1976 Hasbro GI Joe selection

1976 was the final year for the GI Joe adventure line which by this point had been renamed "The Super Adventure Team" in advertisements, most likely to compete with the Superhero craze started by Mego. GI Joe now had Eagle Eyes an innovation that would see a much longer shelf life in the UK where Palitoy's Action Man lived until the mid eighties!

Bullet Man the Human Bullet was released a year previous and was Hasbro's way of adding a "Super" to the team, Bulletman for a long time was the recipiant of scorn from Joe collectors but in today's collector circles he's now a popular collectors item. The Intruders however, still don't garner a lot of respect, it's hard to swallow GI Joe's enemy is a cavemen from Outer Space.

Atomic Man was the Hasbro way of taking some sales heat from the popularity of the Six Million Dollar Man series, according to sources the doll sold very well until Kenner released their licensed Steve Austin dolls. The GI Joe body switched to what is commonly known as a "Muscle Body" around this time, these figures had elastics that routinely snap and are hard to find in good condition now. To the left, is a series of outfits, Hasbro was constantly recycling Joe accessories.

The Combat Jeep and Trailer seems to be an odd thing for Hasbro to release so late in the game, seeing as Joe was no longer in the military. The Magnum Power set is also an odd choice, it's also one of the rarest GI Joe sets available. Mike Power starting getting his own Uniform and adventure sets, made from earlier Adventure Team offerings.

Most of the "Super Adventure" items here are repackaged Joe items from earlier years, the boxes had switched from Blue to Orange however. Skydive to Danger is my favorite GI Joe item of all time BTW, it's just so cool.

Big Trapper is a massive vehicle meant for the capture of the Intruders, I have one of these and love it. Note the laser cannon, Joe was getting pretty "Sci Fi" at this time.

Sea Wolf was a terrific working Submarine for Joe that included a Squid, while the SkyHawk was an actual kite. I wonder how many Joe's got stuck in a tree? Mike Power got a few repackaging outfits this year, try finding those in the box, they'll cost you a fortune!

The coverage ends with "Capture Copter" a beefed up version of the original Joe Copter that was also still available.It's also responsible for some of my fondest childhood memories, some think Joe went out with whimper but this former six year old, he went out with a bang!

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