A brief history of G.I. Joe

A look back at G.I. Joe

G.I. Joe defined the term "action figure" all the way back in 1964. Since then, he’s been in TV shows, movies, and a few controversies. These stories originally aired on WAGA on November 29, 1983 and WWOR on February 9, 1989.

G.I. Joe has been fighting battles in kids’ living rooms and bedrooms for 60 years now. Originally a masculine response to Barbie, the "Real American Hero" has now taken on a life of his own.

Who is G.I. Joe?

"G.I. Joe" is not actually one character, but a line of action figures meant to represent a cross-service team of military servicemen and specialists. The initial line, launched in 1964, included Action Soldier, Action Sailor, Action Pilot, and Action Marine.

One of the original G.I. Joe action figures (WTTG)

Since then, the product line has expanded to include dozens of characters – including both heroes and enemies – featured in TV shows, movies, and video games.

The name itself is derived from the usage of "G.I. Joe" as a term for the generic U.S. soldier, which itself was derived from the more general term "G.I." that dates back to World War I.

How G.I. Joe was invented

After Mattel’s Barbie burst onto the toy scene in 1959, rival Hasbro was eager for a success of its own. But most experts at the time did not believe that boys would play with a doll.

That’s when Stanley Weston, a Manhattan licensing agent, came up with the idea of a poseable toy soldier. He licensed the idea to Hasbro in 1963 for $100,000 – the equivalent of over $1,000,000 today.

Don Levine, credited with helping invent G.I. Joe, with an original figure (right) and reissue (left). (WTTG)

Hasbro was careful to avoid the word – or even the implication – that G.I. Joes were dolls. They even popularized a new term to help market it.

"Definitely it's not a doll," explained Don Levine, the Hasbro vice president who created the original prototype figure. "It's an action figure."

The giant U.S.S. Flagg aircraft carrier playset was coveted by countless boys in the 1980s. (Photo By John Prieto/The Denver Post, Sept. 24, 1987 via Getty Images)

G.I. Joe vs. Ken

For years, G.I. Joe figures were 12 inches tall – roughly the same size as Barbie and Ken. The two product lines naturally crossed paths in homes with young boys and girls.

When asked in 1996 what the difference was between G.I. Joe and Ken, Levine explained it was the fact that the G.I. Joe figures could be moved and posed using 19 individual joints.

"Ken’s a doll," Levine chuckled. "The difference is that [G.I. Joe] is an articulated action figure and basically the first ever made in the USA. All of the other action figures we see on the counters today started from the original G.I. Joe."

A G.I. Joe "COBRA" figure stands on display in the Hasbro showroom during the International Toy Fair, Monday, Feb. 12, 2007 in New York. (Photo by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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TV shows and movies

For the 1982 launch of the smaller toy figures and Marvel Comic series, which introduced the COBRA terrorist nemesis, Hasbro hired Marvel Productions to produce a series of animated TV commercials. That eventually grew into a miniseries and then a full TV series.

Another TV series followed in 1989, along with feature-length films. That led some parents and watchdogs to criticize the use of violence to market children’s toys.

"There is some research that says a child, by the time they’re age 18, has witnessed 18,000 murders on TV – most of them on Saturday morning," Stu Cohen of the North Dekalb Family and Children's Clinic told WAGA-TV in 1983.

"G.I. Joe toys teach kids again that the only way to solve problems is through violence and that there’s always a winner, instead of both people being willing to compromise," one parent told KTBC-TV at a 1988 protest in Austin, Texas.

File: Actor Dwayne Johnson visited Hasbro's American International Toy Fair Showroom at The Times Center to check out the new "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" movie toy line on February 13, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Hasbro)

More recently, several live-action films were also produced, featuring big-name actors like Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Dennis Quaid, Bruce Willis, and Dwayne Johnson.

What’s next

Hasbro still sells a line of 6-inch G.I. Joe toys that look a lot different from the classic 1964 versions but retain the multi-joint poseability of the originals. Elsewhere, a strong internet resale market exists for the hundreds of characters produced through the years.

Next up for G.I. Joe could be a crossover movie with the Transformers toy line, supposedly confirmed by Paramount for release in 2025 or 2026, according to IGN.

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