Stanley Weston (born Stanley Alan Weinstein; April 1, 1933 – May 1, 2017) was an American inventor and licensing agent who created the G.I. Joe toy line in 1963, as well as the very concept of the

action figure An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game, television program, or sport; fictional or historical. These figures are usually ...

. Weston later sold the rights to his invention, which he called "outfitted action figures", to

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...

for just $100,000. He later created his own company, Leisure Concepts, which represented and licensed products based on the likeness of Farrah Fawcett,

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, and

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

. During the 1980s, Weston oversaw the creation of the ''

ThunderCats ''ThunderCats'' is a media franchise, featuring a fictional group of cat-like humanoid aliens. The characters were created by Tobin Wolf and featured in an animated television series named ''ThunderCats'', running from 1985 to 1989, whic ...

animated series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

(1985–1989), which spawned the successful ThunderCats toyline.

Biography

Weston was born Stanley Alan Weinstein in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on April 1, 1933. He attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

(NYU) before enlisting to the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. He returned to New York City after the war and completed his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

at New York University. Shortly after completing his master's degree, Weston joined a relatively new, emerging segment of the retail and entertainment industries, known as

licensing A license (American English) or licence ( Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another par ...

and

merchandising Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of Product (business), products ("merch" colloquially) to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative w ...

. He became a licensing agent who oversaw branding negotiations for Soupy Sales and Twiggy during the 1960s. Weston became interested in a possible military toy line from frequent trips to an Army-Navy surplus store in New York City, as well as the military articles in the ''

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'', according to accounts written by his brother, Jay Weston. Weston also scoured thrift stores for military uniforms and paraphernalia. Unlike most toy lines, Weston created G.I. Joe without a backstory, specific enemy or mission. Stanley Weston was inducted into the inaugural class of the Licensing Industry Hall of Fame for his invention to action figures and G.I. Joe. He beat other well known figures, including Walt Disney, for induction into the Hall of Fame. Stanley Weston died in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, on May 1, 2017, at the age of 84. He is survived by his three children, Cindy Weston Winebaum (married to

Jake Winebaum Jake Winebaum (born 1959) is an American entrepreneur. Winebaum is the founder of FamilyFun magazine, Business.com, Brighter.com and co-founder of eCompanies and Applied Cognition. Early life Winebaum’s father, Sumner, was an advertising ex ...

), Steve and Brad; his brother, Jay Weston; and his half-sister, Ann Sowers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weston, Stanley 1937 births 2017 deaths American inventors 20th-century American Jews United States Army personnel of the Korean War Businesspeople from New York City New York University alumni Toy inventors 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American Jews