A Real American Hero.  The toys were a huge hit in the eighties and it stayed a hit all throughout the eighties.  There was everything you can dream about for this franchise - cartoons, comics, toys and even a full length animated feature film.  It was marketed as "A real American Hero".  Of course, when it made the transition across the Atlantic to Europe, it got rebranded as "Action Force".

The toys started life in 1982 and didn't die out until about 1994 or so.  This means it lasted for more than a decade!  The first few figures were nothing out of the ordinary, but they would set the tone for the rest of the series of toys.  Rather than assume that I know everything, which I don't, I'll just mention a few of the more pertinent facts.

The good side were the GI Joes, or Action Force in Europe.  They had a number of leaders.  The bad side was simply called Cobra, bent on dominating the world through world conquest, blah, blah - again, nothing new there.

There were a lot of articulation on each of these figures - head, waist, hips, knees, shoulders, elbows, wrists - more than many other of its contemporaries.  The thing about these are that they were very durable, perhaps in reference to the militaristic nature of the toys.

The other thing about the line was that there were a huge number of figures produced over the years.  This line is like to action figures what matchbox is to cars.  Because of the large number of figures, the card of each figure had a very long profile on that character.

Perhaps because of the large number of figures, "minority" figures received huge representation.  Females including Jane and Lady Jaye and Baronness were a huge part of the line and an even larger part in the cartoon where they were portrayed to be tough, sophisticated yet feminine and very much so equal to the men.  There were people of Asian, African, Native American, Eskimo origin.

You can have a look at the new 2002 line at the official site or visit the numerous fan sites on the internet.  Start with Yo, Joe and follow the links from there.

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