While 1985 is cited as the pinnacle of GI Joe, 1987 is often marked as the beginning of the end. Or at least the bginning of the decline. There were still lots of good figures that year (and after), but it's also when we got two of the weirdest Cobras ever: the hypnotist Crystal Ball and the falconer Raptor.
The design process for new Joes back then was simple: the R&D team would meet and determine what kind of roles were needed -
like "pilot" or "machine gunner" - and then the artists would go back to their desks and get to work creating the look. That means someone in an actual boardroom meeting sometime in 1985 or '86 sat at a conference table in Hasbro's headquarters and said to everyone around him "we need a falconer; you know, someone who hunts with birds." Bet you a dollar some executive-level a-hole had gone out hawking with some other dickhead he knew from the golf club and had enjoyed the experience, and so he pushed for his new obsession to get some representation; it's impossible to imagine "Falconer" getting approved in the same meeting as "Green Beret" and "Advanced Recon" without some very heavy thumb on the scales.
You also get the feeling that even Larry Hama recognized how ridiculous this character was when he was mailed the design sheet to create a name and personality for him. Remember, Larry could have made "Raptors" an entire type of soldiers in Cobra's ranks, like the Lampreys or Snow Serpents, but instead he made Raptor an individual, a white-collar tax consultant with a goofy pastime. That's commentary right there!
Raptor's never had a name before, so this release calling him "Chip Talon" is new. It lacks Larry Hama's flair for a pun name, though - like, he should be Perry Grynne or Ryan Goshawk or Ike Harris
or Dade Ellis or something. Taking a cue from the GI Joe Collectors' Club version (itself a minor reworking of the Pursuit of Cobra Zartan), Classified Raptor wears slightly more-normal clothing than he did in Generation 1: he's still dressed as his birdsona, but he doesn't look as much like he's got something... for youuuuuu anymore. Claws on his boots? Yes, but toned down. Feathers on his boots and gloves? Yes, but only as accents, not all the way around. Feathers on his shoulders? Yes, but trim on a vest, not an entire shawl. The dark patches around his eyes are a mask now, rather than facepaint, and his bird-hood is removable so you can see his dirtbag fauxhawk mullet.
At this point, it should barely be a surprise
that Raptor's been given tattoos the character never had before. Hell, at this point, it would be more surprising to see a GI Joe Classifed figure with exposed skin who didn't have a bunch of new tattoos. Raptor's gained parallel stripes on his chest, a repeating feather pattern on his back, and stylized winglets on his biceps. To break up all the brown on the figure, it's boots and gloves have been given bluish-grey accents, which works really nicely. He still has his big, silver, bird-in-flight belt buckle, and the red whistle on his necklace.
It was easy to miss this distinction in the '80s, but Raptor did not just wear a pair of bird wings, he wore an ultralight airfoil system that just happened to look like a pair of bird wings. The Generation 3
version used the Jungle-Viper's weird mechanical ghillie suit thing as a stand-in for the wings, and Classified again takes inspiration from that exclusive, giving Raptor a flight rig that's unmistakably mechanical. Officially called the "C-M2 Daedalus Jet Wing Pack" in the marketing material but painted with the words "Rip Wing" on the actual toy, the backpack is far better than cloth wings with a sculpted clump of feathers in the center would have been. It definitely still looks like wings, simply more "Arch-" than "Angel."
It has a nearly 17" wingspan when fully open, and it painted brown and light tan, with silver points on the tips of some of the feathers and orange areas that probably provide thrust when in flight. There are turbines on the underside of the wings for lift, but no matching detail on the back; so where does the air go? Even the messed-up Vulture flight unit got that right! Each wing is made from four pieces, and thus has four joints: swivels halfway along the length and where they meet the backpack part, and two hinges in between. You really can get a lot of great poses here.
The only accessory the 1987 Raptor had was his bird, Talon.
Did you know it had a name? Probably not, it was only printed in small text alongside the bubble on his blister pack, which means what we said in the Croc Master review was wrong: Fiona was not the first Cobra pet to get her own identity. Today's bird is called General Ledger, harkening back to his accountancy background, and she's a solid piece, sculpted wearing a hood, and with a peg under her feet so she can perch on either of his gloves. This was already a semi-deluxe set, thanks to the cost of the wing pack; could Gen. Ledger not be as articulated Freedom was in a normal release?
Beyond that, though, Raptor gets a knife that
can store on his right leg, a pistol for the holster on his left hip, and a pair of long Wolverine claws that slip onto his hands. Looks like somebody isn't hiding at the back of the battlefield anymore! His stats are Science 2, Hand-to-Hand Combat 2, Black Market Deals 2, and Animal Handling 4. Only because there's no way for the numbers to go to 5. Not really sure about that "Science" role: wouldn't Recon or Skydiving or maybe even Environmental Specialist: Air be better?
A lot of GI Joe Classified figures were fine characters to begin with, and have just gotten better today. Raptor, on the other hand, has been redeemed by being put in Classified. He may not be the amazing grand slam that Road Pig was, but managing to make a chump like Raptor this cool is an accomplishment in its own right. And frankly, it kind of makes us want to see what they could do with Crystal Ball.
-- 12/20/24
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