History of Action Figures

Action figures have been around for more than 45 years. The term "action figure" was coined by Hasbro in 1964. Hasbro needed a way to market their G.I. Joe figures to boys who may have considered these figures to be dolls. The first action figure was indeed an 11" G.I. Joe that featured changeable clothes with various uniforms. By the mid 1970's, Kenner had licensed and introduced it's 3 3/4" action figures from the hit sci-fi film Star Wars. After the success of these smaller than normal sized figures, collectible action figures quickly became a huge success.