Most of the Jinx love comes from the cartoon. (I can recall one main role for her in the Special Missions comic. But, her comic appearances elsewhere did little to remain with me.) I'm not cartoon guy and still have never seen the 1987 animated movie. So, I'm not sure why her character resonates so much. However, Jinx had the fortune of being the last new female character to be introducted in the vintage Joe line. She was the last female figure in the line until the 1993 Ninja Force Scarlett. This uniqueness helped collectors glom onto her. And, in the trend of female figures being perceived as rare and popular that was pervasive in the 1990's and early 2000's, Jinx found popularity in re-releases and collector created content.
Today, I'm still not a Jinx fan. Her missing out on both my childhood play and early adult foray into collecting leaves her as an odd woman out. I hold the figure in the same regard as I do her 1987 brethren of Raptor, Big Boa and Crystal Ball. Despite her release year, I have no attachment to the figure or the character. She never played an interesting role in my collection and it's doubtful that she ever will. I find her redundant, especially as Scarlett started to move more towards the ninja ranks. I think the look of the character would have better fit as a villain. Jinx could have proven a valuable foil to Scarlett and given her a natural enemy. Tying Jinx to Snake Eyes was really the beginning of every martial artist in the line being traced to Snake Eyes/Stormshadow. Having her a random villain who had no ties would have been more interesting to me. Though, I'm not sure even that would have been enough to get me interested in the figure.
Despite all that, though, the Jinx figure is an excellent example of Hasbro at the top of their game. She is more slightly built and appears feminine while not being overly exaggerated like female action figures made since 2000 tend to be. The hooded head works quite well and is in scale with her body. The red suit may be eye catching. But, it's not too bright to be outside the realm of what a martial artist/ninja might wear when out and about. The slip shoes work well enough and the skin showing on Jinx's feet help bring some color that breaks up her legs from being a sea of red. It is the figure's simplicity that makes her useful as Hasbro didn't try to over-engineer the figure. Her look is clear, clean and easy to quickly understand.
Basically, Jinx is all red with a few splashes of black to break it up. There is some flesh tone on her legs, hands and eyes. But, the figure only features three unique colors. For a vintage figure, this small number of colors is an anomaly. Many figures of her time could feature up to eight different colors on the figure alone. However, the lack of color diversity is made up for by paint mask intricacy. Jinx features a black dragon logo on her left shoulder. It is a very detailed tampo with many fine details. She also features painted fingernails. This was an unnecessary paint application. But, it was also something that helped Jinx stand apart. That little detail gives the figure a richness that belies her tri-colored hues and shows that Hasbro was willing to spend development resources even on figures they, ostensibly, designed to save money.
Jinx included 4 accessories: two swords, a backpack that could carry them and a large, bladed staff. The swords and staff are slight and are very in scale with Jinx. I have found that they look out of place with other figures. But, that may just be bias left over from my childhood where I forever associated most accessories with the figures with whom they were first released. Jinx's swords were recolored with the 1993 Ninja Viper. Most Ninja Vipers you see out there now have Jinx swords included with them instead of the correctly colored versions. All of Jinx's gear was reissued with Vypra and the Tiger Force Jinx. And, her backpack, somehow, became the default "parachute" pack for 2000's era convention releases. (The sword sheaths form natural rings to which strings for the parachute could be tied.) Even the vintage Jinx's gear is pretty easy to find. The weapons are well detailed and look nice and would have been good additions to other 2000's era figures.
Jinx got quite a bit of use. During the vintage era, she was just released in this 1987 color scheme. But, she was available both carded and as a mail away. The mail aways are quite common and many bagged Jinx figures are easily found today. Hasbro then used the body for the Mortal Kombat Sonya Blade figure and then used all of the body except for the lower legs for the Mortal Kombat Movie Edition Sonya Blade figure. The entire mold reappeared in 1998 when it was changed to a new character named Vypra. Jinx returned in the 2003 Tiger Force set (a figure that is now quite desired and expensive) and the body was used for the 2004 Comic Pack Scarlett. The final uses came at the end of 2004 when Hasbro slightly repainted the mold as the Vypra twins in the Ninja Strike set. There are many collectors who would have loved to have seen more Jinx repaints. But, there's a ton of offerings that use most or all of the mold that are available.
Jinx figures are pretty expensive. Mint and complete with filecard figures run $30 or more. You can pick them up for a bit cheaper if you can forego the filecard. But, you will spend a lot to get pretty much any version of the character. I don't think this figure is worth it, personally. But, due to the character's popularity, the prices are completely within the realm of reasonableness. Were it not for the fact that Jinx was a leftover from some lot of 1987 figures I acquired two decades ago, she would not be in my collection. But, I have her and I'm glad for that as it means I don't have to spend two army builders' worth of collecting funds to acquire a figure that I really don't care for.
As a figure, Jinx is pretty eye-catching. Since she's a ninja, she's probably not meant to be taken too seriously, so she works as something bright and fun. For me however, I'm also totally apathetic to the character. I'd go as far as to say I thought she was annoying in the movie.
ReplyDeleteIt's one of the few figures where she worked better as Vypra, a new character they made up as a repaint.
As a kid I liked her more Outback, Gung-ho dress blues, Psyche-Out and Chuckles. She seems a bit boring now. Ninjas became boring decades ago.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand people who never watched the cartoon (or the flip side, never read any of the comics). All vintage GI JOE media should be explored. I'd like to read those young adult novels if I could find them. Okay, I draw the line at GI JOE Extreme, could barely make it through one episode. But that's post ARAH.
theres also that strange convention jinx from the early 90s with the handpainted cobra logo, i had one float through my collection in the 2000s and have seen a handful of them in person, the quality of them is pretty bad.
ReplyDeleteI didn't mention that one since the less press it gets, the better. Anyone could make one at anytime. (DeSimone himself was making them into 2001 or so if you paid him market rate.)
DeleteI saw the movie as a kid and liked it, but it wasn't Jinx's character that drew me to the figure. It was the other way around. Jinx is an excellent, well-sculpted action figure and the best female IMHO in the vintage line.
ReplyDeletei dont know if desimone was from the NY/NJ area or if a bunch ended up in toy dealers hands somehow but many of the notable toy shops in manhattan and north jersey had early convention overstock in numbers. including the jinx and the “race car driver” ace. i passed up on bagged quarrel from the 92 or 93 con more times than i care to admit. there was a guy at the yearly clark NJ railroad memorabilia show that always had some joes in his junk bins that had several of them as late as 04 or 05!
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