Good morning, everyone! In honor of G.I.Joe day, this week we’re doing something a bit different – Rather than dive into a Saturday Morning Cartoon, we’re going to explore a part of that Saturday morning experience that was just as important as the cartoon – the commercials!
With that, we’re going to join Carson from 3DJoes for a very special panel he held way back at JoeCon2018. The panel in question brought us behind the scenes of G.I.Joe’s first ever live-action micro movie! These commercials weren’t like anything we had seen before. Here’s the scoop –
G.I.Joe’s 1991 toy commercials changed gears and replaced animation with live-action actors and actresses and life size vehicles. These commercials were serial, a first for G.I.Joe, and told the linear story of G.I.Joe and Cobra battling for control of “Plasmatox.” Filming was completed in December 1990, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at North Shore Studios, Lot 3, with Cannel Films (now Lions Gate). Kirk Bozigian, former Vice President of Marketing for Hasbro, filmed nearly 3 hours of behind the scenes footage over the 3.5 weeks of filming. 28 years later, he mailed us those tapes. Together, we premiered this nearly 30 year old footage for the first time anywhere at the final Hasbro sponsored G.I. Joe Collectors’ Convention. Now the “homefront heroes” can enjoy stories of what happened behind the scenes of G.I.Joe’s first live-action micro-movie!
Thanks to: Kirk Bozigian, for your trust and friendship. We are honored to help share these stories. The Triangle Joes: Sean J. Burg, Josh Scherer, Chad Hucal, Jim Carlisi, and Benjamin Thomas for filming the event and to Gray Childs for manning the booth in my absence. The JoeCon attendees that attended en masse and fed us good energy throughout the panel. And finally to the GIJoeCon (Official) for giving us a fantastic time slot before Kirk’s and Larry’s panel (more to come on that panel at a later date!).
How absolutely awesome was that? I’m so thankful that Carson put this together and to Kirk for narrating this trip down memory lane. I recall these commercials airing when I was in high school, so for me, it was so cool to see G.I.Joe in a live-action format, seeing that we never had anything like that before.
Now, before we head out, there’s no way that we can talk commercials and G.I.Joe day without checking out a few commercials of the original fighting man from head to toe! Check out these G.I.Joe commercials from 1966, courtesy of PeriscopeFilm –
These TV commercials for Hasbro toys’ 12″ G.I. Joe action figures date to 1966. Featured are the new U.S. Army G.I. Joes including a machine gunner and mountain ski troops. At :30 the Green Beret G.I. Joe with bazooka is shown. At :45 the G.I. Joe Army Jeep is shown complete with searchlight. At 1:09 the new G.I. Joe Navy dolls are shown including the deep sea diver and Sea Sled with frogman. At 2:11 the U.S. Marine Corps series of dolls are shown including a mine sweeper doll and footlocker. The Let’s Go Joe game is shown at 2:45. At 3:11 the new space capsule is shown along with U.S. Air Force dolls, including a firefighter and astronaut (3:45). At 3:59 a 45 rpm record player is shown playing an accompanying record of a space launch. At 4:15, a TV commercial promotes the Action Soldiers of the World including a WWII Russian infantryman, German infantryman, Imperial Japanese infantryman, French underground fighter, Australian jungle fighter, and British commando. These dolls included custom equipment for each nation’s army. At 5:11, large collections of G.I. Joe dolls are shown in diorama type settings, emphasizing the “own them all” aspect of the toys.
The G.I. Joe line of action figures was developed in 1963 by Stanley Weston, a licensing agent, who pitched the idea of a 12″ military doll to Hasbro. The initial product offering in 1964 represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier (U.S. Army), Action Sailor (U.S. Navy), Action Pilot (U.S. Air Force), Action Marine (U.S. Marine Corps) and later on, the Action Nurse.
Due to public dismay at the course that the Vietnam War was taking, G.I. Joe dolls eventually were distanced from the military, and a new “action” line introduced featuring adventurer and explorer dolls. These were sold under the moniker “The Adventures of G.I. Joe”. By 1976, with the high price of oil influencing the cost of plastic toys, and waning interest, G.I. Joe was discontinued. It would later be revived in a smaller format. The toy was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2004.
I hope you enjoyed today’s Saturday morning segment! We’ll return back to cartoon goodness next week, so stay tuned!
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