Over-Muscular Action Figures

The growing trend in over-muscular action figures did not end with G.I. Joe. Instead, this toy’s popularity provided the opportunity for other brands to apply these same changes to their products. Harrison G. Pope, Jr., a current psychiatry professor at Harvard Medical School, examined this trend through other action figures and their relationship with American trends in his 1998 research study, Evolving Ideals of Male Body Image as Seen Through Action Toys.2 In addition to G.I. Joe, Pope examined the designs of other action figures over the span of 30 years, comparing body measurements over time (FIG 12). “Many modern figures display the physiques of advanced bodybuilders and some display levels of muscularity far exceeding the outer limits