stands, in popular usage, for Government Issue and became a generic term for U.S. soldiers (predating the action figures), especially ground forces.

The Hassenfeld Brothers[2] (Hasbro) of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, began selling the first "action figure" targeted especially at boys in the early 1960s.

"Action figure" was the only acceptable term and has since become the generic description for any posable doll intended for boys.

'America's movable fighting man' is a registered trademark of Hasbro, and was prominently displayed on every boxed figure package.

[4] Sam Speers, then of Hasbro's product development team, is primarily credited with the specific almost 30 cm (12") tall articulated figure design as produced by Hasbro; his name appears on the patent # 3,277,602 "Toy figure having movable joints", assigned on October 11, 1966.

The all-important packaging graphics were sub-contracted to Thresher and Petrucci Art Studio, a company based nearby that had previously produced freelance work for Hasbro.

It was correctly assumed that competitors would try to emulate or outright copy the concept, so the idea was to offer a broad range of accessory items from the very start.

The ongoing situation in Vietnam, and the growing anti-war sentiment of the late sixties signaled the end of the early years of G.I.

Instead of military sets, the mostly recycled materials from earlier years were given names such as "Fight for Survival", "Danger of the Depths", "Mysterious Explosion", "Secret Mission to Spy Island" and "Mouth of Doom".

Joe received lifelike hair and beards, courtesy of Hasbro's U.K. licensee Palitoy, leading to the creation of G.I.

The hip balls were made of a softer vinyl that allowed movement while retaining the surface friction required to maintain a pose.

This level of attention to detail was costly to manufacture, and had caused product development no end of grief to devise, as simple as the result seemed.

The fact that so many still exist intact after more than forty years is a testament to the production quality that Hasbro demanded of its manufacturing plants.

Cheap imitations of Hasbro's product did not bother with such detail, resulting in figures that lacked anything like the poseability and longevity of G.I.

There were in fact a number of variations in construction and markings of the figure as produced in the first few years, the fine points of which can be found in the listed reference books.

Another obvious variation was the early bodies with slotted shoulder joints and smaller feet than those of just a year or two later.

Others include less obvious variations in hand detailing, coloration and size; some early figures had no trademarkings at all; some have brass rivets on all or some of the joints.

In 1965 an American-ethnic version of the basic soldier was offered; it was simply a caucasian feature figure molded in brown vinyl instead of the pink used otherwise.

Late Black, Red, Blonde and Brown talker heads were of a softer vinyl, essentially the same as those used for flocking in the Adventurer series introduced in 1970.

The background coloration depended on the branch; wood grain was used for soldier/marine, bright yellow was used for pilot, and blue was used for sailor.

A folded leaflet was included in the box that illustrated all four branches, and all accessories (similar to this 60s Action Man version), along with a user's manual.

Each branch of the U.S. military was represented with uniform/equipment sets; the navy sets included a frogman, with real rubber 3-piece wetsuit (jacket, trousers and hood); a deep sea diver, with rubberized suit, bell helmet, weights and other detailed accessories, a landing signal officer and others.

Early items were produced in Japan, then all production was switched to Hong Kong, and this change is reflected in the tags.

The lid had a decal insert that itemised all the Combat Soldier accessories it contained, matching the actual tray layout.

These were of the blow-mold variety, and suffered from lack of detail, disproportionate scaling, and longevity as a result of the cheaper production method.

The race car is similar in design to the more elaborate motorized version sold by Palitoy in the UK around the same time.

The figures were generally available in all Blonde, Black, Brown and Auburn hair variants, with the appropriate eye colors.