Hey guys and girls. As you know, my collection is going to a museum later this year, and along with that, I'm writing some stuff for them.
I know there's lots of knowledge about Joes on this board. And here is something I know all you can help me with: Facts about G.I.Joe.
I need tons of facts, and anything is interesting. It could be a short note about a figure, or something funny, or something ridiculous, or anything.

This could also very well be a fun thread if we manage to get it going.

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The thumbnail on left hand of the original 12" GI Joe is on backwards. Initially a mistake, it later was used a a way of protecting the design copyright.


The first version of Snake Eyes was originally going to be painted like the rest of the first series of 3 3/4" GI Joe, but this was dropped due to budgetary reasons, giving him his distinctive all-black look.

In the early days of the toy line, Cobra's full name was Cobra Command.

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A surprising number of Hasbro employees have "homages" in the ARAH collection. Kirk Bozigian is the model for Law for example.

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Sneak Peek is based on Owen King, son of author Stephen King (who is rumored to have written Crystal Ball's filecard).

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quick, everybody buy their own copies of Mark Bellamo's ULTIMATE GUIDE books, read up, and start posting some of that treasure trove of history/trivia here!



seriously, here's one of my favorite trive bits from the Joe line: Scoop's head sculpt was based on real-life news hound Mike Leonard, the character's filename of Leonard Michaels is an anagram of the reporter's own. He still works for NBC and his website can found here. Knowing the real story behind Scoop makes his part in Operation Dragonfire seem completely "LASER BLAST".

GI Joe ARAH was orriginally pitched as a team of elite operatives lead by Nick Fury; however Nick Fury was given his own team S.H.I.E.L.D. of marvel lore.

Destro's distinctive metal mask is a family tradition passed down from generation to generation.

The name Gi Joe came from the term during World War II for the average soldier. (Gi stands for "Government Issue" Joe is a very common name.)

After heat from parents during the Vietnam War, Gi Joe was changed into an adventurer complete with Life Like Hair, kung fu grip, and a yellow ATV.

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Actually I believe the term G.I. Joe comes from the Burgess Meredith film "The Story of G.I. Joe" made about World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle's stories of American troops in the war. He was one of the first embedded reporters to ever travel with soldiers and report directly from the front line. I want to say he coined the term G.I. Joe but I could be mistaken.

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Captain Tomorrow is actually right about the GI Joe term. G.I. Joe was the slang name for the American Soldier during WWII with "G. I." standing for either "General Issue" or "Government Issue" depending on what reference material you are reading. "Joe" was simply the nickname for the average American soldier, like "hey Joe, where ya going"

Ernie Pyle's movie was released in 1945, and the American Soldier had their nickname well before then. The reason that it is called "The Story of G. I. Joe" is because it is the story of the "average American soldier" as seen through the eyes of the famous (Pulitzer Prize winning) war correspondent.

Though "G. I. Joe" could theoretically mean any U.S. Serviceman, it was more commonly used to refer to U.S. Army Infantrymen.

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Cobra Command's distinctive blue uniforms came from the fact that research as of 1982 showed no country in the world used blue uniforms for their field armies.

However, it was clear who was the influence upon them, as the first Cobras (except Cobra Commander) carried all Warsaw Pact arms, specifically Russian weapons.

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The Joe's first Vehicle the VAMP and its many reincarnations are based upon a concept truck(Lamborghini Cheetah) that was in the design race that brought us the HUMVEE.

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I found a funny one.

Hasbro introduced the term "Action Figure" when they released the original Joe (which obviously was just a counterpart to Mattel's Barbie), so that boys shouldn't have to play with "dolls".

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Several Mego lines and Takara's Microman used the back screw and o-ring style figure construction before Hasbro did with their re-launch of GI Joe as the 3 3/4" A Real American Hero line.

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Nobody gives a damn about Colonel Courage. Seriously.

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Actually the Team was to be called "Fury Force" and led by Nick Fury's son, not actually Nick himself. It included a character named "Spook" who was a masked assassin, carrying a pump action shotgun and a combat knife in his boot. He was the first concept idea for Snake Eyes.

Interestingly enough, he wore a cape and cowl somewhat like batman, and not the mask and visor/googles as he wore when G.I. Joe debuted. Also, the Fury Force pitch included characters who were to later turn up as Hawk and Scarlett. Scarlett rode a motorcycle.

If you're a Snake Eyes fan and want to delve even further back into his inspiration, the "spook" character was inspired by another character on an old western tv show (A silent Indian named Pa-hoo-Ka-Ta-Wah) who carried a knife and a shotgun and was the sidekick of a gambler.

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