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G.I. Joe was born on February 2, 1964
Hasbro is an American multinational toy company that started a toy-revolution in 1964 with the release of G.I. Joe.
The first G.I. Joes were 12 inches tall and based on the four branches of the U.S.A.'s military - Army, Navy, Airforce, & Marine.
Explore below to see
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how G.I. Joe has changed over the years
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a map of what G.I. Joe is called around the world
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unusal facts about the G.I. Joe figures
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a timeline of the G.I. Joe collections
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The First G.I. Joes
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The first G.I. Joes were realistic action figures, and were originally called American's Moveable Fighting Man. The driving force behind G.I. Joe was Don Levine, the former creative director of Hasbro Toys.
During development of the G.I. Joes the original characters had different names. Instead of Action Soldier, Action Marine, Action Sailor, and Action Pilot the characters were Rocky (the soldier/marine), Salty (the sailor), and Ace (the pilot).
The marketing company hired to manage the G.I. Joe toyline told Hasbro that the toyline needed a name, not just the characters. Levin struck upon the name G.I. Joe while sitting at home watching a movie - 1945's Story of G.I. Joe.
Hasbro released the G.I. Joe toyline as a response to Mattel's new Barbie toy, released in 1959. The original Joes were 12-inches tall, half an inch taller than Barbie.
The G.I. Joes presented a marketing challenge to Hasbro. Conventional wisdom said that boys would never play with a doll. Instead Hasbro marketed the G.I. Joes as "action figures" and changed the toy industry forever.
G.I. Joe & Barbie
When G.I. Joe was first released the term "G.I." was used as a common term for "government issued" and had become a generic term for U.S. soldiers.
During World War I "G.I." was imprinted on most of the equipment given to American soldiers. The "G.I." stood for galvanized iron
Post-war G.I. Joe
During the late 1960's the World was growing weary of war thanks to the ongoing Vietnam War. Hasbro began downplaying the military theme that had defined G.I. Joe.
The name of G.I. Joe changed first to The Adventure's of G.I. Joe, and in 1970 became Adventure Team. In this series the enemy the G.I. Joes faced were ecological disasters and animals, instead of human enemies.
The 9 characters in this series included the first African-American G.I. Joes.
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Talking Adventure Team Commander
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Land Adventurer
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Sea Adventurer
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Air Adventurer
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Adventurer (African-American character)
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Man of Action
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Talking Astronaut
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Talking Man of Action
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Talk Adventure Team Commander (African-american character)
The Adventure Team Commander (Caucasian version).
Star Wars to the rescue
After a brief hiatus between 1978 and 1981 G.I. Joe came back as a scaled down 3.75-inch action figure. This design was modelled on the popular Star Wars action figures.
The smaller size of the new G.I. Joes allowed for a wider range of vechiles and accessories.
G.I. Joe had a feature the Star Wars action figures didn't - many more point of articulation. This gave the Joes a wider range of movement than other action figures at the time.
To market the new G.I. Joes Hasbro combined traditional marketing with new techniques, by releasing
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​an animated television mini-series
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comic books
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board games
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posters
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video games
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t-shirts
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and kites​
The introduction to season 1 of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. Hosted by ReliveRetroNetwork on YouTube.
Return of the 12-inch action figure
G.I.joe in the new millennium
The 12-inch and 3.75-inch G.I. Joe figures were both available until the 12-inch size was discontinued in 2005. The 3.75-inch figures continue to be sold.
In 2009 a live-action, feature length G.I. Joe move was released. The movie was titled G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. The sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation was released in 2013. The movies were directed by Stephen Sommers and Jon M. Chu, respectively.
See how G.I. Joe has changed through the years
G.I. Joe around the world
Click on the push-pins to see what G.I. Joe is known as around the world! Do you know a name for him that is not on the map? Email the country name and G.I. Joe's name to kelly.fram90@gmail.com to add it!
Video uploaded by Chad Hembree.
Poster from IMDB.com - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038120/
The original barbie with G.I. Joe - photo by Christa Burns.
In 1991 Hasbro began releasing new 12-inch G.I. Joe action figures. Four years later they released the Classic Collection.
This collection honoured the original G.I. Joe figures and returned to the military theme with realistic looking uniforms and equipment.
The collection also featured several firsts for G.I. Joe.
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G.I. Jane - the first female character since 1967's Action Nurse
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Navajo Code Talker - the first Native American character
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The Pearl Harbor Collection - a series to honour the 60th anniversary of the attacks on Pearl Harbour
Created by Kelly Fram
American Infantry Officer - photo by Charles Roberts
G.I. Joe is a registered trademark of Hasbro Inc.
Barbie is a registered trademark of Mattel Inc.
Star Wars is a registered trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd.