 This channel supports the Finest, a G.I. Joe costume club, and their charity campaign benefiting canines for warriors. The campaign is almost over, but there's still time to get involved. So if you're in a position to make a charitable donation, I encourage you to check it out. You can get some special perks like a calendar, a patch, a coin, or a t-shirt. I chose the all-in option so I can get one of each. This cause is important to me and I'm proud to support it. Please check the link in the description of this video. Hooded Cobra Commander 788 here, it's time for another vintage G.I. Joe toy review. Before I get started, I have to thank Watson Joe Mind for this special Watson Joe Mind edition Cobra Convergence t-shirt. Watson Joe Mind is a long-running G.I. Joe podcast. If you haven't checked it out already, you definitely should. And why not get a t-shirt like this? It's great. This week we are looking at another battlecopter. We've looked at a battlecopter before, the one piloted by the Interrogator. And this one is very similar to that one. But it included a new version of a classic G.I. Joe character, Ace. G.I. Joe's first fighter pilot. Oddly enough, this version of Ace does not include a fighter jet. Instead, they gave him a teeny tiny helicopter. I have to thank Thomas Hogan for donating this vehicle. It was in a donation box, along with some other things. Thank you very much, Thomas. The battlecopter had a special gimmick. It's really supposed to fly. Will the battlecopter get off the ground? Let's find out. HCC 788 presents Ace and the battlecopter. This is the 1992 G.I. Joe battlecopter and Ace version 2. This vehicle and figure set were introduced in 1992, and they were available in 1992 only. They were discontinued for 1993. Ace and the battlecopter were packaged together. Although Ace is a vehicle driver, the battlecopter is somewhat generic. G.I. Joe and Cobra each had a standard battlecopter design. This is the second version of Ace. There were three versions in the vintage era. Version 1 was released in 1983 and was the pilot of the Skystriker G.I. Joe's first jet. The Skystriker was magnificent. The first version of Ace looked more like a spaceman than a fighter pilot. Version 2 had more of a fighter pilot look with a flight suit, helmet, and air mask. Instead of a jet, though, they gave him a mini helicopter. Version 3, issued in 1993, used the same mold as version 2 with different colors. The accessories were also mostly the same, except for the submachine gun. He was given a new jet, the Ghost Striker. The first battlecopters were released in 1991. G.I. Joe had one piloted by major altitude, and Cobra had one piloted by the interrogator. Both the Joe and Cobra battlecopters were in a silvery gray plastic. They were zip-cored powered toys that would really fly. Sort of. In 1992, the same battlecopters were reissued in black plastic instead of silvery gray. The Joe battlecopter was piloted by Ace, and the Cobra one was piloted by the Heliviper. I still think the Heliviper is one of the ugliest action figures I have ever seen, but I'm not reviewing that one today, so we won't take a close look at it. We will test the flying feature later. I'll focus more on Ace, since he's the star of this set. The battlecopter is generic, but this is a new version of Ace. We hadn't seen this guy since the Sky Striker was discontinued after the 1985 series. Let's take a look at Ace's accessories, and he came with a few. Let's start with his submachine gun. It is in black plastic. It has a long, thin stock that is probably prone to breakage. It has a ventilated suppressor, and it has a magazine in the grip. This is probably intended to mimic an Uzi machine pistol, but it does not exactly follow that design. This submachine gun is a reissue of the submachine gun that originally came with a 1988 shockwave. Shockwave submachine gun being in blue plastic instead of black. This submachine gun was issued in black in 1989 with the night force version of shockwave. These appear to be the same accessory. Obviously, the Ace submachine gun has some damage to the grip, but they appear to be the same. If there's any difference between them, it is subtle enough that I can't spot it. I prefer pilots to not include handheld weapons. If they're going to live in a cockpit most of the time, a gun is just an extra piece to rattle around inside the vehicle. In the case of this Ace figure, he's not in a cockpit. He's flying a little personal helicopter. He probably will need this weapon since the battlecopter is not armed. Next, he has a helmet and air mask. I will remove them together. The helmet is white. It has green painted goggles. It was uncommon to get paint on G.I. Joe accessories. It's a really good realistic looking helmet. It is made of soft flexible plastic, yet it still seems to scratch the paint on the figure's head. Attached to the helmet is a black air mask with a hose. It attaches to the helmet on knobs on the sides of the helmet and it can be removed. And this is where it's a good thing. It's flexible plastic. Otherwise, I would really worry about breaking those knobs off of the helmet. The air mask is in black plastic. It is also that flexible plastic. It covers his nose and mouth and it has a hose that runs down with a peg on it that will peg onto the chest of the figure. It's easy enough to put the air mask back on the helmet. Just press on those knobs until it attaches. And then you can place the helmet on the figure. And the air hose is just the right length to connect to a hole on the figure's chest. That apparently goes to some kind of an air system. Pegs right on there. And because the hose is plastic, he can still turn his head a bit without it popping out. The same helmet and air system was reissued with ACE version 3 in different colors. I think it looks great in black and gold. But really, I like both of them. They both look great. I'm a big fan of this helmet. It's very realistic. Looks like Ace is ready to fly a fighter jet. It's too bad he didn't get one until the following year. Let's take a look at the articulation for Ace. Ace had the articulation that was standard for GI Joe figures well before 1992. So he could turn his head from left to right and look up and down. He could swing his arm up at the shoulder and swivel at the shoulder all the way around. He had a hinge at the elbow that allowed him to bend his arm at the elbow about 90 degrees. He had a swivel at the bicep that allowed him to swivel his arm all the way around. This was an o-ring figure, meaning the figure was held together with an o-ring that looped around the inside. That allowed him to move at the torso of it. 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 sculpt design and color of Ace. Ace is wearing a G suit. It's a specialized flight suit with expandable bladders to control the pilot's blood flow. It helps prevent G force induced loss of consciousness. Some fans have commented that the puffy rings on Ace's version 1 figure may be part of a G suit, but a G suit looks more like the one he's wearing on his version 2 figure. Looking at his head, Ace has red hair. He has a pretty good face sculpt. Comparing with the version 1 figure, he certainly looks more distinct, but the hair color changed. The version 1 figure had brown hair. On his neck, sculpted and painted in, he has his blue-green undershirt. On his chest and back, he has a blue flight suit covered with blue-green equipment, including a vest and what looks like an inflatable ring around his neck. He has a flashlight and a couple pockets, and he has a hole that connects to the air hose. I'm calling the color of this equipment a blue-green. To my eye, it looks teal, but it's sort of in between teal and aqua blue. On his arms, he has long blue sleeves, and he has black gloves. On his waist, he has a continuation of that blue flight suit. He has a blue-green belt. Looks like he has some zipper details on them. He has a couple lines that go from the belt down to the leg covering. That is also in that blue-green color. And on his butt, he has what looks like straps for a harness that would probably go to a parachute, but the figure does not come with a parachute. On his upper legs, we have a continuation of that blue flight suit with a couple zippered pockets on his upper thighs. Then we have blue-green leg coverings, and each have zippered pockets on the thigh. On his lower legs, we have a continuation of those blue-green leg coverings. On his right shin, he has what the file card calls his emergency medical kit. On his left lower leg, we have a pistol and a holster with a couple straps that go around his calf and buckles sculpted on. All of those details unfortunately are unpainted. And then we wrap it up with a pair of black boots. Normally on pilots, I don't mind if they get a little creative with the colors. This is not a ground troop, so he doesn't have to be wearing woodland camouflage. If you want brightly colored G.I. Joe's, this is where you do it in a way that somewhat makes sense. I don't mind these colors too much. However, keep in mind Ace is flying a helicopter, not a jet. He's going to be closer to the ground. He'll be fighting with his submachine gun. And there's a high probability he will have to land to join the ground battle. His version 3 uniform is colored more appropriately for that role. His version 2 uniform would make more sense if he had an airplane wrapped around him. It seems version 2 and version 3 have their uniforms reversed. Version 2 looks great in the pilot seat of the ghost striker. Let's take a look at Ace's file card. This file card was not printed on the back of the box for the battlecopter. It was an insert inside the box, plain white backing. We have some artwork for Ace here and a numbered list of some of the features on the figure. And I did refer to this when discussing some of the sculpt design and color. I do not usually read through this list, so let's move on. We have a close up portrait of Ace here. His code name is Ace. He is the battlecopter pilot. His file name is Wendell L. Armbruster. And right now you're probably saying what? Who is Wendell L. Armbruster? We have always known Ace as Brad J. Armbruster. That was his name on his original 1983 file card. Wendell Armbruster is a prototype file name for Ace before the figure was released in 1983. Prior to release, they changed it to Brad J. Armbruster. Whoever was writing this version 2 file card was apparently referring to the prototype version 1 file card rather than the production version. Another change was the birthplace Seattle, Washington to Providence, Rhode Island. Ace kind of has three names. Wendell L and Brad J. And then on a sticker on the sky striker, he is J. Brad. So Brad is either his first name or his middle name. Primary military specialty battlecopter pilot, secondary military specialty ordinance officer, birthplace Seattle, Washington. As mentioned a moment ago, that changed from the version 1 file card. Great is 04 US Air Force Major and that is a promotion from his version 1 file card where he was an 03 captain. We have a quote presumably from Ace himself. It says, flying a modern fly by wire jet is like flying a computer with wings. Piloting a battlecopter into a fast rising thermal with the control surfaces vibrating through your sticks and harness. That's flying. Ace is the original fighter jock jet driver for the GI Joe team. So if there was any doubt whether Wendell L was the same person as Brad J, they specifically say he was their original fighter pilot. He can push a twin engine air superiority fighter to the red line, performing daring aerobatic maneuvers that other pilots would consider impossible. To Ace taking an open harness high powered craft into the heart of Cobra control territory is the ultimate challenge of his flying skills. Ace is a graduate of the combined services escape and evasion school. Considering how often he gets shot down, that's probably a good thing. This card talks a lot about flying fighter jets, but this figure does not come with a fighter jet. Let's talk about the vehicle Ace does come with, the battlecopter. Ace's battlecopter is the same as the 1991 major altitude battlecopter, but in black plastic instead of silver. Also in 1992, there was a Cobra battlecopter piloted by the heliviper. It was a black reissue of the 1991 battlecopter piloted by the interrogator. Small one man helicopters do exist, but they tend to look like miniature regular helicopters. For safety, there is usually a canopy and landing skids. The battlecopter has none of that. It doesn't have a counter rotating blade, nor does it have a tail rotor. We'll test it later, but this design should cause the body of the helicopter to spin in the opposite direction as the blades. In the real world, it would need something to counter the spin. You might think this is a gyrocopter, since gyrocopters could be about this size, but it isn't. A gyrocopter would need some kind of forward propulsion, which the battlecopter doesn't have. This toy is like the GI Joe and Cobra gliders from 1983. They're made to function with action figures, not to mimic the look and precise operation of a real world vehicle. Let's look at the parts and the features of the battlecopter. Whether it's GI Joe or Cobra, whether it's black or silver, the fundamentals of the battlecopter are all the same. It consists of three components, the battlecopter itself, the ripcord as the blueprints call it, and the launcher. The rotor blades and the ripcord are always in the same color. In 1992, it was blue for GI Joe and red for Cobra. The battlecopter has a fair amount of detail molded on. It has a couple control arms that go up and over the shoulders of the pilot, and each control arm has a grip. Those grips look a little thick, and I would be concerned about breaking the figure's thumbs if I pressed them in his hands, so I won't try that. There's a clip for holding the action figure on, and a tiny little seat. You can place ace on the battlecopter by putting the clip around his waist. That should hold him on fairly well. Usually, I'm not a fan of these clips, but in this case, I don't think a backpack would hold a figure on well enough. The rotor blades are blue. There are four wide blades and a safety ring around them. We have GI Joe and American Flag stickers in case there's any doubt about which side this battlecopter is on. We have some Cobra kill marks. It looks like this battlecopter has taken out four Cobra's. Then we have a long tail, and that is very thin plastic. Do be careful with these tails. It looks like that could break fairly easily. We have some unit stickers on the tail, advanced helicor recon. I don't know what that is, but it sounds cool. On the other side of the tail, we have another sticker, a big number two inside a star with lightning bolts, and it says vertical infantry. On its own, the battlecopter is kind of crazy. I mean, it's really small. It offers the pilot zero protection. I guess his feet are supposed to be the landing gear, but this is not just a handheld vehicle. It has a gimmick. It is supposed to really fly. So now it's time to see if that works. Before we actually test the flying feature, let me show you how the battlecopter operates. This is the launcher. It has a grip. The grip is more the size of a child's hand, but that's fine. It has a spinner at the top, and then it has a slot for the ripcord. Push the ripcord through the slot with the teeth toward the center of the launcher. Now on mine, it's really tight, which makes me wonder if I'm going to be able to get a good launch on this thing. Press the ripcord all the way in until it reaches the stopper at the handle. The ring on the launcher has a tab, and that lines up with a notch on the bottom of the battlecopter. So that shows you how to place it on. Just line up the ring and the notch, and they should connect pretty well together, and then it is ready for launch. Can it fly? I'm outdoors to test it. I am not using my Ace figure. Instead, I'm using Spider-Man. I don't have any confidence that this figure will stay on that clip if this actually takes off. And I have to say right off the bat, the ripcord on this launcher is very tight. I'm not sure I can get a good pull on it, so I have a feeling this thing is not going to launch. Okay, I'm going to try to get a good pull on this, but it doesn't want to pull very well, so we'll see if it goes. Ready? Here it goes. It did sort of fly, and Spider-Man did fall off. All right, that was actually a better flight than I expected. I'm going to test it one more time. Spider-Man is not going to stay on here, but I'm going to test it one more time to see if we can get even more height out of it. Ready? And go. I said, hold on. Reset it, reset it, and go. Whoa! Hey, and Spider-Man actually stayed on until it landed. All right, so I guess, yes, it can fly. Looking at how Ace and the Battlecopter were used in G.I. Joe media, the Battlecopter appeared several times in the Deke animated series. It wasn't the black 1992 version, though it was the silver 1991 version. The Battlecopter was like most G.I. Joe vehicles. The animated series wasn't too particular about who the pilot was. Sometimes major altitude was the pilot, but anyone could strap on a Battlecopter. Ace was in the animated series since the very first miniseries in 1983, but he wasn't in it very much. Occasionally he would fly the Skystriker and get shot down. To my knowledge, he never appeared in his version 2 uniform. In the G.I. Joe comic book series published by Marvel Comics, Ace first appeared in issue number 14. He had a few other appearances off and on and he had the spotlight a few times. In issue number 34, he flew the Skystriker in a harrowing dogfight against Wild Weasel in the Rattler. In issue number 41, he made a daring takeoff from a damaged USS flag to assist the Joes attacking the newly formed Cobra Island. He appeared in several issues of the special missions series. In special missions number five, he and Slipstream went up against the Cobra Night Raven. Ace executed a top gun inverted maneuver and he was later shot down. He appears in special missions number 12, flying the Skystriker alongside Slipstream in the Conquest and Maverick in the Vector. Not that Maverick. In special missions number 16, he was in another all out aerial battle against Cobra. Herb Trimpe liked to draw airplanes so he got a lot of air battles in special missions. I can't find any appearance of Ace on the Battlecopter. The Battlecopters did appear though in issue number 127 of the regular series. They are flown by several Joes, none of which is Ace. The Cobra version of the Battlecopter appeared in issue number 120, flown by Destro and the Baroness. Looking at Ace and the Battlecopter overall, I still don't really care about the Battlecopter. The vehicle is too gimmicky for my tastes. Yes, it does really fly, but to me it's kind of a rinky dink generic vehicle with a gimmick that as a kid I probably never would have used. Ace on the other hand is a really nice figure. I love the updates, I don't mind the colors. It's a middle tier figure that's approaching the top tier, doesn't quite make it though. We have Ace actually looking like a fighter pilot with a realistic looking helmet, an air mask, a flight suit. He has a submachine gun that is fine. It's a reissue of a submachine gun that I really liked with the original figure. Even though the colors are fine, I think the version three colors are better, and we have some unpainted details on this figure, that kind of takes it down a notch. What kills me about this figure is it's a good fighter pilot in search of a fighter jet. He should have come with a fighter jet, yet he came with the little helicopter. I guess you could use this figure for one of your pilotless aircraft, or you could use it as a co-pilot for the original Ace, who needed one. The file card is filled with curiosities. They used the prototype file name and place of birth, no explanation, and it talks a lot about fighter jets not included with this figure. All in all, it balances out to a middle tier figure. In 1992, it was almost the Ace action figure we always wanted. That was my review of version two of Ace and his Battlecopter. If you enjoyed it, please consider giving this video a thumbs up on YouTube, subscribing to the YouTube channel, hitting the notification bell, and sharing this video with your friends. I am on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and I have a website, hcc7aa.com. Thanks as always to my patrons. If you like these videos and you'd like to support the channel in that way, please consider checking out my Patreon. 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