Where is our “G.I. Joe Day” holiday?

This week I’m joining the League of Extraordinary Bloggers for their special assignment, G.I. Joe. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept then visit the League page. With that out of the way, let’s jump right in and ask the world:

Where is our “G.I. Joe Day” holiday?

During the recent “May the Fourth Be With You” Star Wars holiday on May 4th, a hisstank.com forum thread popped up asking everyone “G.I. Joe Day?” Forum user kuh_rupht posted:

So there is a Star Wars Day (May 4th), but is there a GI Joe Day? If there isn’t lets start one!!! What day is significant in the GI Joe universe and why.

Excellent question and idea, so with a tiny bit of research I managed to track down what I felt would be an appropriate and significant date for a “G.I. Joe Day” geek holiday: February 9. You see, Hasbro originally revealed G.I. Joe to the world on February 9, 1964, so in my eyes there is no better day for fans to celebrate G.I. Joe. Unfortunately, the conversation in the hisstank.com thread died shortly after the February 9 date was introduced to the discussion.

“February 9, 1989 was G.I. Joe’s officially-recognized 25th anniversary, and Hasbro threw a birthday party with guest Sergeant Slaughter.”

—Action Figures of the 1980s*

Organizing the internet isn’t easy!

“Talk Like a Pirate Day.” “May the Fourth Be With You.” “March Fourth for GM’s Day.” Geek holidays are cool and all, but getting the internet organized and pointed in the right direction is an insanely difficult task that requires a team dedicated to the cause and willing to push, push, and push some more to move the chosen date from an idea to a recognized event.

The Star Wars holiday event, for example, has its start in 1979. As this MTV article explains:

In 1979, Thatcher was congratulated on becoming the first ever female Prime Minister of Britain by the London Evening News with a half page ad that stated, “May The Fourth Be With You, Maggie. Congratulations.”

Amazing, and shows just how much work G.I. Joe fans have ahead of them if they’re going to take the idea of a “G.I. Joe Day” from a hisstank.com thread to something that more than a handful of G.I. Joe fans tweet, chatter, and message each other about. Going from that thread post to an online event on February 9 is going to be a near-impossible task.

Especially if the discussion ends before and real planning starts.

How to make “G.I. Joe Day” a reality.

In the sixties, G.I. Joe was a military force and the world’s first action figure, storming the world like soldiers taking an enemy fortress. In the seventies, G.I. Joe was an adventurer, traveling the world and competing against unseen enemies and nature itself. In the eighties, G.I. Joe was an American special forces unit fighting terrorists. In the nineties and on G.I. Joe has fallen and fallen hard.

Can a “G.I. Joe Day” even become a reality?

I think so, but to turn February 9 into a day that more than the G.I. Joe forums and blogs talk about some serious action is needed:

• A website is needed. Someone needs to launch gijoeday.com as a site so that there’s a central source for news on the holiday. This someone should clearly be Hasbro, but Hasbro doesn’t seem all that interested in G.I. Joe these days.
• Graphics are needed. Fans creating and posting “G.I. Joe Day” images that they can share and spread around will help.
• Press needs contacted. Again, this is one for Hasbro to take on, but it will likely be the fans. Starting in late December, fans should be mailing websites and news sites with a reminder that G.I. Joe is celebrating a birthday on February 9.
• Fans need to post about the event. Share and share wide, people! G.I. Joe will only get a holiday if more and more people talk about it.

Not going to happen overnight.

A “G.I. Joe Day” holiday won’t happen easily or quickly. Even if dozens of G.I. Joe fans get out there and push hard I doubt we would notice anything at all on February 9, 2015. But persistence and patience will pay off if the fans get out there and start pushing this each year. And maybe in 2017, the 35th anniversary of the 1980s Real American Hero series, if the fans have a few years of “G.I. Joe Day” under their belts, well, maybe Hasbro will notice and try to put some marketing muscle behind the idea.

It’s very easy to get discouraged when things don’t happen quickly, but if a few dozen dedicated G.I. Joe fans take a longterm approach to the issue and post, post, post then we may just see a blip in the future. A slight bump. Something to show that the idea if taking hold.

But it really won’t happen fast . . . if it happens at all.

For more excitement don’t miss these other “League” G.I. Joe posts:

• G.I. Joe v Action Force
• G.I. Joe, a Real French-Canadian Hero!
• League of Extraordinary Bloggers: Yo, Joe!
• It was always G.I. Joe for me

Related articles

• Review – Acid Rain Speeder MKII (Sand) (battlegrip.com)
• Hasbro Celebrates 50 Years of G.I. Joe . . . by killing the line? (battlegrip.com)
• Hasbro’s G.I. Joe Fans: Are You Interested in Acid Rain and Marauder? (battlegrip.com)