The End of an Era

As the price of oil climbed and the popularity of GI Joe appeared in decline, Hasbro decided to cancel the line. The previous two years had seen cheaper figures and play sets issued to curb the rising costs of plastics. To sell off existing stock Hasbro issued a set of blow molded figures called the Defenders. These were cheap figures jointed only at the arms and legs. The head was taken from the Bulletman figure and a few play sets were issued to sell off existing accessories. Interestingly enough the one item from this line that has become highly collectible is the Iron Knight Tank. Hasbro issued little in the way of quality vehicles during the military era of GI Joe, therefore the Defenders tank is highly prized by collectors of the early Joes. Of course in 1977 and 1978 the travesty continued with Super Joe. The Super Joe Adventure Team was a series of 8" figures based on a sci fi theme. No one bought it and the era of GI Joe ended...

Well, that's how the official version ends anyway. In all of the books and articles you read about GI Joe they all point to the oil crisis as the reason for the downfall. I have a couple of problems with that theory. #1 Barbie. #2 Action Man. If the oil crisis had such an adverse affect on GI Joe, why didn't it affect Barbie? To my knowledge Barbie never ceased production, as a matter of fact Mattel has kept Barbie at the top of the toy heap year after year. An even more confusing example is Action Man. Apparently there was no oil crisis at all in the U.K. because Action Man continued until 1984 when General Mills finally decided to get out of the toy business and closed Palitoy altogether. Between 1976 and 1984 Palitoy didn't exactly sit back and do nothing with Action Man. They improved the figure by strengthening the Kung Fu Grip hands, adding a sharpshooter position for the head which allowed the figure to fire a weapon from the prone position and they increased the durability of the lifelike body. Unlike the U.S. lifelike body, the Palitoy version still holds together years later. So what's the moral of this story? Palitoy succeeded where Hasbro failed because they improved on the product and continued making improvements.

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