I’m going deep down in the trenches of GI Joe history, so consider yourself warned.

Apart from the toys, I have also accumulated a fair amount of GI Joe-related ephemera over my 18+ years of collecting. One of the more interesting is this retail price list and replacement parts list, which appears to be from 1970. (Click to embiggen)

The first page is a list of suggested retail prices of what should be available at stores. It’s quite early in the Adventure Team run of GI Joe, as the lineup is very basic – all they list are the core figures, the bigger boxed sets, the Action Pack accessories, the classic ATV, and the perennial foot locker. It also includes some leftovers from the 1964-1968 Military and 1969 “Adventures Of” series that didn’t carry on into the 70s. Wouldn’t you like to go back to 1970 and pick up a Mouth of Doom for $7? If you brought back a few cases of Flying Space Adventure at $9.50 per set, you could buy yourself a pretty nice car with the proceeds from selling them now. Two things I noticed: Hasbro refers to the “Man of Action” figure as simply “GI Joe”, and there’s one thing missing….the Five Star Jeep. Does this mean that there was a time, however brief, it wasn’t in the lineup?

Pages 2 and 3 are a replacement parts price list. If I had known this was possible at the time, I would have scraped up all my loose change to buy M-1 rifles and carbines at two for a quarter, because my Adventure Team was woefully short on firepower in the early 70s.  I’m quite amused by the calculations of the original owner of this sheet, who was plotting to save himself almost five bucks off the price off Eight Ropes of Danger by ordering the key pieces separately. (Hey, kid, the octopus and treasure chest were great accessories! Don’t sell yourself short!)

That concludes this trip down memory lane. My collecting friends can discuss this in the usual places.