 This is Spirit, the G.I. Joe Tracker from 1984. This figure was introduced in 1984 and was also available in 1985. It was discontinued for 1986. This is the first version of Spirit in the Vintage Line. This figure was designed by Ron Rudat for Hasbro. In Canada, he had a different codename. He was called Shaman. There were three later Vintage versions of Spirit. Version 2 from 1982 was from the Slaughter's Marauders subset. It used the same mold as Version 1. Version 3 from 1992 was from the Air Commandos set. It had a new mold and a new look for Spirit. I think the figure was changed to make it look more like Billy from the movie Predator. Version 4 from 1993 was from the International Action Force Mail Away set. It had the same mold as Version 3 just updated colors. Ron Rudat has said the inspiration for Spirit was the Native American Code Talkers of World War II. The Code Talkers were U.S. soldiers and Marines that used their first languages to transmit coded messages. The Native American languages were used by few people and the enemy did not have access to anyone who could decipher them. Code Talkers were used as far back as World War I, but they were used more extensively in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Before World War II, Germany attempted to learn Native American languages in preparation for their use in the war. They failed, but the attempt prompted the U.S. military to use them in the Pacific Theater rather than in Europe. Spirit was inspired by the Code Talkers, but he doesn't look like one. The Code Talkers wore standard uniforms. Spirit does look like a G.I. Joe, though. The team often wore non-standard uniforms. Spirit was not the first Native American in G.I. Joe. That honor goes to Airborne from 1983. Spirit includes an animal companion, an eagle. Starting in 1984, some G.I. Joe figures included animal companions, such as Mut in 1984 had a dog, Junkyard. Let's take a look at Spirit's accessory and let's start with his primary weapon. There is a variation on these green accessories. Some of them are very slightly darker. The card contents call this an auto-arrow launcher. It is in light green. It looks like a rifle with a dart magazine. It looks really cool, and it is a well-remembered G.I. Joe accessory. Do be cautious, this light green plastic can become very brittle over time. There is a tan version of this rifle that came with a battle gear accessory pack. Next, let's look at his backpack. The card contents call this an arrow cassette pack. It is in the same light green color as the rifle. The backpack has a pouch and a couple of small smoke grenades on one side, and it has a couple magazines for the rifle. The dart magazines on the backpack match up pretty well with what's on the rifle, and I like that. There's some coordination between accessories. These accessories go together. There is also a tan version of this backpack from a battle gear accessory pack. Next, let's look at Spirit's belt, and this belt is not listed on the card contents. It wraps around the figure, and it buckles. It can be removed, so let's take it off and take a closer look at it. This belt is made of a soft flexible plastic with a simple buckle, so it can attach to the figure. The belt is green, and it has brown pouches on it, and it has a red flap in the front and in the back. This seems to be combining military equipment with traditional native garb. This is a special accessory. It was rare to get paint on GIcho accessories, and this has not one but two paint applications. The figure doesn't have a belt sculpted on, so this belt accessory is really needed to complete the look of the figure. Now we get to what may be the best accessory, the eagle. This eagle is in brown plastic. It's very well detailed, very nicely sculpted feathers. There is white paint on the head and on the edges of the wings, and on the tail, and just above the feet. The feet of the eagle will clip onto the arm of the action figure, so you can hold them that way, and that looks really good. This is a separate piece for the feet, and that piece is often missing. This is a bald eagle, which has long been a symbol of the United States. It was once an endangered species, but the population in North America has recovered, and it is no longer considered endangered. The bald eagle has a role in some Native American tribal traditions. Certain tribes are legally allowed to collect feathers for ceremonial use. Although the name for this eagle is not given from other media, we know his name is Freedom. Let's look at Spirit's articulation. He had the articulation that was standard for a GI Joe figure by 1984, so he could turn his head from left to right. He could not look up and down. The ball jointed neck was not introduced until 1985. He could lift his arm up at 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 biceps, so he could swivel his arm all the way around. This was an o-ring figure, meaning the figure was held together with a rubber o-ring that looped around the inside. That allowed him to move the torso a bit. He could move his legs apart about so far. He could bend his leg at the hip about 90 degrees and bend at the knee about 90 degrees. Let's look at the sculpted design and color of Spirit, starting with his head. On his head, he has a red headband that goes all the way around. He has black hair with long braids on each side. That looks really good, and that's a separate piece, and it's out of softer plastic, so that hair will move a bit. He has a Caucasian skin tone, which is a little odd. Other figures had skin color that made sense for the character, but not this one. Later vintage versions of Spirit maintained this. They all have Caucasian skin tone. Long hair for Native Americans has become an important point of pride. The Indian boarding schools that operated right up to the early 20th century attempted to erase tribal traditions. One way they did that was by forcing male students to cut their hair. Native American soldiers and the U.S. armed forces are still required to receive the usual haircut administered to new recruits. G.I. Joe, though, allows non-regulation dress and grooming. On his chest, he has a red undershirt and a light blue over shirt. Unfortunately, this light blue plastic has a tendency to discolor over time, which will give it a slight green tint. That has happened to mine a bit. You can really see it if you compare the front to the back, which still has a very vibrant blue. On his chest, he has a pocket and a couple small unpainted grenades. He has a feather and claw necklace. He has a white bone-handled knife in a tan sheath, and that sheath has a fringe. He has an unpainted strap that goes up to the left shoulder. The back piece is the same back piece that was used for 1983 Dock. It's just in a different color. That same back piece was also used for 1983 and 1984 Duke. Spirit has the same problem as Duke, and that is the strap detail from the front of the figure does not continue around to the back. His arms feature light blue sleeves that are rolled up. On the right sleeve, there is a patch. It is a red circle with a feather. There has been some speculation about what real-unit patch this may be, but I'm not certain about it. There is a variation on this patch. Some Spirit action figures have a patch that is smaller. On my other Spirit figure, even though the patch is worn a bit, you can see it is smaller than the other. On his left sleeve, he has sergeant's chevrons in red, but they are upside down for some reason. His forearms are bare, and his hands are bare. He has a small bronze bracelet on his right wrist. He has a wider bronze bracelet on his left wrist. Since the eagle is often clipped to this bracelet, the paint is usually worn off as it is on mine. There's just one little patch of bronze paint left on the inside. His waist piece is in tan plastic. He has a couple pockets in the back, but no belt and minimal detail. His legs feature tan trousers with a fringe that go down the outside of the leg. On the left leg, he has a white-handled knife with a dark brown sheath and an unpainted strap that goes around the leg. He has dark brown fur-lined moccasin boots that are tied off with a bit of rope that is wrapped around the top. I have a modern version of Spirit, so we can take a look at a more recent iteration of this character. This is Spirit Iron Knife from 2008. This is the third version of the figure to use that specific name, but the seventh version of Spirit. This is a fully modern figure with updated sculpting and articulation and accessories, all inspired by the vintage figure, but also quite different as you can see. This figure does have a more realistic skin tone than the vintage figure. That's one update. The dart firing rifle has been updated. Instead of green, it is in a tan color, and instead of having a pistol grip, it's more like a hunting rifle. The dart magazine is removable. The backpack is also inspired by the original, but updated. It has a tan pack with a lot more detail. It has a silver rack, and on that silver rack it has some removable dart magazines. The eagle is updated. It's larger. It's in soft plastic, so it is flexible. It is now in a base black color, and it has a yellow beak and feet. The vintage freedom eagle will not fit on the modern figure without overstraining those feet. The belt with the red flaps and the grenades and the necklace and the knife on the chest are all part of this separate piece. It's not really intended to be removed, but you probably could remove it. The knife on the chest is not removable, but the knife on the leg is removable. As with most modern figures, he has a figure stand with his name on it. There is another modern spirit figure, very modern. This is the G.I. Joe classified series six inch spirit iron knife figure. This was sent to me by Hasbro. I did not pay for this, but the timing is perfect so I can include it with this review. This six inch action figure copies a lot of the design elements from the three and three quarter inch figure. Classified spirit includes his eagle freedom, but this eagle has a lot more features than either the vintage or the 25th anniversary eagle. First, the feet peg onto the figure with these pegs that go into these holes on the arm, so it doesn't just clasp on and so it fits a lot more securely. The backpack has a perch for the eagle, so you can also peg the eagle onto the backpack if you want to hold the eagle that way. This eagle is articulated. It can move at the head. It can also move at the wings a bit and it can move at the legs. The legs will move and these wings pop off because it has an alternate set of wings. You can pop off these wings. They are on ball joints and then you can pop on these open wings so you can have the wings in two different positions. You can have the eagle in a flying pose. I would counsel caution with these flying wings and the ball joint because the plastic is a little bit thin just before the ball and that could bend or break, so do have caution with that. The classified figure copies a lot of elements over from the vintage figure, so we're not being super creative here, but the classified figure fixes some problems the vintage figure has. The classified spirit has a more realistic skin tone. That's very good. The shirt is in a darker color blue. That looks really nice. He has a lot more military equipment. Nice detail on the backpack. The knife on the chest strap is removable and it has some wicked detail. The figure does not have the red cloth panels on the belt and that could have been a problem if they hadn't added additional equipment on the legs, which they did. He has a removable pistol on the right leg. On the left leg he has a removable knife. The colors are mostly the same as the vintage figure, so he has the dark brown boots, but they're not moccasin style boots. They're like modern army boots. Let's look at Spirit's file card. There is a variation on this file card. We will talk about that in a minute. This file card has his factionist G.I. Joe. It has a portrait of Spirit here. This is some excellent artwork, and this looks more like a Native American character than the figure. His specialty is tracker. His codename is Spirit. His file name is Charlie Iron Knife. His primary military specialty is infantry. Secondary military specialty is social services, and this is sort of explained by the text. His birthplace is Taos, New Mexico, and his grade is E4. This paragraph says, Spirit comes from a family so far below the poverty line they never realized they were poor. This may be a commentary on the very real poverty problem on some Native American reservations. Was a hunting guide through high school, served in Southeast Asia, that's code for Vietnam, then as a civilian completed his education. It doesn't say what his education was, but the prototype file card suggests it was psychology. Return to the service for reasons inexplicable to anyone but a Native American mystic warrior, qualified expert M16, M1911A1 autopistol, Remington sniper rifle. This bottom paragraph has a quote. It says, Charlie is a shaman, a medicine man. A shaman is like a spiritual guide. A shaman has special access to the spirit world. It says he's not a healer or a priest or a witch doctor. There isn't any equivalent in our culture for what he is unless we had shrinks that could actually help people. There is a variant of this file card. Some file cards have a rewritten second paragraph, which says, Charlie is a spirit, a medicine man. He's not a healer or a priest or a witch doctor. Spirit's mysterious powers of the mind extend the limits of the most advanced psychiatric procedures known in our culture. I have to assume this is the early file card and it was changed to the other one. Spirit is an example of the magical Native American trope. It is an unfortunate caricature of Native people. It is difficult for a non-Native writer to effectively convey an unfamiliar culture. The Code Talker inspiration is not mentioned on the file card, which is a missed opportunity to connect the character with his lineage. Looking at how Spirit was used in G.I. Joe Media, he appeared extensively in the animated series. His first appearance was in Revenge of Cobra Part 3. In that miniseries, he has a rivalry with the Cobra Ninja Storm Shadow. Snake Eyes was Storm Shadow's rival in the comic book, but the silent character was used less in the animated series. They gave Storm Shadow a rival who could actually speak to him. Spirit has his pet eagle, Freedom. The bird seems to be intelligent and does Spirit's bidding. Spirit made it all the way to the Deke era of the animated series as he appeared in Operation Dragonfire. His slaughter's marauder's figure was on the pegs at the time, so he was in the cartoon. The animated series really leaned in on the Native American tropes. In the G.I. Joe comic book series published by Marvel Comics, his first appearance was in issue number 31, where he and Airborne surveilled Snake Eyes in his cabin and intervened when Cobra attacked. In issue number 32, he enlists the aid of an eagle. It is a wild eagle, not a trained bird. In later issues, the eagle is named Freedom and he is a constant companion for Spirit. Spirit had some uses beyond the Native American tropes. He was part of the recon team that infiltrated Cobra Island before the outbreak of the Cobra Civil War. He was present with Mutt when Cobra tried to take over the town of Millville in issue number 100 and again in issue number 140. That story had transformers in it. His final appearance in the Marvel series as far as I can tell was in issue number 145 when he and Mutt had their criminal charges dropped after the events in Millville.