Greenshirts (G.I. Joe)

Greenshirts is a term applied to the generic-looking soldiers from the cartoon "". The Greenshirts are the equivalent of "extras" in that they are in the story to serve merely as background characters and have little to no speaking parts. Due to the unique look of each G.I. Joe member, it became a problem for Sunbow animators to render the G.I. Joe Team especially when it came to an all-out battle scene. The solution was to create generic G.I. Joe soldiers. This also addressed a problem not brought up in the comics; Cobra would outnumber the Joes. It made sense for G.I. Joe to bolster its forces.

The appearance of the Greenshirts are based upon the G.I. Joe team member Grunt, the Joe Team's infantry squad leader.

Devil's Due comics

The name "Greenshirts" came to use within canon with the release of new G.I. Joe comics from Devil's Due Productions. In this continuity, the Greenshirts were soldiers used as support troops for the main G.I. Joe team. The Greenshirts were broken into three different types, infantry, navy and air force. Some of them have been given personalities and play slightly bigger roles, even gaining Joe code-names and more prominent roles.

Several Greenshirts are featured in issue #4 of the 'Real American Hero' series. They are part of a combined military force defending the White House from advancing Cobra forces. Many Greenshirts die in the battle, though Cobra suffers more losses and are forced to retreat.

One Greenshirt in particular is featured in issue #9. When Storm Shadow infiltrates a Joe facility in an attempt to slay General Hawk, he ultimately takes a Greenshirt and Beachhead hostage. The Greenshirt tells the other Joes to 'do what they have to do' but is ordered to be silent. Stormshadow literally throws him around, then uses his uniform as a double-distraction escape. General Hawk, Beachhead and the Greenshirt survive.

Five Greenshirts play a prominent role in the Devil's Due G.I.Joe issue #17. Beachhead takes them on a dangerous mission deep into a hostile city. The team learns to work together to accomplish their goals, up to and including disobeying direct orders.

Around this time, the status of Greenshirts change. New recruits will be trained at various millitary bases without yet knowing that the G.I.Joe team exists. Those Greenshirts that do will be upgraded to 'cadet' status'.

Toys

Hasbro for many years avoided producing a Greenshirt figure, as several members of the designing and writing teams didn't want to have "nameless" G.I. Joe figures for various reasons. This was circumvented with the 2005 "Infantry Team" figure six-pack, which featured six figures designed to look like the cartoon's Greenshirts. Each figure was given a separate filecard with a blank file name and codename for the buyer to fill in their own details, in essence making them "named" characters.

In the UK equivalent of the toy line, produced by Palitoy and known as Action Force, the Grunt action figure was re-designated as a generic infantryman, available as a mail-in promotion in 1985-6. These characters also appeared in the contemporary Battle Action Force comic. It is not clear whether there was any direct connection between this and the "Greenshirts" of the American cartoon.

After Hasbro and Marvel took over the toy-line and comic in 1987, the generic "infantryman" figure disappeared.