The Evolution of GI Joe Action Figures
GI Joe cartoon story focused on the American military for the year it was founded in 1942 and created a huge industry in itself over the decades. GI Joe action figures has inspired young Americans to act and to defend the country, not to mention the official GI Joe Collector’s Club’s annual meeting was held for ten years.
The 10th annual convention in New Orleans was in 2006, with Sgt. Slaughter as a special guest. The success of the story of GI Joe’s is both a commercial success and a proof of American heroism. Did you know that most of the recent GI action figures are based on real life military and civilian heroes – such as Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Bob Hope, Ernie Pyle, George Washington and Theodore Roosevelt just to name a few?
GI Joe made its debut as an animated American soldier in June 17, 1942, which was created by David Breger in the military’s YANK magazine. The GI Joe name entered households in America, along with its movie release The Story of GI Joe in 1945. The driving force behind GI Joe’s commercialization was the toy industry.
The GI Joe action figures from Hasbro Toy Company comprised of all the members from the four branches of the US Armed Forces; Action Soldier, Action Pilot, Action Marine and Action Sailor. With heavy promotion from the toy industry, it became a household name, the equivalent of military prowess and loved by young boys and male adults by mid 1960’s.
Every war that the US has been involved with has inspired the story behind GI Joe; back in the Vietnam War in 1970, the name GI Joe was rebranded as adventure figures to give the initial war theme of GI Joe action figures a little downplay. The brand name frequently made its appearance in newspapers and the TV when reporters interviewed war heroes who share a fascination with the GI Joe action figures and collectables before they served in the Military.
Since the mid 70’s, new lines of GI Joe action figures were launched every year – soldier GI Joe, Kung Fu GI Joe, Star Wars GI Joe and Adventure GI Joe; the creation of GI action figures were inspired by real life American military and cultural events. To this day, GI Joe has evolved to a revolutionary action figure to both old and new generation; not to mention it has also become a favorite gift for young boys and die hard toy collectors aren’t amiss with these GI Joe figures in their collection.
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