Happy 50th to the REAL Joe...America's movable fighting man!!

Long may his larger version reign. All hail the majesty of the Mobile Command Unit. So say we all!

Amen. And amen.

Can't tell you how much joy those guys brought to me.

And how mad my mom got when I followed Hasbro's directions on how to dig a foxhole for my G.I. Joes in my backyard.

Ah.... the hours spent digging his feet out of those boots....


Good times.

80s cold war classic.

Here's to 50 years of G.I. Joe holding us safe in his kung fu grip.

I'm so glad they shrunk him down when I was a kid. They were the perfect size for my tiny child hands, as I made GI Joes have epic karate and wrestling brawls.

These bigger ones might be cool if you like to dress up GI Joe in different outfits, but I always liked making mine battle.

Johnny West turns 50 next year.

Major Matt Mason in two years.

I still think it's amazing how they got boys to play with dolls like that. It represented a kind of paradigm shift in American childhood.

I used to pretend that Joe was injured in 'Nam.

They weren't dolls.

You stupid girl.

Cooties.

Sorry, I know I shouldn't bait you all like that. But it's hard to resist on these "action figure" threads!

My G.I. Joe wasn't born until 1982.

I was in the full-sized G.I. Joe generation. Honestly, I was very disappointed when the 1982 cartoon and toys came out.

Not only did I have a bunch of G.I. Joe stuff, but I had this Atomic Man that came out as part of the G.I. Joe line. It was like Bionic Man world colliding with G.I. Joe world.

Then they advertised in comic books, and my Bionic Man world, G.I. Joe world, and comic book world were firing on all cylinders.

Half the fun for me was putting together all the vehicles. And applying the decals.

To this day I enjoy putting things together, and I excel at IKEA furniture.