G.I. Joe: Hall of Fame - James DeSimone

James DeSimone

During the fourteen years that G.I. Joe had not existed as a 12" action figure, James DeSimone had been touring toy shows all over the United States buying and selling G.I. Joe action figures. In the mid-1980s, DeSimone created the G.I. Joe Collectors Club, which was a throw-back to the original G.I. Joe Collectors Clubs that had existed during the vintage era of the 12" figures (1964–1978). The DeSimone version of the club existed as a newsletter to which thousands of nostalgic collectors subscribed.

As a result of DeSimone's efforts to organize the G.I. Joe collectors, Hasbro licensed DeSimone's G.I. Joe Collectors Club. Hasbro also licensed DeSimone to promote official G.I. Joe Conventions during the early 1990s. After Hasbro began collaborating with DeSimone, Hasbro executives realized that there was an untapped market of nostalgic collectors who had grown up on the original G.I. Joe and who wanted more. During the 1980s, the prices of vintage toys and especially G.I. Joe had increased astronomically because the demand for vintage toys like G.I. Joe and Captain Action far outstripped the supply. Thus began Hasbro's plan to revive the 12" G.I. Joe action figure with the Hall of Fame line.

Hasbro honored DeSimone's contributions by acknowledging his assistance on the back cover of every Hall of Fame G.I. Joe's box. The back covers of each box also included a file card for each figure (just as the 3.75" line did) and a photo of the new figure along with the photo of a similar figure from DeSimone's collection of the vintage era of G.I. Joe (1964–1978).

During the era that DeSimone was running the unlicensed G.I. Joe Collectors Club, he issued two collecting and identifiction guides which had hundreds of photos of the 3.75 inch (9.5 cm) G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero figures in full color along with their file cards. In 1994, DeSimone created the Hasbro-authorized "The New Official Identification Guide To G.I. Joe 1964-1978" (ISBN 0-9635956-1-X), which was the first full color photo guide to the action figures, vehicles, gear, outfits, and play-sets that were produced during the original era of the 12" G.I. Joe.