GI Joe

GI Joe

The G.I Joe series of Action Figures was first produced by the Hasbro toy company in the early 1960's. The line of action toys proved to be very successful in the early years. The original line of G.I Joe Action figures represented the four branches of the American armed forces. That is, the Action Sailor which was the Navy Officer, The Soldier which was a Military Officer, The Action Marine which was a Marine Officer and the Action Pilot which was an Air Force Officer. The term G.I stands for Government Issue. This name was later adopted by the public and they used the term to refer to the U.S military forces. The development of the toy series led to the term “Action Figure” to be coined. The Hasbro Company has used the G.I Joe trademark to market two different action figure lines. The first action figure line was the original 12 inch figures that were launched in early 1964.

This line was licensed in Europe to a company known as the Palitoy Company and their action figures were known as the Action Man. The line was re-launched in the year 1982 in a 3 ¾ inch scale and they came complete with play sets, vehicles, and a background story that involved an on going struggle between Cobra Command and the G.I Joe team. In the background story, the Cobra Command wants to take over the World by using terrorism and the G.I Joe team is fighting to keep them from doing it. The Action Figure toy line evolved after some time into a series known as The Real American Hero series. The Action Man action figure series also changed its name using the same molds as the G.I Joe line to Action Force figures. The members of the G.I Joe action figures are not all super heroes but just soldiers who are defending the World. They posses some expertise in certain areas like weapons, explosives and hand to hand combat.

These toys were created because young boys did not have toys to play with as opposed to girls who had dolls that they could use. To end the boredom that boys were going through, Hasbro Toy Company developed action figure series to keep them busy as they had fun. When the action figure toys were first released, all the children across the world wanted to own them. G.I Joe is a term that is used to refer to a real American hero who fought for the freedom of his country from enemies who are known as the Cobra Command. There are so many types of these action figures in the market today for the general public, thus getting them is not a problem. The G.I Joe action figures are available online and they range from about $50 to around $150. These action figures are good for children to play with and they come in many sizes but the most common size are the 12 inch ones