It all began in 1963 when Stan Weston, who was a toy inventor, saw how the Barbie doll for girls had become such a huge success. He invented a military themed "doll",which could be marketed to boys. Don Levine, who was the creative director of Hasbro at that time,thought this was a good idea and approved it. He also named the line,after a 1945 movie "The Story of G.I. Joe".
The first of the G.I.Joe line was introduced in 1964. They were of the same size as Barbie dolls, which were 12 inches, and in the beginning there were four figures,to represent each branch of the Armed Forces.
In the following years, G.I.Joe had a number of changes in the war theme and was re-introduced as "The adventures of G.I.Joe", and later as "Adventure Team" this was an attempt to get away from the war theme connected to the Vietnam War. The initial line of 12 inch size G.I.Joe figures stopped production in 1976 in the USA.
A Real American Hero
G.I.Joe action figures were again launched with great success in 1982 when Hasbro produced a smaller scale line of GI Joe figures, to compete with the very popular Star Wars action figures. The introduction of these smaller scale figures also allowed production of a various vehicles and play sets to complement them.
Production of the small scale line ceased in 1994. A considerable assortment of figures was produced in 1998, exclusively for Toys "R" Us, to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the introduction of the 3 3/4 inches GI Joe figures.
The New 3 3/4 inches G.I.Joe
Shortly after this last anniversary line the small scale figures came back into the toystores. In the year 2000, Hasbro produced a selection of figures and vehicles which continued in production until 2002. These figures were sold in packages of 2. In the year 2002 this line was named "G.I.Joe vs Cobra" and each of the collections from 2002 to 2005 was based on various themes. Following the line of "G.I.Joe vs Cobra" came "Spy Troops", and then later the "Valor vs. Venom" theme.
After suspending production for a short time in 2005 Hasbro introduced another kind of G.I.Joe action figure known as Sigma 6,in an 8-inch size. The 3 3/4 inch figure came back as a direct to buyer line, which was sold later at retail outlets because of it's success with collectors.
25th Anniversary GI Joe
2007 was the 25th anniversary of the introduction of the "A Real American Hero" GI Joe line of figures. To commemorate this event, Hasbro introduced a new collection of small figures themed around the original design of some of the very popular characters. The new figures had a swiveling chest and many more movable joints.
The new line became a great success,and what was originally planned to be 2 collector sets of 5 figures was extended to become a full line of figures which is still being produced in 2008.
Author Resource:-
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