G.I. Joe Club Footloose Review

Footloose shares the same head sculpt and helmet as Lt. Claymore from the 2011 JoeCon exclusive set. His torso and upper arms were originally used on Sgt. Stone from the Rise of Cobra line, and his legs have only been used on the TTT variant of the 2010 SDCC Sgt. Slaughter. He has new arms, which will also be used on the upcoming (TBD) Kwinn figure (who debuted in early 2011) but since Footloose was released first, they are new to him. (Although technically, the tooling was likely created first for Kwinn.)

The ARAH Footloose figure, available originally in 1985, had his head reused on the Special Mission: Brazil exclusive figure Claymore. Ironically, the modern update happened in reverse. The 2011 Claymore figure debuted first, and a year later his head was reused for Footloose. While Claymore technically came first, I don’t think it surprised anyone when it was reused for Footloose, and I consider it a “pre-paint” of Footloose, regardless of who debuted first.

The head and helmet have very crisp sculpting, as does the rest of the figure. The new arms are excellently sculpted, with a black wrist watch on one and a silver bracelet on the other. The torso and legs are also very well done, although the legs have a striped texture that do not follow through to the crotch on the torso, which is a mild gripe.

My main problem with the parts on this figure is that the webgear is a tad ill-fitting. While it’s the closest existing mold in use in the modern line (and I can’t blame the Club for using it, as I used it on my own custom of Footloose), it doesn’t quite fit the bulkier Stone torso like I’d prefer. I was able to stretch mine a little to get it to fit a bit better, but it still sits higher than his natural waist, which is unfortunate.

This is a figure whose individual parts I don’t love, but together, they really make a great figure. Unfortunately for some fans, he’s not that easy to make from existing parts as his head/helmet and legs both come from exclusive, hard-to-find-cheap figures, and his arms are from an as-yet-to-be-released-elsewhere figure, so most customizers are not going to be able to replicate him on the cheap.

I didn’t love the legs from the TTT deco Sarge, and I dislike the more barrel-chested Stone torso, and the head/helmet combo from Claymore is a tad large, but dammit… Overall, the combination of parts just work! Especially when you get to posing him…