One & Done - FREEFALL

"And now I'm free... free fallin'..." - Tom Petty, 1989.

PARATROOPER - FREEFALL

    The G.I. Joe Team brought in their new Paratrooper, code-named: Freefall, at a weird time.  Sure the Joes can always use another paratrooper, no problem.  What was odd though, was an entire group of paratroopers, Sky Patrol, was brought in the same year in 1990.  So it was a strange choice on behalf of Hasbro to include Freefall with the standard release figures that year.

    Freefall's file card really doesn't tell much of his personality.  Most of the text goes into the multiple, difficult stages of the training process to become a Airborne Ranger.  At the end of the whole thing it simply states that he enjoyed every minute of it.  This is to obviously imply how "tough" and how good he is.  Though he is an exceptional soldier, he apparently is aware of this fact and as a result he is extremely egotistical.

    Freefall wears an all brown and olive drab camouflage uniform with dark grey harness straps and boots.  On his head the figure, his face is clean shaven and he has blonde hair.  He came with several accessories - a light green helmet, grey oxygen mask, hose, rifle and a backpack.

    For me, I was done buying G.I. Joes in 1990 and had little knowledge about the figures included.  Luckily, Freefall was one of those figures that I was able to track down when I returned to collecting in 1993.  I believe I found him at a Kay-Bee's Store that had a few 1990 Joes gathering dust.  So it was cool to find him, but unfortunately he didn't see any battles and went straight to the shelf.

    So I wonder if Hasbro considered Freefall was a bit of a disappointment the year he came out?  With 6 Sky Patrol paratroopers available at the same time with real, working parachutes - I could see people passing on Freefall and buying the others instead.  When I look at this figure though, I am more apt to compare him to 1984's Ripcord, due to several similarities between them.  

    Looking at Freefall overall, I think the camo outfit and the accessories are good - especially the helmet.  I think the sculpted on goggles look great!  I have to say though, I think they did some things better on Ripcord.  I prefer the soft-rubber parachute and mask that Ripcord had over Freefall's hard plastic accessories.  I don't even think his backpack looks much like a parachute.

    He's a good figure, unfortunately he tends to get overshadowed by several other characters.  He never appeared in the comic and had sparse appearances in the cartoon.  I would have to hit him with a rating of 3 out of 5 Chrome Sky Patrol Parachute Packs!  He's just kinda middle-of-the-road for me.

    What would you say on Freefall?  Did you like him?  Did you buy the mail-away parachute pack to give him?  Or did you take the shiny one away from your Sky Patrol figures?  Let me know...

More babbling on about Freefall...

--- Yeah, I'm kind of sidelined for the moment following a minor surgery, and this figure seemed easy.  So it seemed like a good time to cover him!

--- Freefall would not have fit in at all with the more cartoony 1991 Wave of figures.  I wonder if that's why Hasbro didn't wait and just put the guy out in '90...?

--- Seriously...?  What other quote at the beginning of this write-up would I use for this guy?  And Mr. Petty's song came out the year before the figure did!  It all comes together perfectly!