In 1963, noting the commercial success of the Barbie doll for girls, Stan Weston, a toy creator and licensing agent, had merchandising rights to a 1963 Yank TV show The Lieutenant. He presented the show for viewing to Don Levine, the creative director of toy manufacturer Hasbro, both thought the plot of the journeys of Lieutenant played by Gary Lockwood in the 1963 U.S marine Corps appeared like a soap opera. Weston created the concept of a line of Barbie-sized dolls with a military theme that may be marketed to boys. Levine visited a Long Island store called The soldier Shop that sold a variety of militaria including French porcelain dolls in correct cloth Napoleonic uniforms that he combined with the posability of an artist's mannequin. Both men saw the potential of the concept and authorized development. The prototypes were originally named "Rocky the Marine", "Skip the Sailor", and "Ace the Pilot", before Don Levine, inspired by the preferred 1945 film the tale of G.I. Joe, selected the brandless name "G.I. Joe."

The G.I. Joe trademark has been used by Hasbro to title two different toy lines. The original 12-inch line that commenced in 1964 centered around pragmatic action figures. In Britain, this line was licensed to Palitoy and known as Action Man. In 1982, the line was relaunched in a three 3 / 4-inch scale complete with autos, playsets, and a complex background story involving a continuing struggle between the G.I. Joe Team and the malignant Cobra Command. As the Yank line evolved into the Real Yank Hero series, Action Man also changed, by using the same molds and being renamed as Action Force.

Hasbro, who had never made a doll before, produced big amounts of the figure and accessories in record time. The line was launched on Feb second, 1964, with a World War II theme ( though some of the garments and other items were actually of Korean-war vintage ). The G.I. Joe figures were approximately the same physical scale as Barbie dolls11+ half in ( 29.2 cm ) tall in 1 / six scale, which would make the original figures 5 ft 9 in tall in real life.

G.I. Joe is a line of military-themed articulated "action figures" produced by the toy company Hasbro. The original product offering represented 4 of the branches of the U.S. Armed Forces with the Action infantryman ( army ), Action Sailor ( Navy ), Action Pilot ( Air Force ) and Action marine ( Marines ). The term G.I. Stands for Government Issue and changed into a common term for U.S. Squaddies, especially ground forces. The development of G.I. Joe led to the coining of the term "action figure".