Zartan, who has a 10 second scene right at the end). It’s kind of fun seeing and hearing Zap as he is voiced by the likeable Buster Jones. I would love to see Zap in place of Bazooka throughout the series. The shows credibility would go through the fucking roof.

I particularly enjoy the in-fighting among Cobra Commander’s henchmen, and seeing how much the Baroness despises Zartan is a lot of fun. Zartan encourages the Commander to indulge his foolish whims, potentially jeopardizing their safety and drowning out the Baroness’ voice of reason.

Zartan: “Let him take as long as he likes. I am paid by the hour.”

And later…
Baroness: “You venal mercenary. I forgot, you are paid by the hour!”

And finally, there’s a little more Flint / Lady Jaye romance… sort of. Not only did we see him freak out at Cobra Commander for supposedly killing Lady Jaye, he “jokingly” threatens Alpine and Bazooka with the janitor duty of scrubbing bathrooms for a week if they try to make any moves on her. Clearly, Lady Jaye and Flint are now an item, whether Flint admits it yet or not. It is an open secret. So, have they got to home base yet? Is Flint trying not to jinx things? We’ll have to wait till Haul Down the Heavens for the next reference.

There are some classic lines in this episode and it is just so much fun. Easily one of the best episodes of the series.

The Funhouse ****
Starring: Flint, Lady Jaye, Cobra Commander, Zartan
Also Featuring: Alpine, Bazooka, Airtight, Dusty, Breaker, Gung Ho, Zap, Wild Bill, Short Fuse, Scarlett
Baroness, HISS Tank driver, Cobra Troopers
Vehicles: Skystrikers, APC, Wolverine, Mobat, Mauler, Dragonfly, HISS Tanks, Stingers
Joe Commander on Duty: Flint