12 Inches Figures

In 1963, noting the commercial success of the Barbie doll for girls, Stan Weston, a toy creator and licensing agent, came up with the idea of a Barbie-like line with a military theme that would be marketed to boys. He presented his idea to Don Levine, the creative director of Hasbro, who saw the potential of the idea and approved. The prototypes were originally named "Rocky" (the marine/soldier) "Skip" (the sailor) and "Ace" (the pilot), before Don Levine, inspired by the 1945 film The Story of G.I. Joe, decided on the generic name G.I. Joe.

The line was launched, on February 2, 1964, with a World War II theme. The G.I. Joe figures were approximately the same physical scale as Barbie dolls - 12 inches, or 305 mm, tall. There were originally four figures, one to represent each branch of the Armed Forces. The original 12" G.I. Joe line ended in America in 1976.

Hasbro began releasing new 12" G.I. Joe figures in 1991. The first figure, Duke, was marketed exclusively to Target retail stores.

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