The GI Joe action figure, a plastic doll twelve inches tall and dressed as a military man, was the first action figure and the first exclusively boy's doll, disguised as a war toy. Extremely popular, it was at the same time controversial because of the fighting in Southeast Asia: its introduction by Hassenfeld Brothers in 1964 coincided with the U.S. Congress' passing of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which escalated American involvement in Vietnam. Invented by Stanley Weston, GI Joe was inspired by Mattel's Barbie, which made its debut in 1959, but GI Joe was different from Barbie in that it had twenty-one movable joints, enabling it to be configured in various combat poses. In the "razor and razor blade" principle of marketing, GI Joe, like Barbie, was "accessorized"; that is, designed to need additional paraphernalia. "Items sold separately" was the saying which accompanied every advertisement for...