G. I. Joe Classic Collection

"G.I. Joe: Classic Collection" is an action-figure-and-accessories set produced by Hasbro US in a style initially influenced by the Hasbro GI Joe products of the 60s.

Introduction

With the renewed interest in 12" action figures of all kinds, Hasbro decided to go beyond the 12" versions of their "Hall of Fame" G.I. Joe line and reintroduce a series of figure closer in spirit to the original G.I. Joe lineup.Hasbro's G I Joe Classic Collection figures were first released in 1996, under the Kenner brand. As an aside, Kenner was formerly a rival toy manufacturer, they bought the rights to and produced The Six Million Dollar Man action figure in the 70s, that created stiff competition for the GI Joe line. Hasbro produced the "Atomic Man" to try and compete.

The following four figures were the initial Classic Collection offering: U.S. Army Infantry (desert camo), British SAS, Australian ODF and U.S. Airborne Ranger. Over the next few years a wide range of figures was released, with excellent overall attention to equipment and clothing detail. Minor changes were made to the actual figure during the "Classic Collection" run, until the broader G.I. Joe releases that used the same body, at which point variants with "fuzz heads", "kung fu" grip and greater articulation were introduced. This line re-introduced the attention to detail and range of equipment/uniforms that had made the original figure popular in the 60's. Although sold as a toy, a prime target market was the then growing G.I.Joe collector's market. This line sparked a resurgence in 12" military action figures; a number of other companies began selling a wide range of military sets and vehicles, in most cases with more attention to detail than the Hasbro lineup, but not necessarily of a higher quality. In any event, this created a lot of competition for Hasbro's new G.I. Joe. Some figures were extremely close in detail and construction, such as this , even though it seems a blatant copy of Hasbro's product. Later, companies such as Dragon Models Limited produced figures with a far greater range of articulation & detail, at a premium price, but nonetheless very appealing to collectors.

Refer to main G.I.Joe page for information on other Hasbro G I Joes.

Bodies

Various ethnicities in addition to African American were implied through different skin tones and head sculpt variations. These figures offered a higher level of articulation than the Hall Of Fame (HOF) figures offered earlier in the 90's, or the G.I.Joe store exclusives from 1996 (Airborne MP, Battle of the Bulge, Dress Marine, Navy Seal w/raft, Navy Admiral, and others) that were based on the HOF body, with an adaptation of the original 60's head sculpt. and the weapons were more appropriately scaled to the figures. The bodies were also closer in spirit to the original G I Joe of the sixties, articulated in a similar fashion, albeit of a much heavier plastic, with stiff joints which negatively impacted the posability of the figures. The faces featured the trademark scar on the right cheek, and initially only one head mold was used, with the exception of the African American figure. All these early heads had a "flat-top" crewcut look. Later issues after the end of the deluxe windowbox format offered a variety of head molds, although the heads themselves were no longer as proportionate to the body, generally on the small side, including the flat-top version. The hands were also an improvement over the bulky HOF hand design, but still not to the level of the 70's kung-fu grip, and were still somewhat over-sized, with no separation of the fingers (although deft use of an xacto knife easily remedied this aspect). Later issue hands were smaller and more proportionate, some had fingers that pivoted on a pin running through the knuckles. The clothing and footware was arguably of a more realistic nature than the earlier figures.

Tags

All the outfits have a shirt tag similar to the vintage era, with "made in China" as opposed to the "made in Hong Kong" tag of yore. All figures came with two dog tags on a single chain; one with the GI Joe logo, the other indicating the represented branch/outfit the figure belonged to. This tag design was introduced with the GI Joe Hall of Fame series or figures.

Packaging

The window-box packaging used for the first couple of years was intended to reflect the 60's G I Joe packaging style, including the wood grain background and the excellent graphic representations of the enclosed soldier. Carded were also offered, also reflecting the 60's woodgrain packaging graphics. Special edition figures were also released through the Hasbro-authorized [http://www.gijoeclub.com/Official G I Joe Collectors Club] , and through a number of retail stores, FAO Schwartz being the most exclusive (and expensive) offerings, such as the F15E Fighter Pilot, which retailed for $135 USD at the time of release.

Footlocker

The Classic Collection received its own footlocker; modelled after the 1975 GI Joe version; it was all plastic, with plastic clasp and hinges, but had cord carry handles, unlike the 1975 version. The overall dimensions were virtually identical to its older sibling, with "reinforced" corners, but with a hinge that ran the entire length. The tray insert was quite different, being of black plastic with a lift handle in the center.

1996 Classic Collection Releases

This represents an example of the initial 1996 release, which included U.S. Army Infantry (desert camo), British SAS, Australian ODF and U.S. Airborne Ranger.

FAO Schwartz Exclusive F15E Fighter Pilot

Only sold through FAO Schwartz stores, this was one of a number of exclusive (and expensive) offerings, clearly not priced for the average child.

1997 Classic Collection releases

The following year saw the release of the U.S. Army Tank Commander, U.S. Marine Corp Sniper and French Foreign Legion, followed by the Modern Forces Assortment.

Classic Collection Tuskegee Airmen

Modern Forces Assortment

The subsequent 1997-on windowbox figures were sold under the Classic Collection Modern Forces Assortment

These included U.S. Army Drill Sargent, Belgian Para-Commando, U.S. Army Helicopter Pilot (G.I. Jane), U.S.M.C. Force Recon, U.S. Navy Blue Angel, U.S. 82nd Airborne (G.I. Jane), U.S. Army Coldweather, U.S. Navy Fuel Handler, and others

Additional Classic Collection

Other figures were also sold under this banner, still in the window box format, but under a variety of categories; included were "D-Day Salute", Shuttle Astronaut, Mercury Astronaut, PT-Boat Commander, B-17 Bomber Crewman, MOH Francis S. Curry and U.S. Army & Navy Footballers. The same body mold was used, with heads particular to the character portrayed.

Classic Collection Historical Commanders

General Colin L. Powell, General Omar N. Bradley, General George Patton, General Dwight Eisenhower and General George Washington (not shown). Again, bodies were all the same mold, with head mold particular to the character portrayed.

=Later versions=

Although the Classic Collection motif was dropped, the figure was still used in a wide variety of packaging formats, including Vehicle/Figure sets, Adventure Team sets, Foreign Soldier sets, and many economy priced basic figure sets before the 12' line was discontinued. Categories such as "Alpha, Bravo, Delta, Echo and Golf" were used to designate the various lines. Some of these featured a body with greater articulation, no doubt in response to the success of competition that offered better figures with articulation than Hasbro's offerings.

For the 35th anniversary of GI Joe, there was a combined Timeless/Classic Collection window-boxed set featuring a replica 60's Joe, and a modern army soldier:

Vehicles

There were a number of large boxed vehicles released after the first couple of years; Desert Light Strike Vehicle (with driver), Harley Davidson (with rider), Navy Gunner, and others. By this time, Hasbro faced stiff competition from other companies such as 21st Century Toys, Dragon, and others, that were producing high-quality scale vehicles for 12" action figures.

Adventure Team sets

These were themed after the original 70's releases, but came with adversarial figures of a meaningful size- unlike the pgymy gorilla, baby shark, etc., that accompanied the originals.

These figures had bearded fuzzheads, and either gripping hands, or a variant with pivoting fingers.

= Links =

*G.I. Joe
*Action Man

=External links=
* [http://www.gijoe.com Official G.I. Joe website]
* [http://gijoe.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Joepedia: The G.I. Joe Wiki]