- Who
- G.I. Joe
- What
- First first
- Where
- United States ()
- When
- 1964
The first toy ever marketed as an "action figure" was G.I. Joe, made by Hasbro (USA), which went on sale in 1964 with great success. Two years later, it was licenced to British toymaker Palitoy under the name Action Man. More than 50 years on, G.I. Joe figures are still being produced.
The original figure, with no less than 19 articulated joints, was invented by Don Levine (USA), Hasbro's Vice President and Director of Marketing and Development, as a boys' alternative to Barbie dolls, which had debuted in 1959. The G.I. Joe character is derived from a comic strip in the 1940s and, following the toy's success, has starred in TV series, feature-length movies and videogames.
