Then there is the link below to the article by Chris Carola in the Huffington Post entitled: G.I. Joe, 'World's First Action Figure,' Turns 50. Hasbro showed off G.I. Joe at the 1964 Toy Fair in New York City and to this blogger, that 1 foot tall action figure has been successful ever since.
Don Levine is often referred to as the "father" of G.I. Joe. He was the head of Hasbro's research and development. And since most of Hasbro's work force was of retired US military men from World War 2, or Korea; that is why there was a figure made for the four main US military services (Coast Guard was lumped into the Navy line I guess).
The war in Vietnam was growing, but G.I. Joe managed to survive that as well. When sales finally started to drop off, then the AT (Adventure Team) was created. Now the "joes" were out of the military (kind of) - able to grow beards and the figures now had "Kung-fu" grip for added playability.
Back in 1964, the cost per figure was $4.00. Adjusted for inflation, that figure would retail for about $30.00 each now.
In 2004, six years after Mattel's Barbie earned the same honor; G.I. Joe was elected into the Toy Hall of Fame.
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Ref.
1. Huffington Post. "G.I. Joe, 'World's First Action Figure,' Turns 50" by Chris Carola. February 6, 2014. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/06/gi-joe-turns-50_n_4735699.html).
2. One Sixth Warriors.com forum. (http://www.onesixthwarriors.com/forum/sixth-scale-action-figure-news-reviews-discussion/743991-happy-50th-g-i-joe.html).
3. Images of my own G.I. Joe action figures.
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