A Sit Down With G.I. Joe Product Manager Kirk Bozigian: The Marketing Side

Kirk Bozigian G.I. Joe Interview

If you’ve seen Netflix’s The Toys That Made Us Season 1 episode on G.I. Joe then you already know who Kirk Bozigian is. The former G.I. Joe Product Manager during the 1980s and later Hasbro VP of Boys Toys is still active and vocal in the toy business today.

Just because Kirk’s days of working on G.I. Joe are in the rear view mirror doesn’t mean he’s not still engaged in the brand. He’s been known to pop up at conventions including the recent JoeFest in Augusta, Georgia. You can also find him talking about G.I. Joe online every now and then if you know where to look.


Kirk is the kind of guy you’d love to buy a beer at a bar and soak in the countless stories he can about managing the G.I. Joe A Real American Hero line during its heyday. His passion for toys and G.I. Joe bleeds through every word he says.

Not everyone gets to have beers with Kirk, so here’s the next best thing: a series of questions Kirk was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to answer.

After sales for the first year of G.I. Joe blew way beyond internal Hasbro expectations, the line’s budget naturally increased which allowed many design restraints to break away. Were you at all nervous or felt increased pressure to sustain and increase already astronomical sales and profitability following the amazing launch?

1982 sales far exceeded our initial sales forecasts. However, it wasn’t until year three (1984) that we really understood how successful G.I. Joe truly was. From then until 1994, it was ”how do we surpass what we did last year?”

I love the G.I. Joe packaging as much as the toys and hope to one day own a Hector Garrido original painting from a figure or vehicle. Considering the line’s acceptance at the senior/corporate level was aided by the Marvel comic tie-in, was it ever considered to blatantly call out the comic connection on the toy packaging? Or did you simply feel the comic advertising was enough?

We felt the $1,000,000 advertising budget for the comic book was enough to drive readership of the Marvel comic. On second thought, we probably should have added it to our packaging. Thanks for the idea! Where were you in 1982? (editor’s note: I was 9 years old and being gifted my very first G.I. Joe figure: Torpedo).

The 1984 line marked the first year of what I could consider to be “bright” colors appearing in the line; namely the yellow and orange of Blowtorch, Spirit’s baby blue shirt, Cutter’s orange/red life vest, Deep Six’s yellow chest highlight, and Copperhead’s lime green outfit highlights. How conscience of a decision was it to introduce noticeably bolder colors at that particular time? The advent of Transformers, perhaps?

There is only so much you can do with Olive Drab and Khaki to make your figures look exciting on store shelves. Plus, G.I. Joe is a group of strong individuals with unique specialties and personalities. The way each personalized their uniforms expressed that personality.

Per Dan Klingensmith’s 3.75″ G.I. Joe pre-production book series, the idea for Zartan’s color-changing feature stemmed from a vendor presenting a new type of plastic. Did you immediately think that plastic would be great for a ARAH figure, or did that come later after Ron Rudat got involved? Curious to know what was going through your mind when the color-changing plastic was pitched.

Bob Prupis (my boss and marketing VP) and I were presented the color changing plastic by a plastics vendor in a meeting with our purchasing department. Bob and I then took the idea to our R&D department and asked for ways to use it. They came up with the feature for Zartan and his sled.

COBRA technically got the first “base” toy with the “4-color action cardboard” Sears Exclusive Missile Command Headquarters. As a child I never even knew this existed as my Joes came from Toys “R” Us, Bradlees, Jamesway and other stores. By 1985, the Joes had their own large Headquarters playset, the U.S.S. Flagg, and the Tactical Battle Platform. In marketing terms, why did it take until 1986 for Cobra to finally get a proper base playset in the Terror Drome? Was it simply too risky despite the line flourishing?

COBRA is the enemy. The bad guys! Mom never liked buying bad guy stuff. That’s why we were cautious about designing expensive vehicles and playsets for Cobra. (Editor’s Note: I wanted a COBRA base so bad that I eventually got the Dungeons and Dragons “Fortress of Fangs” playset for Christmas)

Speaking of Sears, you initially helped pitch the return of 12″ G.I. Joe to Sears as an exclusive in around 1979 and were shot down because they deemed it “too soon”. Did they see the initial G.I. Joe ARAH sales numbers and quickly reversed course to land the first retail exclusive so soon after the line launched? Or did the idea generate internally for a quick holiday season turnaround and Sears then jumped on board?

From 1982-1986, SEARS was our biggest customer and the largest retailer of toys. They saw the initial sales numbers from 1982 and immediately asked us for an exclusive to sell in their Christmas Wish Book. There was no time to create a plastic playset so I worked with Ron Rudat to design a four color action cardboard playset with three figures.

I love your story about laying out the figure proof cards on the floor, placing each figure against its colored background, and ultimately ensuring they were ready to go. Are there any last minute changes from this practice that you recall that really impacts how we recall a package background color or figure today?

The purpose of laying figure packages out on the floor was to make sure we had a wide variety of colors at store level. We simulated how the figures would be displayed on peg hooks. It allowed us to lay prototype figures onto the package to also make sure the figures popped off in the store. It was a clever and quick way to check our decisions.

You’ve talked recently about taking chances in business and embracing failure; to the point of requiring it in order for success to breed. Looking back at your time with G.I. Joe, what’s the biggest failure you can recall making and would change if you could — that was not the result of corporate politics?

I don’t believe in failure, just learning experiences or missed opportunities. When McFarlane toys introduced their Spawn figures they set a new standard for sculpture and detail. Despite my best efforts, I could never convince our R&D team or our engineers to change the format for designing G.I. Joe figures. There was a “formula” we used and nobody ever wanted to tinker with it. Change means more work. Most people are averse to change.

COBRA LA came and went with the animated film and you’ve made it clear in the past that it would never resurrect under your watch. Looking back now have you warmed any to those characters that are now instantly recognizable and beloved by some in the Joes fan base, or would you still rather they get swept under the rug?

COBRA-LA was an aberration forced upon us by Sunbow and Griffin-Bacal for the G.I. Joe Movie. I hated it! I preferred to do more “realistic” villains and enemies.

Cobra La

It feels like G.I. Joe is in a similar spot now as it was in the late 1970s. The brand is on hiatus and has been for a couple years. But, it’s about to come back in some shape or form with a new Snake Eyes-centric film expected to begin production later this year. Do you think traditional G.I. Joe action figures can succeed in today’s retail/online environment with kids, or is it purely an aging collectors’ market at this point?

It continues to disappoint me that Real American Heroes like the military and first responders are not visible on toy store shelves today. We should be promoting the values of duty, honor, and courage now more than ever. Older G.I. Joe collectors need to accept new ideas for including new features, new designs, new characters, and new sizes!

It amazes me how much of the artwork, prototypes, and pre-production materials from ARAH not only survived, but made it out of Hasbro and into employee’s hands or private collections. Was security a lot more lax in those days and “used” drawings, packaging proofs etc were allowed to be taken home instead of chucked in the trash? Or were they simply gifted to the artists who worked on them?

When we were all working on G.I. Joe NONE of us ever gave any thought to the idea we were working on a valuable collector toy line. That concept did not exist! We were simply making fun toys. Our offices were small and over time needed to be cleaned out to make more room for new ideas. So, artwork, prototypes, models, etc were simply thrown away. For sentimental reasons some of us rescued these items from the trash heap.

Obviously some items must have been destroyed. Are there any pre-production ARAH items that you can recall being thrown out that you wished you could still own today?

I wish I had been able to keep only 2 things: the prototype of the MOBAT and the 2-Up sculpture of Law.

It’s well documented that you own the original Dave Dorman presentation art for Law, the figure Ron Rudat designed based on you. Are there any other pieces you can share a little bit about from your private collection? Surely there’s more!

Too Secret! (editor’s note: it was worth a shot!)

Like the everlasting Larry Hama is still writing G.I. Joe comics, you’re still busy in the toy marketing world today. Do you ever envision hanging up the whiteboard for good?

As long as we continue to have fun, my partners and I will continue to dream up new ideas for toys!

Other G.I. Joe interviews you might like:

Sculptor David Dunn

Designer Ron Rudat

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