 We now return to the Sunday night movie my half-brother Vinnie Because you deserted your post an enemy force was able to penetrate security free Serpentor and injure three good men You're confined to quarters until court martial Don't do it Hawk. He's my half-brother Vinnie Get him out of my sight Get to be on me out you know that right Hello everybody hooded cover commander 788 here. This is the show where we review every vintage gi joe toy from 1982 to 1994 this time we are looking at falcon or is it lieutenant falcon or is it falconi or Falcone he's definitely a green beret though except when he's wearing a black beret The most important thing about this character is that he was the half-brother of Duke Except for when he wasn't the animated character was voiced by Don Johnson Once and then the other times somebody else this version of falcon was in the supersonic fighters Now that's a very special set of action figures where hasbro helpfully provided Technology for kids who didn't know how to go pew pew and bang bang They needed electronics to do this for them. This figure was released in 1991 maybe or 1992 I'm not really sure let's find out or maybe we won't hooded cober commander 788 presents falcon This is lieutenant falcon gi joe's green beret from 1991 or 1992 either way it was discontinued by 1993. This is the third vintage version of falcon There's some confusion about when this figure was released yo joe.com has it on the 1992 page But says it was released in 1991 the ultimate guide by mark balomo has it in the 1991 chapter The official gi joe collector's book also lists it as a 1991 figure and the card back Advertises 1991 figures and includes the 1991 sonic fighters with the supersonic fighters as if they're one set based on the catalog The supersonic fighters were released in 1992 the 1991 catalog says they are coming Soon and they are in the 1992 catalog. So, which is it? My best guess is that it was released late in 1991 too late to be included in the 1991 catalog and carried over to 1992 this figure was designed by ron rudat for hasbro It was designed for release in 1987 and just recolored for this release I refer to this figure as falcon because that's what he was called in 1987 when he was first released, but really this figure is lieutenant falcon and indeed he is a lieutenant Sometimes the rank was added to his code name falcon version one was released in 1987 The figure had a camouflage uniform and a green beret He looked really great. He was one of the best figures that year falcon version two was released in 1988 It was part of the night force subset It used the same mold as version one, but in different colors since version three from the supersonic fighters used the same mold as version one All three figures are the same except for the coloring green beret refers to us army special forces The members wear a specific headdress the green beret the 10th special forces group was formed in 1952 the special forces branch of the u.s. Army was established in 1987 the same year the first falcon figure was released green berets became pop culture icons through movies and music the song the ballad of the green berets by sergeant Barry Sadler was released in 1966 the john wane movie the green berets was released in 1968 the novel first blood by david morrell was published in 1972 and it was turned into a movie starring Sylvester Stallone in 1982 by the time the first falcon action figure was released in 1987 most American kids would know what a green beret was falcon version three was in the supersonic fighters subset That was one of the sonic gi Joe sets. They all had sound making gimmicks. The first of those sets was the 1991 sonic fighters. They had huge backpacks with sound effects speakers that group was followed by the 1991 or 1992 Supersonic fighters. They had more huge backpacks with sound effects speakers the supersonic fighters cards include the sonic fighters in the Cross-cell portion, so they may be considered a second wave of sonic fighters with a slightly different name also in 1992 There was the talking battle commanders. They had more huge backpacks this time They were screwed into the backs of the figures. They had speakers with sampled voice and sound effects There were two vehicles with these sonic labels both released in 1992 the desert Apache was labeled sonic fighters And fort america was labeled supersonic fighters also in 1992 the gi Joe headquarters had a sound making device There was going to be another sound playing set called battle scan in 1993 but that set was canceled and the 1993 line was renamed battle core falcon was the main character in the 1987 gi Joe animated movie He was voiced by Don Johnson The original plan was that he would be related to hawk in some way that changed to make him duke's half brother The idea of making falcon related to another Joe came from buzz Dixon Writer and story editor for the series and the movie he wanted to make falcon the son of hawk But the decision was made by higher ups to have him related to duke I have the full card back for this figure Unfortunately, most of the front of the card is ripped off because of the way this figure was packaged It was difficult to remove the plastic blister without ripping off most of the front of the card And that's exactly what happened here. There's the gi Joe logo at the top with the supersonic fighters logo next To it it's partially ripped and partially covered by a Bradley's price sticker also partially ripped The supersonic fighters card backs had this really gross salmon colored background With these circles that were supposed to represent sound waves We have the card art with falcon doing such a crazy scream that it looks like his jaw is Unhinged not only is most of the art torn away. It's also partially covered by this promotional sticker The card promises four battle sounds including laser pistol machine gun Laser rifle and pistol. We will test those out looking at the back of the card We have this cross cell with this partition for the sonic fighters that also includes the supersonic fighters Then we have this other section with the rest of the figures that were available at the time We have a single flag point and we have the file card that is unfortunately also in that salmon color We will take a closer look at the file card later in this video unlike most file cards of the era This file card has a description of some of the accessories and I will refer to this when talking about those accessories I have a modern falcon figure. This is part of the gi Joe classified series of six inch action figures released this year This is based on the version one falcon figure not version three But we can look at it to see an up-to-date representation of this character This action figure is somewhat controversial. So let's take a look at it and see if we can figure out why Let's take a look at the box and this box is one of the no plastic boxes Which can be a good thing or a bad thing these boxes give a lot more packaging real estate for the artwork And if the artwork is good, then it gives us more good artwork But if the artwork is bad or mediocre, there's just more bad or mediocre artwork I wouldn't say this is bad, but it's definitely not my preference. We have a pose here on the front of pouty falcon And we have some colors with a lot of blues in it Does not show a lot of the details of the figure Which is important because this figure is highly detailed But you don't get that from the packaging artwork one of the reasons we praise the classic card art Is because it made these lumps of plastic look more life-like And unfortunately this card art and some of the other card art in the classified series Takes these somewhat life-like figures and makes them look less life-like. So we have pouty falcon on the front We have a photo of the action figure This is in the gi joe classified series and this is vincent our falcon falconi or falcon This is a reversion to the previous spelling of the last name We will get to that when we talk about the vintage figures file card on the side of the box We have falcon parachuting to the ground looking less pouty This is number 64 in the classified series and on the back of the box We have more photos of the figure and accessories There are these symbols that represent his specialties and those symbols are copied on the side of the box This one means he is really fast like the flash. This is four r2 d2s This means there's a footnote and this is two balloons. They should be red and there are 97 more of them But they wouldn't fit in the frame. Let's take falcon out of the box I have previously opened this figure to take a look at it and I put it back in the box So this is not a fresh unboxing, but I can show you how it was boxed The figure comes in this cardboard tray It was originally tied to the tray, but I've clipped those ties so I can take the figure out inside the box There is also another box that contains the accessories Here is classified falcon out of the box This figure is obviously based on version one from 1987 In my opinion version one is a far superior figure for reasons I shall discuss Let's start by looking at the accessories and the first one we need to look at is the hat The green beret includes a green beret It is in green plastic obviously It is in a soft flexible plastic which I like I prefer that And I don't really have a problem with this. It's a good color. It's a good shape It fits on the head really well It has a black beret flash with a yellow stripe just like the vintage figure In fact, this is a really good representation of the beret on the vintage figure But on the class side figure, of course, it is removable on version one It is not next we have the backpack and this backpack is pretty nice. It has a lot of detail It is a communications backpack with an antenna And it has a rope here a couple canteens It also has a removable knife and that knife Has a gray handle and a silver blade The knife will slide into this sheath on the side of the backpack And this of course mirrors the backpack on the vintage figure Which was also a green communications backpack with two canteens A rope molded on and a knife that would fit on the side The next accessory is the shotgun and this is where we start to have a problem It doesn't look like the vintage shotgun, which was black and more of a traditional shotgun But that's not the problem. This shotgun is gray in color with brown furniture It has a two piece folding stock and some green shotgun shells on that stock so far so good Unfortunately, there are two major problems with this shotgun at least my example of it The shoulder brace on this folding stock is very loose and in fact will just pop off It is not on there securely at all And I've tried to put it on there more securely so it won't fall off Because it comes off so easily. My only option is to keep this folded The other problem is this right out of the package It was very bent as if it were stored in a tight location and it is permanently bent like this I've tried to fix it. I've tried various ways to straighten it out so far nothing has worked So I have a apparently permanently bent shotgun for falcon Those are all the accessories that were separate from the figure the figure itself has some accessories that are on it You could remove them, but they're not really intended to be removed. We will look at those But first let's look at the articulation. This figure has standard classified articulation So two points of articulation at the neck and at the head So good range of motion butterfly joints at the shoulders Up at the shoulder swivel at the shoulder swivel at the bicep double jointed elbows Swivel at the wrist and up and down hinges on both wrists hinge at the rib cage And ball joint at the hip for an ab crunch and a swivel at the hip Legs split apart there is a swivel at the thigh cut that is really tight on this one But you can get it to move double jointed knees He has a swivel at the boot cut and he has hinged and rocker ankles Let's look at the figure itself I have some problems with this figure and you may have already spotted some of them Let's start with the head and this head is not great. This is what most people complain about His lips are very red. This may be some of jinx's lipstick he has on his lips The lips are bad, but that's not my biggest problem with this head. The hair is fine. So hey, that's one thing The face is kind of ugly, but that is okay. That's not really a huge problem Not every face has to look attractive But this face just doesn't seem to be very well sculpted for one thing the eyes look uneven The right eye seems to slide more down the skull than the left eye. They're not symmetrical And it's just kind of odd and a bit off-putting. Also, how old is he supposed to be? He has deep lines around his mouth. He has sunken cheeks He looks much older than you would expect him to be as a lieutenant green beret I don't always agree with popular complaints about action figures But this is one instance where I do agree. I just don't think this is very good. So let's move on He has a green bandana that wraps around his neck and has a tie in the front That is a separate piece and I do like that He has his load bearing equipment this piece that goes over his shoulders and connects in the back That also connects to a belt that is in a lighter green than the uniform Kind of a pale green but not the tan color that was on the vintage figure So it's a bit of a subtle contrast on the right side shoulder He has this silver and blue device that we have seen on other gijo action figures Which we assume is a communications device, I guess He has a brown painted knife on the right strap and a couple pouches on the left strap This knife is molded on and not really removable and I don't really like this This is a trend we are starting to see with classified figures with having these Sculpted on weapons that are not removable, which is totally understandable on a three and three quarter inch figure But on a six inch scale figure I feel like these accessories ought to be removable and not just decorative the straps are attached to a belt That is in the same lighter green color the belt has some pouches on the side and one in the front It has a silver belt buckle with a bit of paint over spray And there is an extension under the belt for the shirt So the uniform shirt is kind of attached to the belt to look like it's tucked under the belt I guess that's the only way they could do that I understand what they were going for and they were trying to copy a detail that was on the vintage figure But this is a very risky choice For one thing if there is any color difference between this plastic and the plastic on the action figure That's not going to look right also since this shirt tail is part of the belt piece If the belt piece moves the shirt also moves and that can also look rather awkward the uniform is in a dark green color He has rolled up sleeves. He has a green watch on his left wrist with painted watch hands That's a nice touch the dark green uniform has a brown camouflage on it And that's the same on the top and the bottom half of the uniform. He's got some pockets on the legs He's got a texture pattern on the legs. I do like that texture pattern He has some jungle boots with a lighter green canvas color on the sides And that's pretty close to the color on the straps He has gray boots under those boot covers I don't know if it's coming out well on this camera, but I can barely see the camouflage pattern There's not much contrast between the dark brown and the dark green and I understand not everything needs to be high Contrast I get it, but with such a low contrast camouflage. It's almost like there's no camouflage at all It's a waste of a paint spray that doesn't really show up on the figure very well Contrast this with the version one camouflage, which had a lighter base green color an actual olive green color With darker green camouflage on it. This looks so much better And it looks like the tiger stripe camouflage used by real vietnam era green beret soldiers This looks great And this one i'm afraid the colors are just too subtle to really pick up on the camouflage to summarize I have multiple problems with this figure. I do agree with the criticisms of the face The accessories are mostly good, but I have a serious problem with my shotgun that so far I have not been able to fix I think the version one figure is superior to this modern six inch figure And that's unfortunate because falcon is a popular character And this was a great opportunity to give us a really cool figure And I think it just fell short Let's take a look at falcon's accessories and he came with a few neither of these weapons fit in his hands Very well, and i'm not going to force it because I don't want to break the thumbs The first is this machine gun. It is in black plastic It has a simple design and kind of generic looking the file card says it's a 5.56 millimeter X a r2 automatic assault rifle. I don't know what else to say about it It's kind of a basic looking gi jo machine gun next We have this laser rifle and this is an unusual one. It is in black plastic It has a grip on the top and an arm brace that looks really strange It has a scope, but how would you use it with the grip on the top? The card calls this a scatter blast laser rifle with laser tracking sensors Both of these weapons are probably a little too similar and neither is like his original shotgun Next he includes a figure stand in black plastic. This is one of the things I love about 90s figures They included figure stands 1980s gi jo figures did not include figure stands Next we get to the backpack this sonic backpack. It is in blue plastic It has a black rotor with curved blades and those blades will spin It has a lot of technical detail and it has four gray buttons and two red lights I guess this is supposed to make him fly But the rotor is probably too small to lift him and there's no tail blade or counter rotating blade So even if it did lift him he would spin around in the air Each of these four gray rubbery buttons will make a sound and they will make these lights light up on the top I don't know if that's coming across very well on my camera, but those will light up This button makes a laser sound This button makes a gun sound This button makes a machine gun sound And this button makes another laser sound The card says these sounds are laser pistol machine gun laser rifle and pistol I can identify the machine gun and maybe the pistol But which one is the laser rifle and which is the laser pistol? And why these sounds the figure doesn't come with any kind of pistol laser or otherwise Let's look at the articulation on falcon. He had the articulation that was standard for gi jo figures in 1991 and in 1992 And indeed in 1987 when falcon was first released So he could turn his head from left to right and look up and down He could lift his arm up with the shoulder and swivel at the shoulder all the way around He had a hinge at the elbow so he could bend his arm at the elbow about 90 degrees He had a swivel at the bicep so he could swivel his arm all the way around This was an o-ring figure not allowed to move at the torso a bit He could move his legs apart about so far. He could move his leg at the hip about 90 degrees and bend at the knee about 90 degrees Let's look at the sculpt design and color of falcon. Once again He uses the same mold as version one and version two just in different colors looking at the head He has a green beret, which is appropriate. He has a black beret flash Which unit is this supposed to be on the version one file card? The beret flash looked like the fifth special forces group with some kind of badge on it This one is just black. Also. He has black hair instead of the brown hair on version one looking at the chest He has a light gray uniform with a black digital camouflage pattern He has a black scarf around the neck tied in the front He has a communications microphone on the right shoulder on the version one figure This would have worked with his radio backpack. I guess the huge helicopter backpack could also have a radio in it He has black straps on the chest and he has a green knife on the right side strap and a green pouch on the left side strap He also has this green device on the left side looking at his arms He has light gray sleeves rolled up over his elbows He has a black watch on his left wrist He has no camouflage on the sleeves, which looks a little odd But I guess they had to cut some paint somewhere on the waist piece He has a black belt with black pouches on the belt He has a shirt tucked under the belt His uniform is light gray with a black camouflage pattern moving on to his legs He has gray legs with a black camouflage pattern. He has pockets on the outside upper legs He has a molded on flashlight on the front of the right pocket The camouflage goes right over it so it doesn't stand out well This is a detail that is totally lost if it isn't painted We finish with some light gray boots that are the same color as the uniform So really they are unpainted boots. The colors are quite different from version one I like the version one figure better as it looks more like a vietnam era camouflage uniform Despite this, I like the version three colors. They aren't loud or obnoxious The gray and black pattern looks like an urban camouflage I don't even mind the unpainted boots I do mind the camouflage pattern going over the flashlight on the leg It's like they're intentionally trying to cover up that detail And the camouflage pattern should continue on the arms as well Overall, I'd say I like these colors more than the night force version Let's take a look at falcon's file card. It is in that pinkish salmon color and I hate it It has his faction as gijo. It has a portrait of falcon with his dislocated jaw scream It has his codename as lieutenant falcon and he is a green beret His file name is vincent r falcon, which is different from his version one file card Which had his file name as vincent r falconi or falcon looks like they dropped the e Was that a typo or were they just trying to make his real name match his codename? His primary military specialty is infantry. His secondary military specialty is medic His birthplace is fayetteville, north carolina and his grade is o2 first lieutenant Fayetteville, north carolina is near fort bragg the base for army special forces command If falcon is really from the fifth special forces group Then he would be based in fort campel, kentucky. The first file card does specify He was with the fifth sfga blue light counterterrorism unit There's an asterisk by the serial number and at the bottom it says lieutenant falcon's security number has been specially modified To prevent breaches and gi joe security. Maybe they also very slightly changed his name for that purpose too This top paragraph says a second generation special forces trooper lieutenant falcon has snake eating and jumping out of airplanes in his blood A qualified expert in all nato and soviet bloc's small arms He can field strip clean and reassemble most common military pistols submachine guns and assault rifles in complete darkness and not wind up with Left over parts specially trained to maintain and modify all of the sonic fighters innovative and highly advanced weapon systems Lieutenant falcon is also cross trained in demolitions medicine and languages in parentheses spanish rance arabic and swahili the first paragraph rewords the version one file card It's like when you had to write a book report, but you weren't allowed to directly copy the text So you just changed the words around a bit the second paragraph has a quote It says falcon knows that the only kind of respect that's worth having is the kind that's earned Sorry, it's in all caps. So I assumed it's yelling It's the kind that's earned and not handed out with rank When you go stepping out into bad guy country with falcon You can depend on him to pull his own weight and put his butt on the line When the worst possible scenario becomes a bone chilling reality He leads by example and to a grunt in the field. That's the best kind of leadership bar none This file card is not badly written It does have some promo for the sonic fighters and it cribs some notes from the version one file card And it has some odd differences from the version one card like the spelling of the name But other than that it's pretty well done The file card is nothing like the character in the cartoon that character had a different personality and background And the card has no mention of a relation to duke looking at how falcon was used in gi jo media He first appeared in animated form in the 1987 gi jo movie. He was voiced by don johnson The movie is quite divisive and i'm not a fan of it. In the movie falcon was portrayed as irresponsible He brought a date to gi jo headquarters who turned out to be zirana in disguise He also left his post before cobra infiltrated the base. There were two important relationships for falcon He was romantically interested in jinx though. She didn't really show an interest in him until the end of the movie Also, he was revealed to be duke's half brother The original plan was for falcon to be related to hawk in some way either a brother or a son This was changed to make him the half brother of duke. This was a choice of the writers of the movie There's no hint of this on the file card The version one file card says he's second generation green beret If he were hawk's son that would make hawk the first generation green beret There's no mention of special forces experience on hawk's file cards That's about the only thing he didn't do after facing the possibility of court marshal falcon was sent to the slaughter house Where he met sergeant slaughter and the renegades when duke defended falcon from serpentor's spear and Went into a coma falcon changed his attitude and became the hero of the movie after the movie The animated series produced by sunbow was cancelled There was a gap before deke took over production and started a new series falcon was in that series But not very much online sources say in the deke series He was voiced by actor scott mcneil, but i have not been able to confirm that He didn't have many appearances and he's mainly known for two episodes the greatest evil parts one and two In those episodes falcon gets addicted to a drug called spark Sold by the evil drug dealer headman g. Ijo and cobra combined forces to combat their common enemy falcon was most known for being Selfish irresponsible and a drug addict. He just couldn't catch a break in the cartoon falcon fared a bit better in the comic book series published by marvel comics Which is surprising in the comic He didn't have a relation to duke and he wasn't the focus of the story like he was in the movie He first appeared in issue number 60 that also introduced chuckles fast draw and law and order They were deceived into thinking they were members of gi joe in a plot to fire a missile at cobra island They helped hawk defeat the plot so hawk made them official gi joes I guess they got to skip the joe qualification process This issue was surprisingly like an episode of the animated series a bunch of characters were introduced in a one-off story And they were officially adopted on the gi joe team because of their proximity to the action This is also the issue that was drawn by todd mcfarlane I wish I could say it has aged well and looks better in hindsight, but no it's still pretty bad Some of the panel compositions are awkward and hard to follow Some of these stylistic choices are just strange in issue number 73 falcon led a team that infiltrated cobra island Later when the cobra civil war broke out falcon's team were the first boots on the ground He had a few appearances here and there and turned up again in issues number 108 through 111 During the war in the fictional middle eastern country of truciel abysmia He wasn't related to duke But he was present with duke when several joes were mowed down and killed by the saw viper It was falcon who put a stop to the massacre with a well-thrown knife That was it falcon was never a main character and didn't have much to do in the comic book series But his few appearances were more positive than the animated show looking at falcon overall I like this figure. I don't like it as much as the first version But I like it more than the second version the colors give it an urban camouflage look with striking contrast I really like the digital camouflage the accessories I mostly can do without the giant backpack was the selling point of this figure and the other figures in the supersonic fighters line But it is ridiculously oversized and all to have an electronic sound maker That doesn't do any better than you could do yourself See this is a review of version three It's not a full review of the classified falcon figure But I have looked at it for this video and I've got to say I prefer a version one of falcon to the classified figure I prefer a version two and version three of falcon to the classified figure so many missed opportunities I wish the whole thing had been done a little better The character of falcon is the big question mark in his debut He was irresponsible and selfish and he was related to duke He was duke's half brother in a couple of his later animated appearances He was a drug addict and still related to duke that is in stark contrast to the character as portrayed on the file card And in the comic book that character was really made for animation The character on the final card is second generation special forces Highly disciplined and skilled and that's pretty much how he was portrayed in the comic book I'm going to go out on a limb here. This isn't usually how my judgment falls on these things But I'm going to say that the flawed character in animation Is more interesting than the character on the file card or in the comic book the falcon You got as a toy and in the comic book series was a super soldier guy With lots of combat experience exactly the kind of guy you would want on the gi joe team In animation he was none of that which makes it less plausible that he would be on the team In fact, there's some implied nepotism there But the character is at least more interesting and you can do more with that kind of character He has room to grow. This does not mean I now like the 1987 animated movie. No, I'm still not a fan I'm just saying that you can do more with a character as flawed as that falcon Then you can with the character that we saw on the file card and in the comic book That character was just a bit more bland coming back around to version three of lieutenant falcon I think this is a fine figure I would do away with most of the accessories and maybe give him one of the shotguns from version one And then you've got a pretty good figure. That was my review of lieutenant falcon version three from the super sonic fighters I hope you enjoyed it next week I will not have a new review because I will be in augusta georgia for joe fest I hope you will come out and see me there in the meantime Please give this video a thumbs up on youtube subscribe to the youtube channel share this video with your friends You can find me on social media on facebook and twitter and I have a website HCC788.com cobra convergence seven is coming up very soon So you will want to check hcc788.com for updates as we get closer to the event in july special Thanks to my friends on patreon. I could not do these videos without their help if you like these videos Please consider supporting the channel on patreon You can get some special perks like early access and you can get your name in videos like the names you see Scrolling on the screen right now. I will see you in georgia next week And I will see you after that for cobra convergence seven until then remember only gi joe is gi joe He's my half-brother vinnie