There’s a lot of anniversaries this year, and one of the biggest (to yours truly) is the 50th Anniversary of the G.I.Joe toy line. G.I.Joe was introduced 50 years ago this week at the New York Toy Fair. It was a radical new idea – “dolls” for boys, based on the four branches of the military (Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines). Of course, they couldn’t use the term “doll” (because “boys didn’t play with dolls”) and hence they came up with the phrase “action figure” and spawned an entire industry.
The toy was an incredible success, and has evolved over the years to shed the militaristic angle (the G.I.Joe team became “adventurers” instead of soldiers), only to become a special missions force once again when the line was reintroduced in 1982 (as 3 3/4″ figures).
I don’t want to admit in this public forum how many Joes I own (mostly the classic 12″ figures) but I’ll say this… it’s in the triple-digits. Yeah, I know, the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem…
Here’s some videos celebrating Joe in all his forms. YO, JOE!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQNIwEzocY4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g5vH9A8t9I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYAiuJoZ7JI