I am excited for this.
"Life is too short so love the one you got cause you might get run over or you might get shot" - Sublime
I remember not really liking it as a kid. Felt like too big a departure from the tone of the series.
Wasn't thrilled with Optimus' death in TRANSFORMERS, but the movie was better than GI JOE. Unicron was cooler than Cobra-la-la. Or at least that's how I remember it from the time--I haven't revisited either since.
The show had shipwreck in a ship in the desert, mermaids, clones melting, sea serpents and joes shrinking to bug size, joes turning into kids and a castle of monsters.
It's not that far off as you think! The comics on the other hand--
Also don't forget gijoe is in the same universe as jem, inhumanoids, transformers, mask and it's spin-off, cops and maybe even the spider-man 80s cartoon and 80s hulk cartoon!
Lots of monsters, robots, and super heroes in this world!