A creator of the original G.I. Joe action figure

Stanley Weston, whose idea in the 1960s of a doll for boys became G.I. Joe, the world’s first action figure and a toy chest icon of American reverence for the fighting man of the military, died May 1 at his home in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 84.

The cause was complications from surgery, said his daughter, Cindy Winebaum.

G.I. Joe — one of the most popular toys of all time — was often credited to two creators: Mr. Weston, an Army veteran and licensing agent who pitched the concept to the toy maker now known as Hasbro, and Donald Levine, Hasbro’s chief of research and development who shepherded it to production by Christmas 1964. The price was $4 a figure.

Millions of American boys found G.I. Joe — he could be dressed as a soldier, a sailor, a pilot or a Marine — under the tree that holiday season and in birthday boxes in the succeeding years.

With his rugged look and facial battle wound, his changeable uniforms and military gear, the 11.5-inch Joe was a quick favorite for youngsters only one generation removed from the American triumphs of World War II.

His 21 movable parts and opposable thumb, designed to grip a bazooka, made him considerably more appealing than the tin soldiers of yore.

Mr. Weston traced his inspiration in part to Barbie, the glam and buxom, if unrealistically proportioned, doll for girls introduced by the toy maker Mattel in 1959. Along with Barbie came a universe of accessories, promising endless hours of fun for children and endless purchases by their parents.

Elliot Handler, a cofounder of Mattel, enlightened Mr. Weston on the moneymaking potential of a doll with variable garb, whether Barbie’s bathing suits and pink convertible or G.I. Joe’s field jackets and bivouac sleeping bags.

“Stan, you’ve got to sell ’em the razor. Then you can sell them a lot of blades,” Mr. Weston recalled Handler saying, according to the volume “Mego 8” Super-Heroes: World’s Greatest Toys!” “I never forgot the lesson,” Mr. Weston remarked.

Mr. Weston took his idea for an outfitted military figure to Hasbro, then called Hassenfeld Bros., which purchased the concept for a reported $100,000. Sales later reached into the billions.

Critical to the success of G.I. Joe was the decision to market him not as a doll, but rather as an action hero suitable for boys. Also critical was Joe’s timing. He hit toy shelves before much of the U.S. public turned against the Vietnam War.

“Parents didn’t feel uneasy about buying G.I. Joe,” Mr. Levine once told the Associated Press.

“They considered G.I. Joe to be a surrogate father or a big brother or a hero.”

Mr. Weston reportedly did not share in the riches his idea brought to Hasbro.

“Should he have sold for that set amount, instead of taking a small royalty in perpetuity?” his brother, Jay Weston, wrote in the Huffington Post in 2012.

“Of course not. But remember he had not seen the toys they developed when making that decision. Who is to say? That’s life.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, Mr. Weston sued Hasbro over rights to G.I. Joe and reached a settlement last year.