The Hasbro Toy Company first introduced the world to G.I. Joe on February 2nd, 1964. The brainchild of a Manhattan licensing agent named Stan Weston, he was awarded a $100,000 fee for the concept. Before G.I. Joe, the toy company’s biggest hit was “Mr. Potato Head”. Don Levine, Vice President and Director of Marketing and Development at Hasbro, had the foresight to believe in Stan Weston’s vision. Levine developed the the original prototype figure that would become G.I. Joe. He was fascinated by the “razor - razor blade”model of marketing that had worked so well for Mattel and their line of Barbie Dolls. The idea is that the initial purchase of a toy was just a means for getting consumers to purchase accessories.

A fateful walk by an art store gave Levine the final spark of inspiration when he looked at an artist’s mannequin, specifically, its points of articulation.

“Suddenly it occurred to me that we could create something truly magnificent if there was a way to produce figures that moved and posed any which way the human body did. Tin and plastic soldiers have been favorites of children as long as there have been toys; it seemed to me that this fully articulated man could be a giant step forward. From that point on, it was a matter of conveying this vision to my staff at Hasbro”. Levine succeeded in getting the Hasbro toy company on board and went on to create one of the most iconic toy lines in history.

Think you know all there is to know about GI Joe? Here are 25 secrets only the most hardcore Joe fans know. And knowing is half the battle!

25 What does the “GI” stand for?

It rolls so smoothly off the tongue, “G.I. Joe” that the first two letters often sound like a single word, ‘gee-eye’. But they are actually an acronym for a term directly lifted from armed forces terminology. It stands for “Government Issue” and was originally a descriptive term for supplies distributed by the government. “GI” eventually became ubiquitous for a solider in the US Army. However, many foreigners would commonly use the term to describe any enlisted man from any branch in the United States armed forces.

This general non-specific term seemed a perfect fit for the new armed forces based toy Hasbro rolled out in 1964. Since the initial product represented multiple branches of the US armed forces, they needed a generic name that would cover every version of their toy.

And while the line was marketed to a great deal of success in other countries, the American-centric labeling did pose a problem across different cultures. For instance, in Britain, the toy was licensed to a company called, “Palitoy” who changed its marketing and brand name to “Action Man” to disassociate their product from the American counter-part.

24 The first four Joes

The very first run of G.I. Joes came in the form of four offerings from different branches of the service. There was the “Action Soldier” who represented the Army, an “Action Sailor” for the Navy, an “Action Pilot” for the Air Force, and an “Action Marine” for the Marines. It is now painfully obvious where Britain got their inspiration to change the name from G.I. Joe to “Action Man”.

These figures were cast at the 12 inch height with many points of articulation. Such a posable figure gave kids an endless array of options of how to play with these new toys. Within the first few years, subtle changes were made to the characters which has made those first run toys quite rare and valuable to collectors.

Original 1964-65 GI Joe’s are distinguished by their use of eyeliner around the eyes, “beefy” left hands, and smaller feet. By 1967-68, the figure had omitted the eyeliner (most likely to speed up production), moved to a slightly pinker shade of plastic, slimmed up the hands, and added more definition to the feet.

Are you wondering how to tell when your old-school G.I. Joe was made? Just look at its butt. Seriously, that is where the company stamps its licensed trademark as well as production dates.

23 First Female Joe

While the team behind G.I. Joe mined a lot of their inspiration from the extremely successful Barbie line of toys, their effort was an obvious bid to win the male demographic. Once they’d established the original line of G.I. Joes, they knew they were probably missing out on some sales to potential female fans. Their answer was the Action Nurse.

Debuting in 1967, the Action Nurse came with a whole slew of accessories, much like her soldier counter-parts. But unlike the offensive weaponry that came with the male GI Joes, the Action Nurse came with decidedly more humanitarian gear.

Instead of guns and grenades, she had a stethoscope and bandages.

I guess someone had to patch up the inevitable causalities of the make-believe battles that were taking place in children’s sandboxes across the country.

If you happen to spot one of these rare gems at a flea market or garage sale, pay close attention to the color of the Action Nurse’s bag. The white bag was only manufactured in limited amounts before being changed to the more common green bag. While it was an expected miss with the boys, and girls seemed to stay loyal to their Barbies, the Action Nurse is now a sought after collectors item.

22 “… To The Shores of Tripoli.”

Anyone who knows the hymn of the United States Marines can probably instantly quote the first few lines with the matching melody. “From the Halls of Montezuma, To shores of Tripoli, We fight our countries battles, In the air, on land, and sea.” It’s a song steeped in patriotic fervor. Which is most likely what the producers of the first G.I. Joe commercial were aiming for.

Premiering in 1964, they took the melody of “From The Halls of Montezuma”, but changed the words to relate to the G.I. Joe toy line. (With the lyrics animated along the bottom so kids could read along): “G.I. Joe, GI Joe, fighting man from head to toe, on the land, on the sea, in the air.” I see what you did there for the ending. They just mixed up the order of land, sea, and air, and there ya go… what lawsuit?

The commercial then went on to show to boys, happily playing war with their armada of G.I. Joes and accessories. The commercial made sure to stress ‘accessories’. The announcer promised that, “You’ll have the greatest realism, the greatest fun you’ve ever had in playing soldier.” And then went on to pimp the accessories some more.

21 Don’t call it a “doll”

The conventional thought around the developers table when they first put together the idea of the G.I. Joe, was that boys do not play with “dolls”. If they had any hopes of selling these, let’s face it, dolls, to a nation of young males, a serious re-branding would be necessary.

I checked the definition of “doll” just to see what kind of battle Hasbro faced in that kind of re-defining challenge. “A small-scale figure of a human being used especially as a child’s plaything”.  So yeah, they were dolls and the company knew it. But they aggressively sold the idea of “action figure”. Remarkably, it worked.

The term “action figure” was the preferred label, and to use any other term was severely frowned upon. There were even rumors that the company would refuse to sell to retailers who used the term “doll” to reference their obvious not-dolls, rather action figures.

To this day, “action figure” has become ubiquitous for any toy figure that is primarily marketed to boys. The Star Wars figures in the late 70’s and early 80s certainly cemented the term. Over 50 years later, that one effort from Hasbro has still managed to define the terminology for boys dolls. There I said it.

20 Toy Fair or Warfare?

As the 60s rolled into the 70s, the specter of the Vietnam War loomed large in the consciousness of the American people. The idea of the American War Hero who was protecting our way of life abroad, was slowly replaced by the ugly reality and the politics of overseas conflict. Protest was in the air and on the streets.

From nearly the beginning, there was some segment of society that found the glorification of war being manufactured into children’s toys a questionable way to make money. In 1966, a group of mothers dressed in Mary Poppins outfits protested the annual toy trade convention in New York. They displayed umbrellas that carried the slogan, “Toy Fair or Warfare?” The fallout even caused Sears to drop all military toys, including G.I. Joe.

This wouldn’t be the last time that world events had major impacts on the GI Joe line. 

It does make some sort of karmic sense, that a toy that is based on the shifting paradigms of war, also must face its own battles that redefine its very nature. I doubt the bosses at Hasbro viewed things with such a deeper perspective, but the line weathered the storm and evolved because of those outside forces.

19 The G.I. Joe Adventure team re-brand

As the conflict in Vietnam intensified, the public’s view of war and anything war related shifted drastically. The execs at Hasbro knew this could negatively effect the perception of their product, and even more importantly, hurt sales. So by 1970, they had tweaked the overall appearance and wardrobe of their G.I. Joes. Flocked hair and a manly beard were added to the figures. Hasbro then re-branded the line as the G.I. Joe Adventure Team, looking for adventure, not war.

The original line of Action Team members included, Talking Adventure Team Commander, Land Adventurer, and, Air Adventurer, just to name a few. The toys were marketed with sets that included more ‘adventure’ themed content. They shifted away from battles and war conflict to more ecological and animal adversaries.

The second wave released in 1974 came with the legendary “Kung Fu Grip”. The idea was that the soft rubber hands were molded in such a way that would allow the figures to hold their weapons or gear better. When the Six Million Dollar Man and Mego’s superhero figures started to became popular, the Adventure Team expanded to include Bulletman and Mike Power - Atomic Man.

18 Foreign Joes

While G.I. Joe is a very American invention, that didn’t stop Hasbro from striking deals with other countries, tweaking the names and customizing the figures to be more culturally representative of the target markets. It seemed that even though G.I. Joe was an uniquely American concept, the idea of “soldier” was, for better or for worse, a figure to which most every other country could relate.

In Spain, you could purchase a “Geyperman”, which was based more on the European Palitoy line. France produced the “Action Joe”. Asian markets had both the “G.I. Joe” and “Combat Man” toy lines. Italy employed the “Action Team”. In Brazil, the 12-inch line was branded, “Falcon” while the 3.75-inch figures were called, “Comandos em Acao” (Action Commandos). If you lived in Argentina, you could find “Joe Super Temerario” and “Los Temerarios” (roughly translated…”Joe Super Reckless”). Mexico called them, “Hombres de Accion” (Men of Action).

They even managed to sell a line of these toys in Germany under the Action Team name.

Considering the origins of this toy, that was some serious salesman-ship and re-imagining of the G.I. Joe brand to break the German markets. You know… because of the whole World War II thing.

17 Operation Blast Off

Due to a the rising cost of petroleum effecting the price of plastic coupled with lagging sales, the G.I. Joe Adventure Team was furloughed in 1976. But an out-of-nowhere science fiction movie was about to revolutionize the action figure industry. In 1977, Star Wars become a monster hit. It also proved to be a gold mine for Star Wars producers as the 3.75 inch toy figures became best sellers.

By 1979, Hasbro’s Head of Boys Toys, Bob Prupis, saw the future of action figures and devised a plan to bring G.I. Joe back. His ‘secret’ plan was labeled, “Operation Blast Off” as Prupis worked on ideas that would get the green light of approval for production. He tossed in futuristic elements like lasers and jet-packs with traditional realistic military technology like tanks and sub-machine guns.

Prupis was inspired by the “little green army men” of his youth and the hard-to-miss success of the Star Wars franchise produced by rival toy company Kenner. He was turned down multiple times. After years of rejection, in 1981 they came up with the idea of a comic to help market the toy. While it wasn’t as solid as a movie, executives liked the idea. With the help of Marvel Comics, G.I. Joe was reborn.

16 The cost of Petroleum and Star Wars

One of the hurdles the developers of the 1982 relaunch faced was the rising cost of Petroleum. Middle East oil suppliers had cut the production of oil. This was a result of the conflicts during the Iranian Revolution and then later, the Iran-Iraq War. This caused the cost of petroleum to jump from $15 to $40 per barrel.

Petroleum is used to make plastic. And plastic is used to make G.I. Joes. Now you can see the dilemma.

Seeing the success Star Wars was having with their 3.75 inch figures, head of Hasbro Boys Toys division, Bob Prupis, pitched the smaller sized figures. Compared to the original 12-inch G.I. Joes, this approach would drastically lower production costs. Yet Prupis was repeatedly told that they needed a hook to make the toy marketable to the youth of the day.

In 1981, he was told he had one more shot to come up with a marketable way to launch G.I. Joe, or else move unto different projects. The determined toy man put together a team of marketing and design experts. They came up with numerous concepts, but it was a comic book to help push the toy line idea that got the Hasbro executives excited enough to put the line back into production.

15 Unregulated Comics

Once the idea for a G.I. Joe comic was realized, the company had to secure a legitimate comic producer to guarantee the final product would be a quality item worthy of the G.I. Joe brand. One of the ideas Marvel found interesting about the G.I. Joe project was how Hasbro planned on advertising the comic, which was essentially an advertisement for the toys.

Government regulations were already in place dictating the parameters in which toy companies were allowed to advertise to kids. Restrictions on run-times, requirements that made sure the toy was featured being played with by kids, and limiting animation to only a few seconds were only some of the lines the toy companies had to avoid crossing.

But some lawyer at Hasbro (who probably got a raise for this) realized there were no such rules regarding the advertising of comic books. It was a risky move, but ad execs in charge of marketing the GI Joe line and comic book dumped $3 million to create a series of 30-second animated commercials. Of course they featured all the different figures, vehicles, and accessories from the toy line. Just to clarify, they made a television advertisement, to advertise the comic book, which was essentially an advertisement for the toys. Brilliant.

14 Fury Force

Once Marvel was on board, they had to develop the comic book into something that reflected the image the new toys were aiming for. Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter was given a look at the concept, and realized it was similar to something one of his writers already had in development called Fury Force.

Nick Fury was already a sort of soldier of fortune character established in the Marvel Universe. Marvel writer/artist Larry Hama had envisioned Fury Force with the son of Nick Fury as the leader of an elite paramilitary strike team. Hama had already designed some of the basic character designs and written up some biographies, but failed to get it approved by Marvel. Thinking the idea was dead, he put his initial designs aside.

Inspired by their new G.I. Joe partnership, Shooter suggested that Hama revisit the Fury Force idea, but adapt it to fit the G.I. Joe cannon.

Little did Larry Hama realize this would go on to be the work that defined his career. The comic would print from 1982 to 1994 for a 155 issue run not including the numerous spin-offs and special issues. It would be praised for being much more adult in tone than the cartoon series.

13 Birth of Cobra

When Hasbro brought the idea of developing a G.I. Joe comic to Marvel, they didn’t have any plans for enemies. In the past, the bad guys usually amounted to poor sales, so the toy company hadn’t really considered a nemesis for G.I. Joe.

This was a problem for writer Larry Hama who understood good guys need the bad guys or there isn’t much of a story. He and the other writers agreed, “that these guys can’t just march around and go on maneuvers or whatnot, they have to be battling some things, some threat, whatever.”

Fellow Marvel writer Archie Goodwin is credited with throwing out the name “Cobra” to represent the bad guys. Inspired by the name, artist Ron Rudat developed a design for the now iconic logo. Rudat went on to be the main designer behind every one of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero figures through the mid 80s. Not only was he responsible for design, but he developed a complete method of production that ensured continuity across different departments. It was an exhaustive process that covered everything from design to final casting, but proved highly successful for the relaunch of the G.I. Joe brand.

12 GI Joe File Cards

Part of the fun of collecting G.I. Joes in the 80s was learning about all the different characters through the backstories on the file cards that came on the back of the action figures packaging. You would usually get the generic name of the character, along with their cool “code name”.

It gave personality to the toy and created a rich story-line for kids to add into their own battle narratives.

The origin of the cards was simple enough. Lead writer Larry Hama needed a way to keep all these new characters and vehicles straight. So he kept a bunch of handwritten index cards to organize all his ideas. They weren’t the full detailed cards you saw in the toy store. But the few details, biographical notes, and military specialties were a novel enough idea to get the attention of Hasbro. They encouraged Hama to flesh out the ideas so they could be included on the back of the packaging.

Much to the chagrin of modern collectors, these file cards had a perforated line drawn around them, suggesting kids cut them out and collect them. Legions of children unwittingly destroyed what would become valuable packaging for future serious G.I. Joe collectors.

11 The First 15 of the 3.75 inch

When the relaunched and now re-branded G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero hit the shelves in 1982, there were a total of 15 action figures released. There were nine Joes: Breaker, Flash, Grunt, Rock ’n Roll, Scarlett, Short-Fuze, Snake Eyes, Stalker, and Zap. There were only two figures representing team Cobra: a Cobra solider and a Cobra officer. These were all bundled on card-stock packaging similar to what Kenner produced with their highly successful Star Wars line.

Hasbro also launched seven vehicles with the original line. The additional four Joes, Clutch, Grand Slam, Hawk, and Steeler could be acquired with the vehicle purchase. It was a smart marketing move to help push the much more expensive vehicle toys.

The action figures were markedly better than their Star Wars competition. The ‘swivel arm’ and multiple points of articulation were far superior to most any other toy on the shelf. The attention to detail, quality designs, and rich backstories lent to the line becoming hugely successful. The initial production run lasted from 1982 to 1994, producing over 500 action figures and 250 vehicles and play-sets. All while the comic and the cartoon redefined the whole concept of how to market toys to kids.

10 Unexpected Sales

After a lengthy battle that literally took years to get green-lit and launched, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero debuted in 1982 with fifteen characters and seven vehicles. Execs were unsure of how the kids would react to this ’new Joe’ whose main purpose was to protect freedom from the ruthless terrorist organization Cobra. Sales predictions were conservatively set at around 12 to 15 million.

They severely underestimated the market demand and fan response. The first year of sales topped $50 million dollars. Cost cutting measures like using the same mold for a lot of the characters heads did little to sway kids from collecting these figures. The points of articulation and heavy incorporation of accessories and vehicles made these GI Joes superior to many of the similar kinds of action figures kids were used to playing with.

The following year after its initial release, the company expanded the toy line with new characters with more original body part designs. The “Swivel arm battle grip” came in 1983, and the base of the figures head was given a ball joint in 1984. These improvements to a toy that was already boasting more points of movement than most of its competitors only added to the demand and rise in sales.

9 First female 3.75 inch Joe

While G.I. Joe was always primarily marketed as a ‘boys toy’, the developers felt they needed to have at least one female character to add depth and variety to the line. And perhaps, attract a small demographic of girls who loved the G.I. Joe universe as much as their boy friends.

Their answer was “Scarlett”. A unique red-headed martial arts expert who is the G.I. Joe team’s resident intelligence and espionage master. She came equipped with a super-cool XK-1 Power Crossbow, perfect for silent take-downs. She is the only character that shares no build parts with any of her other original 1982 team. Considering the company was unsure of the lines success at launch, it was a risky move to invest in the manufacturing of a single character. Many of the other male figures of the original line shared various body parts, painted different and slightly reworked for each one. This was done as a cost saving measure, making the unique Scarlett truly special.

One other interesting note on the original Scarlett figure is that she was the only character to not have peg holes in her feet. Her design called for smaller feet than her male counter-parts, so there was no room for the holes.

8 Mail-In Cobra Commander

The first 1982 run of 15 characters included two bad guys, a Cobra soldier and a Cobra officer. They really didn’t have a solid idea for a Cobra Commander at launch, so the company brainstormed and came up with an already proven marketing idea: the mail-in exclusive. They would make the Cobra Commander available through the use of ‘Flag Points’ (how patriotic). The points could be found on the packaging of the G.I. Joes. Kids were encouraged to clip those out (you can almost hear the groan of collectors) and send them in with 50 cents to cover shipping.

Company estimates put the demand at around 5,000 figures. Much like their sales predictions, that number was woefully under estimating the response these toys were going to generate. Between January 2nd and March 31st of 1982, the company received order forms for over 125,000 Cobra Commanders.

This character of Cobra Commander would go on to become canon for the G.I. Joe series. He is the supreme leader of Cobra and the principal antagonist to G.I. Joe in the toy line, the comics, the animated series, and the movies. It’s crazy the number one enemy of G.I. Joe wasn’t even fully conceptualized at the product’s launch.

7 The story of Snake Eyes

One of the most beloved characters from the Real American Hero line is the mysterious Snake Eyes. He has been a part of the G.I. Joe franchise in every series since the 1982 relaunch. The original figure was almost entirely designed as a cost saving measure. He shared many body parts with other figures in the series, except for the unique sculpt of his head. Cast in all black plastic, his ‘uniform’ didn’t require any paint, again, saving Hasbro production costs.

The character went through a few design upgrades through the years. In 1985, Snake Eyes came packaged with his wolf Timber. The mold was used in several countries.

Since his look was so different than the other Joes, some cultures treated him as a member of Cobra.

Talking with Kraft’s Comic Interview. writer Larry Hama speculated on why the Snake Eyes character become so popular. “Well, Snake Eyes was purposely made very mysterious. He’s completely covered from head to toe. Nobody knows what he looks like. He doesn’t speak - no thought balloons. He is your blank slate, and he becomes a universal blank slate for projection of fantasy for anybody, because he is so unspecific. But he is specific in his personality traits: his sincerity, his will, his loyalty.”

6 G.I. Joe #21

One of the most interesting releases of the G.I. Joe comic book run is issue #21. The Snake-Eyes focused comic came out in 1984 during what many consider the prime of the Real American Hero run. The story was called, “Silent Interlude” and was a play upon the fact that Snake-Eyes never talks. The whole issue stands out as being rather unique in that there is no spoken dialog or sound effects. It was a not-so-subtle mirroring of the overall mute personality of Snake Eyes. Every panel showed only the action and used character expression and clever sequencing to advance the story.

The issue revolves around Snake Eyes on a mission to save Scarlett from Destro’s castle. While not technically part of Cobra, (actually Cobra Commander and Destro despise each other), Destro is an evil arms dealer and weapons manufacturer. When one deals in black market goods, logic dictates he would conspire to work with the worlds largest terrorist organization. Snake Eyes eventually beats the elite red ninjas as well as his long-running adversary Storm Shadow, saving Scarlett’s life.

It was a risky production choice at the time, but the issue has gone on to be one of the more sought after by collectors.