Is it Hammer Time?

When superhero action figures started to make their appearance on toy shelves in the early 1960s, they were mostly versions of little green army men. If you were lucky, you found one of the great six-inch poly figures created by Marx.. During this time, they released a set of Marvel superheroes of Thor, Spiderman, Daredevil, […]

Let’s Have a Big Hand for GI Joe Part 2

GI Joe Saluting Hands in White Gloves There is a fun story behind the GI Joe Millennium Salute. If you have never played with this figure, there is a lever on its back that when you pull it down, it causes the arm to turn and elbow to flip up into a crisp salute. On […]

Let’s Have a Big Hand for GI Joe

Not everyone would agree with me, but I believe the hands-on 1/6th scale figures are extremely important. I believe they absolutely are to kids and collectors, but most employees in toy companies do not understand the significance. Many times, I turned down buying figures because the hands were useless. My definition of useless in this […]

Big Jim’s Early Days of Space Exploration

When I first started working at Mattel in 1984, I poured through every toy catalog I could find. Any that I found tossed in a throw-away pile became part of my personal library. Not only was I reliving my youth seeing old toys that I played with, but I also was able to see some […]

Batteries Included – Electric GI Joes

Electronics are a typical part of modern toys and even the vintage GI Joes. There were only a few Classic Collection Joes which came with electronics such as the lights and motor sounds of the Five Star Jeep or the propeller-driven Sea Sled. Since the large GI Joes were so expensive to begin with, it […]

Robots You Will Get a Bang Out of

If you are a toy collector who focuses only on US toy lines, you may have missed out on another great 1/6th figure, Action Man. This line has always been linked with GI Joe since its release in Europe in 1966. The line was licensed by a Palitoy, a European toy company known for redistributing […]

Taking a Second Look at GI Joe Double Duty

As noted in the article on The Adventures of GI Joe 2010, Hasbro viewed Joes as only for collectors. The 2010 figures were strategically released to dilute the excitement of Mattel’s Max Steele launch – but they actually outsold Max Steel. To keep that momentum going, GI Joe Double Duty was designed specifically for kids. […]

Putting Joe Back into the Hands of Kids: The Adventures of GI Joe 2010

Since 1996, Hasbro had been producing its Classic Collection line of 12” Joes with mostly collectors in mind. Meanwhile, Mattel had been searching to find a way to remarket Big Jim as a modern action figure line. In 1999, Mattel was finally ready to launch Max Steel to fill that void. When Hasbro realized that […]

An Out-of-This-World Experience

Typically, I have focused on older toys, but when a new fun action figure comes along, I am happy to discuss it. In May of 2017, Disney opened an “Avitar” land in the “Animal Kingdom Park” of “Walt Disney World” in Florida. The new land is pretty amazing at making you feel like you are […]

A Head Above the Rest – Pulsar

Late in 1977, Mattel launched Pulsar – the Ultimate Man of Adventure; it was odd timing. The 1/6th (10.5”) scale original GI Joe stopped in 1976 but was reintroduced as Super Joe (8.5”) sized a little smaller than Big Jim (9.0”). In 1978, Big Jim was stopped in the US, but Mattel tried to rekindle some […]