Lifelike Hair

In 1970 Hasbro introduced an expansion of the previous years "Adventures of" line. Ads for the new line declared "These brave Adventurers were designed to relive the adventures of America's favorite men, dedicated to working together for the good of all mankind." In Adventure Team club materials Hasbro printed stories on famous adventurers such as: Thor Heyerdahl, Richard Byrd and Jacques Cousteau. This helped push GI Joe farther away from his military image and gave a legitimacy to the new identity.

The new figures featured lifelike hair for the first time. The flocked hair procedure in which simulated hair fibers were sprayed onto the figures head was devised by Palitoy, the British licensee of GI Joe. Most of the figures also sported a very non-military beard, a far cry from the clean cut figures of the 1960's. A number of people have commented the Adventure Team figures resembled the astronauts from Planet of the Apes. Though no one at Hasbro has confirmed this connection, the timing was right.

The transition was now complete: The Marine was now a Land Adventurer, the Pilot was an Air Adventurer, The Soldier became a Man of Action and the Sailor became a Sea Adventurer. Further additions included the Talking Adventure Team Commander, The Adventurer, a black figure without a beard and an Astronaut figure.

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