Funskool Skydiver
When I first got into collecting vintage and o-ring figures again, online Joe dealers still had ample supplies of Funkskool overstock. I took a pretty standard approach to this and sought out what I mainly considered to be the best stand-ins for costly vintage figures, like V1 Flint, but one figure stood out to me as being so strange that I had to have him: Skydiver.
A lot of the time you’ll see this figure identified by collectors as Tiger Force Crazylegs, but I really don’t know why people think that. Nothing about the figure identifies him as Crazylegs, or a member of the Tiger Force. The only thing that ties him to either of these concepts is the usage of Crazyleg’s head and gun, with some yellow and black pattern pants that vaguely resembles the poorly done tiger-camo on Funskool Tiger Force Life Line. Skydiver is pretty clearly defined on the card as being his own character.
Speaking of the card, have a look at that thing! Is he dropping into a volcano? A few Funskool figures were released on non-standard cards like this, which featured unique art and backgrounds. Unique characters like Super Cop, Street Hawk and Super Hero came on cards like this, which I’m somewhat unclear on the significance of.
Skydiver is made from the body of 1986 Beachhead and the head of 1987 Crazylegs. It’s an interesting parts combo that fits pretty well and looks decent for a paratrooper. Crazylegs and Beachhead both had similarly sized heads, so the proportions don’t look much worse to me. What really sits this figure apart from Beachhead or Crazylegs, is his insane color scheme. All red torso, bright yellow camouflage pants, bright blue belts, everything that could be bright is bright. Still, that colorful and bizarre look is what’s charming about the figure.
For parts, Skydiver comes light with only Crazyleg’s gun and a very cheap parachute. No stock is included for the gun, and the parachute ties around his shoulders: there’s no backpack or anything that it ties or attaches to. It’s a little disappointing that his parts are so sparse, but things like this are sometimes easier to overlook in the general picture of Funskool’s bizarreness. I could try and say “At least the gun’s black!”, but with a figure like this, I’d have probably found it entertaining if the gun were powder blue too.
What prompted me to write about this figure, was discovering the insane new value he’s attained like many other Funskool figures. $100 seems to be the new normal for Skydivers, which is astounding considering a decade ago you could barely give this figure away. I wholeheartedly don’t recommend paying that much for this figure, as he’s neither rare nor particularly exceptional.
Though, it is somewhat of a separate topic, the massive increase in value for Funskool figures is fascinating to me. Technically speaking, these figure are not rare. In fact, many of them are probably some of the most common, most produced GI Joe figures in existence. Yet, a few short years after they were imported en masse, these figures have seen a consistent increase in value across the board, and become far more scarce (on the market). It’s a complete mystery to me why this happened, but it’s also fun to watch how long it lasts.
The Viper Pit 