G.I.Joe Classified - SCARLETT!

G.I.Joe Classified Series (6" Line) #05 - Shana "Scarlett" O'Hara - Hasbro 2020

G.I.Joe plays a very integral role in my collecting hobby. A few years post-college I was overdosing on nostalgia big-time. DVDs were a relatively new advancement back then and I blew one of my first adult paychecks on a $250 Aiwa and immediately started buying old cartoons. My love of G.I. Joe was rekindled like we had never been apart. And it wasn't long until I was inspired to eBay some revenge on my gradeschool bully, Jeff. Well, I guess he wasn't so much a bully as he was a spoiled rich kid who had the Wolverine and Cover Girl and made me jealous. So, yeah, almost 20 years later I finally got myself a Cover Girl (suck on that, Jeff) and I was off to the races. Years later I have thousands of action figures and some serious compulsion problems. Yet somehow over time I had grown completely disenchanted with the G.I. Joe property and all their exclusive products. So this rebooted 6" series is is very exciting for me. Like starting fresh after a long breakup.. and my excitement is palpable. Let's check out Scarlett below!

I'm going to take a moment to talk about the image on the back of the box. The characters shown there are all perfect representations of their stylized outfits in this toy line so far. So we can assume this is also an accurate preview for future figures. I think Baroness is one of the most iconic "bad girls" of the 80s, and a big part of her character is her simple costume design. It appears that she will have lots of gold and red embellishments on her outfit and I fear that she might even sport a pink hombre hairstyle. Hopefully that is just pink lighting. But the blonde streaks in Scarlett's hair were a surprise so unfortunately I think anything is possible. Rant over.

Scarlett's costume still has the essence of her original 1982 design, but it has been modernized and detailed in the vein of Fortnite or other videogame properties. I genuinely like the whole look of this figure, but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't prefer a "classic" redeco in the future.

Scarlett's face is great. She has soft realistic features and even has a spattering of freckles.

My only issue is that she looks a little too serene and happy. It looks fine for regular standing poses, but as soon as she's pointing her crossbow or brandishing a knife it just seems off.

Scarlett comes with her signature crossbow (that separates into two pieces), a quiver of arrows, three knives (all of which fit into her quiver/sash), and a utility belt. 

Scarlett's articulation is pretty impressive. She has a ball-jointed neck (with a hinge at the top of the post). The neck itself has what I refer to as a "bowling pin" joint where the neck is anchored in the chest cavity with a bulbous ball-joint. This lets the whole neck move and rotate. She has hinge-and-swivel shoulders, elbows, and wrists. She has ball-jointed waist and ribcage cuts. She has full rocker ankles, double-jointed knees, hinge-and-swivel hips, and swivel thighs and shins. I only wish she had a ponytail swivel.

This image on the Left below is the frontispiece from the Scarlett: Declassified comic from 2006. It tells the origin story of Scarlett with amazing art by one of my favorites, Phil Noto (who coincidentally drew the art on the front and side of the packaging for this figure).

I find Scarlett's facial sculpt to be interesting because her expression really seems to shift when you change the lighting.

Time for some Group and Comparison Pics!

I have a ton of Scarletts. I'm actually pretty sure I have them all except the newest Ninja Force remake. This is a small fraction of them, but it shows a good evolution of her classic costume.

This figure inspired me to dig out my G.I.Joes after I had relegated them to storage since 2012. I love this original Scarlett mold and all its various re-releases over the years.

And here are a few recent Hasbro figures to show scale between the current lines. From Left to Right: Power Ranger Lightning Collection, Ghostbusters Plasma Collection, G.I.Joe Classified Series, and Marvel Legends.

Cheers!