It wasn't Waterloo, but it was a disappointing defeat for G.I Joe, the military action figure that launched a revolution in the toy industry, when no one made a bid Friday for the original prototype.

Even cutting the minimum bid from $600,000 to $250,000 failed to interest the approximately 30 people who attended Friday's auction at the Comic-Con International convention.

''I'd be dishonest to say I'm not disappointed, but tomorrow is another day,'' said John Petty, director of auctions for Heritage Comics, which organized Friday's event.

The 11-1/2-inch figure, locked inside a glass case, was returned to owner Don Levine, who said he would entertain private offers for the next several days.

He and Petty entered the auction with hopes that G.I Joe would become the most expensive toy ever auctioned, had even the minimum bid been met.

Rare Barbie dolls can fetch as much as $10,000, and a ''Yellow Kid'' bowling set once sold for $26,000, Petty said.

For decades, the handmade figure and its detailed gear have been kept in a cardboard box in the Rhode Island home of Levine, the Korean War veteran and former Hasbro executive who created it in 1963. To get around doubts that boys would play with dolls, Levine coined the term "action figure."

Now 75, Levine said it was simply time to sell the figure, and several other early G.I. Joe items, and share the proceeds with his children and grandchildren.