gi joe retaliator

 

I bought a Retaliator, I have been interested in increasing my GIJoe teams mobility, and while the purchase was a tad on the impulsive side, I'm going to give this bird a try.  (I like helicopters quite a bit, too!)

The Retaliator is one of those rarely discussed vehicles, or at least it seems that way to me.   The Tomahawk and Dragonfly seem to reign supreme in discussions.  And justly, they are both great.  The Tomahawk actually being what could be considered the very core vehicle of my GIJoe team.  With it's twin rotors, the Tomahawk has great lift capability.  But, there is only one Tomahawk, and I feel like it needs a wing-mate.


Searching the internet, the images that "sold" me  on the wanting (sort of impulse buy...) of this helicopter were among these  forever-awesome pictures (the Retaliator) found here.   There is something about that front view angle shot that really appeals to me.  GIJoe Portugal also has a very nice head-on picture of the Retaliator, as well as an open canopy picture that reveals some intricate interior detail.  (areas often neglected in toy design, among others....)

But what also helped "sell" me on the Retaliator was a picture here showcasing the potential versatility and utility of this helicopter.


Here is a link to coroflot showcasing a gray model of the Retaliator .   (Also view the other work at coroflot, too, good stuff!)




 Let's take a walk around this craft, it is a good sized helicopter.   The Retaliator is from 1990, and you can read about more on this aspect of the history at YOJOE.coms Retaliator page.

I've had Updraft for some time now, originally I really wanted him since I was short on pilots back when I had a lot, lot, lot more vehicles.  Since then, updraft has become a member of my own small GIJoe team and begun to stand out more to me.  Next to the Retaliator, one can see that the Retaliator has some size to it as Updraft poses at the side.

 I was slightly surprised to find seat belts in the Retaliator.  If I recall, many 1988 and 1989 series vehicles had these, where 1990 series vehicles seemed to use the seat clips more.   Is the Retaliator the only 1990 vehicle to have seat belts?

Inside is a fairly detailed cockpit, for sure.  The only detail that isn't there is a cyclic, but I'm happy with the rest of the cockpit.  The rear seat sits higher up, just like in a modern helicopter gunship, leaving the front seat for the co-pilot/ gunner.   The canopy is also very contoured, a very cool and complex shape, indeed.

 

 

 

  

The rotor hub may be the most detailed GIJOE helicopter rotor hub out there.   Just compare to the "real" higher detail of this 1/18th scale KIOWA:

 

Above you can see one of my favorite aspects of this rotor, the folding ability!    I did not know the Retaliator had this after years of looking at pictures of this craft, but so far, I think this should almost be the standard to which GIJOE helicopter rotors should aim for.   I think we can all agree that this would be a good feature on the Tomahawk?

 Another thing that was never apparent in pictures is that the big side vents here are turning knobs to spin those rotors.  Definitely a cleverly hidden button design for an action feature.

There are no removable engine covers, though (a favorite vehicle feature of mine).  There is a fairly big engine detail available, however, just aft of the hub.

 And this power heads back to a two big tail rotors, one on each side, which freely spin with easy hand activation via the 'nosecone' like edges.  (Another cleverly hidden action gimmick control knob!)

  What's a gunship without an armament, though?  Well, the Retaliator may not be all gunship, as it comes fairly light on the weapons side.  Two dual rocket pods flank each side with some refined looking rockets. 

The rockets are fairly well sized, and I think the detail piece on the "built-in" pod really adds character to this unique helicopter.

There is also a chin gun.   In the picture below, it shows my Retaliator sitting on a flat surface.  One can see the back of the chin gun doing most of the supporting of the Retaliator here, the skids doing more balancing, if anything.

Unlike the Dragonfly or Tomahawk, the Retaliators chin gun does not pivot.  There is plenty of up and down range, though, and the gun is a great size.  I kind of would like that pivot ability, though, so the gunner can operate more independently and effectively.  So, this is definitely a drawback for me here.

 Perhaps this was never intended to be a dedicated gunship, though, perhaps it is more of a bomber gunship?  The Retaliator has a neat action feature weapon just aft of the chin gun, the bomb slide!    Unlike many of the more modern vehicle designs that leave bottoms of the toys with flat, screw-exposed surfaces, this bomb slide has all sorts of details on it.

  

Open it up and there are nine bombs ready to slide out.

A little gravity activates this simply play feature, remember this is 1990, before the spring-fired action gimmicks really took off, and I think this simple method of bombing Cobra works just fine. (although there are several spring-fire features on vehicles I really like a lot)

 The tail section has the biggest action feature, though, and this is the one that always was apparent from pictures I've looked at over the years.   There is the single cable hook that can be "thumb-wheeled" from the rear, it is a similar sized hook to what the Dragonfly or Tomahawk have.

The Retaliator brings its own grappling crane claw, though.   This is the one thing that helped dissuade my interest over the years, but it isn't too obtrusive and rather effectively hides in the tail section.

The claw swings down, and this is where play and reality start to fight in mind, mostly due to the visual weight vs. perceived lift issue.  Then again, this helicopter may be using a super light weight material in that whole tail section that makes that issue null and void?

Even with "grown-up" sized hands, this is actually very comfortable to hold, and the "upside down" rudder on the tail actually makes the Retaliator fun to "fly."   The other hand is free to spin the rotors using those large, easy to grasp rotor spinners, as well as activating the bomb slide!

Compared to the AH74 Apache, and the Night Attack Chopper, I think this handle is more fun, and much better designed than either of those two helicopters.

This next picture is possibly the last time you will see this particular Retaliator do this:

 This is one movement that I don't get.  I guess I can see if one wanted to extend the range of the claw, but there's no good spot to hold both hands on to to make this a seamless play movement.  One had to hold it like it is going to be a "snap" in half, and then there's two loose parts on a joint left over, if you know what I mean?






 Nose to nose, I'm going to be spending some time with the Retaliator.  Will it hold up?

Next to the Tomahawk, it will never replace it, but as a companion craft, we'll see!

 

 

Surprisingly, the Locust carries more people with 1/8th the size. ;)

GIJoe and service branches, Rampart, Dogfight, and Slaughter

Through the file card information on classic GIJoe figures, one can reason out which service branch a 'Joe came from. It seems like it's mostly the Army that most GIJoe characters come from.

This is the reasoning behind me choosing these three figures for my small team of 28 GIJoes. I've got a lot of 'Joes from the Army, and these guys pictured above bring in the Navy, Marines, and Air Force service branches. I wanted a mix of characters from different backgrounds to serve as a "snapshot" of my once larger roster of figures, but also to add to the potential variety of future imaginary adventures.
An "other agency" representation I chose is Shockwave--(S.W.A.T.) As much as I like Cutter, too, I just didn't feel like he was going to be strong in the sense of versatile use; mostly since he's in his personal floatation vest. Maybe someday, I may very well add him back in with a part-swap custom.


Rampart is a a figure I bought at the old Mariner Mall Kay Bee store in 1991. One of the first figures I bought when I started to call myself more a collector. I think Kay Bee had a buy-one-get-one-free deal upon my first visit to this store. I miss those deals...

A "shoreline defender" and "A.D.A. missile specialist," Rampart didn't stand out to me very strongly until I started focusing in my collections vehicle drivers and crews. Through his file card, I connected his naval record to the rest of my old sea squad.

A rather nice figure in great gray and tan, with a touch of camo and with reasonable accessories.

My WHALE is gone now, but I think Rampart will work out just as great as a ground defense specialist on foot as well as a vehicle-mounted gunner. Particularly on the Tomahawk.


Sgt. Slaughter is representing the Marines on my team. I was heavily considering the 2005 convention Gung-Ho, but that figure (as great as it is) felt a little too armored. Sgt. Slaughter (1988) really had a bare-bones no-frill trooper feel that I like.


The figure is huge compared to the rest of the figures on the team, but it's that same over-the-top personality that makes this character so much more fun and interesting-- without getting too corny with humor.




Dogfight takes the slot for the Air Force. This pilot figure was the least "jet-jockey" looking figure with any Air Force connection that I had. I traded for this guy online on the old Sgt. Savage boards years ago.
As I thought about it, his aircraft the Mudfighter, really fit the feel of what I wanted with my small team of 28 figures. My team was going to be small, no "support" unit, no "greenshirt" anything. 28 GIJoe figures getting things done, usually on the low-tech end. And the Mudfighter really says low-tech to me. It is something that can operate on some dirt road the world over.

I don't have a Mudfighter. But the attitude of the craft I transposed onto its pilot.

In some ways, the figure gives me a sense of a CIA-type secret mission pilot, too. He's not too professional pilot-looking, nor is he obvious special forces-looking. But I can see this guy just wandering his craft into a back-country locale and fitting in. A lot like that James Bond GoldenEye CIA operative. A guy that just doesn't seem like the type, but gets it all done in the end.
Dogfight really has a similar look to Wild Bill in my mind, too. Mostly with the shades and the mustache. That's another reason why I chose Updraft over Wild Bill. I wanted to get a little bit of new character fun in on the action, as well.

Dogfight also has a nice pistol. This little gun further makes me think Dogfight has that little more CIA-esque angle to him.

With "mudfighter pilot" and "electronics technician," I've got Dogfight serving as the co-pilot/ weapons operator on the Tomahawk with Updraft.

Updraft : GIJoe helicopter pilot

Updraft
GIJOE Retaliator Pilot.

I put up a list "page" of the GIJOE team members that are in my (I guess I would call it...) "elite" team. As you've read along here, you may remember that I'm bringing my collecting and playing habits small by making myself have only a GIJOE team of 28 figures.

Some choices to make for my team were hard, and it was really down to the nitty-gritty-picky points of what I like more on many of these figures; it came to what qualities a figure had that I thought I would be happiest with, as I was going to have less. A lot of choices that were not easy, and even now as I look at what I have left, I question myself on some.

Updraft, however, was one of the easier figures for me to pick.

When it comes to helicopter pilots in the ARAH toyline, Wild Bill is almost always the most popular go-to choice. I've shared my thoughts on the Dragonfly and Wild Bill here. I like the 2000 "blue" Wild Bill quite a bit. Lift-Ticket is an obvious option, too. I suppose Windmill..., but..., yeah...

It really came down to what I saw as versatility in a figure. I wanted the most flexibility out of a figure that I could get. Updraft really fits what I needed the most. Not only is he a world class pilot, the figure feels like it actually fits in a non-flight seat role.

For me, Updraft is most effective as my teams Tomahawk pilot (the Tomahawk is the core of my GIJOE teams mobility). However, Updraft can keep up on foot on a mission just as well. And he doesn't feel out of place to me.
(and his "JOE" belt buckle is similar to Heavy Duty's belt buckle. Coincidence?)

Updraft isn't all "high-tech" looking, nor does his uniform seem like it is best suited (or limited) to the role of a pilot. Plus, the removable helmet helped to elevate him over Lift Ticket. (Lift Ticket would have been a stronger contender otherwise, as the rest of the body of Lift Ticket is great, as evidenced by Sky Patrol Airborne.)

(Dogfight is becoming best buds with Updraft in my imagination, too. I'll have more on Dogfight another time, for now though, Dogfight is the co-pilot. )

Also, Updraft just plain looks good on the Tomahawk.

Updraft as a figure, and considering file card information, is really kind of a blank slate for me. The chance for me to maybe get some imaginative personality out of this figure was another reason why Updraft was one of my easier team choices.

I can't remember for sure where I got this Updraft here. I'm thinking I bought this figure from the old gijoehq.com back in 2004. It might have even been 2005. Or even 2003! I don't like not remembering where my figures came from, or when I got them.

Anyway, Updraft is here to stay as my teams main pilot

1991 GIJoe rise of the action accessories

This is what the GIJoe team had in 1991.

This is an older picture I took in 2009, most every figure stayed pretty much the same since them.
The only additions I made that are not in the picture are, Skymate. I also did not put in my Talking Battle Commander General Hawk in the picture.

There's a lot of things going on with this years assortments. In 1990, it was really a solid release of figures with a lot of accessories. With the exception of Rapid Fire (and Capt. Grid-Iron, to an extent), nothing was too far out there in 1990.

In 1991, I think a few figures really carried similar 1990 stylings. Dusty, Sci-fi, Red Star, Heavy Duty, and Hawk, really carried through solid design form and a good amount of accessories that ranged from specialized weapons to removable headgear. I don't have the 1991 release, but Low-light is another figure that has a lot of gear, and really seems to fit in with the 1990-style figures. Lots of gear and rather simple, solid figure design.

However, 1991 was also the introduction of the spring-fire missile launcher figure accessory. While I am not a fan of these, and they were on Transformers years prior, SOME of these are pretty darn good.

Red Star's RPG-style launcher is really a nice looking launcher. Heavy Duty's "man-portable" weapon system is fairly technical looking, and I thought it was interesting that the missile-tubes were also used on the Sonic Apache!

Sci-fi got a launcher, but in his case, it seems like this accessory was less a rocket-shooter, and more a true "energy" blaster. The yellow rocket (actually "energy?") makes me think this.



Was 1991 more a transition assortment....

Some figures had a little less "1990-style" to them, too, but these were still fairly straight-forward figures, except their accessory list included some kind of new-specialized equipment. And these figures also bring in some of the "neon" that is often moaned about, but more in the guns and such. The figure package backs often led me to think this, like the back here, you can see which 1991 figures are on it, and which are not....

Mercer for instance, is really straight-forward, despite the "orange" weapons. The backpack with the mechanically moving missile tube that swings out to the side is where the specialized accessory angle starts to come into play.

Snake eyes also gets the same straight-forward figure-style, but instead of "just" a backpack, he gets a spring-fired grappling hook launcher with a string. Spring-fired, but it's not a missile. Would you say it is an "action accessory?" Snake eyes also has the "orange" weapons.

Tracker brings an orange weapon into play, too, as well as oars. Instead of a spring-fired action accessory, Tracker gets an inflatable raft. To me, this is an "action accessory."

Grunt falls close to feeling like a 1990 figure, but like the 1992 Duke, his "elbow-out" arms have sort of bugged me. His (to me) Army football pants really feels like this guy did leave the team and is not just getting back from his engineering college days, and as "Infantry Squad Leader," the guy feels like he could be a leader of some sort.
Grunts "action accessory" is some kind of huge massive mortar tube, or some kind of huge massive anti-armor bazooka. And the gun, which is also huge, attaches to the massive spring-fired launcher. But he does have a removable helmet, but I'm not sure if he would fit with the accessory spread of a 1990 figure, or if he is more a step into the realm of a 1992 figure (where spring-fired action became the norm).




Rise of the "action-accessory" and other gimmicks


This is where the often-called gimmicks really start to kick in, and these often get separated out with their "sub team" labels.

I'm talking the Super Sonic fighters, where Zap and Psyche-out are actually really good figures, but unlike their 1990 Sonic Fighter counterparts, the Super Sonic Fighters got sounds AND LIGHTS to compliment their original weapon accessories. Unlike the 1990 Sonic Fighters that simply got a sound-emitting backpack and re-issued weapons, these 1991 Super Sonic Fighters actually have some unique equipment to employ.


Of course, the other action features that are out this year are the water-activated-battle-damage Eco-Warriors. While this color-changing feature was more known to me with Hot Wheels color-change cars, they put it on the action figures. This is something I did not mind. This was kind of neat in that I could use "toxic sludge" to fight with. The "toxic sludge" was actually water. And the figures got mini-squeeze-activated water gun backpack accessories.

And while I'm mostly talking about the figures, and limiting myself by faction (Joe or Cobra), I think a good note to make is about the vehicles that also contained these same features were out there. The Septic Tank and Eco-Striker both have water shooting capability.

The hole in the plot, though? Is the stuff that the "good guys" are using an anti-toxic-sludge "sludge?" In reality, it's all water getting shot around, but, are we fighting sludge with sludge? (Like in Ghostbusters, positively charged slime against the bad ghoul?)



And the "action accessories" don't stop there!!!

If you remember the motorized action packs from 1987 and 1988, "action accessories" are obviously not a new concept in the GIJOE line.
Heck, even 1984's Deep Six figure was a whole "other" type of figure.
Now, do you remember the motorized vehicle packs?



When does an accessory become a vehicle? When it is the Air Commandos or Battle Copters!

By itself, I guess I never considered the battle copters a vehicle in a sense, like I would consider the Dragonfly a vehicle. I've never had the opportunity to try on of them out, but I'm more the guy who would NOT be sending my GIJoe figures up into the air outside. I would be more worried about losing them or their guns!
To me, the Battle Copters really feel like more of an "action accessory," big ones.

And this applies to how I thought of the Air Commandos, too. I've never had the chance to fly these, either. Nor have I even seen an original glider from the very early days of GIJOE, but, even the 1991 gliders don't feel like "vehicles" to me. And I'm not the type of collector/ fan/ person that would be tossing his vehicles around.


Where 1990 was a straight-forward year for the most part, 1991 really starts to split things up where a lot of it fits great with the 1990 figures, but the others sit firmly in with what we got in 1992.

While I very much enjoy all things GIJoe, I will admit that even in my own thinking, I tend to stay between 1985 and 1991 for most of it.... and with my recent organizing project of a small team, I find really taking a close look at the whole and seeing what I really like about each.

Is there a doctor in the house?

Rice Krispies Lifeline was my first medical professional on my team.
I would almost say that this was the best "prize" in a cereal box ever, but a Transformer cereal mail-in was so much better. Even though I'm a much bigger Joe fan, getting Jazz from a cereal I can't recall the name to, well, that was simply awesome.

It wasn't too long after that in about 1992 or 1993, that a friend gave me an '83 Doc figure. The medical team was set! A doctor and a paramedic.

In my more recent task of possibly trimming down my personnel roster, I just asked myself now how important a medical specialist would be? Would I need a dedicated medical character/ figure on my small team?

Or would a medical specialist simply become another "static" figure, like Lift-Ticket, or '86 Wet-suit..., a figure that has one real strong purpose, but doesn't feel like they "fit" in other roles. '86 Wet suit is a Navy SEAL, however, the guy is in his wetsuit with dive gear, and he's never felt right running around in an imaginary mountain or city setting in my mind. Would a future medical specialist figure simply just end up staying in whatever storage box 95% of the time?


When looking at the future, I am finding I should consider the past.

I've put this picture up before, it's a small set up of a small skirmish. In it one can see how my Cobra Viper team looked for many years.

Lifeline made it into this battle. And while pulling Low Light to safety is huge, I have to wonder, why was Lifeline there in the first place? What does Lifeline bring along on a mission that adds to the mission, other than simply being a guy that pulls his buddies to safety?
For most of my imaginary adventures that I can recall, I think Doc pretty much stood around in the HQ with Lifeline and Stretcher, and even a more recent added figure, Sideswipe.
I'm not sure if I felt like I needed a dedicated medical professional to march around with every little squad of Joes I mixed up for adventures or what.

For a character/ figure that is often in one spot, like the HQ, or in the pilot seat of the Tomahawk, or in a Dive Suit in the SHARC...., I wonder if their roles are too limited for maximum play adventures?

And it's not that I dislike any of the medical figures, or any of the firefighter/ flamethrower types. When I consider the future, though, how much "pull time" will they get, or will they simply stay in a bag in a box 95% of the rest of the time I have them?

I wasn't going to give away too many names for who I was going to pick to keep on my small team. For those readers who might have interest in my "small team" thing I have going as of late, I wanted to make my "final team" picks a bit more of a surprise. That's why I broke it down by year in prior posts.

In previous posts, I've mentioned how I had a quick pick and got some 80 figures as a result, and then I got it down to 60, and then to 50. Well, I have it down in the mid-30's, believe it or not.
I've almost been forcing myself to a point where it's turning into work on seeing where I might want a potential small force to go.

But, the figure that inspired me to consider whether or not I "need" a medical specialist figure is Stretcher. (yes, I chose Stretcher over the others as the "keeper.") Check out the file card, which is the base from which I add to a figure's character. Medical Specialist and troop transportation.

The actual figure really stands out to me more than Doc or Lifeline. And Sideswipe just swiped his outfit. But really, it's a nice touch looking figure mold-wise and all. And he's not dressed in red. (not that I dislike red...) I like that he's not stated as an avowed pacifist, too. While he's only got the flare gun, maybe Stretcher could do more in my possible small force?

I've got vehicle drivers, but with his troop transportation SMOS (and no, I don't use his flying stand thing...), I wonder if he would make a great driver? This way, he can contribute to more missions, even if he would only be out when the vehicles are. With that huge backpack, and I think RTO gear, Stretcher could also contribute in the communications arena.

I guess I'm 50/50 on keeping Stretcher in right now.

Sky Patrol

Sky Patrol is still a newer-to- me-addition to my collection. Back in the day in and around 1990, '91, and '92, I remember seeing these figures on the pegs, but since they had parachutes they made a price jump into a sort of "deluxe" figure price range. Or put simply, they were more expensive compared to mainline figures. Plus, I could buy a vehicle for a dollar or two more, and I found more value in that kind of purchase thinking.

I still don't have all the accessories to this "sub-team," but I have all the helmets and the figures themselves, and I'm happy with that. I think it was late 2009 that I finally got Airborne up there, and I paid a pretty good amount for the figure. For some reason he seemed elusive, and for whatever reason I liked that figure the most out of all of them-even before I got it.

I think I filled in most of the Sky Patrol figures at the GIJoe convention in 2005, but the first Sky Patrol figures I ever got (in the picture below in about 2004-early 2005) is when I got Static Line and Drop Zone.



I like 1990 as a product year quite a bit when it comes to GIJOE, and Sky Patrol really adds to that like. And it has nothing to do with the parachutes. I actually could care less about the parachutes.

With all the vehicles I've had over the years, I don't remember ever even seeing a Sky Patrol vehicle in person.

If you're reading this, you most likely know your Joe, and you most likely know that with the exception of new heads, these are all re-used bodies.

It's an interesting mix, too, in that it's former vehicle driver bodies that were re-used through-out. And that Sky Patrol figure got a removable helmet, which is really awesome.

On the ground, Backstop and Motor Viper donated to Static Line and Airwave. With the use of ground vehicle driver bodies, I really imagine these two Sky Patrol members being used in a ground role. Static line has a demolitions MOS, and the armor on top helps that guy feel that part, and the blue really feels like there's a sort of security (Like Law, Shockwave, etc.) flavor. And while Static Line might get his codename from that sort of airborne jumping method, it also makes me think of explosives for some reason.


Airwave is the "audible frequency specialist." That says communications specialist to me, and with his file card info, Airwave has become a part of my communications and technical specialists. With the riding armor a-la Motor Viper, Airwave feels like a figure that can field his expertise just about anywhere.

Two of the Sky Patrol figures are from jet pilots bodies. In my current thought process of moving my collection forward with fewer figures and missions, jet pilots are looking like they may become very rare. I suppose the Sky Patrol guys could become HALO jumpers, as Altitude is a recon scout, and then Drop Zone is a "weapons specialist." "Weapons specialst" is kind of vague as far as strong fuel for the imagination... it could be anything.
When I had more jets, I had these two Sky Patrol guys as almost exclusive pilots. With no jets, well, I don't want to make the excuse of "they're cool," just to keep them. However, I may employ an imaginary transport plane that can get these two and others into airborne-inserted action.




Then there is the helicopter pilot based bodies. The "leader," Skydive really seems like an older special operations guy that is type of soldier that would be fast-roping out of a helicopter, too. As far as future use in my collection, I feel real good about having Skydive present. He's got a nice pistol and rifle, and his helmet really feels more like those lightweight helmets that a person might see in real life. Well, in a dark black as compared to the toys silver color.

Now Airborne was the guy I wanted the most out of all of them over the years. I think it was mostly since thought he looked the coolest.
He's the "parachute assembler." That sounds boring, an important role for sure, but I don't think I'll have that play out in my imagination. On his secondary MOS, I just got reminded that he is a battlefield medic as I reference YOJOE.COM. In a team with potentially a lot less people, this imaginary point will add to the teams depth.
His overall color scheme is really nice, too. I think it would work in just about any place he's sent into, and his helmet is a little more "combat" feeling to me (as opposed to a jet-pilot face shield). Style-wise, the uniform doesn't feel like a jet-pilots G-suit feels out of the pilots seat, too.
It's interesting that both helicopter pilot-based bodies got the more "combat" style helmet. I wonder if the original design intent had more to it than us at the consumer end will ever know?



Airborne vs. Airborne

If you know your Joe, you know there's two Airbornes. For awhile, I was thinking of making Sky Patrol Airborne, "Rigger." An alternate codename so I can use all the figures. I've also considered using, "Six," as I've seen posts where this, or "Rigger," was used.

Going forward, since the original 1983 Airborne is so much more of a skinny figure and a swivel-head jointed one at that, I think the original is going to go away for sure.

Really, I have a lot of choices for paratrooper GIJOE figures across the board. And as I have been spending a lot of time lately contemplating my figure collection, I find I really prefer the figures from '85 and forward a lot more than the '82-'84. Don't get me wrong, but when it comes to just an issue of Airborne vs. Airborne on these two figures, the 1990 Sky Patrol figure is so much more interesting and detailed to me.



What do you think of Sky Patrol?
I have some parachutes I won't use if anyone wants to trade for them, too, just let me know.

Also, it's been asked before, but why do you think Freefall wasn't a member of Sky Patrol