The toy line that revolves around an elite counter-terrorist team was also the first action figure doll for boys. G.I. Joe, whose main purpose is to defend human freedom from Cobra, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world.The name G.I Joe stands for “Government Issued Joe.” In World War II this term was used because everything in a soldier's life in the field was government issued to the point that it seemed the soldiers themselves were government property as well. American's were called “Joe” by many of our foreign allies like we called the French “Frogs” and the British “Limeys” so GI Joe was a term that meant US Soldier.
The first G.I. Joe TV cartoon series was produced by Marvel Productions and Sunbow Productions following the success of the toy line by Hasbro. G.I. Joe premiered as a five part mini series on September 1983 and earned high remarks on its animated introduction that is why a second mini series was made entitled, G.I. Joe “The Revenge of Cobra”, on September 1984.The cartoon had its beginnings with two five part mini series then later on became a regular series that ran in syndication from 1985 to 1987. Ron Friedman, is a productive screenwriter most famous for his work on such successful television shows as G.I. Joe, Gilligan's Island and The Transformers. He created the G.I. Joe animated series for television and wrote all four mini series. The fourth mini series was intended to be a feature film, but was released as a television mini series instead because of production difficulties issues. Some says that the GI Joe movie was the modern story of “GI Joe vs Cobra.”
The characters were created by Hasbro about 25 years ago and are popular among the others. The story of GI Joe Team led by Duke who will always fight for freedom wherever there is trouble against the villain , Cobra Commander and his army of Cobra fighters.
For the new fans of G.I Joe, here is some juicy trivia. The Real American Hero was a revival of the original 12 in 30 cm G.I. Joe brand of the 1960s and '70s. After the 12 figure had been absent from toy shelves for a few years, G.I. Joe was re-introduced in a 3+3⁄4 in 9.53 cm action figure format following the success of the Star Wars and Micronauts 3 3/4' scale toy lines. In 1982, prior to the G.I Joe re-launch, a man named Larry Hama developed an idea for a new comic book called Fury Force, which he was thinking would be an ongoing series for Marvel Comics. The original premise had the son of Shield director Nick Fury assembling a team of elite commandos to battle neo-Nazi terrorists Hydra. The idea was mixed, but Hama used the basic premise when he learned of Hasbro's plans to resurrect the G.I. Joe toy line. Each G.I. Joe figure included a character biography, called a "file card". Hama was largely responsible for writing these file cards, especially for the first ten years. When developing many of the characters, he drew much from his own experiences in the US military.
Many of you were probably huge G.I. Joe fans specially since your younger years. If you're just new, then you should start watching G.I Joe Complete DVD collection on your screens!
Image source:
http://i.newsarama.com
