About Vintage GI Joes

History

• The GI Joe toy line began with 12-inch sized doll in 1964 and according to Hasbro inspired the term "action figure." A great deal of figures were involved in the initial release and the manufacturers struggled to continually innovate the products adding exotic locals and jobs for the GI Joe line. In 1967 a range of talking GI Joes was released that proved to be a huge hit with consumers. Declining sales into the 1970s lead the toy makers to devise new gimmicks for the GI Joes and perhaps the most famous toy alteration came with GI Joe's "Kung Fu Grip" which allowed the hand of the toy to bend and hold items more easily. The toys were headed for more trouble and in 1978, according to Hasbro GI Joes were "discontinued due to an increase in the price of petroleum, a major component in the manufacturing of plastics."

  The 1980s saw a rebirth of the GI Joe brand in a new smaller scale closer to that of the popular Star Wars figures. These new toys were 3 and 3/4 inches and were came with an already developed storyline involving GI Joe's struggles against a shadowy organization of evil called Cobra.

  Today, the GI Joe line is still a vital part of the toy industry. There have been several variants and size changes since the 1980s. However, the popularity of the vintage toys remains incredible strong and many items are actively auctioned and traded for at toy and comic conventions as well as online.

Types

• The GI Joe toy line depended on having many different types of action figures to collect. Below are some of the most popular vintage figures in the series. The original four GI Joes included a soldier, sailor, marine and pilot. The Talkers, released in 1967 had small speakers in them and could issue various phrases according to the type of GI Joe. The Muscle Body GI Joes came with arms, legs and torsos that had been sculpted to show a more realistic and heroic musculature. The GI Joe Real American Heroes were released in the 1980s and included 3 and 3/4 inch action figures ranging from soldiers to ninjas to robot warriors and motor cycle thugs.

Identification

• One can identify the various types of GI Joes visually with ease. All first generation GI Joes are 12-inch dolls which sets them apart from the entire post 1982 line up. The exception of this is remakes of "classic" GI Joes that are in the traditional scale. They are also easily identified from other dolls at the time simply by the subject matter involved in the toys. GI Joes were always in the context of action and adventure. Also the vast majority of these dolls were male, which was something that was uncommon at the time. Typically a GI Joe is identified by the type of equipment he comes with. Heavy infantry GI Joes come with helmets and weapons, pilots are less heavily armed and desert commandos wear gear more appropriate for hotter climates.

Function

• The function of GI Joes is quite simple: to make children playing with them happy. Much effort was made to include as many details as possible in the toy sets so that each doll provided a unique play experience. Individual articles of clothing, helmets and weapons were all meticulously manufactured to peak interest and excitement. However there is another, perhaps more savvy function underlying these toys. That is to inspire collection. The vast varieties of GI Joes in different situation created a need to collect all of the GI Joes. Advertising campaigns showed many GI Joes in play at the same time so that this would create a need in a child's mind to have a team of GI Joes that he can play with. As sets expanded, consumers would want to collect new play sets to have more areas that their GI Joes could be used in. This was a cunning move on the marketing side of GI Joe.

Misconceptions

• Perhaps the biggest misconception about GI Joe toys is that they are only for play war and combat. There is an extensive line of GI Joes that have nothing to do with human to human conflict. Many of these GI Joes are simply exotic adventurers or rescue personnel. While there is an element of danger and excitement to these situations they are often not armed with traditional weapons. More than likely these toys are given tools for their particular environment. There are GI Joes that are astronauts, deep sea divers and even jungle explorers. It is possible that the growing anit-war movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s led to this particular style of GI Joe.