GI Joe Action Figures

The GI Joe action figures have portrayed the US armed forces GI’s for over 40 years, created by Hasbro in the early 1960’s.  According to the branch of the armed forces they represented, each one had a different name, until Don Levine decided to name all of them “GI Joe”.

During the seventies, other action heroes were added to the GI Joe family.  Since this hero lacked a rival, Hasbro introduced The Intruders (men from another world) in 1976.  From that year on GI Joe suffered different changes.  The year of the intruder release was the last year the 12’’ action figure was made.  From then on, a smaller, less expensive version was introduced into the market.  All this was allegedly a result of the petroleum crisis, where the price of petroleum (therefore the price of plastic) rose tremendously.

In 1982 the GI Joe Action Figures were relaunched in a 3 ¾ version, which was made by Hasbro only until 1994.  This coincided with the GI Joe’s thirtieth anniversary when Hasbro decided to release 12’’ and 3 ¾ ‘’ action figures of the real American hero.