Night Force—the 1988 Toys R Us exclusive repaints that have proved to be one of the banes of my collecting. As I’ve stated in previous reviews, I wasn’t actively collecting GIJoe back in ’88—being more concerned with high school, music, and the opposite sex. So, when Toys R Us released their exclusive repainted two-packs, I was no more aware of them than I was of the goings on in the Kush Mountains at any given moment. So, years later, when I stumbled across pictures of them on the new-fangled Al Gore invention known as the internet, I was intrigued. The darker color schemes and the character selection made the team quite interesting and I thought I’d seek them out. Unfortunately, no having the last name of either Trump or Forbes, I was taken aback at the prices these figures commanded. I resigned myself to the fact that these were out of my price range for the time being and moved on to other areas of my Joe collection. Yet, when a set of the Night Force showed up at my local comic shop recently I had to take a look—and was floored to find that I could obtain the entire set for the cost that one figure commands on the dreaded Ebay. So, years later I was able to sit down with the initial wave of Night Force and discovered that I’d misjudged a few members of the team unfairly over the years—including one Lt. Falcon.

When it comes to character design, you just don’t get more realistic than Lt. Falcon. Whereas the original 1987 version of the figure was clad in standard camouflage BDU’s, the Night Force version takes a different approach to his color scheme. While the lesser number of different paint applications causes some of the detail in the mold to be lost, other aspects of this new sub-team color scheme work quite well for the figure. This time around, Lt. Falcon is wearing brown pants with a black uniform jacket. However, instead of the black carrying all the way through the uniform shirt, the sleeves are molded in a light grey color—conveying the impression of a vest and undershirt rather than a BDU shirt. His harness and belt is now an olive green, as is the scarf that is tied around his neck. His boots are now black, as is the watch that is worn on his left wrist. In other words, this is what passed for night ops gear in Pawtucket, Rhode Island back in 1988. The uniform is moderately successful in accomplishing its goal—the dark brown pants and black shirt (vest?) all serve to help Falcon blend in among the shadows. It’s the bare arms and light gray sleeves, however, that throw a proverbial bucket of cold water on the illusion of blending in, however. Falcon’s forearms and face are completely bare—devoid of any type of camouflage make-up or any attempts at darkening his rather light skin tone. The light gray rolled sleeves, while quite aesthetically pleasing from a design stand point, just draw further attention to the already light-colored arms. In the end, Falcon’s arms and head serve as “shoot here” beacons rather than having the appropriate camouflage and the whole night ops motif is shaken to its core. If I were grading this figure solely on its fashion sense, then I’d have to give it high marks for a solid repaint color scheme. However, as a ranger going on a nocturnal operation, Falcon is going to have to head back to the Slaughter House for another lesson in “appropriate camouflage”. However, this coloration issue does not detract from the fact that Falcon has some terrific detail molded into his character design. On his right shoulder is worn a small communications mike, while just below that is a sheathed knife. Amid the pouches of his BDU pants, an angle-head flashlight is molded onto his right pant leg. His web belt features a believable amount of storage pouches and never once strays into Batman territory—even with s pineapple grenade attached just above his left hip. However, the detail doesn’t end with the belts and harness. His pants are sculpted with just enough folds and wrinkles to give them a believable “hang” on his frame. The rolled shirt sleeves convey a sense of realism and aren’t too “neat and pressed”. Everything about this character design suggests real clothing worn by a real person, and this makes Falcon one of the most well-sculpted figures in the entire line.

Falcon’s head sculpt, like many of the early Joes, is almost a bit bland. His expression is decidedly neutral, his features soft, and his paint applications few. However, this design is saved from wearing the dreaded moniker of blasé by a color combination that actually brings out some detail that might have gone otherwise unnoticed. The original version of Lt. Falcon featured a green beret with a light-colored patch. This Night Force version instead has falcon wearing a black beret with a red patch and the result is a slightly more serious countenance for the head sculpt. His hair color and eyebrows are slightly lighter than on my 1987 Falcon yet this darker choice of head wear gives the entire figure a darker, more serious bearing. It’s almost as if the original version is the character as portrayed in the animated feature “GIJoe: The Movie” while the Night Force version is more evocative of his persona from the Marvel Comics series. (I’m thinking of his appearances during the Cobra Civil War in particular.) To me, this Night Force version is the Lt. Falcon who lead the Recon team around Cobra Island, through the sewers, and took the air field from Cobra. Maybe repeated viewings of the movie have clouded my impression of the original version of Lt. Falcon, but this version brings the character back to a more serious role in my Joe-verse. Falcon comes equipped with a backpack that features a communications antenna and a knife sheath, as well as a shotgun with an added handle for ease of posability.

When I was younger, I never really saw too much point in Lt. Falcon. He was released at a time when I was no longer actively collecting GIJoe and his appearance in GIJoe: The Movie did nothing to truly endear me to the character. (Why Don Johnson wasn’t the voice of Chuckles I’ll never know.) However, Falcon also had a second strike going against him at that time—his similarity to the previously-released Flint. To my young eyes, the characters were pretty darned similar. Both of them worn berets, both of them were equipped with shotguns, and both of them were suitable for command positions. Granted, their backgrounds are actually fairly diverse, but to the young eyes of a fan already on his “way out of Joe” they were similar enough that I was able to skip Falcon and not really regret it at the time. It wasn’t until years later that I came to a new appreciation of the character and thus decided that he was a necessary part of my collection. My reasoning for this was quite simple—if I tried to build a Joe team and NOT use any of the traditional standby’s (Duke, Flint, Roadblock, Snake Eyes, Scarlett, Hawk, Stalker, Shipwreck, Roadblock, Gung-Ho, etc) then who could be used to round out a fairly complete unit. It was at that moment that Falcon hit me square in the eye! Now, I don’t see Falcon as the type of Joe who’d be happy with a desk job—but I can see him as the XO of a Joe-esque unit. In many ways, Falcon can replace Duke as the First Shirt of a second Joe team—leading missions and getting down and dirty in the field with his men. As such, Falcon suddenly rose like the proverbial phoenix from the bin of “other figures” and took his place as a key member of the Joe team. As such, I was able to shake off the preconceptions of him as a “screw up” (the same way I did with the Renegades) and instead see him as a valuable and integral member of Counter-Terrorist Group Delta.

So, after 18 years I finally have the illusive Night Force Lt. Falcon in hand. Does the “having” of this figure live up to the “wanting”? I’d have to say “yes”. While not entirely practical in my mind as a nocturnal operative, this version works well as a darker, more serious version of a character that was nearly ruined by his portrayal in the animated feature. This darker color scheme, while not as ornate as the original figure wore, gives the character some extra depth that I always found lacking in the original. Oddly enough, the colors of his shirt and beret which, according to my earlier statements, should make him appear to be a “ Flint clone” actually helps to differentiate the characters in my mind. The similarity in colors of their berets gives the pair of them a uniform feel that is sometimes missing for the GIJoe team. As such, I can see them as two compatriots rather than viewing one as a replacement for the other. However, the question remains—is Falcon worth the high price placed upon the Night Force figures? The answer really depends upon the individual collector. I was able to acquire my 1988 Night Force figures for the price that one of them commands in the secondary market. As such, I’m quite happy with my purchase. However, for collectors who feel that the $30.00+ dollar price range is a bit much to pay, this figure could be skipped in favor of the original version which can be found for under $20.00 complete. If you’re a completionist then it doesn’t matter what I type—you either already have the figure or will be getting one soon. For the rest of the Joe fans out there, my advice is this: if you’re going to get just one version of Falcon, this is the one I’d recommend. However, if you’re watching your funds, you can be happy with the standard version unless you happen to stumble across one of those deals that are just too good to pass up.