The term “action figure” was coined by the collectors of G.I. Joe first released in February 2nd, 1964.
Posted on 09/14/2012 7:06:46 AM PDT by JoeProBono
Visitors to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis' website have picked G.I. Joe as the top toy of the past century followed by Transformers and Lego blocks.
Museum officials picked their top 100 toys of the past 100 years and more than 24,000 votes were cast online to narrow the list down the top 20, which was topped by G.I. Joe, Transformers, Lego blocks, Barbie and the View-Master.
The list also included the bicycle, Cabbage Patch Kids, Crayons, Play-Doh, Monopoly, Raggedy Ann, Spirograph, Etch A Sketch, Little Golden Books, Hot Wheels, Lincoln Logs, Candyland, Roller Skates, Silly Putty and Mr. Potato Head.
"The feedback and support from the public for this initiative has been extraordinary," said Jeffrey Patchen, president and chief executive officer of the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. "The stories people have shared about intergenerational learning, family traditions and memories has been heartwarming and life-changing in some cases. Toys are a powerful tool for exploration and imagination as we learn and grow. They foster many shared memories across generations and, as was represented in the voting and story sharing for 100 Toys, across cultures as we read stories submitted from Germany, Canada, Australia and Israel."
The term “action figure” was coined by the collectors of G.I. Joe first released in February 2nd, 1964.
Sorry it’s the Hot Wheel for me...coolest toy I ever owned. (Besides my 1987 Fender American Strat and my F150)
We had quite a collection of the original GI Joes — the large ones. I don’t remember what I did with them (probably went to the Goodwill) but I wish I’d kept them. They’d be worth something today. We lived in Berkeley, and there was only one little boy whose parents would allow him to play with those dolls with my son.
We also had a huge collection of Johny and Jane West — Barbie-sized dolls with plastic clothes and horses, barns, etc — even a buffalo — that all 4 kids played with. That way the girls could be in the game.
Yo Joe!
When my Dad saw these he said “boys do not play with dolls” he was in the military for 37 years.
(It was the only way mom could get me to eat my veggies)
GI Joe and BB guns kept me busy for many hours during the summers out in the woods...
I recall having at one time six GI Joes, all with the plastic hair (no fuzzie/no Kung-fu Grip), my first GI Joe was actually Black.
Spent many an hour recreating scenes from the TV show Combat. Unfortunately with them being so large I couldn’t get away with digging foxholes or breastworks. Simply used large river stones.... I even had the Mercury -7 spacecraft... what I wouldn’t give to have some of those things back...
Dolls are for girls.
Daisy BB-gun or an Erector Set or StingRay Bike are what real boys wanted when I was a kid.
If I had to vote among the toys listed, I’d give the nod to Lincoln Logs.
Have’nt seen a dogtag with the notch in it for quite a while.
No Erector Set...electric trains...cap pistols...”spaldeens”?
But then again, this nation voted for Obama so I kinda understand.
EBay is your friend. (Maybe)
As far as I can tell the notch passed out of use circa 1975. I guess it was bothering the volunteers.
"The cow says 'shazooooooooo!'"
"Where?? Where does the cow say that???"
THEY ARE ACTION FIGURES!
Opps, sorry, that I what I had to tell my dad when he'd make fun of my Godzilla toys.
My dad just didn't want me to be a big Pansy, so when I was old enough he got let me use his Favorite toy when he was a kid.
Nah, they cost a pretty penny then (1964-1968) would hate to pay today’s prices.
I recall a few years ago they were re-introduced as collectibles somewhere around $75 or so each... obviously not for throwing around in the dirt.
I too had a spacecraft, but it was sold during the Apollo era, though it could still only fit one astronaut Joe.
“Life-like hair”, but pre-kung-fu-grip.
It came with a (square flexible plastic!) recording of the lunar landing one could play on a record player.
Far and away my favorite toy from that era (five years old).
God only knows how Joe has been re-branded in our present PC milieu.
They reissued it in the late '90s. FAO Schwartz had a couple hidden behind the plushies. I discovered that I still wanted it, but at $199.95 it was in my "if I'm going to spend that much on something it had better shoot real bullets" zone, and I deferred again. I guess I'll never own that darned thing.
Yes, they are not worth anything since they are reproductions, but if one wants to recapture childhood, they are highly recommended.
They are part of Hasbro's "GI Joe Timeless Collection," and cover all branches of the military. US Navy Combat Diver, USAF Scramble Pilot, NASA Astronaut, US Infantry Soldier, US Green Beret, US Marine, etc...
Here are a few images:
I wonder how many people today even realize that they used to put records in magazines?
I own that one, actually, and it’s awesome. FAO put them on clearance at one point!!!
I can’t believe it beat out Silly Putty.
I got the capsule from Santa for Christmas.. It was 1965 and it came with a recording of John Glenn’s radio comms from Mercury -7 launch etc.
By 1970 it was gone (Goodwill as the recipient I imagine)
Same thing happened to my old Gas (Cox fuel) string controlled airplanes....
I don’t think that all of those versions were available when we started our collection (1964), but in addition to regular soldiers, I know that we had a Medic. We definitely would have had a Sailor, if one had been available. They were beautiful toys — well made, durable.
Darn, I missed that. I only got in FAO once before they closed. I got a load of the prices and said “h*ll no.”
Actual toys (robots, spaceships, GI Joe) are capable of doing that, but many kids is this generation view toys as archaic as they prefer digital things like I-pads and video games.
As today's children become more and more surrounded by digital screens, they will become even more unimaginative and uncreative with each passing day.
Some of my best toys went to Goodwill. Frequently before I was done with them. But I blew my Cox car up. I put something other than the standard fuel in it (perhaps Ronsonol? Those years are getting hard to remember.) It did not work well. ;-)
Those are the ones I recall seeing available - Amazing. Would be worth the memories alone, don’t need vintage for vintage’s sake.
As I look at Amazon, the prices for these are creeping skyward as well.
I remember buying one of my grandsons an “historic” GI Joe (full sized) of a Revolutionary War soldier in the late 1990s. I think it was supposed to be George Washington.
Did you shoot your eye out??
I can’t argue with that. GI Joes and their accessories were just too cool!
Johnny and Jane West
I had one of them too.
An Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
The top girl’s toy is easily Barbie.
The top boy’s toy is a different story.
I never played with GI-Joe. The top toy for me was a ball (baseball, basketball, football, kickball) with frisbee being a close 2nd. Of course, those could be called sporting equipment and not toys.
Hot Wheels, I suppose, was my top “real toy,” but it was way down the list from sporting goods.
Oh, I bought lots of those toys for my other grandsons. Woody and and his buddies. They even had the costumes with inflatable wings.
I had that one. Pull his string and he said stuff like, “I have a tough assignment for you” and a couple other things I can’t recall.
I suppose now days he says, “Don’t shoot, I have no ammo!”.
Dude! I learned to shoot and love guns with one of those when I was a kid. I always wanted one for my own but couldn’t find one. When my Dad passed away he willed it to me. Now I have the Remington Model 12 and I miss my Dad.
With the creeping movement of liberalism into everything we see as a society, GI Joe and similar lines are currently being liberalized or even taken out of the market altogether.
These days, it is extremely politically incorrect to take pride in American exceptionalism. Subsequently, it is also a seemingly terrible thing to buy a toy Sherman tank or a US Marine action figure for a child.
I honestly blame a lot of this on the fact that toy companies and liberal mothers seem to unite together in that they don't like the idea of children playing with "war toys."
Even though a considerable number of GI Joe items are dedicated to professions such as emergency rescue and scientific advancement, the "good stuff" is becoming rarer and rarer to find for kids.
Even the children themselves are being subject to liberal lies and brainwashing in the school systems to wrongly believe that uniformed heroes are corrupt.
It is my dream to someday save up enough money to by my Kids the Henry Pump Action .22
I have always wanted one of those myself.
If you thought obtaining one of those was hard in the States, In Germany (where my father if from) Private ownership of firearms was not allowed until after 1956.
Imagine what it must have been like to get an American Pump Action .22 over in West Germany in the 1960's.
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