One of the original
1982 set of
G.I. Joe 3 3/4" action figures. Scarlett, of course, had
red hair and came from
Atlanta, but she could also kill you with her bare hands. She came with a
crossbow, which I thought was kind of sexist. Most of the other figures toted
M-16s and such, but she's going into battle with a fucking
medieval weapon. She could still kick plenty of ass though.
She and
Snake-Eyes were inseparable, a relationship which began when Snake-Eyes let her win during a training session, even though she could tell he was the superior combatant. His motivation was probably because he thought beating her might fuel the sexism already rampant in some quarters of the G.I. Joe team. Their relationship deepened when he saved her from a crashed and burning
helicopter, scarring his face and losing his
vocal cords in the process. Unlike many of the original Joes, she didn't fade into the background once new characters were introduced. She was, throughout, a central figure in the G.I. Joe mythos (my God, that sounds pretentious). She did everything from faking her own death to pretending to defect to
Cobra to getting shot in the head by the
Baroness.
Despite her centrality in the G.I. Joe
continuity, only two other action figures were made of her. The
1993 Ninja Force Scarlett costume looks like
Poison Ivy from
Batman and comes with a number of deadly swords and such. The
1997 figure in the
Stars and Stripes Forever boxed set looks much like the original Scarlett; only the colors and her rank (now
E6) are different.
1982 filecard:
COUNTER INTELLIGENCE
Code Name: SCARLETT
File Name: O'Hara, Shana M. SN: RA242967434
Primary Military Specialty:
Intelligence
Secondary Military Specialty:
CLASSIFIED
Birthplace:
Atlanta,
Georgia Grade:
E-5
Scarlett's father and three brothers were
martial arts instructors. She began her training at age 9 and was awarded her first
black belt at age 15. Graduated: Advanced Infantry Training and
Ranger School. Special Ed.:
Covert Ops School;
Marine Sniper School; Special Air Service School; Marine
Tae Kwan Do Symposium; Qualified expert:
M-14;
M-16;
M-1911A1;
M-79;
M-3A1;
M-700 (
Remington Sniper Rifle);
Mac-10;
XK-1 Power
Crossbow;
Throwing Stars;
Garotte;
Ka-Bar.
"Scarlett is confident and resilient…it's remarkable that a person so deadly can still retain a
sense of humor."
Comic book appearances:
G.I. JOE: #1, 1b, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 30, 32, 33, 36, 41, 42, 46, 48, 50, 51, 52, 54, 56, 58, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 88, 89, 90, 91, 93, 94, 95, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 107, 108, 111-dos., 112, 119, 130, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 149, 150, 153, 155
G.I. JOE Special Missions: #11, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 24, 28
G.I. JOE: Order of Battle: #2
G.I. JOE Yearbook: #3, 4
Filecards and information from http://www.yojoe.com