G.I. Joe Club Footloose Review

Why on earth such a generic character has been on my “25th wish list” since the G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary line launched back in 2007, I’ll never know. Footloose is dated, he’s a third-tier character at best, and he’s almost as generic as Grunt is (and I hate Grunt). It likely has to do with his character in the Sunbow cartoon. Often teamed up with the likewise goofball team of Bazooka, Alpine and Quick Kick, the probably-a-pothead-although-he-was-never-explicitly-defined-as-a-pothead Footloose bumbled his way through battles with his bazooka and the munchies. He had a giant pillar crash on him in the episode closing credits. Not the most reliable soldier. So why did I want him in my modern collection so badly?

No idea, to be honest. But I just did. And since he’s a fairly generic figure made from easily-reused/reusable parts (pretty much the jungle equivalent of Dusty), I was genuinely surprised that we didn’t get him before now, and in a main retail line at that. Flashier figures like Lifeline, Airtight, Sci-Fi and more prominent fan-favorites like Sarge, Low-Light and Zarana took a long time to get, too, but they had more unique and extensive sculpting required, plus they may not appeal to everyone. But Footloose’s generic body construction has basically existed for years in the Hasbro library, which is why he’s been such a popular figure for people to make from existing figures. All he needed was the iconic helmet, a new head, and maybe new web gear, but the Falcon webgear was so close, I always expected to see it reused. Yet we never got him, and I thought all hope was lost.

So when the G.I. Joe Collector’s Club unveiled Claymore for the first time, I got way more excited than I should have. What’s so great about Claymore? Well, Claymore’s vintage figure shared the same head as Footloose! Finally, we’d get Footloose. Or so I hoped, anyway.

Sure enough, later that year, we finally got the first prototype mockup shots of Footloose, who reused the Claymore head sculpt. I was stoked, and Spring 2012 couldn’t get here soon enough.

Then came early 2012, and the Club totally shit the bed with their credit card system being hacked. In what has to be one of their biggest fumbles and low-points in recent years, the Club had their system compromised and all their members’ credit card information stolen, while many members were kept in the dark for weeks. Their credit card info was sold by thieves online, and fans moaned and looked for pitchforks, ready to march to their headquarters in Texas.

After months of delays and the Club finally getting things sorted out, I ended up as a victim myself, but luckily the culprits got away with no money as my bank nipped it in the bud fairly quickly. After sending in two money orders and crossing all my fingers and toes, word came from the Club that Footloose was shipping. Hooray! I finally received my first one on a Friday, and the next arrived on Tuesday. Finally, I had my pair of Footleese.

And while I’m by far a fan of the Club… Boy, did they make one hell of a great figure. Read on for the breakdown.