Greetings, Programs!  

When Barbie was topping the toy charts, Hasbro decided to try out a “boy’s version” of the doll and G.I. Joe was born.  For over fifty years, G.I. Joe has occupied store shelves and toy boxes throughout the United States.  In the ‘70s, Joe evidently studied martial arts and earned his Kung-Fu Grip.  Once Kenner’s Star Wars line captured the market, Joe underwent major plastic surgery, shrinking him down to less than one third his size and giving him many more points of articulation.  Since then, G.I. Joe has demanded attention from kids and collectors with hundreds of figures, numerous vehicles, and not a small number of playsets.

But that’s not all!  G.I. Joe became A Real American Hero in 1983 with Sunbow’s five-part mini-series featuring the toys in animated form.  With another hit mini-series in 1984, G.I. Joe escalated to television stardom as fifty-five new episodes of the show released in 1985.  Since then, G.I. Joe has put his name on several iterations of animated television programming as well as a couple of live-action Hollywood features.  

IN THE NEWS, General Mills offers Star Wars fans a chance to attend Star Wars Celebration in London, any new Labyrinth movies will continue the story, not retell it, and new DeLoreans will soon be in production.  

JediShua and shazbazzar review Wheaties, a cereal that’s nearly a century old (the cereal itself, not the actual flakes they consumed over the past month).  Did Wheaties make them more athletic?  Will their faces grace future orange boxes on shelves in the cereal aisle in your local grocery store?  Discover the answers to other questions in the TechnoRetro Dads Cereal Challenge this week.

So pour yourself a bowl of Wheaties, get your toys down out of the attic, and turn on some classic G.I. Joe cartoons and celebrate G.I. Joe Day with shazbazzar and JediShua as your work week (and February) kick off!