Wave 7, 2008 Sgt. Airborne
Amongst the repaints and re-releases and controversies over Matt Trakker, there are absolute gems buried in the "big names". For every Snake Eyes, Duke, and COBRA Commander, we get figures like Dusty, Snow Serpent, B.A.T., and now Sgt. Airborne. Where many figures seem to almost hit home runs, there are some out there that blast the ball out of the park with the bases loaded, and Airborne does all that and more.
It's easy to get caught up in weird looking 4-packs with Duke, Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, and COBRA Commander...it's easy to get all wrapped up in the 15th COBRA Commander repaint, Toys "R" Us 5-Packs with all re-used characters, and comic packs with Dukes where there should be Wet Suits. Fans can tend to dwell on those negative parts of the line, yet overlook some of the really positive ones, and in my mind, Wave 7 (Wave 11 to many folks out there) is a terrific wave, and Airborne is the best of the bunch, which is really saying something.
Airborne is another one of those characters that I never really latched on to as a kid, and I'd be willing to bet lots of kids didn't really latch on. He was the original Native American of the team, but often got overshadowed by Spirit, even though I consider Airborne a much cooler character now, even if I didn't back then. The idea of his Native American almost "sixth sense" is a very cool aspect of the file card and you end up with a very cool character that has been translated into a nearly flawless action figure.
While many figures have certain limitations in the articulation department, Airborne is pretty great. The range of motion in his elbows is much better than most other figures out there, enough so that he can handle his weapon nearly perfectly when many of the figures cannot. His leg harness does restrict his hip motion a bit, but for the most part, articulation-wise, this figure is great.
Sgt. Airborne uses the torso of Snake Eyes and the legs of Gung Ho, and there are more little tweaks that make the Anniversary style so cool. By simply swapping out the knee joints with kneepads except the normal knees that Gung Ho had the figure immediately looks more like Airborne than he might, and with that holster and pouches on the legs, that adds for even more potential customization.
The choices for parts use makes a whole lot of sense, and we still manage to get a figure that looks remarkably like the original vintage version and has a great range of motion.
The paint applications also are very true to the original, and even the strange light blue of the vest works well in conjunction with the tan uniform. There are intricate painted details throughout, like the straps on his vest, the different color apps on his helmet, the sergeant stripes on his arm, this figure is absolutely LOADED with painted details to accentuate the tooling and sculpting of this figure. Fantastic.
Everything great that I've already said about the figure is only further enhanced by his accessories. His helmet with attached microphone, his new backpack, the vest, leg harness, and his weapon are all just perfect. His weapon is very reminiscent of the vintage version, but totally modernized. The only minor issue I might have is that it's some of that rubber material, and is just a bit warped out of the package. If there is one slight downside to the accessories in general, it's that his backpack is somewhat hit or miss. I've heard many complaints that it's hard (if not impossible) to get the backpack mounted on his back. I did have that issue a bit at first, but I just adjusted the vest a bit, and was able to get the backpack in there, and once I got it in there once, it has been fairly easy for me to put it on any time I wanted. Soup to nuts, this is one of the best Anniversary figures we've gotten to date. A big kudos to Hasbro for this one. Nice work.
Wave 7, 2008 Zartan
So why did it take so long? There have been plenty of chances, plenty of ways it could have been done, why did it take twenty-four years to get a suitable update to one of G.I. Joe's most core characters in Zartan? The vintage original has become an iconic design even though it didn't fully resemble his cartoon or comic look, and we have gotten a number of Zartan updates since then, but none of them even seemed to attempt to resemble the classic vintage look of the COBRA Master of Disguise. From his punk rocker look in the 90's to his warped cyborg wizard time during Joe Vs. COBRA... we even got the Hockey Mom version in Valor Vs. Venom (which I actually liked, but in all fairness, it didn't bare much resemblance to the character beyond his trademark face paint).
When the figure was slated for the Anniversary line, many folks were excited, myself included, but the end result was yet another departure from his trademark design. To be honest, I actually really liked the original Anniversary version of the character, it gave him some new life and new spirit, but I can't argue with the fact that we needed a more classicly inspired version. And here it is. Finally! Is there a reason why the best update to Zartan since 1984 was his 8" Sigma style version? Was the end result worth the twenty-four year wait?
For the most part, yeah. He's a remarkably cool figure, even if there's nothing really new and exciting.
To no one's surprise, Zartan uses Gung Ho's torso and the original Zartan's legs, but new arms and a new head, and of course his trademark armored chestplate.
The articulation is well done here, with some nice elbow joints, full range of motion in his hips and knees, and I love those cartoon-inspired gloves. I'm actually somewhat surprised that they went with a new head sculpt, as I really enjoyed the last one, but even as a new head, it looks really great. I love how the hood is sculpted to bunch up on his shoulders, it ends up looking extremely realistic. He ends up sort of peering out from underneath the pointed cowl, and I love that look. He ends up looking mysterious and menacing all at the same time, which is the perfect look for Zartan.
Looking at his paint applications, he pretty much is as he should be. Even though the original figure had a clear chestplate, he's always been seen with a black one in the comics and cartoons, and he gets that look here, and it looks really nice. It fits well, buckles on each side and fully resembles the Zartan character we all know.
This version of Zartan comes with the same accessories we're intimately familiar with, like his trademark pistol, backpack, and two facemasks. These current masks work about as well as they did back in the day, covering his facial features, but not really disguising much else. I do like the inclusion of the Storm Shadow mask, as it kind of draws back to when he disguised himself as the COBRA Ninja to infiltrate the Arishikage clan and assasinate the Hard Master. In fact, checking the gallery, you can see how I incorporated it with the Comic Pack Storm Shadow figure to get that look down pat. Of course the one accessory everyone has been talking about is the mini-Chameleon. Why I do somewhat question the need for Hasbro to shoehorn this vehicle into a single-packed figure, I do think it's a neat addition to the Combat Heroes line, which is something I think it was almost intended to be. It's a cute little addition, but obviously not the level of the original Chameleon, but I don't think it was ever meant to be.
For the first time in twenty-four years we get a high quality reproduction and update to our vintage Zartan that actually resembles his most iconic look. To be honest, I'm shocked we haven't seen more Zartans already, he's always been a very popular character and one that has always had a main focus in both the cartoon and the comic. While characters like Storm Shadow, Snake Eyes, COBRA Commander, Destro, and Duke get inundated with different itterations, Zartan remains a pretty slow release only getting a couple of figures in the past handful of years. Still, the end result ends up definitely being worth it, and we have the ultimate version of the Master of Disguise here, a figure that definitely does the character justice.
Tema: The Sit-Rep!: Sgt. Airborne (v3) & Zartan (v14) Review! 
Mar Nov 25, 2008 4:14 pm
