Well, it’s been a while since I was here last, and in that time, I’ve managed to pick up more than a few of the new
Rise of Cobra figures via the more orthodox method of visiting an honest-to-goodness retailer. I got most of Wave 1 and 2, which should provide plenty of material to work with, but for the time being, I think it only appropriate, seeing as my very first two reviews here were Duke and Snake Eyes, that my first post-release date review should be the third part of the G.I. Joe power trio: Shana “Scarlett” O’Hara.
Ah, Scarlett, First Lady of G.I. Joe.
Action Girl,
Redheaded Heroine,
Team Mom at times, even.
Soul-Mate and
One True Love of
Snake Eyes (or
Duke, as those cartoon canon heretics would have it
), yet, according to rumor, seemingly slated to fall, for no discernable reason, to the dubious charms of a movie-only character no one’s ever heard of, may that never come to pass, but I digress…
Like most Joes, Scarlett’s had a number of different looks over the years, most of which, barring the rather ill-considered and supremely fanciful “Ninja Force” costume she wore briefly in the early 90s, have drawn some inspiration from her original form-fitting, multi-layered “battle leotard” to varying degrees of success, and the new movie-universe Reactive Impact Armour seems to be following much the same path (albeit more along the lines of the muted “black ops” costume seen in the
Scarlett: Declassified comic colour-wise), with some interesting elements that might almost be nods to the classic costume, such as the ribbed collar and knee-high boots, and in fact, she does actually appear to be wearing a leotard under her upper body armour, judging by the way the lower end of the upper half of her costume appears to terminate in a sort of thong.
As for the armour itself, it follows the general style of the male suits, though obviously reformatted to the female anatomy. Some ridicule has been aimed at the “boob holsters” here and there, but it’s not like form-fitting, figure-flaunting outfits are out of character for Scarlett, or
any of the ladies of the G.I. Joe universe for that matter, and as a practical matter, real-life body armour for female soldiers apparently has to be fairly well-fitted in the chest or it can cause discomfort (though not necessarily quite so well-fitted as Scarlett’s, one would imagine). Oddly though, despite having a similar arrangement of straps and buckles to the male armour, Scarlett’s suit zips up the front, which is fairly unusual for modern armours, which tend to have their fasteners located at the sides or at least (as in the case of the
Interceptor OTV) somewhat off-centre so as to present the most solid defense to the front of the torso. The thigh plates are also somewhat different, being smooth ovoids where the male versions are very angular, and the gloves are sleek, featureless and tucked under the wrist-plates, which are largely identical to the male versions, as is the arm-armour in general, which features the G.I. Joe eagle/hawk/falcon/bird-of-prey-and-star sigil on the left shoulder rather than the left breast as on the male suits, and the sigil itself is coloured gold like Accelerator Suit Duke’s, rather than grey like Reactive Armour Duke’s, whatever that may mean. Finally, there’s a small pouch or similar device strapped to her right thigh reminiscent of one of those coin-changers you might see a vendor or carnie wearing on a belt, but which probably carries ammunition or power sources for her crossbow, which really seems to be more of a
bowcaster, judging by the apparent lack of bowstrings and the very few, and very brief, shots of Scarlett shooting it in the various trailers and tv spots.
As regards the headsculpt, Rachel Nichols is definitely visible in the figure’s face, much more obviously, and dare I say, attractively, than the Covert Ops Scarlett figure (my photos, unfortunately, really don’t do the sculpt justice), but there are also hints of the original 1982 figure in the composed, somewhat aloof expression and level gaze, though Hasbro opted to go with long, loose, movement-restricting hair rather than the traditional ponytail which Nichols can also be seen wearing while in the Reactive Armour costume in some images from the film.
Now, on to accessories.
Like most of the
Rise of Cobra figures, Scarlett’s most prominent weapon, at least size-wise, is an enormous missile launcher, identical to that included with Ninja Commando Snake Eyes, from which spring the most comically ineffectual grappling hook I think I’ve ever seen in toy form, resembling as it does some sort of weaponized stacking star more than any serious piece of climbing equipment, but it’s attached at the other end of the included neon yellow string to a much more business-like grappling hook, and the string itself is threaded through a roller attached to a sort of backpack, so Scarlett can follow Snake Eyes down the zipline when they go to infiltrate the super-duper ultra-top-secret Cobra base, but being a girl, she needs to be strapped in for safety’s sake, where Snake Eyes, being awesome, hangs confidently from his T-bar by his massive arms.
Gigantic Kenner-style mini-howitzer and accompanying elements aside, her selection of kit includes the aforementioned crossbow, the limbs of which detach for storage in the holster on her belt, but maintain a fairly secure grip on the front of the weapon once clipped on, the standard G.I. Joe display stand/dog-tag, and a pair of the same type of handgun that Snake Eyes and Duke carry, which I initially thought was an HK USP Match pistol but which upon closer inspection looks more like a
SIG-Sauer P220, in case she should want to go all
Resolute on some hapless Neo-Viper. Not an extravagant number of accessories, but they get the job done, and the missile launcher, grappling hook and zipline will no doubt provide some fun for the main target demographic; I know that, as a child, I would have played with it until I lost the string or broke something for certain.
As a final note, articulation is quite comparable to the standards set by previously-reviewed figures like Reactive Armour Duke and Paris Pursuit Snake Eyes, though of course, there’s the aforementioned hair, and, at least on my figure, the right arm has some trouble swinging back into the socket at certain angles. Also, posing the figure on one knee is hampered somewhat by the length of her lower legs, but at 5’10”, Rachel Nichols is a big girl with legs to match, and she stands slightly taller than Ninja Commando Snake Eyes (representing 5’9” Ray Park), and slightly shorter than Reactive Armour Duke (representing 6’1” Channing Tatum, but of course, he’s slouching).
In summation, Desert Ambush Scarlett is a fine toy, a fine scale representation of a lovely actress, and a fine female action figure, and once again I’d like to congratulate the folks at Hasbro on a job well done.
