This has to be the worst decision ever, but from a marketing standpoint, it’s brilliant!
To promote JoeCon, which is being held from April 9 to April 12, Springfield, Illinois mayor J. Michael Houston gave the key to his city to Cobra Commander. For those of you not in the know, Springfield was the location of a secret Cobra base in the cartoon:
From Wikipedia:
Springfield – A small anonymous town in the U.S. which Cobra secretly operated as a base. The town was poor and desperate when the man who would become Cobra Commander arrived. He became the town’s savior and it was there he started Cobra. Many covert operations were held there, including the creation of Serpentor, which in turn directly led to the town’s population being evacuated to Cobra Island when the Joes confronted Cobra there. In the 2-part Sunbow-produced episode “There’s No Place Like Springfield”, the town existed on an island and was known as “Temple Alpha”. Springfield was actually a facade for an underground Cobra training facility. However, unlike the comics, the town above ground was populated primarily by synthoids.