G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe went on sale on the 1st of February 1964, and every year since, fans have marked that date as G.I. Joe Day. One week later, on the 9th of February, the toy made its first public appearance at the New York Toy Fair. The figure in the box was a poseable twelve-inch military man made by the toy company Hasbro. His name was borrowed from American slang for the ordinary soldier. His development also gave the language a new term, action figure. Since then the name has covered a soldier, an adventurer, and a team locked in a long fight with an enemy called Cobra. How did a company sell a poseable man to boys in an age that frowned on dolls? Why did a toy built around the armed forces try to shed its war theme within a few years? And how did one brand end up with different names in Britain, Brazil, Japan and India?
In 1963, a Manhattan licensing agent named Stanley Weston built rough prototypes of a military action figure. He added basic marketing materials to show that such a toy could sell. Weston took the package to Donald Levine, a Hasbro executive, who told him: "You will make a fortune with these." Weston then licensed the whole concept to Hasbro for US$100,000.
The early prototypes carried the names Rocky, Skip and Ace before the more universal name G.I. Joe won out. That name came from the way Americans used "G.I. Joe" for any generic soldier, a phrase that itself grew out of the shorter term "G.I." The first lineup represented the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps with the Action Soldier, Action Sailor, Action Pilot and Action Marine. The lineup also listed an Action Lifeline for the Coast Guard, and an Action Nurse came later.
The conventional wisdom of the early 1960s said that boys would not play with dolls and that parents would not buy dolls for their sons. So no one involved in developing or marketing G.I. Joe was allowed to use the word. Action figure was the only acceptable term. It has since become the generic description for any poseable figure intended for boys. The designers gave Joe the joints of an artist's model, and they even used such a model to produce the first prototype toys. Every boxed figure also carried the slogan "America's movable fighting man," which Hasbro registered as a trademark.
A human figure cannot itself be trademarked or copyrighted, so Hasbro hid its protection in small physical details. The scar on Joe's right cheek was one of them. The trademark on the right buttock was another. A third began as an accident, because the right thumbnail sits on the underside of the thumb. These features let Hasbro successfully take action against makers of cheap imitations.
The stamped markings tell their own story. Early figures read "G.I. Joe" with the trademark symbol through some point in 1965. Once the trademark was registered, the registered symbol appeared on the first line. After a patent was granted in late 1966, the stamp changed again and carried the patent number 3,277,602. Figures with that marking reached stores during 1967.
An African-American figure arrived in 1965, but it was only the white figure's face molded in brown plastic. A truly retooled version would not appear until 1970.
By the late 1960s, in the wake of the Vietnam War, Hasbro wanted to play down the war theme that had defined its soldier. The line became known as The Adventures of G.I. Joe. In 1970 the company settled on the name Adventure Team.
That year brought "Life-Like" flocked hair and beards. The innovation had been developed in England by Palitoy for its licensed version of Joe, called Action Man. The retooled African-American Adventurer also arrived in 1970, and like the other figures in the series he came in bearded and shaven versions.
In 1974, Hasbro introduced "Kung-Fu Grip," named for a martial art that was growing more popular. This was another idea first developed in the United Kingdom for Action Man. The hands were molded in a softer plastic so the fingers could hold objects more naturally. The polymer broke down quickly, though, and the thumb and fingertips snapped off after a few weeks.
In 1976, Joe was given eagle eye vision. A lever at the back of the head moved the eyes so the toy seemed to look around. It was the last major innovation for the original twelve-inch line.
For its first ten years, G.I. Joe was a generic soldier or adventurer with only the slightest hint of a team. In 1975, Hasbro failed in a bid to buy the toy rights to The Six Million Dollar Man. It answered with its own bionic warrior, Mike Power, Atomic Man, and one million units were sold. A superhero named Bullet Man joined the Adventure Team, with recurring enemies called The Intruders, Strongmen from Another World. Comics packed with the figures showed "Eagle Eye" Joe, Atomic Man and Bullet Man working together, so the Adventure Team was finally a real team.
The original twelve-inch line ended in America in 1976. Hasbro followed it with The Defenders, a line of inexpensive, rotationally molded mannequins in the G.I. Joe style.
In 1977, Hasbro took the fight to the stars with the Super Joe Adventure Team. The figures shrank to 8 inches, close to the size of Mego's Superheroes. They offered battery-powered backpack lights, motorized accessories and a "One-Two Punch" triggered by pressing panels on the back. Unlike the original Joe, this line was built from the start around good against evil. Super Joe Commander and the Adventure Team fought Gor, King of the Terrons, and Darkon, a half-man, half-monster. Darkon was the Commander figure molded in dark green plastic with different accessories.
Many of these figures used Kung-Fu Grip style plastic, which degrades with age and leaves even unopened figures missing limbs and hands. Super Joe was discontinued by the end of 1978. A Hasbro subsidiary later reused the same basic body molds for figures based on the television series Space Academy.
From 1966 through 1984, Palitoy Ltd. produced a British version of the twelve-inch figure under the name Action Man. At first the designs matched the American figures exactly, including the military theme and World War II characters. The line later widened to all men of action, such as football players and other sports figures.
Other countries took the figure under names of their own. Germany and Italy knew it as Action Team, France as Action Joe, and Spain's licensee Geyperman based its products on Palitoy's line, down to the logo. In Japan, Takara and Tsukuda sold it as "G.I. Joe" and "Combat Man." Kenbrite released it in Australia, while Palitoy also licensed its ActionMan line to TolToys. In Brazil, Brinquedos Estrela called the twelve-inch figure "Falcon" and the smaller figures "Comandos em Ação." Argentina's Veri-li enterprises used "Joe Super Temerario" and "Los Temerarios." Lili-Ledy in Mexico chose "Hombres de Acción," and in India the toys were produced under the Funskool brand.
In the early 1980s, Palitoy responded to falling Action Man sales by launching Action Force. It was a new range of smaller military figures in the style of Kenner's popular Star Wars line. When the American Real American Hero line reached Britain, it was sold under the Action Force title, because the term "G.I." is not in common use there. The figures kept the same appearance and code names, but their identities and histories were international rather than purely American or British.
The range was later renamed G.I. Joe to match international markets. Action Man kept its original name, and the line was revived under it in the early 1990s.
The year 1982 brought a highly successful relaunch of G.I. Joe at a smaller scale of 3.75 inches. That is the same scale Kenner used for its Star Wars figures, but the new Joes had many more points of articulation. In that respect they resembled Mego's Micronauts, a line licensed directly from Takara's Microman.
The relaunch pioneered several tactics in toy marketing. Traditional advertising was joined by an animated television mini-series and an ongoing comic book. The smaller scale also let Hasbro build matching vehicles and playsets, which widened the line's appeal and its commercial potential.
The toys came with a complex background story. The G.I. Joe Team struggled against the evil Cobra organization, which sought to take over the Free World through terrorism. The Joes were not superheroes, but each had expertise in areas such as martial arts, weapons and explosives.
Popularity fed a stream of spin-off merchandise that included posters, t-shirts, video games, board games and kites. In 1985, two trade magazines ranked G.I. Joe the top-selling American toy.
The 3.75-inch line was canceled at the end of 1994, which was also the 30th anniversary of the brand. To mark the occasion, Hasbro released twelve-inch and 3.75-inch figures based on the Original Action Team figures from 1964.
Marvel Productions and Sunbow Productions released the animated series G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero in 1983 to promote the 3.75-inch figures. It ran for 95 episodes through 1986. Its opening theme was spoken by Jackson Beck, previously known as the voice of Popeye's rival Bluto. The narration described a special mission force whose purpose was "to defend human freedom against Cobra, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world."
The show used physical fighting and high-tech weapons to make up for toned-down violence and a lack of bullets in a children's program. Each episode ended with a public service announcement. The closing line was either "Now I know!" or "And knowing is half the battle."
G.I. Joe: The Movie arrived in 1987 as a direct-to-video release, because another animated film, The Transformers: The Movie, was seen as a box office failure. Viewers had reacted strongly to the death of Optimus Prime, so the Joe film was re-dubbed. The death of Duke was cut, and he fell into a coma and recovered unseen at the end. Cobra Commander met his own end when mutant spores created by a new enemy, Cobra-La, turned him into a living snake.
The animated series was canceled after the movie. It returned from 1989 to 1991 under the animation company DiC, which began with a 5-part mini-series titled Operation: Dragonfire. In it, an energy source called dragonfire returned Cobra Commander to a semi-human state and turned Serpentor, the Cobra emperor, into an iguana. The mini-series was successful enough to lead to 2 more seasons.
In 2009, G.I. Joe: Resolute took a more realistic path, with graphic violence and dark themes and a Cobra portrayed as a serious threat. It began as mini webisodes, and the full series later aired on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. In 2010, The Hub launched G.I. Joe: Renegades, in which the Joes became fugitives while Cobra pursued world domination under the guise of a pharmaceutical company. The last episode aired in 2011.
The name had a life on paper long before any of this. G.I. Joe originated from a comic strip of the 1940s called "Private Breger," and licensed G.I. Joe comics have appeared from 1967 to the present. In the 1980s, Marvel Comics produced a promotional comic book. Its success led to a second title, G.I. Joe: Special Missions, which lasted 28 issues. The main series published its final issue, number 155, in December 1994, as the Real American Hero toy line ended.
In July 2001, Devil's Due Publishing acquired the rights and released a four-issue limited series, A Real American Hero (Reinstated). Strong sales made it an ongoing series, but the license with Hasbro expired in 2008 and was not renewed. IDW Publishing began a complete reboot in 2009, later folded into a shared Hasbro Comic Book Universe alongside Transformers. In May 2010, the original Marvel series was revived with a special issue 155 and continued from issue 156 in July 2010.
In 2022 it was announced that IDW had lost the rights. In 2023, Skybound Entertainment announced it had acquired them and would launch a shared universe, the Energon Universe, spanning G.I. Joe, Transformers and a new property, Void Rivals. A Real American Hero resumed with issue 301 in November 2023, picking up where the IDW revival left off.
Hasbro's first computer-animated feature, Spy Troops: The Movie, arrived in 2003 alongside the toy line of the same name. Valor vs. Venom followed in 2004 in response to the sales of Spy Troops. By 2005, Hasbro had an exclusive agreement with Paramount Pictures to distribute future features based on the Real American Hero line. A third film, Attack of the BATS, was scrapped when sales of the line slumped again.
In 2009, director Stephen Sommers made the big-budget live-action G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Channing Tatum starred as Duke, Ray Park as Snake Eyes, Christopher Eccleston as Destro and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cobra Commander. Tatum described the film as a cross between X-Men, Transformers and Mission Impossible. He also said: "It's a huge $170 million movie." Some characters stayed true to the cartoons, while others differed markedly, and the film gave a different foundation to the battle between the Joes and Cobra.
To promote that film, a viral campaign called G.I. Joe: The Invasion of Cobra Island used stop motion and puppet animation with Hasbro's toys. The sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation, directed by Jon M. Chu and starring Dwayne Johnson as Roadblock, was set for June 2012 but delayed until March 2013. In it, Zartan impersonates the President of the United States and frames the Joes as traitors.
A reboot, Snake Eyes, starring Henry Golding as the title character, was released on the 23rd of July 2021. It told an origin story and received mixed reviews. The team also appears at the end of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. On the 11th of April 2024, a Transformers and G.I. Joe crossover was announced at CinemaCon, with a possible theater release in 2026.
The student filmmaker Gregory P. Grant used old G.I. Joe figurines for a film called Ode to GI Joe, which played at film festivals and earned him a Student Academy Award. The brand has also been teased by television. The animated series Futurama spoofed it, and in 2014 the sitcom Community aired "G.I. Jeff," animated in the style of the 1983 cartoon with some of the same voice actors. In 2021, a first live-action G.I. Joe TV series was in development with Erik Oleson as creator and showrunner, focused on Lady Jaye.
Video games began in 1983 with G.I. Joe: Cobra Strike, made by Parker Brothers for the Atari 2600 and Intellivision. Epyx released G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero in 1985 for the Apple II and Commodore 64. Virgin Games made Action Force for the Commodore 64 in 1987. Taxan produced a Nintendo Entertainment System game in 1991, and Konami released an arcade game in 1992. Capcom's G.I. Joe: The Atlantis Factor followed on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992. G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout reached PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch in 2020, and Overwatch 2 made a collaboration with the brand in 2025.
Hasbro began releasing new twelve-inch figures in 1991, starting with Duke, sold exclusively to Target stores. The Hall of Fame series was based on the Real American Hero toys and featured Snake-Eyes, Stalker, Gung-Ho, Cobra Commander, Destro and Storm Shadow. It was followed by anniversary editions based on the 1960s line.
In 1995, the Classic Collection introduced G.I. Janes, the first twelve-inch female figures in the line since 1967. The first was a helicopter pilot. The collection returned to a fully military theme with fairly realistic uniforms, and it included soldiers from Australia, Britain and other nations. In 2000, a Navajo Code Talker became one of only two talking twelve-inch figures since the 1970s, the other being a WW2 Military Police figure. A Pearl Harbor line honored the 1941 attack in 2001.
In 1997, Chronicle Books published the Masterpiece Edition, a book and figure set made with help from Don Levine, the driving force behind the original Joe. Hasbro bought the rights to that figure and released store-exclusive reproduction sets through 2003. The 40th Anniversary line followed in 2003, reproducing the earliest figures of 1964. A reproduction Talking Adventure Team Commander was limited to 1,970 issues.
Not every attempt worked. Sgt. Savage and his Screaming Eagles debuted in late 1994 and were canceled after two waves because of scarce marketing and low sales. G.I. Joe Extreme arrived in 1995 from Kenner, which had merged with Hasbro in late 1994, and it came with a Dark Horse comic and a cartoon that ran two seasons.
In 2005, the 8-inch Sigma 6 line brought extensive articulation, a television series from the Japanese studio GONZO and a comic mini-series from Devil's Due. The Sigma Six branding was dropped in spring 2007, and the entire 8-inch line was canceled by the end of that year.
The smaller figures kept returning. A 2000 repaint line gave the Baroness figure a new identity as Chameleon, described on the package as her illegitimate half sister. In 2007, the 25th Anniversary line introduced newly sculpted 4-inch figures that replaced the old O-ring construction with a swivel chest. It was expanded into a full toy line that ran through 2009. In 2010, the Pursuit of Cobra series was built around four battlegrounds: Desert, City, Jungle and Arctic.
In 2009, Sideshow Collectibles began its own highly detailed figures under license, along with small diorama pieces called Figure Environments. In the second quarter of 2020, Hasbro announced the G.I. Joe Classified Series of highly articulated 6-inch figures, led by Snake Eyes, Scarlett, Roadblock, Duke and Destro. By 2022 there were more than 50 figures. In July 2022, fans funded the first HasLab vehicle for the line, a H.I.S.S. tank with 4 exclusive figures. A Dragonfly attack chopper followed in July 2023. In 2021, Super7 began making its own G.I. Joe lines as well.
The National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong in Rochester, New York, inducted G.I. Joe in 2004. The Pop Culture Hall of Fame followed in 2017.
Updated
Common questions
When was G.I. Joe first released?
G.I. Joe was launched on the 1st of February 1964, and the line made its first public appearance at the New York Toy Fair on the 9th of February 1964. G.I. Joe Day is celebrated every the 1st of February.
Who created the original G.I. Joe action figure?
Stanley Weston, a Manhattan licensing agent, developed the original idea in 1963 and made rough prototypes. He licensed the concept to Hasbro, whose executive Donald Levine told him "You will make a fortune with these," for US$100,000.
Why is G.I. Joe called an action figure and not a doll?
Early 1960s marketing wisdom held that boys would not play with dolls and parents would not buy them for their sons. Hasbro therefore never used the word doll, and action figure became the only acceptable term.
What does the name G.I. Joe mean?
The name comes from the American use of "G.I. Joe" for a generic soldier, which itself derives from the broader term "G.I." Early prototypes were called Rocky, Skip and Ace before G.I. Joe was chosen.
What is the G.I. Joe Real American Hero line?
A Real American Hero was the 1982 relaunch of G.I. Joe in a 3.75-inch scale, paired with an animated mini-series and a comic book. It centered on a struggle between the G.I. Joe Team and the Cobra organization, and it ran until the end of 1994.
Why was G.I. Joe called Action Man or Action Force in Britain?
Palitoy produced the British version as Action Man from 1966 through 1984. The Real American Hero line was sold there as Action Force because the term "G.I." is not in common use in Britain.
What is the G.I. Joe Classified Series?
The G.I. Joe Classified Series is a line of highly articulated 6-inch action figures that Hasbro announced in the second quarter of 2020. It launched with Snake Eyes, Scarlett, Roadblock, Duke and Destro, and passed 50 figures by 2022.
When was G.I. Joe inducted into a hall of fame?
G.I. Joe entered the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong in Rochester, New York, in 2004. It was inducted into the Pop Culture Hall of Fame in 2017.
All sources
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