Falcon (1991 Sonic Fighters)
Insufferable. That’s the one word that describes for me the GI Joe animated movie’s portrayal of Falcon. Here’s a guy who’s a lieutenant, right? He should have been an all-business type, yes? No. He was Don freaking Johnson, and he was a slacker/hotshot who later helped save the day. Ugh. Oh, and he was also Duke’s younger half-brother. Talk about having the deck stacked against you. Poor dope.
Thankfully, he was a completely different guy on the file card and in the comics; a capable soldier who wouldn’t compromise the Joes’ base while on a date with a ninja chick.
The Sonic Fighter sub-line was an interesting offshoot of the Joe line, primarily for its use of sound and light (and talking!) backpacks. But the newness didn’t stop there, as each figure was also a recolor of a previous release. Some were easier on the eyes than others (it was the 90’s after all). I think this version of Falcon is one of the figures in the group that fares well as a 90’s repaint. It’s certainly a change from the traditional uniform that the ’87 figure sported, and the proto-digital camo pattern makes for a nice urban operations version of the character.
It always drove me nuts that his boots weren’t painted at all.
I never noticed the boots until just now, and that will drive me nuts also!
What about the sleeves lacking the shirt’s camo?
This is also the version of Falcon that was used on the DIC cartoon, where Falc continued being portrayed as a younger, more foolish version of his file card and comic persona, eventually doing drugs behind the team’s back and riling up Duke some more.
As an aside, check out the Miami Vice episode “Child’s Play” with Ving Rhames in it. Don Johnson is wearing threads identical to those of Chuckles early on in the episode. Even the gun holster looks similar. I was thinking that Chuckles might have been a much better fit for Don than Lt. Falcon ever was.
I regret that never had an opportunity to get this figure. I had the original Falcon and I liked this version’s deco and heli-backpack (plus, the guy’s from Fayetteville, NC). It would be nice to see this pattern (though a little darker) be used for a redeco of the Slaughter’s Marauders version of Falcon.
Nice version, but the first one was better!
For me Falcon was the great character from the glorious Marvel comics’ pages (1982-1994). The stupid macho boy from the cartoon movie does not exist in my Joe-verse.
He is a leader and an hard worker!
I like the look of this figure and it was a favorite of mine, but I have to say that I prefer the original figure with the black camo on green uniform. He looked much more like a bad ass green beret to me than here, but I still like this one alot. I never really had too much of a problem with Falcon’s portrayal in the movie. I was kinda disappointed that the Dic series never really followed up on the movie in the sense of showcasing Falcon as a major regular character. Aside from the two-parter where he was addicted to drugs, I don’t even remember him ever being on the show. I think Falcon should’ve been to the Dic series what Duke and Flint were to the Sunbow cartoon. He should’ve been a leader to the newer group of early ’90s Joes and really be one of the focal points, in my opinion.