I've been a big supporter of the O-Ring renaissance in recent years. I didn't realize how much I loved this 80's staple until it started trickling back into the action figure world a few years ago. And companies like Super7 are riding this renewed wave of popularity hard and producing all sorts of interesting properties. Micronauts, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Ghostbusters are not licenses I would have expected to work so well in this format, but they certainly do. My favorite line, aside from G.I.Joe, so far is the classic Universal Monsters. As much as I was always fond of the old Universal Monsters Remco and Placo toys, the production style was a bit unpolished for my tastes and they never included the Bride of Frankenstein.. so I never bothered to collect any of the vintage figures. But now finally getting a Bride in a vintage format scratches an itch I didn't even know was there. I think she's glorious. And I'm already anticipating an eventual GITD or a mummy-head variant. Let's check her out below!
UNITING ALL WOMEN OF PLASTIC
Showing posts with label O-Ring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label O-Ring. Show all posts
Friday, July 31, 2026
Super7 O-Ring - BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN!
Thursday, July 9, 2026
Super7 Reaction+ O-Ring - LADY JAYE!
Lady Jaye has always seemed like one of the simpler characters to be made into a cartoon-accurate toy. She has a classic 2-tone green military uniform, a short haircut, and her signature weapon is a classic (looking) javelin. But her first figure inexplicably had a hat, a single-color bright green uniform, and they turned her simple javelin into some sort of gun. It was still a great toy and probably the best of the vintage female figures, but you never realize how off it was until you see this new Super7 ReAction+ version. Before this, the closest thing to a vintage-style cartoon-accurate Lady Jaye was her 5th version from 2006, but that was in the era where all the figures had disproportionately small heads. This new figure is perfection. It makes me excited to see their take on an update Scarlett - who suffered the most from the limitations of the 80's toy design. If this Lady Jaye and the previous Jinx are any indication, she will be great. Let's check out this classic Lady Jaye below!
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Super7 Reaction+ O-Ring - LADY JAYE!
I love the trend of holiday repaints in all the Hasbro toylines. The Christmas and Halloween Star Wars figures have been a fun annual gimmick to hunt down in various stores. The unfortunate thing for me is that they've rarely involved female characters. I was theorizing with some friends this winter that the 250th Anniversary of the United States this year would likely prompt some patriotic repaints. And by Toy Fair time in February, I was proven right. We learned of Hasbro G.I.Joe and Transformers Walmart Exclusives in Red, White, and Blue, and also a Walmart exclusive wave of Super7 Reaction+ G.I.Joe figures. I was thrilled with this announcement because the Super7 set featured a never-before-seen Lady Jaye sculpt. Of course, as of today's announcement we now have seen images of a traditionally-hued Lady Jaye coming in the next Reaction+ wave, which is very exciting because I desperately want an O-Ring hatless cartoon Lady Jaye. Let's check out the 250th Anniversary Lady Jaye below!
Saturday, April 11, 2026
Super7 Reaction+ O-Ring - DAINA!
Super7 has given us yet another unlikely neglected character from the original G.I.Joe cartoon.... Daina. As young superfan of the G.I.Joe cartoon in the 80s, I loved the episodes when the Joes would clash with the soviet heroes, Oktober Guard. They were only in two episodes (about a year apart). The first was an episode about alien abductions called The Invaders and the second was the famous Arise Serpentor Arise. I always lean toward Sci-Fi themes (as opposed to straight-forward military plots) in my G.I.Joe fandom, so these stories were some of my favorites. The Oktober Guard's lone female member, Daina, was a standout. She was reimagined as a blonde mercenary decades later in the comics (which is where all her previous toy decos come from), but this raven-haired, sherpa-lined sharpshooter version from the cartoon was always my favorite. She is just the latest addition to the deep-cut characters in the Super7 Reaction+ line. I can't wait to see who's next. Let's check out Daina below!
Friday, January 23, 2026
Super7 Reaction+ O-Ring - ARCTIC SCARLETT!
In the second episode of G.I.Joe, The M.A.S.S. Device Part II, Slave of the Cobra Master (September 1983). Scarlett, Snake-Eyes, and Snowjob (and others) head deep into the Arctic to seek a red radioactive crystal (one of the three elements needed for the M.A.S.S. Device). The scene is relative brief, but memorable - especially because it is so early in the vast G.I.Joe canon. Super7 seems to love G.I.Joe The Movie and The M.A.S.S. Device. The number of ReAction figures they've made based on these two storylines is pretty amazing. A figure of Scarlett in an arctic parka was not on my bingo card at all, and if pressed I could come up with a handful of never-before-made characters I would have taken in place of her, but now that she's in my collection I'm pretty happy to have her. The exciting is that their character choices are getting so obscure that I have no idea what might be coming next. (I'm always hoping for Oktober Guard and more Cobra-La though!) Let's check out Arctic Scarlett below!
Thursday, January 22, 2026
Super7 Reaction+ O-Ring - MARA!
Sometimes my childhood memories don't hold up to my adult scrutiny. As a kid, my absolute favorite episode of G.I.Joe was "Memories of Mara" (S1E45, Nov 15th, 1985). The story featured Shipwreck rescuing a blue-skinned woman from the ocean. You're led to believe her hue is due to cyanosis, but during CPR attempts, he realizes she has gills on her neck and climbs back into the water with her to continue his revival attempts. Turns out Mara was an escaped Cobra Eel lab test subject. She was supposed to be amphibious, but accidentally turned out completely aquatic and unable to breathe on land. As a kid I found this concept mind-blowing and one of the first mer-people I ever saw represented in my cartoons. As an adult, it's a pretty odd 22-minute story with some major logic holes. But even still the nostalgia is palpable with this new figure. Despite me begging for her on forums for years ("Please! Such an easy re-use of parts!"), I never expected to actually get her. Let's check out Mara below!
Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Super7 Reaction+ O-Ring - PYTHONA!
I think Pythona was the character that first made me realize the desparity between male and female action figures in the 80s. When G.I.Joe the Movie first aired on TV (serialized) in 1987, I tuned in and taped it every day that week. The first episode seemed dedicated to this new intriguing character named Pythona. It wasn't long before I saw toys at the local Hills department store dedicated to the movie. There was a 3-Pack of Cobra-La characters, including Golobulus, Nemesis Enforcer, and a Cobra-La Royal Guard. It seemed like a blatant mistake to exclude her considering she received more screen time than any of the others. So, despite my love for all things Cobra-La, I never got this set. It just seemed like an incomplete roster without Pythona. Like the Fantastic Four without Sue or the Power Rangers without the Pink and Yellow Rangers (both of are common toy exclusions). But who could have guess that 38 years later that Pythona void would be filled so spectacularly. Let's check out this beauty below!
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Super7 Reaction+ O-Ring - COVER GIRL!
How crazy is it that after 40-some years, this original version of Cover Girl is getting so much attention. I frankly never understood why she got the weird redesign after her 1983 debut. I assume it had something to do with Hasbro's avoidance of long hair on their figures. But giving her short auburn hair just made her look like a variation of the Scarlett toy. Considering she would have been the only blonde main character as well made this a very confusing decision. But it seems like this "M.A.S.S. Device" design is finally getting some attention with three figures in a few short years. I bought this Reaction+ O-Ring figure just shy of a year ago. I bought so many versions of her because her eyes were always off-center, and by the time I secured a good one, the "newness" excitement was gone and I never opened her until this week. The new Pythona figure lit a fire under me and made me finally free these ladies from their packaging. They're pretty great. Let's check out Cover Girl below!
Monday, September 29, 2025
Super7 Reaction+ O-Ring - JINX!
G.I.Joe was the first action figure line that captured my attention as a youth.. mostly because it included a decent amount of the female characters from the cartoon. Then when I was in my twenties and made a conscious decision to start collecting action figures, my first goal was to assemble all the female G.I.Joes. It wasn't terribly hard to get them all back then, but I quickly realized many of the characters didn't really resemble their animated counterparts. A major one for this was Jinx. She has several very iconic scenes in G.I.Joe the Movie, but her toy just looked different. Mainly, she never wore the generic ninja mask that her toy sported. She was either completely unmasked or blindfolded (this figure really should have come with a blindfold). So seeing this figure so early in the Reaction+ O-Ring line really brought me joy. It's not quite as exciting as a never-before-seen vintage figure (like the just-released Pythona), but she is still super cool to have. Let's check out Jinx below!
Monday, September 15, 2025
Void Rivals - SOLILA (and DARAK)!
Void Rivals is one of the best comics I've read in recent years. I was a little late to the party and only picked up the Vol 1 TPB this time last year, just as the Vol 2 TPB was being released. I had read the Cobra Commander TPB a few months before and was thoroughly impressed by the art and story. The way they tied in so much great 80's G.I.Joe lore and told an engaging origin story with that modern Image Comics edge just blew my mind. The Transformers crossover was a surprise to me as well. I decided to dive deep into this new Energon Universe created by Robert Kirkman and Skybound for Image comics. This universe merges the Transformers and G.I.Joe properties while also including original titles, like their inaugural release Void Rivals. The story starts out with two lone representatives of warring worlds, Solila the Zerkonian and Darak the Agorrian, crash landing on a rocky planet (or moon, asteroid, or comet? It's desolate and barren and far from home) while each attempting to capture a
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Delta-17 - DEATH SPARROW!
There's something very iconic about a short-haired blonde Eastern European villainess. This Death Sparrow figure from the new O-Ring Delta-17 line reminds me of several memorable 80's characters: Elsa Schneider from Indiana Jones, Sgt. Callahan from Police Academy, and Baroness from G.I.Joe. Death Sparrow is the Commander of the Retrograd mercenary army in employ of the Shadow Dragon and his Dark Shadows. Her name also intrigues me because of my fascination with the mythology around Psychopomps, in which animals or deities act as guides or harbingers of death. And these are often represented as flocks of sparrows. So the name Death Sparrow instantly brings that lore to mind. I hope this line expands because these figures are really well made (dare I say better than the last few official G.I.Joe O-Rings I purchased). I have a feeling SDCC next week will unveil more O-Ring product for us, and I can't wait. Fingers crossed for some ladies. Let's check out Death Sparrow below!
Monday, July 15, 2024
Delta-17 - KESTREL!
I sometimes forget how special O-Ring figures were. This construction style was revolutionary in my childhood with the G.I.Joe line. Compared to the previous 1:12 lines like Star Wars and Mego Superheros, these were lightyears ahead in style and playbility. But looking back, there were actually very few O-Ring toylines produced. But in the past few years there has been a resurgence in the nostalgia for them and several companies have new figures available or in the works. The first modern line to include female characters is this Delta-17: War in the Shadows line from 5by5 Toys. It is a military-themed property with several factions of good vs evil characters. This Kestrel character is my favorite. She reminds me of a female version of Falcon (complete with a bird of prey codename) paired with a color scheme reminiscent of the rare Canary Ann figure. This figure has me excited for the new Super7 Cover Girl O-ring as well as any new reveals at SDCC in a couple weeks. Let's check out Kestrel below!
Monday, February 27, 2012
African American Ladies of BOOTLEG G.I.JOES!
Knock-Off G.I.Joe-Type Figures from Lanard, Olmec, and Berchet
I had originally planned to do a separate review for each of these three figures individually for my series of Black History Month reviews, but time is short and they work so well as a group, so here they all are together. We all know that black female characters are a rarity in boy-centric toy lines. For some reason, even properties that have tons of female characters and tons of black male characters will rarely (if ever) combine the two minorities. I did a review earlier this month on the lone African American G.I.Joe figure, Carla "Doc" Greer, but now I will focus on some cool bootlegs that have been released over the years to give us some sorely needed diversity in our 3&3/4" collections.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Vintage Goodness: MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES!
1988 G.I.Joe knock-offs from Berchet of France
I first discovered Mission Medecins San Frontieres ("Doctors Without Borders") on yojoe.com many years ago in their "Not G.I.Joe" section. The information on that site was basic, but it prompted me to do some research and discover the rest of the line. It was a LONG time before I finally was able to get the two females of the set. I didn't pay much for them, roughly $2.00 each (plus crazy shipping from France), so I don't think they're excessively valuable or anything, but I rarely see them on ebay. If you're into G.I.Joe bootlegs, especially ones with original sculpting details, this is definitely a series you should be hunting down.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
G.I.Joe's CARLA "DOC" GREER!
G.I.Joe 2007 Convention Exclusive from Hasbro
This version of Doc was included in the G.I.Joe 2007 Convention Exclusive Boxset "Tanks For The Memories." Carla is introduced as the niece of Carl Greer, the original Doc. Having never appeared in the TV Series, and only having a few scattered comic book cameos (starting in 2004), she was essentially an unknown and non-canonical character until she received this figure and associated filecard bio - which established her relationship with the original Doc. Being the only African American female action figure released in the G.I.Joe line (among over 26 unique female characters, and more than 75 female action figures - including all variations of those 26 characters), this Doc figure should be a necessity of any G.I.Joe collection, if for nothing else than to provide some realistic diversity.
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