This is not my advertisement, but I certainly remember the ad from when I was a kid, and my brother had this exact same GI Joe!
Of course I own a GI Joe today, and I’ve designed some attractive clothing for him, which you can find on this page, on ChellyWood.com.
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Now as I’ve said, my brother had the Kung Fu Grip GI Joe when we were kids, and I had Mod Hair Ken, as seen in the brochure image above. To some extent, I envied my brother because I thought GI Joe‘s beard looked a lot more realistic than Mod Ken‘s moustaches and beards!
GI Joe seemed more masculine to me, which I found appealing, and he was super articulated, at a time when articulated fashion dolls really weren’t a thing yet. Barbie could move at the neck, the waist (sometimes), shoulder joints, and hips, and her knees would bend with a click.
But Ken was even less articulated. I didn’t own a Ken that would move at the waist until well into adulthood, so as a child playing with Ken, he always looked awkward when he danced with Barbie, holding their hands way above their heads while gripping Barbie’s waist at a weird angle.
There were some playtime frustrations with this. “Come on, Ken,” I would say during playtime, “can’t you just hold her hand like a normal boyfriend?”
When GI Joe came out, oh my gosh! Of course I tried to pair him up with Barbie when my brother wasn’t looking.
But to my disappointment, the original GI Joe was a little too short for Barbie. Yes, he could grip her waist with his Kung Fu hands, which were awesome! He could hold her hand awkwardly like a guy on his first date, all gushy and romantic, but ugh… He was so short!
Of course today I’ve got nothing against a short guy with a Kung Fu grip! Hee hee hee!
I guess I’ve matured a bit. As a grown woman, I understand that what you want in a man is the romance! Take me dancing! Hold my hand in public! That’s what makes a man worth keeping. (It helps if he can change my oil and open a jar of pickles too.)
But height? Meh. Who cares how tall he is? I certainly don’t.
What are your memories of GI Joe? And who do you think makes the best dance partner for Barbie? Ken or GI Joe? Please leave a comment!
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Chelly Wood and the ChellyWood.com website are not affiliated with any of the doll or toy companies mentioned in this blog post, but Chelly enjoys designing her doll clothes to fit a variety of dolls. To learn more about the doll companies mentioned in today’s post, please visit the doll or toy company’s website.
Hi, Chelly. I’m one of those people who has a brother who owned a GI Joe action figure when he was a kid and I had a Barbie doll. Like you, I paired Barbie with GI Joe, but he ended up marrying Darci, who was a thorn on Barbie’s side. Thanks for today’s blog post.
Poor Barbie! How heartbreaking!
Oh, one more thing. Ken is a better partner for Barbie than GI Joe nowadays.
When my youngest granddaughter was about 4, she’s is now 24, we were playing Barbie dress up as a bride. I handed her a Ken doll for the husband and she said, “No, Mommie needs a real man” as she handed me a GI Joe.
From the mouths of babes…
You reminded me if this commercial
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c4HQmuNEZak
That commercial is awesome! I hope everyone reading the comments takes a minute to go watch it!
I think I have to go with Ken. My granddaughter inherited all her father’s GI Joes to play with (5 of them,) and they are sooo chunky. Maybe we just have a preference for skinny dad bodies, but we just always get Ken for the important man of the day, and the GI Joes are just “the husbands” of the choir of Barbies in the background. Those boots on Joe are almost impossible to get off, so he always looks like he’s going hunting. When I was making clothes, I made several Ken outfits, but only two for the Joes. The rest wear their army outfits all the time.
“GI Joes are just ‘the husbands’ of the choir of Barbies in the background” — I love that term, “choir of Barbies!” I can totally picture that!
Am I the only one that has never had her barbie dance? I didn’t dance so she never did so Ken and gijoe didn’t either. About 35 years ago I found a $6 gijoe who barked orders when you pulled his tag. Not a good conversationalist for the ladies. Still a neat man doll.
It would be funny to pair pull-the-string GI Joe with pull-the-string Barbie and see how the conversation goes!
GI Joe: I’ve got a tough assignment for you.
Barbie: Math class is tough!
GI Joe: This is going to be rough. Can you handle it?
Barbie: Let’s go shopping!
GI Joe: We must get there before dark. Follow me!
LOL! 🤣
Hi Chelly,
I was born in Brazil in the early 1980s. So our options were different from an American girl, and have to be explained.
At the time I started playing with Barbies, Mattel licensed them (and Ken) to a Brazilian toy manufacturer called Brinquedos Estrela (Star Toys). GI Joes were licensed to the same company, but at the time they were mini action figures. Not too short, but really in the wrong scale – 1:12 figures, about the size of a Chelsea doll.
Estrela’s Barbies had the same articulation as Mattel’s, by comparing mine and an imported one a friend of mine had, but some of them could have wrist articulation, and click-and-bend elbows.
But if you were lucky, your brother might have a Falcon. Falcon was manufactured by Estrela until about 1981. He was a very masculine action figure, with flocked hair and beard, standing 30 cm tall.
He got his name because not only was he fully articulated, but he also had a lever on the back of his neck that moved his eyes. A very expressive dance partner who didn’t have the problem of being too short for her.
I can say that for most girls who had a Falcon on hand, he seemed like a more interesting partner for Barbie than Ken. I have no brother, but I did try to “borrow” Falcon from a cousin a few times for a date with Barbie.
As for changing my mind about shorter men, at age fifteen I was already 5’10. An inch taller than the average Brazilian male, and growing. I realized pretty quickly that if I was picky about a man’s height, I would be, well, quite short on options.
What an awesome comment you left for us, Débora! Thank you for your side of the story!
I have never heard of a Barbie with a click-and-bend elbow. This is completely new to me! Are they still available in Brazil? And if so, how would I get one?
After reading your comment, I immediately googled “Falcon 1:6 scale action figure” and discovered that they are available to Americans on eBay, but they’re expensive. Wow! Thank you so much for sharing this information with my audience!
After my search for Falcon, I did a search for Estrela Barbies from Brazil. Whoa! These are amazing little dolls! Some are very expensive, but there are also sellers on eBay who don’t realize they have a rare and unusual Barbie, so they’re only asking like $40 for them. You can find some hidden gems among the Estrela Barbies on eBay!
Again, thank you, Débora, for pointing this out to my audience. If you don’t mind, I may do a full blog post on this topic. I’m not sure all of my readers noticed your comment, but I would like to draw their attention to all this juicy information that may be new to American doll collectors!
Hi, Chelly!
I’m glad you found my comment useful. Estrela was known for their good quality toys.
At least I thought they were adorable dolls. They had very soft Italian hair, made of Nylon, I think, of extraordinary quality, but that could be easily ruined by rough playing.
I did mess mine’s beyond fixing, to say the true!
And by following the link you provided I just realized that eBay in the United States has much better options for Barbie Estrela than those available in Brazil.
On Brazilian websites we usually find them very used, with messy hair and missing accessories, and they are not even cheaper.
I had never found one in the box before.
But be careful when buying them because not all Estrela models have the click-and-bent elbows, only the older ones.
Very helpful… Thank you for responding to my questions!