50 Years of G.I. Joe!

I heared it on the saturday morning airing of the Wall Street Journal radio program.  It was the anniversary of the creation of the famous Hasbro action figure - G.I. Joe!

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.

Nissan's GI Joe Kicked Ken's Butt TV Ads

I'm starting to get the 1/6th scale itch again.  I still have my Charlie Chan project that I need to finish.  Only thing that I've done to him since my last post about that figure project was the fact that I finally got around to painting the 'Oddjob' bowler hat white today.  I still need to paint Charlie's eyes and get him some decent shoes to "finish" that project.

But, surfing the web using MacDonalds free wi-fi today, I came across Patches of Pride word press blog and their April 5, 2012 posting about the famous Nissan Ads that showed G.I. Joe getting it on with a Barbie clone and leaving ole Ken clone in the dust. The reference section below has the Patches of Pride link to this article.

This was Nissan's "Enjoy the Ride" promotion and the two ads where done in tradional stop motion animation style.  Quote:  New York Daily News, Advertising Age executive Scott Donaton was quoted as saying, “The Nissan ad is like a minimovie, and it’s probably better than most of the programs on TV.” end quote.

Those mini-movies were created by Rob Siltanen, of the TBWA Chiat/Day agency in Venice, California.  Quoting him:  “Nissan said, ‘Let’s do something different, let’s break the rules,’ To a creative person, that’s as close to nirvana as it gets.” end quote.

The first mini-movie featured the new 300ZX sportscar and that took 11 weeks to film.  And the song "You Really Got Me" from Van Halen was just right.  The G.I. Joe like figure coems to life in the boy's bedroom and he jumps down to get into the Nissan 300ZX and goes roaring off to visit the girl's bedroom.  The non-Barbie was wearing a tennis outfit and her boyfirend "Tad" is dismay to see his girlfriend dump him for Joe driving the sportscar.  Then the Nissan logo comes up.



The second mini-movie commercial featured Nissan's Pathfinder and had the KISS song, "Calling Dr. Love." I don't ever remember seeing this particular ad before.



In the Daily News article, the author writes that the production company used 8-inch plastic doll figures, not the 12" G.I. Joe figures. So, the ad maybe was made with 8" inch Mego figures or it could have been the 12" inch ones from Hasbro and Mattel.

Despite the appeal of the commercials, Mattel objected to Ken being treated the way he was and the Nissan "Enjoy the Ride" ad campaign was suspended.  And I also didn't realized until I wrote this post that my last Charlie Chan update was back in 2009!


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Ref.
1. Patches of Pride (wordpress blog). "REMEMBERING NISSAN’S GIJOE VS KEN TV ADS (1996)" (http://patchesofpride.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/remembering-nissans-gijoe-vs-ken-tv-ads-1996/).
2. NY Daily News. "A Car Ad That Floors Viewers Nissan's New Doll-driven Commercial Is Superb Tv, And It's Been Getting As Much Attention As Any Show Out There" BY ROBERT DOMINGUEZ. October 29, 1996.  (http://articles.nydailynews.com/1996-10-29/entertainment/18019934_1_nissan-ad-nissan-logo-nissan-spot).
3. Flash Force 255 Bunker.  Charlie Chan update (http://flash255bunker.blogspot.com/2009/12/charlie-chan-update.html).

Major Matt Mason Movie With Tom Hanks

I'm going to post this news on both of my blogs.  I am so totally geeked out over the POSSIBILITY of this even happening!  

Universal and actor Tom Hanks have optioned the rights from Mattel for their 1960's era action figure Major Matt Mason. 

This project is designed to be a "star vehicle" for actor Tom Hanks (Apollo 13).  Script will be written by Graham Yost.  Playtone partner Hanks and Gary Goetzman will be the producers.

For those who do not know about Mattel's Man In Space Program, otherwise known as Major Matt Mason; a American team of astronauts lead my the good Major in the white spacesuit.  The toy line first appeared in 1966 and was a 'major' hit in the massive buildup for the real manned moon missions.  Major Matt Mason toyline was retired in the early 1970s.

It was reported that Mattel executives Tim Kilpin and Barry Waldo came to the Playtone meeting with samples of the action figure and some of the gear that went with it.  It was also reported that Tom Hanks arrived with his own Major Matt Mason figure.  

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Ref. Scifiwire.com news item posted 03/25/2009.  This is the link for it. ( http://scifiwire.com/2009/03/universal-to-adapt-matt-m.php)

Major Matt Mason - What Space Adventure Should Have Been Like

I make no bones about how old I am getting. I'm 49 years old. As I close in on the half century mark, one tends to think back to one's youth.

Here lately, I've been thinking about that old Buck Rogers In the 25th Century tv show with Gil Gerard and even odder - of another toy line that Mattel put out back in the good old 1960s at the height of the Space Race: Major Matt Mason!

I've added a link to a webblog on Major Matt Mason to my links list so check it out. If one is into Stargate SG-1 trivia, Colonel Carter as a young girl played with Major Matt Mason instead of Barbie.

Check out the image I found on the web. Its the cover to a toy catalog that Mattel put out for the Major Matt Mason line. You see the good Major in his white spacesuit on his space sled flying past you in the foreground. In the background you can see the space crawler and the amazing two to three foot tall space station playset. That was the most amazing toy of the entire line was that space station. You can find YouTube videos of the old tv commercials that Mattel put out. The figure had a internal wire armature that was easly broken after years (or sometimes, just months of hard play).

Taking a quick looks see thru the different MMM website tonight, Mattel is taking back its creation from some people who got ahold of the creative license to Major Matt Mason when Mattel wasn't paying attention to such details. A part of me hopes that Mattel will re-launch the Major Matt Mason figure line using better technology (no more internal wires to break, hint, hint). With our slow pace return back to the moon with the Constellation/Aries Project - and the (Not) Space Race with a emerging China and India; the need for a new Major Matt Mason to inspire a new generation of American children to become scientists is sorely needed.

Which in a way brings us full circle back to Buck Rogers. No cash for the space program - no Buck Rogers (to borrow that line from the movie "The Right Stuff." ) But I am hearing that it might be reivived as a movie project for release in 2010 or 2011. On a personal note, I hope that this new Buck Rogers is treated the same way that the new Battlestar Galactica was done.