Keychain Action Pilot

By Past Nastification

1994 was the 30th Anniversary of GI Joe. It was thirtieth year for the overall brand, not our beloved GI Joe: A Real American Hero line. However, GI Joe: ARAH was still around, on its last legs. Hasbro tried to bring the ARAH collectors in on the fun by taking some of the early 12” lineup and scaling them down to 1:18 scale. The packaging didn’t have the “A Real American Hero” logo anywhere on them, instead sporting a “Classic Collection” marking. Technically, these aren’t part of the ARAH lineup. But they’re in the right scale so they made their way into ARAH collections.

The ’94 lineup included Action Marine, Action Sailor, Action Solider, Action Pilot, and Action Astronaut.

The Action Pilot figure was released in both an orange flightsuit and a powder blue one.

These figures (except for the astronaut) were then re-released as keychain figures in 1998. This particular figure, or keychain if you prefer, looks very much like the blue ’94 figure. The plastic used for the head has a slightly waxy look to it. The whites of the eyes are also painted. But the quickest way to tell this from the ’94 version is that this version has a hole in its head. The hole is right in the middle of Action Pilot’s coffee-colored hair. The hole is meant to accept the peg from Action Pilot’s helmet, which has an interior peg. Oddly, the hole/peg combo isn’t too bothersome. Or, it wouldn’t be, if the peg and hole had been lined up correctly. The hole is centered on top of the head, but the peg is set forward, closer to the hairline above the eyebrows. The figure can’t correctly wear its own helmet. Sad.

Given that this isn’t intended to be an outright action figure so much as a collectible, it’s worth pointing out that the paint applications are every bit as good as the Hasbro action figures from 1998.

I had this figure listed as a 2001 release in my collection. Yojoe.com lists the keychain figures as 1998 releases. It also states that later versions had sculpted-on loops to accept the keychain component, which this one has. Was this figure originally released in 1998 or later? I’m not sure.

Keychain Action Pilot is nothing fancy. No elements make this character register as an individual character. No crazy mustache, no stylish uniform components, no unique weapon, no silly smirk. The figure represents a no-frills pilot. The head is sculpted to represent the original GI Joe 12” head. The other keychain figures don’t have the same head as Action Pilot. But their faces also look the same as the original GI Joe 12” head, making all of the Action “fill-in-the-blank” figures a giant army of clones. It’s hard to find a problem with a tribute line using the same approach because the original GI Joes in the 60’s looked like clones.

As a background character figure, KAP is perfect (aside from the helmet not fitting, of course). Drop KAP in one of your spare Skystrikers or Conquests. That’s where it belongs.