G.I. Joe beard and rap in Doctores

You may know someone with a beard like this.

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If you look at the success of Kaws, plastic toys are cool, right ? But what´s the allure of movable fighting men? Basically, a doll, created in the mid-60s … for boys.

I´m not a toy collector, but I used to play with 80´s G.I. Joe toys. It´s wild to think that I used to get lost in play for hours with a bunch of little men with plastic weapons, unleashing tactical assaults with a hover craft, and borrowing from images of Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Bruce Lee type destruction.

Toys meant a lot to me back then. When I kept seeing flyers around my local coffee shops for  MUJAM, a self-styled toy museum featuring a visiting G.I. Joe exhibit, I knew I wanted to be there.

I noticed the flyer´s map put the museum in Doctores. It´s a colonia, or neighborhood, with a reputation for being one of the more dangerous D.F. hoods. Part of this legacy has to do with high rates of muggings and auto parts thefts. La Jornada breaks down the criminal roots of the colonia. Doctores also has its own public Malverde shrine.

The area is important as an active hospital zone, providing local  health care, government and judicial buildings are located there, and every Sunday you can find great deals on produce at the tianguis along Dr Erazo.  Lucha libre matches at Arena Mexico feel safe and under control, especially when crowds of foreigners spill out onto the streets at 11pm every Friday night. The museum Estación Indianilla should be on your list if museum hopping in Doctores.

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It´s odd that there´s this sanctuary of toys in a hood that´s typically avoided by visitors. The collection belongs to Doctores resident Roberto Shimizu, who in this Vice magazine interview, seems like a hoarder.

I visited his museum less than a month ago, and saw him zipping around, with two chihuahuas  scurrying next to him. Along with his sons, Shimizu works in an office area inside the five-story family owned building. It seems a little big and formal for the Sanford and Son vibe of the place.

Check out a 2009 documentary about the museum. It´s by Alba Mora Roca, and was featured on websites for the New York Times and The San FrancisoChronicle.

Shimizu runs the museum like any artist/curator would and includes his own toy habitats. In the pic above, a robot housing other robots. Pairings like this are scattered throughout the museum, which includes around 10 thousand toys.

Maybe through the influence of the younger, hip Schimizus, the museum supports the urban arts, in the form of graffitti exhibitions, DJ appearances, and on July 25, cholo rappers. ¨Hip-Hop Revolucion; Monterrey – Neza¨ will feature Mexico City´s top gangsta rappers (a style referred to as rap pandillero), Tetos and Plata Ramirez.

(Click to make flyer bigger.)

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G.I. Joe collecting is still a great passion for many people around the world, as the brand is approaching its 50th anniversary. The creators of the Hasbro Joes have long been guests at grown-man toy  conventions. The gentleman in the picture above came from far outside Mexico City to sell some of his collection. He was showing a couple of youngsters—not Joe dolls—but smaller, assorted toys he had at the front of his table.

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Every visitor to the museum for the G.I. event, got a numbered certificate. I was the 635th visitor. The G.I. Joe exhibit kicked off April 23, and lasts until the end of June. I went on May 30th. The exhibit was split between a small selection of U.S. G.I. Joes, and the ones sold in Europe and Mexico.

A 2009 TIME magazine article said this about the toy:

G.I. Joe was initially a massive success and Hasbro expanded the line throughout the ’60s, reimagining Joe as an astronaut, a deep-sea diver and a Green Beret. But outcry over American involvement in Vietnam dampened enthusiasm for a camo-clad action figure, so Hasbro gave Joe an honorable discharge. It redesigned the toys and relaunched them in 1970 as Adventures of G.I. Joe: the figure received lifelike hair, moveable eyes and a “kung-fu” grip, enabling him to hold onto objects for the first time.

The MUJAM exhibit had everything derived from G.I. Joe, including the German variant, Action Team.  The German marketers of this line obviously didn´t mind giving their paramilitary adventurers porn star names such as Hard Rock, Tom Stone and John Steel.   The website Action-Team.at has the story:

In the early 70s anti-war opposition led the producer Hasbro to change the GI Joe line, the former toy soldiers were to be less war oriented. A new name was added “Adventure Team” and the figures featured flocked hair and beards.

At the beginning, the toys were imported in Europe, but in 1966 Hasbro licenced the line in England under the name of Action Man.

Germany, France, Italy and Spain waited until 1975-76 to develop their own productions: Germany and Italy – Action Team, France – Action Joe and Spain: Geyperman. In Germany the company Schildkröt (Schildkroet) produced the Action Team line under licence from Hasbro.

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According to the Wiki on Action Man, the U.K. version of G.I. Joe, giving the boy-dolls a mini-fro was quite the revolution in kids toys.

The first innovation for Action Man was a form of flocking giving the effect of a short “fuzzy” hairstyle in 1970. Bill Pugh contacted the company he saw on a TV programme producing bottles covered with a flocked fibre. Dracon Limited, whose promotional items included a flocked car, provided the basis for the electrostatic process that would give Action Man his new look.

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The thorough G.I. Joe Wiki says about this version of Joe:

To coincide with the new direction, “Life-Like” flocked hair and beard, an innovation developed in England by Palitoy for their licensed version of Joe, Action Man, is introduced in 1970. A retooled African American Adventurer was also introduced, which came in two versions as did the others in the series, bearded or shaven.

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There was a series of  Eagle Eye G.I. Joe figures designed, not just to creep you out, but for play military action.  It was a feature borrowed from British versions of the toy. According to a toy catalog page, via Plaid Stallions:

G.I. Joe is going through a thought process, or even devising a strategy as his eyes shift from side to side.

Looks like a commando Tom Stone Action Team doll.

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In addition to special exhibits like this one, every 3 months MUJAM hosts a lucha-libre heavy collectors bazaar. Keep up with it, here. Or, on the Collecart Facebook page.

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In addition to the Shimizu family, the museum staff includes tour guides (who double as security), as well as two cooks in the downstairs cafe section.  They prepare boxed food on Saturdays.

A friend of Shimizu´s sons, taking a break in the eating area with a visitor, told me a bit about the family´s history.  Shimizu´s family was part of the first wave of agricultural migrants to Chiapas.  The family moved to D.F., bought an apartment building and opened a candy and paper store.  The same family building houses the museum and others.

Japanese culture website Isefoundation.org, explains the general history:

The infamous Mexican President Porfirio Diaz was the first foreign leader to sign a friendship and trade pact with Japan in 1888 and the first Latin American leader to encourage Japanese emigration. Lasting evidence of this gesture is still to be found in the farming town of Acacoyagua in Chiapas, Mexico’s largest concentration of Japanese descendants. Today, an estimated 15,000 Japanese Mexicans live among a national population of more than 100 million.

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This was a personal favorite. Who doesn´t remember Buck Rogers?

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Shmizu´s collection did contain at least one figure that raised our eyebrows.

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¨El Negro¨ is the prize of Schmizus´ collection.  According to a brochure the museum sells for $10 pesos, it was the attraction at nightclub El Colonia in D.F.  The piano player sat inside the mouth, with the dancers outside. The club, according to the MUJAM blog, was popular in the 30s and 50s. The eyes of the art deco piece moved, as well as the maracas he was holding.

If you´re in Mexico, check out the toy museum. On Saturday afternoons, cooks serve up Japanese style lunches. Food choices range from sushi to fried rice, priced under $50 pesos.

Museo del Juguete Antiguo; Monday – Friday, 9-5, Saturday 9-1, Closed Sundays; Dr. Olvera 15, Col. Doctores, 06720; 55-88-2100