Although there is some dispute as to what was the first true action figure, it is clear that action figures have been around for quite some time. Early action figures were simply seen as toys that looked like historic characters. Most of these early action figures were political figures and war heroes such as George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte.

The Hasbro toy company introduced modern action figures to the public in the 1960s. In order to compete with a new doll called Barbie from rival Mattel, Hasbro introduced the 12” tall GI Joe ‘Action Figure’ for boys. With the success of the GI Joe line, many other toy companies looked for ways to capitalize on the new craze. In the beginning toy makers concentrated on action figures that were related to comic book and cartoon characters. When the movie Stars Wars was released in the late 1970s, the film company approached toy manufactures to create action figures of both the characters and the vehicles depicted in the movie. On a small toy company called Kenner was willing to take the risk and produce the action figures. The rest as they say is history.

These days you can find action figures of characters from TV shows, movies, cartoons, and real people such as sports figures and celebrities. It seems that there is no end to what manufacturers will produce and what people will purchase. The wide variety of available action figures has moved many of these objects from the realm of toys to collectables. There are now many clubs, publications, and websites devoted to the hobby of collecting action figures. I wish now my mom had not thrown out by old GI Joe.