I personally just think that instead of having multiple universes why not just leave my old joes back in the 80's and just create and use all new characters for todays kids. New joes for new demographic. Hasbro has released lots of new characters that should get a chance to shine. That's my preference. Having said that I'm all in favour of anything that brings me awesome toys.
Why would they create all new characters when they already have established characters they can draw on? You would be surprised how many people are aware of Cobra Commander, Destro, Snake Eyes and Duke. Why throw those away? Joe is treated like almost every other franchise. Transformers will always have Optimus Prime, Megatron, Starscream and a few others. Power Rangers always have red ranger, blue ranger, etc. Batman, Spider-Man, Justice League, Avengers, X-Men, the list goes on. For a franchise to endure, it has to re-invent itself once in while. It has to stay fresh, to stay relevant with the times. At the same time, it has to be recognisable to people. That's why, IMHO, known A-list characters tend to stick around, change and evolve, whereas B and C-list characters come and go.
My point is that Duke, Snake Eyes and a few others
are GI Joe in the minds of most people. Just like Spider-Man
is Peter Parker. If Hasbro were to dump them in favor of all new characters, they would be putting aside everything that is now recognisable as GI Joe.
OB