>>10423241>When Ninja Turtles came out, Hasbro felt the need to compete by doubling down on ninjas everywhere.YEah, no.
Ninja Force didn't become a thing until 1992, whereas TMNT became popular in 1988 (tv show was 1987). That's extremely late to the party, but not really.
The GI Joe comics and toyline had ninjas since early on in the 80s, because the 70s and 80s Americas were crazy about ninjas (which TMNT also capitalized on). Still, characters like the Red Ninjas showed up from time to time since the early 80s but didn't even get a toy until after Ninja Force started.
Funny enough, Storm Shadow and the Red Ninjas appeared the same month TMNT's comic came out.
And Storm Shadow, Quick Kick, (etc) both beat TMNT becoming cartoons by 3 or 2 years.
So no, GI Joe didn't bother copycatting TMNT, because they were already copycatting the ninja craze before anyone knew about TMNT. GI Joe was popular just being GI Joe.
Hasbro didn't copycat anyone until 1994 when XMen:TAS and McFarlane Toys became popular. Hasbro wanted to make GI Joe into superheroes (Sgt Savage) and also with a splash of McStatues (GI Joe Extreme)
