Tactical Ninja Airborne

by KansasBrawler

Sometimes, a figure in a three pack really surprises you. After picking up the 25th Anniversary Airborne, I really didn’t think I needed another Airborne figure. To paraphrase Duke’s cornball line at the end of the first two cartoon miniseries, while he wasn’t quite perfect (I hate the weird position his wrists are in), he did the best he could. He was a solid entry and really opened my eyes to a character and figure I had never had experience with growing up. However, after having opened up the Tactical Ninja set, that version of Airborne has grown on me far more than I ever thought he would.

The initial photos of Tactical Ninja Airborne really buried the lead—that this figure was constructed from the parts of the at-that-point-cancelled Data Viper, but I didn’t realize that until I first saw it in person. I was very excited about this figure when I learned that, but up until that point I didn’t really care much about this version of Airborne. The Data-Viper has a very good mold and at the time it was likely going to be the only way I was going to add it to my collection. It’s kind of amazing how the addition of some different gear makes a high tech jumpsuit look like a paratrooper’s jump gear. The body is nicely detailed with all sorts of folds and pouches, but at the same time, they all work together in a way that doesn’t make him feel too busy. Though his elbows do seem to lose a little range of motion, his articulation is still great. Then, there’s the head sculpt. It’s nice to see this head finally get a little attention from Hasbro. Airborne’s masked head was originally slated to be an alternate head for Renegades Law and then was going to be turned used on a generic SWAT-style policeman if the concept case is to be believed. I can’t remember the official designation, but all you need to know is that the head was going to be an army builder still on Law’s body. When neither of those options panned out, the GIJCC picked it up for the head to their new S.A.W. Viper and while it was okay there, I really like how it looks here on Airborne. Honestly, if it weren’t for the great blue they used on him, you could really use this guy as a generic airborne assault trooper—though it does kind of hurt that a great army builder is in a three pack.

Airborne’s gear is where I really became impressed with the figure. The paint apps did an amazing job making Airborne’s parachute harness look different from the Para-Viper’s really cool harness. Honestly, until Rob said they were the same mold I wasn’t 100% sure because I don’t have my Para-Viper easily accessible to do a side-by-side comparison. The parachute rig is well designed and extremely well-detailed and is probably one of my favorite pieces of gear from the first couple years of the 25th Anniversary line. His helmet, borrowed from Renegades Ripcord, looks really good here, and I think I like it here with a full paint job as opposed to the translucent visor that it originally had. I don’t know why, but the details seem to really pop more on this version of the helmet than it ever did any time I saw Renegades Ripcord—and in my area, that was a lot since he was almost as big a pegwarmer as the PoC Arctic Destro. His two weapons are really great and again are both, coincidentally, pieces that first came with Law. The small submachine gun is great and is probably one of my favorite smaller weapons. I think that’s a great weapon for a paratrooper. When it comes time for Airborne to lay down a little heavier fire, he also has Law’s fancy new tactical shotgun. Every time I see this piece, I get happy. I think it’s my inner Flint fan, but a great shotgun in the hands of a Joe has some weird nostalgic pull for me and when it’s a shotgun that’s this impressive, I don’t care who’s packing it, even if a shotgun isn’t the most logical weapon for a paratrooper to be carrying in my mind.

Where this package all comes together is in the amazing paint job gave him. While the base figure is pretty simple and the plastic was probably just molded in the necessary colors except the flesh colors on the head. Since Hasbro was able to save money on the main figure (and on the paint job for his packmate Snake Eyes), they really upped the ante on the paint job of his gear. The paratrooper pack and leg straps are molded in a standard olive drab, but then all the clasps and the ripcord get painted silver and some additional details are painted red. That level of detailing on the parachute rig is almost Joe Con level and it makes me glad that Hasbro is starting to step up their game on some figures when it comes to paint. However, where it really comes together is the blue they used for his vest and helmet. The color really hearkens back to the blue used on the original Airborne and sells it to me. Honestly, I was just planning on rechristening him Freefall since I had a stronger tie to that figure than I ever did Airborne, but noticing the blue vest just made him undeniably Airborne. The helmet also gets a lot of paint attention with the main body painted blue but with black detailing for the visor, air hose and a few other places with a little splash of red on the top of the helmet. I’m guessing that is some sort of market that allows your other squadmates to see where you are when you’re falling through the sky. I’m not sure if that’s what it really is for and if any reader knows the real world reasoning behind that spot, I’d really appreciate knowing for sure. Unfortunately, much like my Cobra Commander from the HISS Tank, Airborne had a hidden paint flaw that stayed out of sight until the box was opened. The left side of his helmet has a little bit of red slop from the locator spot and the way the helmet was packaged in the box, it was pretty much invisible until it was out. It wouldn’t be so bad but unlike Cobra Commander’s visor flaw, the red really stands out against the blue and it honestly draws my eye on a pretty regular basis.

Airborne turned out to be the perfect example of a pleasant surprise. I’d not recognized that his parts were coming from two cancelled figures who I thought looked really cool. Then, the level of detailing they gave his paint job just honestly blew me away. While I bought the set for Snake Eyes’s webgear and wound up being ultimately disappointed, Mouse (who I’d also wanted because my inner geek liked the idea of owning a figure of Timmy from Jurassic Park all grown up) was a solid figure and Airborne was downright impressive. So the figure I really wanted turned out to be lame, the figure I liked met my expectations and the figure I thought was kind of “meh” really knocked my socks off. Congratulations, Tactical Ninja Airborne, you really redeemed a three pack for me and your inclusion really adds a lot of value to the set.

5 comments

  • ‘Retaliation’ Airborne has a great body, but the head seems out of place imho (it looks like it belongs to a generic terrorist or bank robber.

  • IS this screaming Snow Serpent at anyone else or is it just me?

  • As soon as ive payed off some bills and saved a bit more money, I’m heading to Sydney to see what i can find in the collectables shops.

  • @ zadokrox–Yeah, I kind of agree. It’s why my Airborne stays helmeted all the time. I’m just glad to see the tooling get used in some form on the mass market. I just appreciate a new masked head that isn’t Beachhead. I’m getting a little tired of seeing his balaclava’d mug every time we have a masked Joe.

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