By Kelly Anne Fitzpatrick on December 20, 2011 in
The 1960s: It was the Cold War and boys were getting left out in the cold - where toys were concerned. Between the Easy-Bake Ovens and Chatty Cathy dolls, what's a little boy to do aside from torment his sister's Barbies? Then, the G.I. Joe action figure was released, and this toy was all man.
Joe was the brainchild of Larry Reiner, an employee of Hasbro Competitor, Ideal Toy Company, according to Smithsonian magazine. Despite the belief that military toys didn't do well during times of war, within a year of G.I. Joe's release in 1964, sales hit $36.5 million. But, unfortunately for Reiner, he had already sold the idea to Hasbro for only $35,000 and with no royalties.
The first G.I. Joe was released for the now-unthinkably low price of $3.99. Just shy of 12-inches tall, Joe had 21 movable parts and was the first ever "action figure"--no, he's not a doll. However, Joe was never permanently tied to one particular branch of the armed forces. His name, "G.I.," stood for "Government-Issue," a phrase used during World War II to refer to any basic serviceman. Initially, his khaki uniform and boots resembled those of World War II and Korean War soldiers, but before long, Hasbro suited him up in the attire of soldiers in Vietnam. In 1967, Hasbro did take a chance with a female version of G.I. Joe, G.I. Nurse. The product flopped, but this little lady is now the most widely sought-after collectible in the series.
Joe gets a makeover... and another, and another
Before the decade was out, though, the nation's distaste for violence turned on Joe, says History.com, and Hasbro was forced to take Joe out of the war zone (or face sales losses). So Joe became a regular civilian with a taste for adventure. In 1970, he grew his hair out and made a few new friends (the G.I. Joe Adventure Team). In 1974 Joe got a kung-fu grip that enabled him to grasp items for the first time. Throughout the decade G.I. Joe and his cohorts picked up some unexpected hobbies--deep-sea diving, anyone?
In 1973, Fighting Yank, a G.I. Joe copy-cat (similar all the way down to the backwards thumbnail on the figurines' right hands) was released by Mego; Hasbro sued and Fighting Yank was yanked right off the shelves. That's another win for Joe, for those of you counting at home. But Joe's success didn't last much longer. In response to slowing sales, Hasbro downsized G.I. Joe to 8 inches in the mid-'70s, and then took him off the market entirely, according to the Toy Hall of Fame.
G.I. Joe may have lost the battle, but he didn't lose the war. Star Wars turned out to be Joe's savior, says Time. In response to the success of Star Wars collectibles, Hasbro reissued the whole G.I. Joe team at an even smaller 3-and-3/4-inch (though still big enough to tackle their nemesis, the evil terrorist organization, Cobra) in 1982. Through the '80s, Joe and his team were featured in a primetime (for kids, that's Saturday morning) cartoon TV show. He also starred in a straight-to-cassette movie and a series of video games. In 1985, the largest ever G.I. Joe vehicle was produced. At 7½-feet, the U.S.S. Flagg aircraft carrier had everything from a control tower to tow vehicles.
Modern-day Joe
Though G.I. Joe's popularity has tapered since its late-'80s peak, Joe still does pretty well for himself. In 1991, Hasbro released retro 12-inch models again, which are still available on toy store shelves. Perhaps the more popular option for actual play, though, is the 3-and-3/4-inch model with its many characters, vehicles and enemies. In 2004, G.I. Joe was inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame, and he's also been named one of Time magazine's All-Time 100 Greatest Toys and one of Forbes' Most Popular Toys of the Last 100 Years.
In a side-by-side comparison, the G.I. Joe of today is surprisingly similar to the original (given Joe's brief foray into facial hair and bell-bottoms). The full-size version stands at the same 12 inch height and he, too, comes with an array of accessories--err, weapons--and wears the camouflage of a soldier. His gear's been updated to match those of real servicemen, and he kept those kung-fu movable hands, but otherwise, he's good-ol' Joe through and through.
But that doesn't mean G.I. Joe has fallen behind on the times. He starred in the 2009 live-action film, G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra, and fans can now catch him in his very own online-only TV show, G.I. Joe Renegades, and video game, G.I. Joe Renegades: Tactics.