#234 G.I. JOE – FLIGHT POD (1985)

This is one of my most recent G.I.Joe vehicles. It has been a long time since I last bought G.I.Joes, but I found this vehicle and I couldn’t resist.

As you can see in the pictures it is a small vehicle with capacity for one figure, and despite its size, it has great playability: it is a “flying” vehicle, it has two missiles, rotating guns, the propeller can also be oriented in both directions, and include an extra accessory: a flying mine.

Something curious about G.I.Joe vehicles is that almost all of them have some kind of hatch that can be removed, revealing some engines or whatever. This allows children to play “mechanics”. In this case, the hatch is in the mine, maybe a mission for Tripwire to deactivate it, or a place for Cobra technicians to work?

Here are a few views from the vehicle without pilot.

And that's the mine we were talking about.

The casting of the vehicle is great as it is in most G.I.Joe vehicles and figures. The patterns casted on the body of the pad are completely unsymmetrical. The stickers are especially numerous in this small vehicle.

It featured in many chapters of the TV-series as well as in some comic books, and they always (or mostly) came in groups.

 

The box is the typical used during the first years for small vehicles, with a flap on the top side to hang it. It features the classic colours black and black turning to red on the back. The actual toy is depicted on the back and it most important features are highlighted. On the front a amazing illustration with a Tele-viper on the flight pad with the classic red/yellow/white mosaic behind.

In this case, the box cames from the United Kingdom, and that’s why we have the “Action Force” logo instead of the G.I.Joe one. Action Force was the name of the toyline in some countries like U.K., Germany or northern Europe. There seems to be two reasons for that change of name. First is that in the U.K., people wouldn't understand what G.I.Joe mean, and second is that G.I.Joe slowly introduced in the British market as new waves from a existing toyline name Action Force, that was being manufactured by Palitoy, in the same size, but much less articulated. The first wave of action force was relased in 1982, and in the following year, there was a second wave with the same kind of figures but some vehicles that used Hasbro G.I.Joe's casts. The third wave from 1985 already comprised only G.I.Joe figures (the whole 1985 american catalogue, plus a few figures -most of them pilots- that were exclusive to the United Kingdom). It is important to mention that Palitoy already distributed in Europe Hasbro's 12'' G.I.Joe and, later, Adventure Team.

In this picture the "trick" can be see more clearly. I didn't want to edit the pics.

The instructions/blueprints were also included, and I can now show how do the blueprints look like. These are announced on later packages: “Important: Enclosed are top secret blueprints of an actual (name of the vehicle). Add them to your G.I.Joe command files”. Needless to say that there is no "actual" Flight Pod, it is science-ficcion, but it gives the toy a nice bit of reality, something that I appretiated much as a kid, when I had a folder full with all those top-secret documents like filecards, blueprints and promotional paperwork or catalogues.

Flight Pod Instructions

Flight Pod Blueprints

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: FLIGHT POD
• Toy Line: G.I. JOE (Wave 4)
• Year: 1985
• Company:  Hasbro (U.S.A.)
• Size: Around 10 cm high