G.I. Joe and “The Secret of the Dark Lagoon!”

G.I. Joe has eaten up some of my time over the last few months as I worked on my newest book project. Part of that project has included collecting old Hasbro G.I. Joe marketing and promotional materials, which included snatching up some documentation that wasn’t needed for the new book. Well, I figured the best thing to do is to share as much of the unused materials as possible.

With a 1993 expiration date, it is easy to state that “The Secret of the Dark Lagoon!” mail-in offer was from 1992. And that makes the items included in the promotion — most notably, the G.I. Joe Sky Hawk and Hovercraft — stand out. Was this Hasbro working through some old stock, or did they produce new toys just for this promotion?