G.I. Joe

G.I. Joe is a line of action figures produced and owned by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering 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 (USAF), Action Marine (USMC) and later on, the Action Nurse. "G.I." is a generic term for U.S. soldiers. The development of G.I. Joe led to the coining of the term "action figure". G.I. Joe's appeal to children has made it an American icon among toys.

The G.I. Joe trademark has been used by Hasbro to title two different toy lines. The original 12-inch (30 cm) line that began in 1964 centered on realistic action figures. In the United Kingdom, this line was licensed to Palitoy and known as Action Man. In 1982, the line was relaunched in a 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) scale complete with vehicles, playsets, and a complex background story involving an ongoing struggle between the G.I. Joe Team and the evil Cobra Command which seeks to take over the Free World through terrorism. As the American line evolved into the Real American Hero series, Action Man also changed, by using the same molds and being renamed as Action Force. Although the members of the G.I. Joe team are not superheroes, they all had expertise in areas such as martial arts, weapons and explosives.

G.I. Joe (pigeon)

G.I. Joe (March 24, 1943 in Algiers - June 3, 1961 in Detroit) was a pigeon noted for his service in the United States Army Pigeon Service.

During the Italian Campaign of World War II, G.I. Joe saved the lives of the inhabitants of the village of Calvi Vecchia, Italy, and of the British troops of 56th (London) Infantry Division occupying it. Air support had been requested against German positions at Calvi Vecchia on 18 October 1943, but the message that the 169th (London) Infantry Brigade had captured the village, delivered by G.I. Joe, arrived just in time to avoid the bombing. G.I. Joe flew this 20 mile distance in an impressive 20 minutes, just as the planes were preparing to take off for the target. Up to a thousand men were saved.

On 4 November 1946, G.I. Joe was presented the Dickin Medal for gallantry by Major-General Charles Keightley at the Tower on London, the citation credits him with the most outstanding flight made by a United States Army homing pigeon in World War II. G.I. Joe was the 29th and the first non-British recipient of the medal.

G.I. Joe (NES video game)

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is a 1991 run and gun game published by Taxan for the Nintendo Entertainment System based on the toyline of the same name. The game was produced by Ken Lobb and developed by the same Japanese team that later formed KID. Another NES G.I. Joe game, G.I. Joe: The Atlantis Factor, was released the following year, but was published by Capcom instead of Taxan.

Gameplay

The player takes control of a team of three G.I. Joe characters, each with their own specialty. The player's goal is to navigate through six stages (with several areas each) on a mission to finally bring down Cobra. The initial character roster consists of Duke, Snake Eyes, Blizzard, Captain Grid-Iron, and Rock 'n Roll. A sixth character, Hawk, gives orders to the team between missions, and becomes available as a playable character for the final stage. Each level had a character that was pre-determined to lead the team, meaning that one character in the given area would be chosen by default, and the player would then select the two other operatives to complete their team.