 Oh, we're Commander788 here. It's time for another vintage GI Joe Toy Review on time this week. Now, last week I looked at a figure that I thought was pretty mediocre, but I think it's important to look at those toys too. The GI Joe toys that are maybe not the best, not fan favorites, because I want to make sure we cover everything in this channel, not just the stuff that's on the top tier. There's a lot of GI Joe, and we wanna go deep into that line. Also, I think that it's important that we are honest about everything really, but in particular about the things that we love. Loving something is not a ticket to be unreasonable, but I also think it's important that we get back to the toys that are great, the ones that inspire us, and the ones that remind us why we are still passionate about this. And that's what we're gonna do this week. We're gonna look at a figure that is firmly implanted in the roots of GI Joe in this more realistic military style. We're gonna look at a figure that I think is great. I'm talking about Footloose, GI Joe's infantry trooper from 1985, and this guy is awesome. HCC788 presents Footloose. This is Footloose, GI Joe's infantry trooper from 1985. He was first available in 1985, and he was also available in 1986. He was discontinued for the year 1987, and he did not have a precise replacement that year. Although there was no new non-specialized infantry trooper available in 1987, the general look of Footloose was similar to Lieutenant Falcon from 1987, but Lieutenant Falcon was special forces and an officer, so I would not consider him to be a replacement for Footloose. In 1988, we got the Light Infantryman, Hidden Run, and Hidden Run was closer to the role of Footloose as an infantry trooper. There was a second version of Footloose, the Slaughter's Marauder's Footloose in 1989, but there were no other versions of Footloose in the vintage line. Although there were only two versions of Footloose in the vintage line, his head was reused on other action figures. It was used on Claymore in 1986 and Rumbler in 1987. Footloose was GI Joe's second generation infantryman. GI Joe's first infantry trooper was Grunt from 1982, the first series of the GI Joe line when it was relaunched that year. The GI Joe team consisted of a lot of specialists. We really didn't get very many non-specialized infantry troopers. Footloose probably gets his name from the 1984 movie Footloose starring Kevin Bacon. It was a very popular movie, as was the song by the same name by Kenny Loggins. The movie and the song were from 1984 and the Footloose action figure came out in 1985 and I don't think that's a coincidence. GI Joe was never above capitalizing on the popularity of other properties. The word Footloose comes from the old idiom Footloose and fancy free. And that expression applies to someone who is not married and has no obligations and therefore can do whatever he or she wants. Someone who is Footloose and fancy free is unencumbered by responsibilities. Let's take a look at Footloose's accessories starting with his primary weapon. And this is an M16 rifle and it is a pretty good representation of that real world weapon. This M16 has a strap and I like the strap. You can sling the rifle over the action figure's shoulder but that strap is often broken. That's a very thin piece of plastic and that can break. Also, it doesn't leave you a lot of space between the grip and the strap to put the weapon in the action figure's hand. And I have noticed that the thumb on my Footloose action figure has kind of stretched out probably for that reason. This same rifle was reissued for a later action figure the 1987 sneak peek. It is really nice to have a good realistic assault rifle with the GI Joe action figure. And I have to say, I really like this accessory. And it continues the tradition of giving GI Joe infantry troopers M16s. Grundt also came with an M16 rifle. Grundt and Footloose's rifle are very similar. So similar, it almost looks like they were based on the same mold. But there are some minor differences. The grip is different. There are some differences in the detail but they are very similar. And of course, the strap was added for Footloose. Footloose's next accessory is what the card contents call an M73A1 laws. This accessory is possibly based on the M72 law or light anti-tank weapon. Laws is an acronym for light anti-armor weapon system. The M72 law was in use from 1963 all the way to the present day. This anti-tank weapon has another breakable strap but it's a very good thing that both of his weapons have straps. So no matter which weapon he's using at any given time, the other one can be slung over his shoulder or around his backpack and he can carry it. Footloose's law's rocket launcher was often mistaken for the anti-tank weapon that came with the 1985 Bazooka. Bazooka's missile launcher is actually smaller than the one that came with Footloose. And Bazooka is the missile specialist. So you would expect him to come with a larger and more sophisticated weapon. Putting Footloose's and Bazooka's missile launchers together you can really see the differences in size and detail. This one belonged to Bazooka and this is the one that belonged to Footloose. There's a bit of a controversy surrounding these missile launchers. There's a claim out there that Bazooka at some point came with the anti-tank weapon that also came with Footloose. So that is an accessories variant that's out there. But the evidence for that claim has been called into question. So, did Bazooka ever come with the anti-tank weapon that was packaged with Footloose? I don't know exactly, but I will look into it and I will address that issue when I review Bazooka. Now there's nothing wrong with this accessory. In fact, it's a really good accessory. It looks pretty awesome. It's nicely sculpted. But I just don't think Footloose needs it. He already has an awesome assault rifle. He has a great weapon. And this anti-tank weapon kind of makes Bazooka redundant. Footloose can do Bazooka's job. Footloose's next accessory is his helmet. And this is a PASGT helmet, also called PASGET. It stands for Personal Armor System for Ground Troops. This type of helmet was used in the 80s and this helmet has a lot of great sculpted detail on it. It has netting and it has leaves for camouflage. And check this out. That detail is painted. We rarely got painted details on accessories. So that's a really nice bonus. Bazooka from 1985 and Hawke from 1986 also had similar helmets, but with different details. And although they're not perfect, I think that the helmets for Bazooka and Footloose sit better on their heads than Hawke's. I think Hawke's sits a little too high on his head and looks kind of odd. I think Footloose and Bazooka both, that's an improvement on that. Finally, we have Footloose's backpack and this backpack has some detail. It has a canteen and it has a couple grenades, some pouches and buckles. There's not a lot to distinguish this backpack from a lot of other G.I. Joe backpacks, but I think that's okay. This backpack doesn't really need to do anything spectacular. It just needs to be pretty much a plain infantryman's backpack and that's exactly what it is. It is, the color is a little bit odd though because the color does not really fit anything else on the action figure. And so, I mean, if you pick up this backpack, you might not guess that this goes to Footloose based on the color. But other than that, really, it's fine. No problem with this accessory. Let's look at the articulation on Footloose. He had the typical articulation of 1985 G.I. Joe action figures. That means he can turn his head from left to right. He could also look up and down. His arm could swing up at the shoulder about so far and it could swivel at the shoulder all the way around. He had a hinge at the elbow, so he could move at the elbow about 90 degrees. He had a swivel at the bicep, so he could swivel his arm all the way around. The figure was held together with the rubber O-ring that looped around the inside of the figure. So he could move at the torso a little bit. He could move his legs apart about so far. He could move his leg at the hip about 90 degrees and he could bend at the knee about 90 degrees. Let's look at the sculpt design and color of Footloose starting with his head and his head, on his head he has brown hair, kind of medium length hair, does not look like a regulation haircut there. And he has a mustache, a nice 80's mustache, so he joins the hall of mustaches with G.I. Joe action figures. Bazooka is included in that. We certainly did get a lot of pretty nice mustaches in G.I. Joe. And for some reason they didn't really sculpt ears on him. The paint on his hair just sort of goes around where his ears would be. And frankly that just looks really weird. But it is otherwise a fine head sculpt. On his chest he has an open collar and he has light green straps with a pouch, dark green knife, dark green grenade, more or less the same on the back and he has this really nice camouflage uniform. And this is what really sells this action figure for me. He has a full camouflage uniform. We did not see that nearly often enough in the vintage G.I. Joe line. On his arms he features rolled up sleeves and more of that great camouflage pattern, bare forearms. And on his right wrist he has a silver bracelet that almost looks like it could be an ID bracelet. On his left wrist he has a watch. Then on his left sleeve he has a patch that's painted on here. And it looks like a red clover. And I believe this is supposed to be an homage to the shoulder insignia of the Fourth United States Army which is a clover in a red diamond. On his waist piece he has a highly detailed belt. I mean this is great. You can see every little detail on that belt. Then he has more of that camouflage pattern going down his legs. He has a couple of pockets on the thighs. And then on his feet he has jungle boots in gray and green. Jungle boots are boots with canvas sides and they did see use in the Vietnam era. And a few other G.I. Joe figures have jungle boots including falcon and flint. A lot of the details on the Footloose action figure were also featured on the falcon action figure which is a figure that I've already reviewed. And I really like this figure. You have the all over camouflage pattern. You have the highly detailed belt and web gear and sculpted on weapons. You have a shoulder patch. You have the jungle boots. And really if you give me a figure with all this camouflage then I'm gonna be very happy. Let's take a look at the file card. And this file card was printed on the back of the card on which the action figure was packaged. You can see some of the artwork from the front of the card there. And when Footloose was issued in 1985 he had this peach colored file card. When he was reissued in 1986 that was changed to a gray background. It has its factionist G.I. Joe. It has a nice portrait of Footloose here. His specialty is infantry trooper codenamed Footloose. File name Andrew D. Myers. Primary military specialty infantry naturally. Secondary military specialty special services in parentheses basketball coach. And that may seem kind of odd but given Footloose's background in sports that probably is appropriate. Place of birth is Gary Indiana and grade is E4. This section says Myers was valedictorian of his high school class captain of the track team and an eagle scout. He was going for his degree in phys ed physical education on a state scholarship when he suddenly dropped out, moved to the coast and became quite weird for about three years. Funny, I know people who have done more or less exactly that same thing. He was standing on the boardwalk in Venice and that's probably the neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, not Venice, Italy. Pondering something cosmic when the utter pointlessness of his existence hit him between the eyes like a runaway freight train. I think I'll join the army, he said and promptly did. Took basic and AIT at Fort Benning, graduated jump school and desert training unit, qualified expert all NATO and Warsaw Pact small arms. AIT is advanced individual training and that's where soldiers receive training for their chosen MOS. So basically this says Footloose was a beach bum and he's probably not the first beach bum to have an existential crisis but it's probably less common for a beach bum to conclude that he should join the army. So the cure to his meaningless existence is to get a job where he can shoot people. This bottom section has a quote. It says, some of the Joes think that Footloose is out there but all he's trying to do is find himself. He's an all-American boy who got lost on the way to the fair and he's simply trying to get home any which way he can. Most folks think they know who they are and where they're going. They're the dangerous ones. I have some appreciation for this. Normally we think of purpose and drive as good things but sometimes people who have purpose and are driven have no hesitation about driving over other people to reach their goals. Now if you hear the name Footloose, of course you're gonna think of Kevin Bacon. How can you not? But I thought it would be fun to play a game. Let's play six degrees of Kevin Bacon with Footloose. You may not think I can connect the fictional character of Footloose from G.I. Joe with Kevin Bacon in less than six degrees but I can. Footloose was in the G.I. Joe animated series and in that series, Duke was voiced by Michael Bell. That's one. Michael Bell was in Star Trek The Next Generation in the episode in Counter at Farpoint with Patrick Stewart. That's two. Patrick Stewart was in the movie X-Men, Days of Future Past with James McAvoy. That's three. And James McAvoy was in the movie X-Men First Class with Kevin Bacon. That's four. Four moves. That's a great challenge for my viewers. Can you connect Footloose with Kevin Bacon in fewer than four moves? Give it a try and put your comments in this video. Footloose did have some appearances in G.I. Joe media. In the cartoon, he first appeared in Pyramid of Darkness part one but he did not have a spoken line until part two. He was featured more in the episode Hearts and Cannons and in the cartoon he did kind of have a surfer persona. In the G.I. Joe comic book, he first appeared in issue number 37 and that surfer hippie aspect of his background was never really played up. In fact, in the comic book, he seemed sort of nervous and jittery. Footloose did not have a very good turn in that issue. His first appearance was somewhat overshadowed by the introduction of other important characters like Tomax and Zemot and Flint. Even Bongo the Balloon Bear got more attention in that issue than Footloose did. Footloose was criminally underutilized in the comic book. I mean, the comic book was going for more of a realistic feel than the cartoon series so Footloose being a realistic infantry trooper should have been in the comic book all the time. Taking a look at Footloose overall, this is a great action figure. He has great detail, great paint applications, great accessories, great camouflage. He's one of the best figures of 1985 and 1985 was a great year for GI Joe. And yet Footloose is still near the top for that year. Footloose would be a great army builder if not for that mustache. I think that mustache makes him look a little too individual and so army building Footloose, I think would look kind of weird. Having a whole squad of guys that all have the same facial hair. If you're with a group of guys that are all dressed alike and all have the same facial hair, you may be in a cult. But this figure keeps GI Joe grounded as a military toy line. This figure represents the heart and soul of what GI Joe was. So of course I think this is a top tier figure. A lot of thought and effort went into this action figure. And this figure looks great when he's alongside the other realistic military figures in GI Joe, especially the guys with camouflage like stalker, ripcord, falcon and hit and run. I mean those guys just look great together. So you can have your spaceman and your bird man and your hypnotist and your boxer, but Footloose is the real deal. That was my review of the 1985 GI Joe Infantry Trooper Footloose. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, thumbs up on YouTube, subscribe on YouTube. That's what keeps this channel going. Like me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter and don't forget to check back next week for another vintage GI Joe Twitter view. And until next time, remember only GI Joe is GI Joe.