G.I. Joe Convention 2016 Airwave

In the days of the original Sky Patrol, Airwave was not my favorite, to be honest. I never liked the Motor Viper figure all that much anyway, and the parts didn’t do Airwave any favors. Sort of skinny arms and a weirdly over-designed uniform left me pretty cool and indifferent. I’m happy to say any potential issues with the vintage Motor Viper were rectified with the modern update in a big way.

Where the original Airwave was scrawny and unexciting, this update is packed with detail, bulk, and an interesting parts build. Like the original, he wears the Motor Viper vest, but in this case that vest is covering Pursuit of COBRA Skydive parts which give the figure a nice heft and design flair that the original lacked in my view.

Using the vintage Airwave as a template, this figure is colored in various shades of brown with camouflage, all set off with the right amount of silver trim and it all works really nicely. The figure looks like a modern update to Airwave, but has enough new twists to still feel unique and apart from simply being a new version of the original. This is a great way to do an update.

Accessories

Like Airborne, Airwave is one of the figures that does not come with a jetpack and in fact, his backpack is just like Airborne’s. He also comes with an assault rifle (though a different one than the other figure), a pistol, a version of Firefly’s walkie talkie (which makes sense for an audio specialist, I suppose) and the same helmet that came with Pursuit of COBRA Ashiko. All of the accessories work nicely for the figure, and while this newer helmet isn’t quite as nice as the vintage version, it works okay.

Airwave is another great Sky Patrol member, and is in fact, not just an homage to the original, but a drastic improvement to it, which doesn’t happen every day. Nice work!

Check out the video review for the Sky Patrol half of the boxed set below!