G.I. Joe is an American media franchise and a line of action figures owned and produced by the toy company Hasbro.[3][4] The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier (U.S. Army), Action Sailor (U.S. Navy), Action Pilot (U.S. Air Force), Action Marine (U.S. Marine Corps) 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.".[5][6][7] 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.[8]
The G.I. Joe trademark has been used by Hasbro for several different toy lines, although only two have been successful. The original 12-inch (30 cm) line introduced on February 2, 1964, centered on realistic action figures.[9] In the United Kingdom, this line was licensed to Palitoy and known as Action Man. In 1982 the line was relaunched in a 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) 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.[10]
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The original idea for the action figure that would become G.I. Joe was developed in 1963 by Stanley Weston (inventor), 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".[11][12] Weston subsequently licensed the entire concept to Hasbro for US$100,000.[13][14]
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 doll intended for boys. "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" (marine/soldier) "Skip" (sailor) and "Ace" (pilot), 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.[15] An African-American figure was introduced in 1965, though it was simply the same face as the white figure, painted brown.[16]
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:
From 1966 through 1984, Palitoy Ltd. produced a British version of the 12-inch (30 cm) G.I. Joe line, under the Action Man name for the UK market.[8] 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 12-inch (30 cm) line was called "Falcon" and the 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) figures were called "Comandos em Ação" ("Commandos in Action"). 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" (Men of Action).
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.
G.I. Janes were introduced in a series called the Classic Collection, the first 12-inch (30 cm) 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 12-inch (30 cm) line was discontinued in the new millennium.
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.
In November 2006 a reproduction Land Adventurer G.I. Joe figure was released as an exclusive to Hot Topic stores. The figure was a reproduction of the Land Adventurer with the Kung-Fu Grip and came in the "Coffin" style box. A reproduction Talking Adventure Team Commander was also released in a limited run of 1,970 issues.
In 1997, the original G.I. Joe figure returned via the G.I. Joe Masterpiece Edition, a unique book-and-figure product created by Chronicle Books with assistance from Don Levine, former creative director of Hasbro Toys and the driving force behind the original Joe concept.[20]
During the late 1990s Hasbro built on the renewed interest in authentic reproductions of G.I. Joe established by the Masterpiece Edition reproduction book/figure set; they bought the rights to the ME figure and released a range of store exclusive reproduction figure sets, with the character of the sixties G.I. Joe boxed sets.
The year 1982 saw the highly successful relaunch of the G.I. Joe product line in a smaller, 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) scale. The scale was the same scale used by the Kenner's Star Wars figures, but with many more points of articulation much like the 1970s Mego's Micronauts toy line which itself was licensed directly from Takara's Microman toy line.
This relaunch pioneered several tactics in toy marketing, combining traditional advertising with an animated television mini-series and an ongoing comic book. The decision to use a smaller 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) scale for the figures also made it possible for Hasbro to produce a variety of matching vehicles and playsets that further expanded the appeal and commercial potential of the line.
G.I. Joe's increasing popularity supported an array of spin-off merchandising that included posters, t-shirts, video games, board games, and kites. In 1985, both Toy & Lamp and Hobby World magazines ranked G.I. Joe as the top-selling American toy.
The 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) line was canceled at the end of 1994. This was also the 30th anniversary of G.I. Joe and accordingly, Hasbro released a series of 12-inch (30 cm) and 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) figures based on the Original Action Team figures from 1964.
In 2000, Hasbro re-released a selection of 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) G.I. Joe figures and vehicles. This line lasted until 2002. The figures were sold in packs of two and consisted of repainted versions of figures from the Real American Hero line. Some of these repainted figures were assigned new identities: for example, the Baroness figure was repainted and sold as a new character called Chameleon, described on the packaging as "the illegitimate half sister of Baroness".[citation needed]
Beginning in 2002, newly designed collections of 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) G.I. Joe figures and vehicles were released. Each collection centered on a storyline or theme, such as "Spy Troops" and "Valor vs. Venom".[citation needed]
Direct-to-DVD features were animated for both the G.I. Joe: Spy Troops and G.I. Joe: Valor vs. Venom collections, as well as a new trading card game based on the G.I. Joe vs. Cobra storyline. Both the 12-inch (30 cm) and 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) lines were put on hiatus prior to the release of the Sigma 6 line in 2005.[citation needed]
The 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) line was reintroduced after a very brief hiatus via Hasbro's direct-to-consumer website HasbroToyShop.com and various online retailers. As a result of the line's success, some figures also became available at certain retailers, such as Toys "R" Us.[citation needed] 2ff7e9595c
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