1985 Footloose
As it turns out, I have a pretty glowing opinion about 1985 figures. It’s a mainstream opinion, but I think a fan of this line would be hard pressed to argue against the overall quality of figures and vehicles released in this year, and by far Footloose lives up to those expectations.
Footloose is the GI Joe toy I always wanted as a kid, although as a kid I had no knowledge of this figure. Realistic (or even just reasonable) portrayals of modern and recent past military designs were of high interest to me, particularly for my GI Joe team roster. But, as a kid of the 90‘s this gave me a very limited selection of figures to enjoy from my own and my brother’s collection. When I did check out Joe offerings in the early 2000‘s, my priorities stayed much the same in this regard.
And indeed, Footloose is a fantastically realistic looking figure. He’s decked out in a camouflaged BDU that looks pretty appropriate for the time period when this figure came out. The web gear, wrist gear, and the overall uniform features a lot of detail to appreciate. I think most importantly though, is that Footloose is a charmingly mundane figure. He doesn’t have the distinguished look of Duke, Flint, or even someone like Gung-Ho, but instead fills the lines need for a figure that actually looks like a reasonable portrayal of an American soldier.
Hasbro was pretty good about not reusing heads during ARAH, but it did happen. In the case of Footloose, his head was reused in ‘86 for Claymore, and again in ‘87 for Rumbler. Both are obscure releases, but outside of the 1982 sculpts, that gives Claymore one of the more frequently reused heads right behind Knockdown.
His filecard is pretty great too:
Meyers was Valedictorian of his high school class, captain of the track team, and an Eagle Scout. He was going for his degree in Phys. Ed. on a state scholarship when he suddenly dropped out, moved to the coast and became quite weird for about three years. He was standing on the boardwalk in Venice pondering something cosmic when the utter pointlessness of his existence hit him between the eyes like a runaway freight train. “I think I’ll join the Army,” he said, and promptly did. Took basic and AIT at Fort Benning, graduated jump school and desert training unit. Qualified expert all NATO and Warsaw Pact small arms.
“Some of the Joes think that Footloose is out there, but all he’s trying to do is find himself. He’s the All-American Boy who got lost on the way to the fair and he’s simply trying to go home any which way he can. Most folks think they know who they are and where they’re going…They’re the dangerous ones!”
Not quite hilarious on the level of Tripwire, but a classic characterization none the less.
Footloose’s accessories are top-notch. He included a helmet, backpack, M16 and a M73-A1 LAWS rocket launcher. The helmet actually features painted foliage on top of it, which is a fantastic detail and an unusual feature for a vintage helmet. The fact that he includes two weapons really ups his usefulness and it’s even better that he can realistically carry both at the same time with the sculpted straps they feature.
A mint complete Footloose is easy to acquire for about $10, but they commonly will go for $15 as well. For such a nice figure from one of GI Joe’s most popular years, it somewhat surprises me that Footloose goes for so little, but I guess that would be a reflection of the character’s popularity compared to Flint, Shipwreck, Snake Eyes and the Cobra army builders from that year that have remained popular and relevant characters to the GI Joe franchise.
He’s great. Happy to have him back in the day. Solid trooper all around.
At the same time, he helped pushed the old 1982-83 crew into “dated” category between their less detailed sculpts and distinct Hasbro designed helmets. Yet, Hasbro didn’t continue on a modern realism path, far from it.
He and Airtight were the first two 1985 figures I bought at a local KB in Feb of that year. He’s a great figure. Yet, I still don’t use him as often as I should…which is a shame. He deserves to be in more pics.
I do need to get a Brazilian version one of these days, too.