Saturday 11 June 2011

21 MOVEABLE PARTS? I HOPE NOT...



You're looking at the design patent of G.I. JOE, first released in 1964 by HASBRO (Hassenfeld Brothers).  Look at the illustration closely - count the parts.  I make it 20, yet the ads which used to appear in American comicbooks back in the '60s (The Adventures of Andy and George), it was claimed that ol' Joe had 21 moveable parts.  So I just have to ask - did he originally have an extra part that was 'removed' before he went into full-scale production?  And if so, what do you think it was?  (The mind boggles.)

And in case you ever wondered, 'G.I.' apparently stands for Government Issue, though competing explanations include Galvanized Iron (after the initials stamped on metal military equipment), General Infantryman, or an army classification rendered in Roman numerals - GI.  No doubt there are various others.

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2 comments:

  1. Steve Does Comics11 June 2011 at 15:55

    My version had his lower leg missing, so he had fewer moving parts than even that. I didn't let his lack of leggage interfere with his adventures, and I'm glad to say he could still destroy a Lego robot with the best of them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kid12 June 2011 at 00:47

    That G.I. Joe - bit of an Action Man, wasn't he?!

    ReplyDelete

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