"G.I. Joe™" is a line of military-themed action figures produced by the toy company Hasbro™. The initial product offering represented all four branches of the U.S. Armed Forces with the Action Soldier (Army), Action Sailor (Navy), Action Pilot (Air Force) and Action Marine (USMC). The development of G.I. Joe led to the coining of the term "action figure".

The Hassenfeld Brothers (Hasbro) of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, began selling the first "action figure" targeted especially for boys in the early 1960s. It may run contrary to modern marketing wisdom, but the conventional thinking of the early 1960s was that boys would not play with dolls. It was precisely for that reason that the word 'Doll' (not like the ones older males use) was never used by Hasbro, or anyone involved in the product development or marketing of G.I. Joe; "action figure" was the only acceptable term, and has since become the generic description for any posable doll intended for boys. "America's movable fighting man" is a registered trademark of Hasbro, and it was prominently displayed on every boxed figure package.

The driving force behind the concept was Don Levine, who in 1963 was creative director of Hasbro Toys. Stan Weston of Weston Merchandising Corp., a product development company, approached him with the idea of a military-based toy line that would include figures and many accessories. Stan Weston credits Larry Reiner, then head of the games division at Ideal Toys, with the notion of an articulated figure, based on conversations he had with Mr. Reiner regarding the concept. Sam Speers, then of Hasbro's product development team, is primarily credited with the specific almost 12" tall articulated figure design as produced by Hasbro; his name appears on the patent# 3,277,602 "Toy figure having movable joints", assigned on October 11, 1966. The all-important packaging graphics were sub-contracted to Thresher and Petrucci Art Studio, a company based nearby that had previously produced freelance work for Hasbro.

The Hasbro prototypes were originally named "Rocky" (marine/soldier) "Skip" (sailor) and "Ace" (pilot), before the more universal name G.I. Joe was adopted. The initial product offering featured members of the four branches of the armed forces as follows; Action Soldier, Action Sailor, Action Pilot and Action Marine, with accessory sets immediately available for each branch. It was correctly assumed that competitors would try to emulate or outright copy the concept, so the idea was to offer a broad range of accessory items from the very start.

The ongoing situation in Vietnam, and the growing anti-war sentiment of the late sixties signalled the end of the early years of G.I. Joe; by 1969, He was no longer a soldier/sailor/pilot/marine, but rather an Adventurer; he was marketed under the "Adventures of G.I. Joe, and the line consisted of Adventurer, Black Adventurer, Aquanaut, and Talking Astronaut. Instead of military sets, the mostly recycled materials from earlier years were given names such as "Fight for Survival" "Danger of the Depths" "Mysterious Explosion", "Secret Mission to Spy Island" and "Mouth of Doom". Everything would change the following year, as G.I. Joe received lifelike hair and beards, courtesy of Hasbro's U.K. licensee; Palitoy. See G.I. Joe Adventure Team for more information on the later series of G.I. Joe.

For more in-depth information and specifics, please refer to the books listed in the reference section

Head variations
Four hair colors were offered in 1964; Blonde, Auburn (Red), Brown and Black. Eye colors were specifically matched to hair colors; Blonde and Auburn hair came with brown eyes, Black and Brown hair came with blue eyes. In 1965 an American-ethnic version of the basic soldier was offered; it was simply a caucasian feature figure molded in brown vinyl instead of the pink used otherwise. Some very early issue figures appear to have eyeliner, and these heads seem more prone to shrinkage than later variants. In 1966, a European, foreign and Japanese head version was released, with the advent of the 6 "Action Soldiers of the World"; releases. In 1967, talking variants were also released. Late Blonde and Brown talker heads were of a softer vinyl, essentially the same as those used for flocking in the Adventurer series introduced in 1970. Please note that the provided talker soft head examples are in well-played condition, and exhibit hair and eyebrow rubs that would not have been present when new.

Basic Figure
The figure was loosely based on the artist's mannequins still available today; the basic figure had multiple points of articulation, previously not found in any children's toy. The advertising claimed "21 points of articulation", however, if one actually counts each individual pivot contact point, there are 19; head-to-neck, neck-to-torso, shoulder-to-torso (2), bicep-to-shoulder (2), elbow (2), wrist (2), torso-to-pelvis, hipball-to-pelvis (2), thigh-to-pelvis (2), knee (2) and ankle (2). The figure was held together by means of elastic, wire hooks and metal rivets. Pivot pins were made of a ribbed plastic, which was pressed into the adjacent limb section, allowing the limbs to rotate as well as hinge at pivot point. Even this specific method of attaching the appendages was patented as a "Connection For Use In Toy Figures" (patent # 3,475,042, Oct. 28, 1969). The hip balls were made of a softer vinyl that allowed movement whilst retaining the surface friction required to maintain a pose. This level of attention to detail was of course costly to manufacture, and had caused product development no end of grief to devise, as simple as the end result seemed. The fact that so many still exist intact after more than forty years is a testament to the production quality that Hasbro demanded of its manufacturing plants. Cheap imitations of Hasbro's product did not bother with such detail, resulting in figures that lacked anything like the posibility and longevity of G.I. Joe.

There were in fact a number of variations in construction and markings of the figure as produced in the first few years, the fine points of which can be found in the listed reference books. The most obvious are variations in the trademarking on the right buttock. Another obvious variation was the early bodies with slotted shoulder joints and smaller feet than those of just a year or two later. Others include less obvious variations in hand detailing, coloration and size; some early figures had no trademarkings at all; some have brass rivets on all or some of the joints. By now, many figures suffer from the effects of age, and exhibit stress cracks in some joints.

submittedby: The Dale