When the first wave of G.I.Joe A Real American Hero figures
first came out in 1982, there really weren't too many uniform variations from
character to character. Aside from a few
exceptions, almost the entire team was decked out in varying shades of green.
The next wave of Joes that came out in 1983 was a little bit more creative
& unique, with more branches of the military being represented as well as
more specific environments & designations filled out. We got ourselves a navy SEAL, an arctic trooper, a mine detector (EOD), a medic and even a marine that inexplicably
looked like he stepped out of the Village People.
As was the norm for most boys my age when presented with a
line-up of all new characters, I immediately sought out who my favorite would
be of the new bunch, this was usually determined by who looked the
coolest. And that honor fell upon the
new Helicopter Assault Trooper, code-named Airborne. His card art just really stood out from all
the others. I mean they all looked cool
but Airborne dangling from a rope descending unto the fire fight below just
beat out all the others. Plus, the bare
chested, tattooed marine with the thick handlebar mustache kinda scared me
back then.
Anyway, Airborne didn't feature much in the cartoons or
comics and was pretty much lost in the shadow of his more popular wave
mates. While Doc, Snow Job, Torpedo,
Tripwire and of course, Gung-Ho became household Joe characters, Airborne was
somehow left behind. But that didn't change anything for me, from the day I laid my eyes on him and after countless
of Joes introduced after him, he has remained my favorite Joe.
Let me read your mind.... |
Ask any hard core G.I.Joe collector to list down the best figures from the 25th line and Airborne will most likely come up in most lists. All biases aside, he really was one of the best figures produced for the line. He wasn't swimming in accessories like later figures but he had just the right amount of stuff and detailed really well to finally make HIM the well-deserved standout from his toy wave.
In 2009,
a more “mature” cartoon mini-series called G.I.JoeResolute was released. It was called
mature because the writers promised realistic battles (no lasers) and actual
character deaths (no parachutes). A few
months before its release, some character designs surfaced online and I was
quite surprised to see that Airborne was actually included in this iteration of
G.I.Joe. Of course, the promise of Joes
dying and an obscure character like Airborne being included in the series made
me fear for the worst. Luckily, Airborne
ended up surviving the series doing what he does best, playing the part of a non-speaking
background character.
The fact that he was included and NOT killed off got me
excited enough to do my very own Airborne custom based on his Resolute
design. In my opinion, it had enough subtle
differences from the original to merit a custom.
So what does the future hold for my favorite Joe? Although I’m pretty sure he won’t be coming
out in the new movie due in 2013, he does have a new figure scheduled to be
released as part of the movie line. And
as if being a Joe with ESP isn't enough, apparently now he’s also a “tactical
ninja” cuz the powers that be for the movie have decided that G.I.Joe is now a
highly specialized NINJA force (ughhhhh). Oh well…at least we’re getting a NEW
Airborne, and he does look pretty cool….not bad for my favorite obscure Joe.
Spot the Airborne! |
Home made Airborne |