Pilot Scarlett

Height: 9.5cm to top of head.

Articulation: 22 points total- ball-joint neck; 5 points each arm: universal-joint shoulder, universal-joint elbow, forearm swivel; mid-torso ball joint; 5 points each leg: ball-joint hip, universal joint knee, universal joint ankle.

Colors: Molded blue, light blue, gray, fleshtone, and black. Painted white, silver, light blue, gray, red, and green(eyes).

Accessories: Crossbow, Pistol, Helmet, Harness, Backpack, Stand.

Author: RAC

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Scarlett first learned martial arts from her father and three brothers, who are martial arts instructors. She began her training at age nine, and was awarded a black belt at age 15. She graduated summa cum laude from two Ivy League universities and went on to excel in training courses at all four branches of the armed forces.The Cobra organization often mistakes her for just a pretty face rather than a member of the elite GI Joe team, which makes her perfect for undercover missions, on which she uses various aliases. She is a naturally gifted pilot who has flown in some of the most advanced military aircraft in the world and is one of the GI Joe team's helicopter pilots.

"Beauty may be only skin deep, but lethal goes to the bone."


Pilot Scarlett combines two of Hasbro's favorite hobbies: reusing old molds, and reusing obscure characters. While Scarlett isn't obscure at all, especially now, the character this figure is based on isn't quite Scarlett. The "helicopter pilot" bit of the bio, like the outfit itself, is a reference to Glenda, a reuse of the 1982 Scarlett mold that was released only in Argentina. I'm not really sure why they didn't just make this figure into Glenda proper, blonde hair and all, but I think OAFE's suggestion that Hasbro is skirting licensing issues is as good a guess as any I could make. Either way, here's a second Scarlett to keep all thirty thousand Snake Eyes and Cobra Commander variants company!

(And don't even get me started on Cobra Troopers.)


The Figure

The use of accessories to make this figure look so much different from the first release of 25th Anniversary Scarlett is impressive indeed. Out of the package she looks totally different- but when you remove the harness and backpack she's equipped with, you can see that the mold is identical. Except for the lower legs, which have some pouches now, and the head, which has a hairstyle more suited for a pilot's helmet. (Which is interesting, since the card art shows Scarlett's customary ponytail sticking out of the back of the helmet. Though apparently the original Scarlett figure had no ponytail. So this head is presumably more accurate to the original mold- and thus to Glenda as well.) Sans harness, Scarlett is wearing a silver, blue and white version of her original outfit, with all the details left the same color as the outfit they're on. Without the Pilot gear the new lower legs kind of look like she's wearing legwarmers, completing her original Ninja Aerobics Instructor ensemble. And that's something that should be mentioned: despite working undercover as the bio implies, she's still wearing a pair of gauntlets with shuriken attached to the left wrist. You'd think this would be something of a tell. Of course, in a world with the kind of wacky mad scientist crap Cobra likes to pull, I don't think it's that much of a stretch to assume that all Argintinean helicopter pilots are issued emergency ninja stars.

Her head is ball-jointed and turns pretty well, but vertical tilt is limited. It tops out at looking straight ahead, though she looks down with ease. The harness creates a host of articulation problems. Scarlett retains some tilt in that mid-torso joint, but forget using it as a waist. Most damning is that it restricts her hips; she can't particularly sit all that well to begin with and the harness makes it worse. She might have trouble with actually piloting a helicopter. On the other hand, the parts that aren't restricted are pretty good, with a really nice shoulder range in particular. Unlike most of the 25th and Rise of Cobra GI Joes, her knees use the same universal joints as her shoulders and elbows. She's pretty slender, and Hasbro seemingly didn't have the knack of installing double-joints in limbs that small yet- you can actually see the gaps in the seams in her thighs pretty clearly even with this kind of knee joint. Fortunately, Hasbro seems to have worked this out, and later female figures have had double-hinged knees just like everybody else.


Accessories

-Crossbow

Like the thowing stars weren't enough of a hint, Scarlett- supposedly undercover as a helicopter pilot, mind! -comes with her trademark crossbow.

Sad thing is that on the old GI Joe cartoon? This disguise would totally work.

There's an arrow molded into the top of the crossbow, but it's hard to make out on the dark gray plastic. The bow part is a separate piece, and likes to fall off constantly- I learned this from my normal Scarlett, which is why you may be able to make out the clear plastic band that was holding Glenda-Scarlett's crossbow together in the package. I'm leaving it so the weapon stays together. It fits both hands, but neither as securely as I'd really like it to. It'll stay unless you mess with it, but when you do, it drops- it just doesn't feel solid.

-Pistol

I have no idea what kind of Pistol it is; firearm identification is not one of my trivia specialities. It fits in her left hand better than her right, and is actually almost as solid there as I would like. Almost.

-Helmet

A simple blue pilot's helmet with a silver visor. The visor is molded on, so you can't lower it. I tried tilting the whole helmet forward out of idle curiosity, but it doesn't look right or fit right, wanting to fall off constantly. But I can't particularly hold it against the figure when using the accessories in unintended ways doesn't work out.

-Harness and Backpack

The harness, while a single piece, is actually a combination of three harnesses: a white criscross harness, a blue life vest, and a gray neck brace. It looks good, and it really does change the look of the figure completely. Though like I said, it does restrict articulation too- and it doesn't quite close completely, leaving a gap at the upper torso that doesn't look like it should be there. (You could say an awful lot of things right here if you really wanted, but I'll abstain.) It is a universal problem though: if you look at YoJoe's page for the figure, you can see that gap, even on the carded shot.

The plain blue backpack plugs through the harness into Scarlett's back- a parachute pack, I guess. It's kind of nondescript as a backpack- the only way you can tell which end is up is by fit, and squinting at the sculpted zippers to see how they hang.

-Stand

A little black rectangle with a molded GI Joe logo and pegs, and Scarlett's codename tampographed on the front. The pegs are tough to get into the holes in her feet, but she stays reasonably well once you've done it. Stands are useful, but about the least exciting thing a toy can come with.


Closing Remarks

It's an ingenious reuse of an existing mold and character. I picked it up on clearance half because I liked the story behind the figure, and half because the new look impressed me. (Also? I really like the color blue, and I haven't seen these shades get used on GI Joes a lot- too light for Cobra, too Cobra-like for Joes.) While that new look brings its own problems, they don't kill the figure for me. But they do handicap it. Glenda-Scarlett is Very Good.

-RAC