LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) – Even at 40, G.I. Joe hasn’t lost his trim fighting shape.

The small-statured soldier wearing the stars and stripes is marking the anniversary of his debut, fittingly, on the same weekend the country he protects celebrates its birthday. Now fans of the iconic action figure want to give Joe a gift he’ll never forget: induction into the National Toy Hall of Fame.

The fact he isn’t already a Hall of Famer, enshrined alongside the likes of Barbie, Raggedy Ann and Mr. Potato Head, prompted many attending the International G.I. Joe Collectors’ Convention to silence their triumphant shouts of “Yo, Joe!” in favor of asking “Why no Joe?”

“G.I. Joe has more name recognition than virtually any other toy in America,” Brian Savage, director of the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club, said Friday. “There’s a phrase in Americana: Kung-fu grip. Where do you think that came from? G.I. Joe.”

Joe’s four-decade grip of pop culture, with 400 million figures sold, could be what gets him immortalized. After all, he’s not just a soldier, sailor, airman and Marine, but a pioneer too.

Marching before Joe were army men made of green plastic and the miniature lead soldiers. But in 1964, the toy company Hasbro sought something different. It wanted to market a doll to boys – except the designers were told they would be fired if they ever uttered the dreaded D-word, according to Savage.

That’s how the toy company Hasbro, based in Pawtucket, R.I., mustered into service Joe, 11-1/2 inches tall when standing at attention, with 21 moving parts. His name came from the 1945 World War II movie “Story of G.I. Joe.”

And Joe wasn’t a doll; he was the world’s first “action figure.”

“That makes him an interesting landmark in American toy history,” acknowledges Christopher Bensch, director of collections at the Strong Museum in Rochester, N.Y., home to the Toy Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame will take nominations into September, and a panel of two dozen historians and educators will vote on the nominees with the two inductees announced Nov. 12.

Among Joe’s competition are the board games Clue and Candy Land, and the Easy-Bake bake oven.

If his name isn’t called, Hasbro still wins, as those are all produced by the toy company.

But Joe lose? Won’t happen, say the fans who have watched him win for 40 years.

Said Savage: “We like to say G.I. Joe has saved the world a million times over, one back yard at a time.”

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On the Net:

G.I. Joe: http://www.hasbro.com/gijoe/default.cfm

National Toy Hall of Fame: http://www.strongmuseum.org/NTHoF/NTHoF.html

AP-ES-07-02-04 1754EDT