The History of GI Joe: A Real American Hero (1985 Edition) 

DEAR , GOD. LET ME GO BACK TO 1985- 1989! I WANT MY CHILDHOOD BACK

I’m jealous, wish I still had all my Joes. Man, I miss being a kid in the 80s, we had the best toys ever.

1985 wasn't just the peak of GI Joe. It was also the peak of everything else we'll ever know as human beings

The 80's and 90's were the golden years about toys and cartoons. Excellent video, so many memories about see these toys.

Best toy line ever created, the show and the toys, epic. Every little guy in the mid 80’s with a sandbox regrets the sandbox wars.

We had so many GI Joes!!!! When i watch these videos I wish i had kept them... but then I remember how I played the hell out of em!!! im 44 and still remember building entire scenes in my back yard!!! I know its wise to collect them but dammit... they were meant to be played with!!!

Hi, I'm Brazilian, I'm 38 years old. I played a lot with Gi Joe. Best to play with. Gi Joe was very important in my childhood. Thanks for the video Michael Mercy. Like!!

G.i joe was my fave as a kid. I remember mailing in my points and checking the mailbox everyday for fridge perry to come in and wen he did i ran to the house and showed my dad!!!

Dang…this really gave me some great nostalgia vibes…

Now we know, and knowing is half the battle.

If they re-released all these toys , I’d buy everything

I was 9 years old in 1985, Gung Ho was already my favorite Joe, but when I saw Airtight I had found my calling. After I graduated in 1994 I enlisted in the US Marine Corps as an NBC specialist! I was Gung Ho AND Airtight!!!! Semper Fi and Yo Joe!!!

Thank you for buying so many G.I. Joes for me and playing with me Dad...I miss you so much! (r.i.p. July 29th, 2015) :')

Wow, this takes me back. I actually had the USS Flagg as a kid. My grandma purchased it at a garage sale around '86. I had a lot of figures until I became a teenager. Cousins came in and raided my collection. Over the year's I repurchased a few along with the 25th year additions. They are stored away in the attic.

I just relived my childhood. *tear*

Makes me wanna go Dig up my back yard, lost so many toys back there...was doing some yard work a few years ago and dug up a Star wars Gamarian Gaurd, and it was still in pretty good condition after I rinsed it off!

Snake eyes is the baddest of them all

GIJOE's best toys I ever had.

Best line of toys ever? For me it was. Just look at this video, it's amazing!

1985, I arrived. 33 years, damn, I'm grateful I survived

This video made me feel like I'm 13 again! What a great time 1985 was to be a kid. This series of GI Joe vehicles and figures had some of the best in the line. Cobra came up a little short in the vehicle department this year, but more than made up for it with great figures like Tomax and Xamot, and the Dreadnoks. The cartoon was in full swing, and I was hooked on it. So many amazing memories from back then, and you definitely keep them alive for me Michael. Your videos continue to bring a huge smile to my face. I know they do that for many other people as well. Thank you for your continued hard work in putting these together. Your love for the source material definitely shines through. Thank you for all you do Michael. Nerdmasté my brother, and Yo Joe!!

This is one excellent summary of a single toy line’s history - and one of the best made videos I’ve EVER seen! I’m not exaggerating here. One can guess how much thought and enthusiasm you put into this video. I’m most impressed! Thank you so much for making this video and share this pure nostalgia with us! Wow, I’m just blown away...this is one of those videos you wish would just never end! Absolutely awesome!

i'm 34 and i still have the weapon's transport. my parents gave it to me when i turned 4 if not mistaken... what a wonderful childhood with those toys!

My friend had the Flagg, and I still have my sky striker, battle tank, cobra mamba, rattler

Every weekend I got 10.00 and I bought 3 gi joes 2.99 each as a kid

Perfect timing as I just received Alpine in the mail. 85 Christmas featured all 3 Dreadnocks, the Crimson Twins, trouble bubble. The 85 line to me marked the pinnacle of the entire toy line. Great video

Lady Jaye was one of my first Joe figures I remember having when I was a kid, I had her, Airtight, a Cobra Trooper and the Baroness that I remember, as well as Spearhead & Max from the 1988 wave. I didn't have many of the Joe vehicles though, although once upon a time I did have the Action Force Roboskull, I think I was far too young to appreciate it at the time though and it really took a battering.

i started to collect joe back in sweden early -87 when he-man and star wars was dropping out in the stores, the new joes i feel in love with, collected them till -90

I have a really hard time picking a favorite year on my Joes, because most of the first 6 years have such great lineups, but 85 is top 3 years for sure. As always, great video Michael.

Flint was a really well made figure.

1985 was seriously the best year for the line. The vehicles were just outstanding.

Thank you so much for this! I had all three Drednoks and most of the Joes from that year along woth some of the smaller vehicles and playsets. Great nostalgic tour of my childhood. Thanks again!

80’s Toys were T.H.E. BEST! Nothing has come close to the quality, detail & creativity

1985... IMO, the year that the line peaked. I won’t say that it was all downhill after this year, but I would argue that the remaining years would struggle to attain the same level of military realism that made the line so great up this point. Great job with the video and thanks for the walk down memory lane! I’m really looking forward to the upcoming Joe vids as that era was around my teen years where my toy playing days started to wane. It will be fun to watch a thorough retrospective on the figures that I outgrew to see what I missed. Keep up the great work!

LMAO! The bomb disposal unit carried away a copy of Green Lantern on DVD. The accuracy and snark is perfecto!

Special effects provided by actual childhood imagination.

1985. What a year to be collecting GIJoe. 1986 was a great year to. I had every toy those years but the Flag. Love your channel. 😎✌️

Damn, 85 was a great year! So many great Joe memories. I was a very fortunate kid to have some of these awesome toys. Thanks!

I still have my USS Flagg all these years later. It was the greatest Christmas gift I ever got as a kid. I ran laps around the house screaming like a maniac when i opened that bad boy and used to fall asleep on it in my room after hard fought battles lol.

Mike, everytime i think uve blown my nerdy mind, u go o and top yourself! I adore practically every vid uve done, it makes my hard days w/ cancer alot easier, u makecme smile&your sincerity, kindness, n joy 4 all thngs honorable is amazing, n heartwarming. Happy holidays

I remember one weekend my mom let me pick out 2 GI JOES....I picked DUSTY and QUICK KICK. When I got home I had DUSTY going out into the desert to pick up Quick Kick to bring him back to JOE headquarters. Unfortunately the two had to brave a killer dust storm and giant scorpions...Good god...I loved GI JOE!

Another awesome video, Michael!! ‘85 was definitely a benchmark year for JOE. V2 Snake Eyes is one of the best figures of all time for sure. Can’t wait for ‘86; thanks again for the passion!

I also collect Joe's from 82-86. I only need about 9 figures to complete my figure collection. All of my Joe's are complete with tight joints and good paint. My favorite vehicles are the 1985 Sears Exclusive C.A.T. Tank and the 1986 Cobra RAVEN which I will never sell. The G.I. Joe toyline was by far my favorite toys when growing up during the 80's. YO! JOE!

I loved my Joes, but I loved my friend's little brother's Joes a whole lot too. Unlike all my other toys, I kept my Joes safe in a fishing tackle box. I used to separate the guns, backpacks, etc into their own slot. I'd cut off the ID cards on the back, and I kept all my vehicles and fishing tackle box in their own box in my closet. I had other toys, but none of them got GI Joe treatment. Enter my best friend. So after Christmas one year, I show up at my best friend's place, and his little brother got that dang Aircraft Carrier, along with a jet, several other vehicles for both Cobra and Joes, and 20+ action figures. Here is the real kicker- he didn't EVEN LIKE GI Joe! So, who got to play with all this epic awesomeness. ME! I remember spending the night at my best friend's place, waiting for him to go to bed, and then playing with his little brother's GI Joes into the wee hours of the morning. The two of them shared a huge room and their parents would throw money and toys at them like crazy. Meanwhile, I had to work hard for my 5$ a week doing chores. Thanks for the memories. Fun video to watch.

Why were the toys back then so much better than the toys today

Video stirs up strong memories. I'm thinking late '85 or early '86 was the year I started GI Joe. I did my best to acquire all the older collection that I could and got a fair amount by trading with kids in my neighborhood! In my enthusiasm I purchased figures in '86 I later ended up hating (Sci-Fi, Raptor, Serpentor etc..) and quit in my late teenage. I was sad I could never get some of my favorite ones though Scarlett, Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow. I could get them today but now it just wouldn't be the same.

In my opinion 1985 was by far the most iconic year in the history of G.I. Joe.... Pound for pound it had the largest lineup of toys and figures, especially the USS Flagg, the holy grail of all 80s toys...

OMG!! This takes me back!! I had loads of this! I had the Cobra Dome base, the F-14, the G.I.Joe Helicopter (I think it was the Cobra), I had the Stricker that you could actually seat Joes inside, the Check Point Alpha and lots of figures!!! Those wore the days. You could spend hours inside with your friends playing and not look at the TV even once!! But then Sega Master System poped up and it was downhill.... and then Sega Genesis 16 bits. It was the beginning of the end for these kind of toys.

As of now, here is what I have left from the 80's Ripcord-with pack helmet and mask Crazy legs-with parachute pack Zartan-With pack, mask and all armor Torch- Vamp Mark II Dreadnock Thunder Machine. After parents divorced, we moved about 4 times. I lost my APC filed with figures. Not to mention my 80's Millennium falcon filled with original Star Wars figures. Yes, I was more than upset.

Wow Michael, just discovering your channel. 1983-1986 were when I was obsessed with GI JOE figures. Oddly my first figure was also Breaker. I still have all my figures and a lot of the toys, albeit all stored away in closets (and the GI JOE Command Center I have is woefully messed up). For me, the Baroness seemed to be the hard-to-find figure, I think with Storm Shadow. For some reason I tended to collect the Cobra figures more, I think I literally have all of the carded ones of this era. I loved Destro, especially in the comic books. I did all of the mail-in stuff too, both Commanders and that surf board thing. I had a friend that actually had the USS Flagg. It was so massive I remember he really didn't have room to have it out all the time. I was so jealous, lol. Funny thing though, around the time I was in 6th or 7th grade I had bought the Snow Cat from Kay-Bee Toys in the mall when I ran into two girls from my class that I liked. Suddenly holding a GI JOE vehicle I just bought seemed like the lamest thing I ever could have done. I lost interest in it for a few years until nostalgia kicked back in.

AWE striker was sooo awesome, it actually had suspension! Man those were some fun days to be a kid..!

Quick Kick, Snake Eyes, Flint, Shipwreck... Some of my favorite Joes in here. Great video!

Now we know, and knowing is half the battle! 👍 Yo Joe!

absolutely love these I've mentioned it on Instagram aswell this was my favourite childhood wave of Action Force gi joes figures 🇬🇧

Big GI Joe fan but in stores, the irony of something you said....Cobra Vehicles were far more cheaper since hasbro believed the kids wanted GI Joe rather than Cobra.

I was born in 73. GI Joe was one of my fav toys of the 80’s. GI Joe and those big WWF wrestlers were my fav. He Man also.

Get your G.I. Joe items at BIGBADTOYSTORE and support my channel by using this link: bit.ly/BBTStoys

I love how you do these history shows keep em up I’m a big fan

Best part of playing GI JOES was playing with your buddies in the neighbourhood… all the Joe’s and vehicles go in the middle and you do picks. 80’s were an amazing time for toys.

My personal favorite memory is when Sergeant Slaughter first appeared on G. I. Joe as the Joe's physical fitness instructor telling them to run like they were chasing Cobras.

Great job, perfectly done.YOE JOE!!

cant wait to see the 1986 edition. .. btw Crimson guard is one of my top troop builder figures... looks awesome guarding cobra commander.

I am so greatfull that I grew up in the 80ies. We had the best cartoons and amazing toys and playsets. And we even had time left to go outside and play with friends.

Although I didn't watch it right away, I eventually began watching the G.I.JOE weekday afternoon series and the first season was what I felt to be the better of the two. You said that the second Snake Eyes with Timber was the hardest one to find. Oddly enough, he was my first G.I.JOE that was given to me on my birthday. It was either during season two or G.I.JOE The Movie that my collecting the figures really took off. To this day, Duke of my all time favorite Joe and I liked episodes that had Duke and Scarlett or the episodes that had Flint and Lady Jaye. I loved it when Cobra was led by Cobra Commander and Destro, and you had the Baroness, Major Bludd (who disappeared in season 2) Zartan and the Dreadnoks, the Crimson Twins and Storm Shadow, and Firefly and Scrap Iron. I enjoyed the pairing up of Alpine and Bazooka and I enjoyed characters like Shipwreck and Quick Kick. And I especially loved it when any of the original Joes from 1982 would appear. It wasn't until the dawn of ebay that I finally got the complete cast of characters from the cartoon series.

By far my favorite toy line in the 80’s. Great job as usual Mike!!

Awesome video!!! Loved every minute of it!!!

LOVE your Vids!!! They Always seem Better & Funner than most, with added Effects, Episode Inserts & Voice-Overs!!! keep up the Amazing Work!!!!!

Good old Airtight. The toy that convinced me that a chemistry nerd could find a place in the Army, and led to me choosing my MOS (Chemical Defense Specialist). Man, this channel is bringing back some memories.

We need this game for ps4 Called gijoe cartoon 1985

I'm from Brazil and I never had all gi joes, because they were expensive or even some sets didn't come to my country. I'm remembering i had a rich friend who's father bringed from usa all the toys, t including the uss flag. I beg from my mother for sky striker, but I had to be an A student during an year to get it from Xmas. I played with this unroll my late eleven's.

Simply fantastic! Amazing and imaginative. My son will be watching all of these with me, before he watches more of the series. These films, yes films, really help liven up the figures he sees in dads display case. You simply continue to produce fun and well made nostalgia films. You are the best! Thank you !

Man I would've had a ball with this whole collection of Joe's me and my 2 cousins use to have a pretty large amount of GI Joe's back in the day wow this is pure nostalgia

Great video! New Subscriber! Interesting side note; the writer for the G.I Joe comic book, Larry Hama, took some pot shots when he wrote the file names for the Drednoks. Group all three of the first names together, and then all three of the last names together. You can tell he didn't think too highly of them.

that was my childhood) loved it

Man... these do documentaries are SO excellent!!! Let's help Michael get to 60 billion to complete his collection! So glad I kept most of my Joes. I wish there was an episode like this for every year. Hope to see it. Thanks!!!💪🏻👏🏻🙂

Wow! Thanks no much for the trip down memory lane. This took me back to Christmas of 85, I got a mean haul the 85 line up. I got the Bridge Layer and the Troop Transporter, along with Shipwreck, Quick kick, Gung Ho, the evil twins, the dreadknocks, and the Crimson gaurd. Later I went to my grandmother's and received the Snow Cat. It was a very Gi Joe Christmas, thanks for sharing

We are thrilled to contribute imagery to such fun storytelling. You can tell Michael really loves the brand, and is having a blast putting these videos together. I’m loving the green screen work in this episode. There’s nothing like seeing the USS Flagg set sail on the high seas! Great work, Michael!

absolutely brilliant !!! perfectly done review of the wonderfull 1985 line. thank you.

Aw man, I was bought the tripwire tape when I was really little for a long car trip across Canada. We listened to it so much, to this day my elderly grandmother remembers and says "What a Clutz!! Why would you want a soldier with no bloody sense to watch where he's going!" lol

I used to watch G.I. Joe everyday after school when there was no Cartoon network then go play outside when cartoons were over at 5. I just relived my childhood watching this video.

Great video! YOOOOJOE

Dude!!!! These year by year G.i.joe breakdowns are amazing and such high quality!! Thank you so much!! Your hard work is noticed and appreciated by this 38 year old loser who still loves toys....lol

Agree Mike 80’s for me is the paradise of toys in term of creativity n seriousness to build all the toy line based on cartoon. Since my parents that time can’t afford all the Joe’s toys available, I remember come to toy store n wait for some rich kids that buy the figures that I don’t have, wait them to unbox the figures in the store (if I was lucky) n ask the shop guy to not throw in garbage the box/package. So I can bring it home for a spectacle n imagine that I have one. Shameful but amazing moment at that time n I’m so thankful 😁. Thanks for reliving the memory Mike.

Man..... I collected and played with G I Joe 82-84.... Turned 15 in 85 and got into other things.... Now I'm bummed, seems that was a great year for Joe.... This was fun to watch, thanks.

Nice!

now i know the history of gi joe and knowing is half the battle GEEE I JOEEEEEEEE!!!

The parallels of the "bad guys" in this show to the secret cabal that controls the world are amazingly realistic...

Sold my collection 7 years ago, made bank on it. I miss it all sometimes, but seeing my Flagg retro brited gleaming white with all new decals made me happy.

You have a really cute cat 😄💙🐈

The perfect vid to sit back and enjoy a Frozen Fudgie to. (They still put lead in your guts)

The figures set up at 14:40 are just hilarious.

Great video! I loved it! My childhood was filled with G.I. Joe's! Thanks for posting it.

That was a great video.

I have 3 hydrofoils if you want one

I remember the day my father bought me the first G.I Joe Truck. It may be 1987 or 1988, I think. I’m Korean and It was very very expensive toy here. I was very surprised with high-quailty of it and package, story, detail, etc. My father would buy G.I Joes whenever i had to go to dentist. It remains beautiful memories in my life.

Always get nostalgic about this era Joe figures around this time of year. I got some of this stuff for Christmas back in the day. Thanks for the video!

I loved GI Joe. I had two major issues with GI Joe when I was a kid. #1. Thumbs breaking off. After prolonged use, thumbs would get bent holding equipment and guns. I would bend them back into shape but eventually the thumb would break. That Joe would become a left hander. Then when the left thumb would break, that Joe was usually demoted to cannon fodder. #2. Joints would get loose. Again after prolonged use, heads would droop, legs and arms would fly all over the place. Ultimatly, He-Man, Thunder Cats and GI Joe were my toys of choice during the 1980's. Cobra's base was always Snake Mountain (He-man) during my play times. Favorite GI Joe: Rock N Roll....because he had the M60 and the Mini Gun. Yes I had both versions. I had close to 50 figures in all. Notable Vehicles I Had: (Purchased with my lawn mowing money) Desert Fox Mauler Tank Phantom X-19 Dreadnok Cycle Persuader Tank Vamp Jeep Good time. Thanks for the video. You brought a smile to my face and a wave of nostalgia.

Well done flash back of Gi Joes of 85’ Thanks, I just saw my desert storm trooper I had as a kid. Cool to find this & see it over 30 years later. Thanks

What an amazing video. It's so entertaining and the special effects are just magic. 85 was absolutely the best year. Thanks for taking me back to a better place.

I had a ton of these. The 80s were a great time to be a kid. When Star Wars wasn't cool anymore, it was all about GI Joe, He Man, the LJN wrestlers and Transformers. Thanks for this trip down memory lane.