James DeSimone (G.I. Joe)
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During the fourteen years that G.I. Joe had not existed as a 12 inch (30 cm) action figure, James DeSimone had been touring different 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 original era of the 12" figures (1964-1978). The DeSimone version of the club existed as a newsletter to which less than 500 people were once members.
As a result of DeSimone's efforts to organize the G.I. Joe collectors, Hasbro awarded DeSimone a trophy as "G.I. Joe's #1 Fan". Hasbro also honored DeSimone by putting different photos from his G.I. Joe collection on the back of the boxes of each of the G.I. Joe: Hall of Fame figures. These boxes included a file card for each figure (just as the 3.75" line did) and a photo of the new figure and a similar figure from the vintage era of G.I. Joe (1964-1978).
[edit] Guides to G.I. Joe
During this 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. Later, DeSimone issued the "The New Official Identification Guide to GI JOE, 1964-1978" which was the first full color photo guide to the action figures, vehicles, gear, outfits, and play-sets which were produced during the original era of the 12" G.I. Joe.
[edit] After Hasbro
During 1994, Hasbro parted company with Mr. DeSimone, and he also turned over control of the G.I. Joe Collectors Club. Since that time, DeSimone has continued promoting collectible toy shows, and he has also created over a dozen made-to-order 1:6 scale vehicles for the 12" action figures. These vehicles range from several replicas of vintage Irwin Toys vehicles that were created for G.I. Joe back in the 1960s, to completely new designs such as the Vietnam PBR patrol boat and the replica of the 1960s Batmobile (unlicensed) that was featured on the ABC Batman television series.
