G.I. Joe


G.I. Joe is an American media franchise and a line of action figures owned and produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier, Action Sailor, Action Pilot, Action Marine, Action lifeline and later on, the Action Nurse. The name is derived from the usage of "G.I. Joe" for the generic U.S. soldier, itself derived from the more general term "G.I.". The development of G.I. Joe led to the coining of the term "action figure". G.I. Joe's appeal to children has made it an American icon among toys.
The G.I. Joe trademark has been used by Hasbro for several different toy lines, although only two have been successful. The original line introduced on February 1, 1964, centered on realistic action figures. In the United Kingdom, this line was licensed to Palitoy and known as Action Force. In 1982 the line was relaunched in a scale complete with vehicles, playsets, and a complex background story involving an ongoing struggle between the G.I. Joe Team and the evil Cobra organization which seeks to take over the Free World through terrorism. As the American line evolved into the Real American Hero series, Action Man also changed, by using the same molds and being renamed as Action Force. Although the members of the G.I. Joe team are not superheroes, they all had expertise in areas such as martial arts, weapons, and explosives.
G.I. Joe was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong in Rochester, New York, in 2004 and into the Pop Culture Hall of Fame in 2017.
Each year, G.I. Joe Day is celebrated on February 1 to mark the start of the brand. The line made its first public appearance at the New York Toy Fair on February 9, 1964, one week after being launched.

History of the figures

Stan Weston's original design (1963)

The original idea for the action figure that would become G.I. Joe was developed in 1963 by Stanley Weston, a Manhattan licensing agent. Weston made rudimentary prototypes of the figure and basic marketing materials that showed the sales potential of a military action figure.
When he showed these materials to Donald Levine, a Hasbro executive, Levine told Weston: "You will make a fortune with these". Weston subsequently licensed the entire concept to Hasbro for US$100,000.

America's movable fighting man (1964–1969)

The conventional marketing wisdom of the early 1960s was that boys would not play with dolls and parents would not buy their sons dolls, which have been traditionally a girl's toy; thus the word "doll" was never used by Hasbro or anyone involved in the development or marketing of G.I. Joe. "Action figure" was the only acceptable term, and has since become the generic description for any poseable figure intended for boys. G.I. Joe was specifically designed using the articulation of an artist's model, even going so far as being used to produce the prototype toys. "America's movable fighting man" is a registered trademark of Hasbro, and was prominently displayed on every boxed figure package.
The Hasbro prototypes were originally named "Rocky", "Skip", and "Ace", before the more universal name G.I. Joe was adopted. One of the prototypes would later sell in a Heritage auction in 2003 for $200,001. An African-American figure was introduced in 1965, though it was simply the same face as the white figure, but molded in brown plastic.
Aside from the obvious trademarking on the right buttock, other aspects of the figure were copyrighted features that allowed Hasbro to successfully pursue cases against producers of cheap imitations, since the human figure itself cannot be copyrighted or trademarked. The scar on the right cheek was one; another, unintentional at first, was the placement of the right thumbnail on the underside of the thumb. Early trademarking, with "G.I. Joe™", was used through some point in 1965; the markings changed once G.I. Joe was a registered trademark; "G.I. Joe®" now appears on the first line. Subsequently, the stamped trademarking was altered after the patent was granted, and assigned a number; 3,277,602. Figures with this marking would have entered the retail market during 1967.

Adventure Team (1970–1976)

By the late 1960s, in the wake of the Vietnam War, Hasbro sought to downplay the war theme that had initially defined "G.I. Joe". The line became known as "The Adventures of G.I. Joe". In 1970, Hasbro settled on the name "Adventure Team". Highlights of the line included:
  • To coincide with the new direction, "Life-Like" flocked hair and beard, an innovation developed in England by Palitoy for their licensed version of Joe, Action Man, is introduced in 1970. A retooled African American Adventurer was also introduced, which came in two versions as did the others in the series, bearded or shaven.
  • In 1974, named after the increasingly popular martial art, Hasbro introduced "Kung-Fu Grip" to the G.I. Joe line. This was another innovation that had been developed in the UK for Action Man. The hands were molded in a softer plastic that allowed the fingers to grip objects in a more lifelike fashion. The polymer used, however, broke down quickly, which caused the end of the thumb and fingertips to break off after a few weeks.
  • In 1976, G.I. Joe was given eagle eye vision; a movable eye mechanism to allow the toy to appear to be looking around when a lever in the back of the head was moved. This would be the last major innovation for the original line of figures.

    A shift in play patterns

For its first ten years, G.I. Joe was a generic soldier/adventurer with only the slightest hints of a team concept existing. In 1975, after a failed bid to purchase the toy rights to the Six Million Dollar Man, Hasbro issued a bionic warrior figure: Mike Power, Atomic Man. One million units were sold. Also added to the Adventure Team was a superhero, Bullet Man. This character had recurring enemies, The Intruders – Strongmen from Another World. Comics included with figures at the time featured "Eagle Eye" Joe, Atomic Man, and Bullet Man operating together; the Adventure Team was finally an actual team. The original G.I. Joe line ended in America in 1976. At this time, Hasbro released a line of inexpensive, rotationally molded mannequins in the G.I. Joe style called The Defenders. Hasbro published comic book advertisements starring the Adventure Team, featuring the original G.I. Joe, Atomic Man, and Bulletman as members.

International G.I. Joe licensees

From 1966 through 1984, Palitoy Ltd. produced a British version of the G.I. Joe line, under the Action Man name for the UK market. Initially, these were exactly the same designs as the American figures, and at first the same military theme which included figures from World War II. The line later expanded to include all men of action, like football players and other sports figures. In the early 1980s, Palitoy responded to falling sales of Action Man by launching "Action Force", a new range of smaller military-themed figures in the style of the then-popular Star Wars line from Kenner. Later, when the U.S. Real American Hero line was released in the UK, they were released under the 'Action Force' title, since the term "G.I." is not in common use in Britain. The figures had the same appearance and code names as the American G.I. Joes, but their identities and histories were international rather than purely American or British. The range was later renamed G.I. Joe to bring it into line with international markets; however, the Action Man line retained its original name when it was revived in the early 1990s.
The G.I. Joe line was also licensed to Germany under the Action Team name. In Spain, Geyperman was the Hasbro licensee, although the products were more based on Palitoy's line, down to the logo design. In France the name was Action Joe, in Japan, Takara and Tsukuda licensed the figures under the names "G.I. Joe" and "Combat Man". In Italy, Polistil licensed the figures under the Action Team name. In Australia, the line was released as "G.I. Joe" by Kenbrite; Palitoy also licensed their "ActionMan" line to TolToys. In Brazil, it was licensed to Brinquedos Estrela; the line was called "Falcon" and the figures were called "Comandos em Ação". In Argentina, the G.I. Joe figures were licensed by Veri-li enterprises under the name "Joe Super Temerario", and "Los Temerarios". The G.I. Joe toy line was produced in India under the Funskool brand. In Mexico, G.I. Joe was licensed to Lili-Ledy and were named "Hombres de Acción".

Hall of Fame (1991–1994)

Hasbro began releasing new G.I. Joe figures in 1991. The first figure, Duke, was marketed exclusively to Target retail stores.
Based on the Real American Hero toyline, the Hall of Fame series featured Mission Gear Outfits, vehicles, and featured popular characters like Snake-Eyes, Stalker, Gung-Ho, Cobra Commander, Destro, and Storm Shadow among others.
This was followed by an anniversary series based on the 1960s line and was followed by the Hall of Fame Limited Editions, also based on 60s releases.

Classic Collection (1995–2004)

G.I. Janes were introduced in a series called the Classic Collection, the first female dolls in the G.I. Joe line-up since 1967; this doll was a helicopter pilot. The Classic Collection hearkened back to the original all military theme of G.I. Joe with fairly realistic uniforms and gear. Soldiers from Australia, Britain, and other nations, as well as United States forces were featured. The line also presented an all-new articulated G.I. Joe figure that formed the basis of many offerings until the line was discontinued in the new millennium.
In 2000, a Navajo Code Talker was introduced, one of only two G.I. Joe talking figures since the 1970s.the other being the WW2 Military Police figure.
In 2001, G.I. Joe honored the events of the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by releasing a line of Pearl Harbor figures. In 2003 Hasbro announced the release of the 40th Anniversary G.I. Joe line. This line featured reproductions of the earliest G.I. Joe figures and accessories originally made in 1964.