The following in red was originally printed in the G.I.JOE Fact and Yearbook printed in 1985. I found that a large part of what they have said best describes G.I.JOE's past. Since it was printed in 1985, I'm adding more to it at the end.

The world first laid eyes on G.I.JOE in 1964, at a place that seems both unlikely but also to make sense: a Toy Fair. You know and I know that G.I.JOE has never exactly been a "toy". Rather, G.I.JOE is a way of life, a state of mind. But when you come out with a product for people under 18 - especially a doll that's 11 1/2" tall, lifelike, with 21 moving parts and a scarred face - invariably is falls under the catagory of "toy", like it or not.

In 1968, JOE spoke his first words, when the first Talking JOE was introduced. And the JOE phenomenon really took off! 1969 saw JOE's Fan Club swell in size, equalling in number the population of Colorado. There were now JOEs from every branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, as well as several foreign armed forces, too.

1969 also saw the JOEs get into the world of secret agent undercover work, as "action soldiers". Accompanied by a book, The Adventures of G.I.JOE, kids could now realistically reenact the JOE's battles with a battalion of accessories. Over the next six years, 50 new Adventures were added to the line.

The G.I.Joe Adventure Team came to being in 1970 - JOE was joined by four allies who helped him defend the earth.

By 1974, JOE had gone the way of many, getting into martial arts, and his KUNG FU grip was introduced.

1975 saw JOE take off on another irresistible trend; a bionic warrior, G.I.JOE "ATOMIC MAN", sold over 1 million pieces in the year it was introduced.

JOE got even more actionable in 1976; "Eagle Eye" JOE joined us with movable eyes. And the JOES were joined by superhuman "Bulletman". Now, the JOEs really had something heavy to fight against, too ... The Intruders, their first enemy force, were introduced. Strong and equipped with "crusher grip" arms, they were aliens and arch rivals from another world.

In 1976, the "Defenders" were introduced - a line of rotationally molded mannequins in the tradition of G.I.JOE.

Finally, in 1977, JOE launched into orbit, as "Super Joe" in his Space Adventures. Equipped with laser lights, the JOEs defend the universe against evil. Meanwhile, back on planet earth, the JOEs were getting into more traditional modes of combat, as the JOE with the "1-2 punch" hit the market.

In 1978, the JOEs laid low, as domestic marketing of the G.I.JOE category was discontinued.

But the JOEs gathered strength and came back fighting! And by 1982, a new G.I.JOE, "Real American Hero" was brought out in the new 3 3/4" size. At first there were 13 fully posable figures to choose from, including Scarlett, the only female. They're all equipped with uiforms, weapons and vehicles modeled after the modern Army designs of the 1980's and 1990's.

The JOEs are back. They're stronger than ever ... Their forces are growing, and their technology will no doubt see them through to 1990, ... 2000, ... and beyond!

Since the writting of that history, much has happened! The line as we knew it came to a close in 1992. It didn't quite make it to 2000 in the way that article had said. It did however make it! 1997 brought us new G.I.JOEs! They were Toys R Us exclusives and sold very well! Hasbro was given the heads up to see the line might be ready to come back. In fact it was popular enough that as just an exclusive, it was brought back for 1998.

The year 2000 marked the relaunch of G.I.JOE being released in mass scale. It is the hopes that G.I.Joe may get to be as popular as it once was. With everyone's interest, it looks like it may happen!

An interesting fact that I was looking at while typing this, if you see how Hasbro had introduced the line and kept it military then introduced a "gimic" such as the kung-fu grip, then later brought in the action team, an enemy, then yet another "gimic", finally introducing aliens, and having G.I.JOE to space, you might see a trend happening! This is the same thing they did with the 3 3/4" figures. The line came out and was military. The swivel arm grip was introduced, the "gimic". The battle corps teams were introduced, more "gimics" (the spring launchers), finally the aliens, then the line died.

Let's hope that Hasbro will break this trend and get things on track with how we the collector want to see things!