2026 Lady Jaye - ReAction+

Lady Jaye occupies and interesting spot in the collecting world.  She's universally loved as a character.  But, pretty much everyone also agrees that her figures are...lacking.  From her action figure debut in 1985 through today, all of Lady Jaye's o-ring figures have had various issues.  Mainly, she's almost always wearing a hat...a far cry from her cartoon debut look from the fall of 1984.  The lone attempt at a hatless figure resulted in a pin head that didn't fulfill collector demand for a proper Lady Jaye.  In early 2026, a factory custom maker teased some Lady Jaye figures.  Mostly, they were a way to bring color to her mold and get out a Canary Ann figure that people could find and afford.  One of the renderings, though, featured a hatless head...exactly the type of figure collectors had long wanted.  Before these factory customs came to be, though, Super7 dropped a surprise release.  Hidden in a 4 figure set that was themed to the USA's 250th anniversary was a single, brand new mold of Lady Jaye.  Being Super7, she featured her cartoon look of a hatless head and included her iconic spears.  After 40 years, collectors had a new look for Lady Jaye.  And, it was a fairly good one.

One thing I tend to really enjoy among Joe figures is an oddly colored repaint of a classic character.  I like having alternate looks for characters as it gives them more diversity.  In the 2000's, we got tons of repaints.  Most were environmentally themed or were part of the Comic Pack series.  We got a lot of decent figures.  But, few were really innovative or took any chances.  That was the main appeal of this Lady Jaye figure.  The red shirt and blue pants are a drastic departure from any Lady Jaye appearance.  She's something new and different.  Had this figure been first released in a classic, green color scheme, I wouldn't have bought it.  I have green Lady Jaye figures.  So, this sculpt wasn't going to be enough to get me to buy one if it just offered the same, general appearance of figures I already have.  But, seeing an interesting, new color palette on the character was enough to get me to acquire one.

The 250th Anniversary theme isn't overdone.  In a decade, this will just be a Lady Jaye in a red shirt with blue pants.  That's why she works.  There's no reason for Lady Jaye to wear a color scheme like that outside of this theme wave.  But, since she doesn't have any stupid logos or is wearing a gigantic "G.I. Joe" down the front of her pant legs, the color scheme isn't limited by its intended theme.  We just got a good figure.  It's an alternate look for Lady Jaye and gives you something to stand next to Flint that isn't the sea of different green hues you get in all the other Flint/Lady Jaye pictures. 

I am too young to remember the bicentennial back in 1976.  What I do remember, though, are the haunted remains of the civic and personal displays that used to adorn small towns, roadside attractions and old barns along the highway.  Into the mid 1980's, you'd see celebrations from the bicentennial painted onto concrete walls, billboards, and structures.  They would be chipped and fading, the actual event having been years and years prior.  Restaurants would have dusty pennants on their walls talking about the "Spirit of '76".  But, as a youngster, these old attractions were enthralling.  They were like looking into a time capsule.  I wondered how something so celebrated would be allowed to rot in the elements...often in forgotten locations bereft of people.  It still seems odd to me that we're so quick to abandon something that was important to us for a moment in time.

My one big memory involving the bicentennial didn't occur until years later, probably in 1981 or 1982.  My grandfather had kind of gotten me interested in collecting coins.  He was a coin collector and had a magnificent collection.  When I'd spend a week at his and my grandmother's house, he'd give me a huge jar of pennies to look through.  He'd hide one really neat thing in it.  (Usually, an Indian Head penny.)  I'd spend an hour or two looking through it: sorting out the wheat pennies and, eventually, finding his hidden treasure.  As such, I liked coins and usually checked my dad's change every night when he came home.

One day, we went to a local nursery.  I seem to think it was near the Indianapolis Art Museum.  While there, I found a "Sensitive Plant" that I thought was really cool.  I bought it with a couple of dollars I had in my pocket.  When I got my change, I noticed a weird quarter.  It had a drummer boy on the back instead of the standard eagle.  And, the date was 1776-1976.  It was a standard bicentennial quarter.  But, I had never seen one, before.  And, just seeing the date 1776 on a coin was mesmerizing.  My dad told me it was just a regular quarter.  But, from that moment, whenever I got one, it was put into my coin collection.  My grandfather had given me giant, metal fire box to store the coins.  It was big and heavy.  In it were those old penny collecting books that were a dark blue and had slots for every year and mint mark for Lincoln pennies.  I'd drop the quarters into the bottom of the box.  At some point, I had so many that I gave up and just started spending the newly acquired ones.  But, my mother kept that metal box and it's still in her garage.  And, there are still a bunch of bicentennial quarters at the bottom of it.  

I have two major gripes with the Super7 figures.  The first is the smoothness of the figures.  The lack of sculpted clothing folds makes the figures seem more like cheap knockoffs than real Joes.  Since the first wave, though, Super7 has been working on this.  It was first noticeable in their Back to the Future line of ReAction+ figures where all the figures started to have some folds and wrinkles that made them look more realistic.  This Lady Jaye is a step forwards, too.  Sculpting changes can take a while to permeate through a line.  But, the figure smoothness is something that's getting better.  Lady Jaye isn't as detailed as her Hasbro figure from 40 years prior.  But, she's a lot closer.

The second area where I struggled with Super7 was the human heads.  Non human heads seemed OK.  But, their human heads all looked weird.  These sculpts, though, have been improving, too.  Compare this Lady Jaye head with the head from Cover Girl from the first wave of figures.  It's night and day.  Cover Girl is the 8-bit version of a human head.  This Lady Jaye is the 16-bit version.  She has some cheekbones.  Her nose and lips are better defined.  And, her eyes aren't hollow, uncanny valley sockets.  While I'm still not sold on the overall headsculpts (I still think they are too far removed from vintage Joes and make this ReAction+ line less compatible.), I do think that the improvement should be recognized, acknowledged and applauded.  One of the hallmarks of the vintage Joe was that the sculpting on figures was always improving.  1994 figures are light years ahead of 1982 figures in terms of details, face sculpts and design elements.  Super7 is following that tradition.  

Lady Jaye includes two accessories: a backpack and a spear.  The backpack looks nice.  It has painted details and fits onto the figure quite well.  The spear is what it is.  There's not much to the look of it.  But, it does fit into Lady Jaye's hands well enough.  It's rigid enough to not fall apart.  But, not so rigid that it will easily snap.  In general, Super7's accessories suck.  While the figures are improving, the accessories need to take a much larger leap forwards.  The gear doesn't seem properly scaled to the figures.  Guns and rifles are especially egregious.  As these are tantamount to any Joe line, I'd like to see some improvements made on the overall gear complements.  

The 250th wave includes 4 figures: this Lady Jaye, Snake Eyes, Duke and Falcon.  As this was both the debut of the Lady Jaye mold and a solid color scheme for her, she was the most popular figure in the set.  The Duke is generally terrible.  He's just weird.  Snake Eyes is barely recognizable as a subset member as the only distinguishing characteristic he has is a red visor.  Falcon is OK.  He's heavily blue...which is a tough color for a Joe to pull off when it's the color most associated with their enemy.  But, the original Falcon figure is pretty much sold out.  So, he seems to be the second most popular part of the set.  More figures in weird paint schemes are always welcome.  But, overall, this wave wasn't all that great, this Lady Jaye aside.  None of the other figures are as visually distinctive and will not retain the long term interest that you'll see in this Lady Jaye.

Super7 figures remain a complex collectible.  The production runs are, likely, pretty low compared to Joe's historical totals.  None of the figures are hard to get upon release.  And, most of the figures don't sell out quickly.  But, some do.  So far, they seem to have a common characteristic as cartoon figures who exist in no other form remain the most popular.  But, others (like Serpentor) have also been quick sell outs.  This Lady Jaye figure was one of the more anticipated figures we've seen from Super7.  At that same time, everyone fully expected this mold to be repainted into a cartoon or comic color scheme within the next year or so.  And, right on the heels of this 250th Lady Jaye, Super7 showed that exact figure repaint as a member of their Summer 2026 wave of figures.  So, once this mold exists in a more popular color scheme, will this red, white and blue figure still retain the cachet?  I'm not sure.  But, I prefer Lady Jaye in colors you can't get anywhere else and this figure fulfills that.

Since the dawn of the ReAction G.I. Joe line, Super7 has been retail partners with Target.  Their figures were sold in Target stores.  Starting in the latter half of 2025, though, some Target stores stopped stocking ReAction+ Joes.  No explanation was given.  And, other stores continued to receive later waves.  The 250th Anniversary wave then showed up as a Wal Mart exclusive.  As of this writing, we don't know if this is a one time deal for the promotion or indicative of a larger partnership.  Wal Mart's pre-ordering system for toys is famously broken.  And, this wave of G.I. Joe figures was no different.  Pre-orders appeared in early May and instantly sold out.  Some people had their figures shipped.  Pre-orders reopened and many people jumped to get their order in.  And, after a few days, they were all cancelled.  About a week after that, the figures were in stock and ready to be shipped.  In the ensuing weeks, the figures would rotate in and out of stock.  But, if you caught them when they were available for sale, your figures were shipped to you.  Shortly after the online orders appeared, some people did report finding the figures in stores.  And, ultimately, Super7 sold stock on their website, too.  So, the figure has good availability.  But, when she's gone, she'll be gone.

I have been harsh on  the Super7 Joe line.  The first year of releases wasn't great.   But, 2026, so far, has been pretty strong.  The figure choices are getting more interesting.  The sculpting is improving and looking more detailed and in line with Joe's long term aesthetic.  The heads are getting closer to vintage style.  I bought one Super7 figure in the first year or so of their line.  So far, in 2026, I've already acquired two more.  And, there are at least two more must haves in their next wave.  I'm never going to be all in on their offerings.  But, as they offer figures that are interesting, fill holes in my collection and are more vintage Joe compatible, I'll be picking up more of them.  I'm still holding out hope for a definitive Dr. Venom.  But, for now,  I'd rather he hold off until they dial in the sculpting even more so that the figure is perfect.  Until then, it appears there are going to be some figures to collect.  And, I'll do so.

The Zeroes - Mark X

This is the tenth year I've done this feature.  This past year was pretty good for the site.  Traffic is actually way up.  Not only did the lowest performing posts get way more views than the lowest from last year.  But, there were actually so few that were low that I had to truncate the list a bit.  Most of the items on it are more recent and haven't had the time age into their views like other pages.  The Top 10 in January of 2027 will be more fun to parse through as a lot of posts have had highs.  And, every week, some ancient post rockets to the top of the weekly rankings due to some unknown discussion that is inaccessible due to it being inside some walled garden.

So, here's the lowest viewed new posts of the past year.  I'm curious to hear your opinions as to why in the comments.

Alado - 335 Views

Not a huge surprise.  Crazylegs isn't a hugely popular figure.  And, his Plastirama release from Argentina isn't all that interesting since it's pretty close to the Hasbro version.

1983 Clutch - 405 Views

This was kind of a surprise.  Clutch is, usually, pretty popular.  And, the photo below is my most liked photo on Instagram that I've posted in 2026.  His profile didn't do well, though.  It might have just been bad timing as it seems people still like Clutch.

2001 Wetdown - 385 Views

No real surprise, here.  Wetdown is a character name no one remembers.  He's, at his core, Torpedo.  But, he lacks all of Torpedo's cachet due to the mundane code name.  The fact that's pretty similar to Torpedo is another blow against him.

2024 Sgt. Slaughter - 399 Views

This one is baffling.  The 2024 Sgt. Slaughter is one of the most popular figures released in the 2020's.  He was somewhat new when I wrote about him.  But, no one bothered to check him out.  Maybe he's a bit overexposed.  But, this figure is what every Pulse era o-ring should have been: a substantial upgrade that was still true to the original.  It's sucks that Hasbro only figured it out at the very end.

Funskool Mainframe - 250 Views

Yeah, this one makes sense, too.  Mainframe isn't all that popular.  And, an obscure foreign variant whose only main difference is a grey radio receiver isn't much to get people excited.  And, he was the worst performer of the year.

So, check these out and get those numbers up!  

Rarities - Unproduced Alternate Head 1983 Zap

One of the great laments among collectors is that the heads from the original 13 Joes were too repetitive and did not match the look of the characters from the comic.  In the Marvel series, each character had some distinctive look that allowed the reader to differentiate the characters when they appeared on the printed page.  But, the actual action figures reused parts and Hawk, Short Fuse, Steeler and Flash used the same head, Breaker, Rock and Roll and Clutch used the same head and Zap, Grunt and Grand Slam also used the same head.  Hasbro did their best to differentiate the characters by using different paint colors on the hair.  But, in the end, the figures had a sameness that simply was inferior to their comic book appearance.

It seems, though, that Hasbro had a plan to rectify this in 1983.  Originally, Hasbro planned to release a few of the swivel arm versions of the original 13 Joes with newly updated heads.  These would be unique to the figures and give the full line of 9 carded Joes all with distinct heads.  The heads got so far into the process of design that full production loose figures and even carded samples exist.  For some reason, though, Hasbro abandoned the idea.  And, the swivel arm figures kept the heads from their straight arm debut.  

Zap was one of the figures who was intended to get a new head.  Instead of the experienced Grunt head, he got a younger look that was given a Zorro mustache to give Zap real panache.  You can see the head in the photos below.

As a modern collector who was introduced to the concept of alternate heads as an adult, I don't find them all that interesting.  I think the alternate head loses something for the character.  But, a big part of that is that I'm conditioned to think of the original 13 as parts-sharing cohesion.  And, my only exposure to the alternate head is online photos.  They look weird to me because I had spent over 30 years "knowing" what a Zap figure looked like.  Once you get past that bias, you can see that the heads have merit.  While this Zap head isn't perfect.  It's an  upgrade over the repainted, grumpy old man head that he shared with Grunt and Grand Slam.  

The reality is, as a kid, the new head would have been enough for me to want the figure again.  I'd have noticed the difference and annoyingly explained to my mom that the figures were different and I needed another Zap.  So, the ploy would have worked.  (And, we had very few swivel arm versions of original 13 characters.)  I'm not sure if it would have scaled to masses of other kids.  But, the sheer volume of Joe toys sold really make you wonder why these heads weren't used.  

Hasbro spent all the money to develop them and get them to full production status.  These aren't hand painted samples.  So, all the expense had been absorbed by the line.  And, some 1983 figures were still in production as late as 1985.  Hasbro could easily have sold them in high enough volume to recoup the costs.  Imagine the "Original Adventure Team" mail away.  I ignored it as it was figures I already had.  But, think about it with a marketing caption of "All new heads!".  I'd have saved up my money and sent away for it.  Just think if the Palitoy, Takara or, even Funskool versions of these figures had featured the alternate heads.  Hasbro had plenty of opportunity to recoup the costs.  Maybe the logistics were just too much to match up the new heads with the pre-existing bodies.  But, it seems that these heads not seeing full production runs was a matter of choice rather than opportunity.

_____Update_____

Some good info on one of the comments that indicates these were planned for a 1984 release.  The card forts (specifically on the swivel arm battle grip logo) indicate the cards were 1984's.  Which, really raises the possibility that, had these been released, it would have been a shorter 1984 run and swivel arm figures would exist with both heads.  That does, though, cement the fact that, had these been released, they'd command a premium over the original head.

Since this figure's original discovery, many more have surfaced.  There are loose and carded versions out there.  Like most rarities, once one of them is finally revealed, many others come out of the woodwork.  It's like people keep  them hidden to prevent anyone from knowing about the item.  But, once it gets out, everyone pulls theirs out of hiding so they can get the street cred of owing the rare piece.  It's dumb.  But, that's how the Joe world has always worked.

Seeing items like this makes me think of how the Joe world would have changed had these been released.  For many of the earliest years, collectors often considered straight arms and swivel arms of the original 13 interchangeable.  Had these heads been used, that would not have been the case.  Would it have made the original heads or the new heads the more desirable piece?  I suspect the new heads would have made many of the swivel arm figures more desirable for kids.  Which would have translated to greater collector interest as they became adults.

Since many of the original 13 swivel arm figures are already expensive, I don't know if having new heads would have driven the prices higher.  It would have, though, lead to thousands of ancient message board posts from someone who had a "rare variant" of a swivel Zap with the straight arm head.  Those would have been insufferable.  But, the heads would have been a net positive for the line.  It's a shame they didn't happen and no one's gotten the full story as to why they were abandoned when they were so close to production.

Rarities - Nilco Snake Eyes

Funskool make G.I. Joe figures for various markets.  The Russian figures were released on Funskool cards but with Russian language on the filecards.  In Egypt, though, Funskool manufactured the figures and sold them under the Nilco brand.

The Nilco figures seem to have been an early Funskool endeavor, likely in the early 1990's.  The figures are all early Funskool releases and were manufactured in India.  They were sold in Egypt.  Though, I've heard reports they were available in South Africa, too.  But, I have never confirmed that.  The variants don't appear to be any different from what you see on Funskool packaging.  Though, there are some parts combos that appear on Nilco figures.  In those cases, though, it's just likely we haven't found the corresponding Funskool production run to match up on the parts.  

Nilco Joes occupied a vaulted place among foreign collectibles in the early days of online collecting.  Slowly, though, they fell out of favor.  Mostly, this was due to the fact that the Funskool versions of the figures were desirable enough that no one really went out of their way to seek out Nilco versions instead of the Funskool.  Through the 2000's, everything Funskool went through a bit of doldrums as the brand was considered low quality and common.  As we went into the 2010's, though, the rarer Funskool items started to get popular and pricey.  Nilco followed suit.  Collectors realized the rarity of the carded figures.  Collecting them was still a niche part of the community.  But, it was, and remains, a high dollar niche reserved for those with ample means to acquire pieces when they appear. 

Rarities - Brazilian Cobra Soldado

Cobra's iconic army building duo of the Trooper and Officer were exported all over the world.  Versions of them were released in Argentina, Mexico and Brazil.  Each of these releases features its own hue of blue to differentiate it from the those of the other nations.  It is the Brazilian version of the Cobra Trooper, though, that is the most famous of these releases.  While the other blues all tend to be dark takes on the color meant to evoke the look of the Hasbro originals, the Brazilian Soldado used a much lighter blue color.  This makes it visually distinctive and one of the more sought after versions of the Cobra Trooper that was released outside of Hasbro.

A figure that is either the same or is very similar to the Soldado was also sold as a pack in with the Brazilian Viper Glider.  This Cobra Piloto is also in the Brazilian blue.  It's tough to tell, but it might have some slight coloring differences.  Since so many Soldados were found loose, it's tough to really differentiate the figures.  But, be aware of the Piloto's existence, too.

The Soldado can be found with some different weapons.  The most common is the Rock and Roll M-60 with bi-pod.  This is how the figure is advertised in the Estrela retailer catalogs.  You can also find them with Grunt M-16's.  There are reports of him also being available with the standard Cobra Trooper Dragunov.  But, I've never seen a carded version that confirms this, though.

Sadly, the Soldado only exists in straight arm versions.  The swivel arm versions of the Trooper and Officer didn't make it to South or Central America.  That limits the usefulness of the Soldado.  Straight arm figures aren't really worth getting.  So, only have colorways in that construction can be frustrating.  Fortunately, factory custom makers have taken on the Soldado coloring and produced several versions of the swivel arm Cobra Trooper in Brazilian colored homages.  

The Soldado isn't as bright as the factory custom takes on the figure are.  So, if you're only familiarity with the Soldado is through the factory custom realm, you might be surprised at the actual hue of the figure.  You'll note the Estrela stamp on the figure's back, too.  

Soldados are surprisingly common.  Despite the high prices that many sellers try to get, the figures are always available and have been since the earliest days on Brazilian sellers.  There are collectors out there with decent Soldado armies just due to their availability.  The figure is neat and desirable.  But, it's not rare.