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Club
Exclusive Air Adventurer
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As a follow-up to the GI Joe Land Adventurer that the Club put out for the 30th anniversary of GI Joe Adventure Team, the Air Adventurer was something I just had to have. As a kid, I loved my Air Adventurer. The orange jumpsuit was just fantastic, the blonde bearded head was great. He was not my absolute favorite Joe - that honor went to the Sea Adventurer. What can I say? The red hair won me over.
But I could finally own my second-favorite Adventurer again thanks to the GI Joe Collectors' Club. The year I joined, the premium was a transparent Super-Articulated modern GI Joe, which came free, and the membership allowed me to get the above Joe at the club price, without the $36 added to the cost.
This Joe comes with a reproduction of the box, with accurate art on the front, though it has modern items printed on the sides. This, I'm sure, was to discourage people trying to pass this off as vintage.
In the box, the Joe (with hard hands, like the first wave of Adventure Team joes) comes dressed in black boots, orange jumper, shoulder-holster with pistol. He wears a metal dog-tag. He comes with instructions on boot removal (always a bit of a problem with the hard-plastic boots) and a pamphlet on the history of the Adventure Team.
As a special treat, this figure comes with a small metal pin that reads "With Lifelike Hair and Beard."
The dog-tags harken back to the vintage gray AT logo that was a signature piece of all of the Adventure Team Joes. For the 30th anniversary figures, the club created shiny metal tags that look just like the original AT tags at the front, and a 30th Anniversary commemoration.
The box is, as I said, a very nice reproduction of an original Air Adventurer box, but with ad panels for modern items available through the club.
One extra bonus came with this figure. The club's original run of heads came with hair that was not accurate. Thanks to the sticklers at the club who wanted to ensure as much accuracy as possible, they did a second run with more accurate hair color. But instead of just tossing the heads, they tossed them into the box. So for this price, we lucky collectors got two heads for the price of one. One is slightly more on the blonde side, but makes a good Air Adventurer stand-by.
Later GI Joe Air Adventurers came with a black rifle with scope. Luckily for me the ERTL Top Cop produced a few years back came with a rifle that is a good likeness of that original. So I can dress my Air Adventurer up with either shoulder holster or rifle. Sadly, I can't swap his hands for Kung Fu Grip.
| The
Head |
This figure was shipped with an extra head. The original heads that the Club got from the manufacturer were deemed not close enough to the original, and were re-ordered to be more accurate. Rather than just chuck the heads, the Club send the extra heads along with the Air Adventurer, so people could swap them out on other bodies and have an extra Air Adventurer. I put mine on a KFG Man of Action repro (from one of my several "Black Spider Rendezvous" sets, and dressed him in a spare Air Adventurer outfit I kitted together.
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| This is the front of the original head that came
with the Air Adventurer, and was deemed unworthy. (Click for larger image) |
This is the fixed version. The difference is very
subtle, and has to do with the darker graining in the blonde flocking. (Click for larger image) |
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Assessment
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At $50.00 (if you're a club member) this figure seems a bit steep. But as a very accurate reproduction, I found it a must-buy.
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Overall Rating
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