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.

Funskool Lady Jaye - Around The Web

There are many different Funskool Lady Jaye figures.  Some are more interesting than others.  My version  of the figure isn't too far off from the Hasbro release.  Her colors are a bit brighter.  And, most noticeably, her face paint application is poor.  So, it's not much of a difference from the 1985 Lady Jaye.  But, I've always liked Funskool figures and appreciate foreign releases with slight nuanced differences from the Hasbro figure.

There's not a ton of content on this figure out there since she's not all that common.  Heck, the photos you see below were taken 8 years apart.  I don't even use her that often.  The figure is definitely one you don't see often enough.  So, take a look at what little I could find.  

Funskool Lady Jaye Profile

Funskool Lady Jaye by kushviper

Funskool Lady Jaye by v1per_p1ilot

Funskool Lady Jaye by toysjoy357

Funskool Lady Jaye by aicrtm

Funskool Lady Jaye by ogtoys

Funskool Lady Jaye by v1per_p1lot

1997 Lady Jaye - Random Photos of the Day

The 1997 Lady Jaye is a weird combo.  She features a great paint job that is a drastic departure from prior Lady Jaye figures.  But, she also features poor quality and weird plastic.  So, as an overall release, she's kind of relegated to second tier status.  Even during her release window, collectors didn't really warm to her since the quality was poor.  So, this has become the lost version of Lady Jaye.  It's not a figure you see very often.  And, the best I can tell, she has never had even an homage to this color in subsequent variations of the Joe line.  

If you have one, she can be a fun figure since she brings such a different appearance to Lady Jaye.  But, her skin looks like she's made of soap (thanks A-Man!).  And, her face paint looks like it was applied by Plastirama.  So, the figure looks more like a bootleg than a real release.  So, that leaves an obscure and unloved figure.

After ignoring her for many years, though, I now use this Lady Jaye more than I would have thought.  The 1985 version has never really appealed to me.  The Funskool version is fun to see.  But, she also has quality concerns.  And, that's the extent of my Lady Jaye collection.  So, it really leaves this 1997 figure as my default.  But, she looks good with a variety of Flint figures.  And, she does bring something unexpected to the Lady Jaye character.

1985 Lady Jaye - Around The Web

There's not much to say about the 1985 Lady Jaye.  She's an iconic character whose figure simply didn't match up with her appearance in the cartoon.  Despite that, she's a fan favorite and there's just tons of content out there featuring the figure.  Her brighter colors make for a good match with many other releases from 1984 through 1987.  Because of that, you see her in photos with a variety of different figures.  Though, even today, her most popular appearance is with Flint.  

There's a long list of content here and there's good stuff all the way through.  So, please scroll through them all and enjoy!

1985 Lady Jaye Profile

1985 Lady Jaye by atticagazette

1985 Lady Jaye by steelbrigade

1985 Lady Jaye by docsewage

1985 Lady Jaye by gijoe_pty

1985 Lady Jaye by matemylar

1985 Lady Jaye by 334inch_figures

1985 Lady Jaye by viper_space

1985 Lady Jaye by murphs_action_figures

1985 Lady Jaye by actionfigurefotos

1985 Lady Jaye by evilface

1985 Lady Jaye by gijoe_pty

1985 Lady Jaye by total_geekdom

1985 Lady Jaye by viperspace

1985 Lady Jaye by ronnie_trickshot

1985 Lady Jaye by krakencapers

1985 Lady Jaye by gi_joeisthere

1985 Lady Jaye by gijoe_pty

1985 Lady Jaye by atticagazette

1985 Lady Jaye by dreadnokdread

1985 Lady Jaye by silentinterlude

1985 Lady Jaye

In the beginning of 1985, I was in competition with a couple of my friends to find the newly released Joes.  At various points, one of us pulled ahead of the other.  But, usually, we all found the same figures around the same time.  And, realizing that the end game was that we all had the same stuff, the quest turned more to finding a figure first.  My most famous find was when I came across a recently opened case of figures at the local Toys R Us store on the Friday afternoon that Spring Break began in 1985.  From it, I plucked a Snake Eyes.  None of my friends would find him for months.  But, luck struck again a few weeks later when I came across a Lady Jaye at the local Target store.

We all knew Lady Jaye from the 1984 cartoon series.  Her figure, along with Flint and Shipwreck, was one of the most anticipated 1985 releases.  She made a cameo in the final comic (#33) of 1984 and then took a starring role in the first issue released in 1985.  Upon finding her figure, though, I was somewhat shocked at her appearance.  Gone was her signature javelin quiver.  The rifle was still there.  But, it seemed empty.  More glaring, though, was that the figure was wearing a hat.  She had never had a headcover in the cartoon.  So, the look was jarringly different from the character we had come to know.

This wasn't all that relevant for me, though.  You see, the Sunday before we found Lady Jaye, I came across a Dusty figure at the local KB store.  I begged my parents for him and even promised to not ask for any more figures for a while.  They bought him for me.  So, when I found Lady Jaye and the Snow Serpent (the last figure for whom we learned the code name in 1985) at that Target, my younger brothers each got a figure and I did not.  As Lady Jaye belonged to one of them, she didn't quickly join the various adventures I played out in my room each day after school and right before bed.  Losing this crucial time when the figure was new somewhat limited Lady Jaye for me.

The other thing that soured me on the figure was that I had two friends who simply loved her.  Annoying loved her.  Not only would she be their first choice for a mission, but they would endow her with super powers and make her an unbeatable superwoman.  Playing with others who took this tact got tiresome and left me uninterested in Lady Jaye.  My frustrations with them were transferred to Lady Jaye and she never managed to take off as a viable character in my Joe world.  Even now, she's not really a figure I tend to display with my other 1985 figures as I see her as somewhat out of place with my childhood favorites.

As a figure, Lady Jaye works well enough.  She is a somewhat bright green.  One of the great things about the vintage Joe line was that the designers had an eye for how the figures would appear when randomly stocked on store pegs.  They made sure to choose complementary colors and not create too many figures that looked like one another and would be indistinguishable from one another.  This allowed kids to quickly recognize the figure they were seeking.  So, Lady Jaye uses green.  But, it's a different green from Flint, Footloose or Alpine.  This keeps her "military-esque" and makes her more visually distinctive than releases from when Hasbro foolishly abandoned this practice in the 2000's.

Lady Jaye's gear isn't all that interesting.  But, it is definitely essential to the figure.  The harpoon gun is Lady Jaye's and Lady Jaye's alone.  It looks perfect with the figure and doesn't really work with any other figure.  Her backpack is scaled to Lady Jaye's sculpt and, again, works well with her while also not really working with any other figures.  Her final piece of gear is a video camera.  It's comically dated now.  But, in 1985, something so small was novel.  And, as a kid, I found more uses for the camera than I did even Lady Jaye herself.  It found itself a vital piece of equipment for spying on Cobra, taking video of the Dreadnok nefarious deeds or even catching a Joe double agent at work.  The camera found its way into the hands of many figures while the rest of Lady Jaye's gear really only works for her.

Lady Jaye had little first life, a somewhat chaotic second life and then a collector based final life before the mold was retired and replaced by a completely new one.  Hasbro released just one Lady Jaye in 1985.  From there, the mold went to Funskool.  She was released in India for many years in the mid 1990's and has several minor variants of body shading and accessory colors.  Funskool also used her for the Canary Ann figure in the Complan Commandos line.  Hasbro got the mold back for the 1997 anniversary figures and released her in an excellent black and grey paint job.  The body was used again in 1998 with a less than stellar head as the new character Volga.  Despite collector demand for Lady Jaye, Hasbro didn't use the mold again until 2003 when she appeared as a Convention release.  This was the final usage of the original mold.  In 2005, Hasbro created an all new body mold that was used on Daina.  It was used again on the 2006 Comic Pack Lady Jaye and the 2007 Convention Doc.  For a character as popular as she was, Lady Jaye really didn't get many releases.  Scarlett and Baroness dominated the slots for female characters in the 2000's and Lady Jaye was really neglected.

There was a time when collectors believed that because Lady Jaye was a female figure that she existed in drastically lower numbers than other figures.  Time has proven that if that was true, it has had no impact on the figure's availability today.  There are always tons of mint, complete and with filecard Lady Jaye figures available.  They sell anywhere from $15 to $30, with the bulk of them in the $25 range.  That's a lot.  But, there aren't a lot of other options for the Lady Jaye character.  And, the original version is easily her most iconic look.  I'm not a huge fan of this figure.  But, I'm also not as against it as I was in earlier days.  Lady Jaye has her place in the collecting pantheon.  But each collector finds her useful or not.  I'm glad I have one from my early collecting days.  But, I'd also not miss her were she absent.

1997 Lady Jaye - Around the Web

The 1997 Lady Jaye figure is an example of a repaint done right.  Hasbro took a popular mold of the era and recolored it in a collector friendly way.  The result is a different take on the Lady Jaye character.  The problem, though, is that the 1997 figure quality doesn't really mesh well with the Lady Jaye mold.  So, many of the figures have issues that limit an otherwise solid repaint.  There's not a lot about her out there due to the late release date.  But, here's the best of her from around the web.

1997 Lady Jaye Profile

Lady Jaye Pre Production at YoJoe.com

1997 Lady Jaye Dio 1

1997 Lady Jaye Custom at OreoBuilder's Blog

1997 Lady Jaye Dio 2

Rarities - Funskool Complan Commandos

Collectors have long known that some Funskool figures were among the rarest figures in the line.  It was not uncommon for "new" figures to be discovered well into the early 2000's.  But, after around 2004, that seemed to end.  Sure, there were lots of new variants being found.  But, completely unknown figures seemed a thing of the past.  Still, a few collectors had found some odd parts in lots they had acquired from India.  Most were written off as discolored figures or maybe some color variant of a released figure.  But, around 2009 or so, that changed with the discovery of the Complan Commandos.

The Complan Commandos were a series of five figures released by Funskool as a promotion for a kids drink.  The set consisted of Striker, Rocker, Cross Country, Rednok and Canary Ann.  Each of the figures was made from repainted G.I. Joe parts from early waves of Funskool Joes, with the male figures all being amalgamations of multiple molds.

The figures were packaged under the Complan Commandos banner.  They were done on the cheap and feature almost no paint masks and extremely minimal accessories.  Supposedly, they were a premium related to a chocolate drink available in India.  Though, I'm not sure if they were available in stores, or just as some kind of promotional item.

High quality Complan Commandos are very rare.  With that rarity comes expense.  Mint and complete versions of some figures will top $3,000 and even more.  Even really beat up samples will fetch over $100.  But, some of the early rarity was due to collectors asking for G.I. Joe only and these figures being ignored.  As collectors learned what questions to ask, more Complan Commandos appeared.  Not enough to make them common.  But, enough to make them available to more than two or three collectors.  

The first and probably most interesting figure in the lineup is Canary Ann.  She is a straight repaint of the Funskool Lady Jaye.  As the name suggests, though, the mold is repainted in a canary yellow.  Topped with a red cap, this is the most drastic look deviation of any use of the Lady Jaye mold.  The lack of paint masks are a tough miss to overcome, though.  It appears she's wearing a yellow undershirt.  It's not completely out of whack.  But, it's odd.  Her all black waist, though, is too much.  It kind of ruins the figure.

Canary Ann included a black version of Lady Jaye's gun.  You can see her filecard below, too.  The filecard is actually rather interestingly written.  It's far and away better than the Funskool exclusive filecards we say in the Joe line in the early 2000's, even though it incorporates much of Lady Jaye's filecard info.

Next up is Cross Country.  He is an amalgamation of Scrap Iron with Zap's head.  The all red body with black highlights is rather Cobra.  He likely included a version of Firefly's gun.  You will see his filecard below.  It is heavily derivative from Beach Head's filecard.

Rocker is next.  He is a blue Firefly body with a Short Fuze head.  The blue plastic is EXTREMELY prone to discoloration and most of the few Rocker's out there are heavily discolored.  The figure included a version of Torpedo's harpoon gun.

Rednok is the second female in the 5 figure set.  She is a red repaint of the Baroness.  Prior to 2002, this would have been an extremely in demand figure.  However, we have seen many red Baroness repaints in the 15 years since then.  And, as such, this version with no painted highlights just looks cheap.  But, as it's a Baroness repaint, Rednok will always maintain collector demand.  She likely included a version of Major Bludd's pistol.  Her filecard steals from both Jinx and Low Light.  This is odd as neither of those characters ever appeared in India.  So, you wonder where Funskool got the information.  The fact that her glasses are fake are also a different character trait.

The final figure is Striker.  He is a green repaint of Gung Ho with a black haired Short Fuze head.  The figure looks a bit odd without the Marine Corps tattoo on his chest.  But, it's a different look for the mold.  (There is also an olive drab version of Gung Ho that was available as a Funskool vehicle driver that may have been a recolor using the paint masks from this figure.)  Striker included Gung Ho's grenade launcher.  His filecard steals from Big Boa.  I love that Bowling Ball was changed to Cricket Ball for the Indian audience.  The connotation changes quite a bit with this little detail.

These figures exude cheapness and would be hated were they not among the rarest figures ever released anywhere in the world.  Even then, they aren't appreciated for their quality but their rarity and value.  The card artwork and filecards are, for me, the most interesting part since they take so much from around the Joe world.  But, for the hundreds to thousands of dollars these guys cost, those traits aren't enough to get me really interested in the figures.  Sometimes rarity trumps something cool.  Other times, though, it masks something that's kind of lame.  And, in the case of these figures, were they common, no one would touch them.  But, since they are extremely rare, collectors care and give them due they would not earn on their own design merits.

Rarities - Unproduced 2003 Convention Figures

We have learned that the Joe figures from the 2000's often went through several stages of almost production before the final color samples received sign off and went into full production for retail release.  Many of those samples have given collectors some amazing variants to track down.  The convention figure release of that time, though, underwent similar processes.  The overstock, though, was usually harder to find (a by-product of the low production runs) and not often drastically different from the actual figures released.  Below, though, you'll see some of the 2003 Convention figures in their pre-production state.

The Lady Jaye and Falcon figure are drastically different from the release figures.  The most interesting part of this figure is that Lady Jaye very nearly matches the hand painted mocks ups that were proposed for the 1997 Lady Jaye figure.  (She's also close to the Volga figure.)  The Major Storm figures are pretty close to the production colors: as is the Black Dragon Trooper figure.  You'll note the green helmets and black weapons for Major Storm.  The production figure included golden accessories very similar to his vintage versions.  It appears that the original intent may have been to differentiate his modern updates from the 1990 versions.

The most interesting part of this photo is the golden Crankcase rifle.  This weapon was never released by Hasbro in the 2000's and it's appearance raises questions.  The obvious answer, though is that Major Storm uses the waist and legs from Crankcase.  Also, in 2004, Hasbro released a product description for an AWE Striker with Crank.  Crank ended up being a re-release of the 2002 Dial Tone figure.  The product description showed that Crankcase was, at least, considered for release.  But, this gun is just more evidence that Hasbro had access to parts of the 1985 Crankcase mold.  The fact that it never appeared is just another example of how Hasbro wasted slots on poor figures and cost collectors something more interesting.  Why Master Collector chose to not use this weapon is a mystery.

Funskool Lady Jaye

Back in 1984, I read the TV listings from the Sunday newspaper each week. I don't really know why I did this. It's really an antiquated notion: both in terms of looking for TV listings in general and using a newspaper to find them. But, in the fall of 1983, I had happened to notice a cartoon named G.I. Joe was being played on our local, independent TV station. That bit of pure luck lead to a habit...hoping lightning would strike again. Sure enough, in the fall of 1984, a second G.I. Joe mini-series was aired. I don't remember much about the cartoon in general. But, the series introduced Joe fans to three new characters who played major roles but did not, yet, have figures in production: Flint, Shipwreck and Lady Jaye. Just a few months after the cartoon aired, Lady Jaye appeared in G.I. Joe #33, ostensibly as Scarlett's bitchy replacement. Seeing this character in both formats ensured to all my friends and I that Lady Jaye would be part of the 1985 figure stable. Sure enough, just weeks after G.I. Joe #33 showed up, the kids down the street found the Dreadnoks at Sears and the back of the package confirmed Lady Jaye would be a 1985 release.

As 1985 began, Joe figures showed up in all the various toy and department stores. A friend of mine and I had a competition to see who could find all the figures at retail first. As the cardbacks of the time only named the figure's specialty and not their code name, we were eager to figure out the names of each character. Slowly, we completed the entire set except for three figures. One spring afternoon, I went to Target to find a new stock of Joe figures. Among them were the three figures no one had yet found: Lady Jaye, the Snow Serpent and the Tele-Viper. Unfortunately, just days before, I had begged my parents to buy me Dusty at a local KB toy store. So, they did not let me get a figure and I had no money of my own. So, my younger brothers got a Lady Jaye and Snow Serpent.

However, this Lady Jaye figure didn't look anything like the character in the cartoon or comic. Sure, she had a javelin gun. But, her trademark quiver was missing: replaced with a generic backpack. More noticeable, though, was that the figure featured an awkward baseball cap on Lady Jaye's head. Both her images in the cartoon and comic were sans headgear. The hat simply made no sense. A character that I had looked forward to was now a figure that wasn't great. Her head was large and her feet were bowlegged. Beyond that, she was missing the accessories that had defined her character. As such, I found it hard to use Lady Jaye in her intended purpose.

As such, my vintage Lady Jaye figure got almost no use. It simply wasn't the character the Joe media of the time had made out the character to be. So, the Lady Jaye figure remained basically unused for years and years. Now, as part of the class of 1985, Lady Jaye has some definite display value. Her odd green coloring does work well in some vehicles and she is a staple of my G.I. Joe Headquarters. This Funskool version just gives me another way to incorporate the character into displays. Most of the 1985 figures had some sort of international release. So, having the Funskool version of Lady Jaye helps flesh out my alternate display of early figures that includes Risco, Muralha, Alado and many other Plastirama, Estrela and Funskool takes on classic molds from the line's earliest years.

As a mold, Lady Jaye isn't great. Sure, the body mold is nicely detailed and works just fine. But, the unusually large head, combined with the odd choice of a baseball cap renders the figure rather moot. On top of that, Lady Jaye's feet are somewhat crooked. The toes point more toward each other than they should. If that's not enough, the figure's torso fits somewhat awkwardly into the waist piece. (This is especially pronounced on the 1997 Lady Jaye figure.) For a figure mold from 1985, Lady Jaye was not Hasbro's best effort. Despite those limitations, though, the solid details and colors on the rest of the figure make up for the head's shortcomings. This has kept Lady Jaye a collector favorite despite the problems with the mold.

Lady Jaye's accessories are decent. The javelin gun was a defining character trait. So, seeing it in the figure form was a welcome source of familiarity. Her backpack is not spectacular. It has nice details and is sized for the mold. Not having the trademark javelin quiver is a notch against her overall complement, though. Lady Jaye also includes another accessory: a video camera. There's no real reason for her to have this video equipment. But, it was a neat little side addition to the figure. I used the camera more than I used the figure as it was always helpful to have videotaped evidence of Cobra's nefarious plots. The best part of the camera, though, is how comically dated it now is. In 1985, a small, hand held camera like that was something most people didn't own. Today, I have a camera on my phone that is higher quality and can store longer video than that taped based model. One of the enduring aspects of the Joe line is that it was somewhat forward thinking. While there are some designs that are simply cringe-worthy when viewed through the modern eye, there are many, many more that have held up much better. Lady Jaye as a figure still has some relevance. Her video camera, though, is definitely a relic of her release era.

For many collectors, their opinion of the quality of Funskool figures is shaped by their experiences buying the bulk imports that were produced between 2001 and 2003. During this time, Funskool's quality was spotty at best. It was not uncommon to find sloppy paint applications, frozen joints or figures that fell apart the first time they were moved. In April of 2003, Hasbro tasked Funskool to get their quality act together and the figures produced after that time were much better. However, older Funskool figures were also of great quality. It seems that Funskool's commitment to a great product diminished right as American collectors had the chance to experience their figure offerings. Figures like this Lady Jaye who were produced in the 1990's, are nearly Hasbro level quality. You can see the odd coloring on the figure's face paint. But, the rest of the paint masks are indiscernible from a Hasbro figure. The make up of the plastic is very similar to that used on vintage Hasbro figures and only a slight sense of weakness in the arms really allows a collector to know this isn't a Hasbro release.

The Lady Jaye mold didn't have a great life. This mold was used in the US in 1985. From there, Lady Jaye went off to India. There, Funskool released her for a few years. (Likely between 1993 and 1997.) In that time, there were slight color variants and javelin gun color variants. Funskool also used the Lady Jaye mold for a figure named Canary Ann. This figure was a yellow Lady Jaye with minimal paint applications and a red hat. The figure was sold in a Funskool produced knock off line and is incredibly rare. In 1997, Funskool returned the Lady Jaye mold to Hasbro. (At this point, Hasbro erased the Funskool stamp on the mold and replaced it with a more modern Hasbro used it in 1997 and then again in 1998, only with a new head for the character Volga. Master Collector dusted the mold off in 2003 for the Tiger Force inspired Convention Lady Jaye figure. That is the last time the mold was used. In 2005, though, Hasbro resculpted the Lady Jaye mold. This body is slightly smaller than the original Lady Jaye and was used for Daina in 2005, Lady Jaye in 2006 and the female convention Doc in 2007. As a character, Lady Jaye could stand a few more repaints. However, since the body mold was used for other characters and Lady Jaye has some limitations with the head, collectors probably didn't miss much by having the mold used so few times.

It is likely that Funskool stopped production on Lady Jaye figures in 1997 when they sent the mold back to Hasbro. As such, Lady Jaye was long out of production when collectors began heavily importing Funskool figures in the early 2000's. While not nearly as rare as many of the earliest Funskool figures, Lady Jaye is still not an overly easy find. Carded versions can be rather expensive. But, if you can find loose, mint and complete versions, they will top out around $50. That's pricey for a Joe figure, but is in line with other Funskool figures of similar rarity. For the price, this figure doesn't offer much that isn't available from the American Lady Jaye figure. Sure, the coloring is a bit brighter. But, it's not as stark a difference as you see on many international figures. That allows the modern collector to really pass this release by since it doesn't offer anything remarkably different than the American figure and is much harder to find. As someone who appreciates the subtle differences between international Joe releases, the figure has merit. But, it's probably not enough merit to justify the price it takes to track the figure down.

1997 Lady Jaye

In the early days of Joe collecting, female figures were held in high regard.  There was a misconception in the collecting world that female figures were produced in smaller numbers than other figures.  So, collectors were willing to pay a lot more for figures like Lady Jaye than they were for many of her contemporaries.  As such, when Hasbro looked to bring back Joe for the 15th Anniversary in 1997, they included the Baroness, Scarlett and Lady Jaye molds in their offerings: hoping that they would appeal to collectors.  The tactic was likely no more or less successful than had they included other, high quality figures.  (All of the packs were pretty much pegwarmers.)But, it did offer collectors different takes on all of these iconic characters.

This figure's coloring is pretty good. The black motif with the splotches of grey and white create the aura of a Night Force Lady Jaye figure. Hasbro really experimented with the paint application blending in 1997. They seemed to learn from it as the 1998's and later featured even better blends than the guinea pigs. (Note the Vypra from 1998 uses about the same colors as Lady Jaye, but the blends are more subtle and create a more aesthetically pleasing figure.) Overall, this is probably my favorite Lady Jaye color scheme. But, it is not my favorite Lady Jaye figure.

There's something off with the construction of this figure.  The torso no longer fits perfectly to the waist piece.  The result is that the figures often appear lopsided due to the tilt from the imperfect fit.  This is likely a combination of the mold being returned from Funskool along with the fact that the 1997 materials were of very poor quality. However, it does impact the ability to display the figure and definitely lowers the value of the figure in relation to the color scheme. The poor plastic of the 1997 figures is also an issue. The figure feels weak. It seems like the joints could easily snap and the figure broken with just the slightest movement. The plastic also did not take paint very well and many Lady Jaye figure faces look more like a Funskool paint job than a full fledged Hasbro application.

As a character, though, Lady Jaye is someone whom most collectors consider to be extremely important. As such, it is nice to have an alternative look for her, especially when her original green is rather bright. The black motif lends itself to Night Force comparisons and blends well with many of the darker colored figures from the line's history. This version also complements Flint very well and gives the pair more of a matched look. It's a shame that such a quality color scheme was used on a figure of such poor material quality. Were this not the case, it's likely that this figure would be more popular.

The 1997 Lady Jaye included black versions of her original accessories. The javelin gun, pack and video camera were all part of her weapons complement. One thing the 1997 series got right was the inclusion of most of the original figure's accessories. Through 1992, really, accessories were a key component of any figure's characterization. Having Zap without his bazooka wasn't worth having at all. So, seeing the original gear with the classic figure molds was something that helped these figures age better than most collectors who were around when the figures were released in 1997 would have guessed. Hasbro moved away from the unique accessories as the 2000's wore on. And, many otherwise excellent figures suffered for it as their generic gear made them too mundane to stand on the merits of their mold alone.

The Lady Jaye mold enjoyed a solid life. After her American release, the mold was sent to India. There, Funskool released a Lady Jaye figure for a few years. (They also used the mold for the Canary Ann figure in a knock off line, too.) Hasbro got the mold back in 1997 and used the body again in 1998 for the Volga figure. In 2003, the mold made its final appearance in the convention set. After that, Hasbro resculpted the Lady Jaye mold and all Lady Jaye and her derivatives since then have used that newly sculpted, smaller mold rather than this original version.

For a time in the early 2000's, this version of Lady Jaye was difficult to find and substantially more expensive than her original version.  Slowly, though, interest in the figure waned.  First, Hasbro produced more Lady Jaye figures.  But, collectors also realized the 1997 series was likely not as rare as they had anticipated.  So, prices on this figure have dropped steadily since then.  Since the set includes a nice Stormshadow with his original accessories and a decent Snake Eyes in the pack, too, that's probably the better way to go if you want the figure. For my money, this is an interesting take on Lady Jaye. But, the figure's construction problems really offset the solid colors. As a display piece, this figure is decent. But, beyond that, I find its use limited.

2006 Lady Jaye - Comic Pack

I have not purchased any newly released Joe toys in over a year. In that time, I have found Hasbro's offerings to be rather uninspired. They simply offered nothing new to my collection. Those that showed some thought in design were often relegated down the desirability scale by the fact that the actual figure construction wasn't all that interesting. There just hasn't been anything released that's been the type of thing that I had to add to my collection. Finally, a few weeks ago, I broke down and purchased the Lady Jaye comic pack. I really did this for the Gas Mask Troopers as they are similar to the Comic Pack Cobra Officer figure which I really liked and they include Red Star rifles. Once I opened the set, though, I found I was pleasantly surprised by the Lady Jaye figure and have thusly decided to make her the 300th figure I've profiled.

While I'm not a Lady Jaye fan, I found myself pleasantly surprised by this figure. The colors are a nice departure from other incarnations of Lady Jaye, the smaller body sculpt and new head make her appear more feminine and she actually fits in with figures from earlier in the line. As such, I think this is a good figure. But, that's all. The reality is that had this pack with Lady Jaye and 2 Gas Mask Troopers been released prior to 2001, it would be one of the highlights of the entire repaint ARAH style line. Instead, at this late release, it mostly more of the same and the entire pack just seems...tired. There is nothing really fresh, new or exciting about it since we've seen so many classic characters redone and redone in so many styles. While Lady Jaye doesn't have the overkill of a character like Duke or Cobra Commander, she has seen 4 unique releases in the past decade (plus her body was used for Daina) and none of them really offered a package that was so totally different from the previous releases that it stands on its own. This figure is no exception. It's nice to have a Lady Jaye without her hat. But, it isn't the type of earth shattering, risk taking figure that makes collectors take notice.

In retrospect, that really can be said about much of the line we've seen since 2000. This Lady Jaye figure represents the first Joes I've bought at retail in over a year. A full year. I haven't gone that long without buying Joes at retail since 1989-1992. That includes time like '95 to late '97 when Hasbro wasn't producing Joes. I was still finding old stock at retail. Same in '99 and early '00 when there weren't any new figures coming out. I always had toys to buy. This past year has been different, though. Even though there were a few new comic packs for me to seek out, I didn't. None of the offerings held any cachet for me. I looked at them and just felt a strong disinterest in the hobby. Really, Hasbro's treatment of Joe in the past year has left me burned out. I found little in the hobby to enjoy. The constant nonsense of the "deth of the line!!!" really got tiresome and killed off a lot of my interest. Judging by the activity you see in the Joe community, I was not alone. I would wager that Hasbro ran off a lot of casual fans in the past year with their handling of the Joe line. Truthfully, I'm not sure we'll ever see a resurgence in popularity for the 3 3/4 figures like we had from 2001-2003. But, when I look back at the figures we got in that time, I'm not so sure that's a bad thing.

Lady Jaye has never had much of a role in my collection. Even as a kid, I ignored the figure. (Which was nice in the early days of collecting as Lady Jaye figures tended to run upwards of $20 and I had a perfect one from childhood.) I just never really had much use for the character. Now, little has changed. Lady Jaye just isn't a player in my Joe world and I don't see that changing. As this figure is nicely done, though, I can see it appearing in the background of various scenes. The unique helmet was a nice touch from Hasbro and makes this figure useful on the Silver Mirage. But, that's about as far as she'll ever be used. When the time comes to actually display my figures, I could see this version hiding among my other '85's instead of the original.   This Lady Jaye's accessories are decent for what they are. The new helmet is cool, but doesn't really fit on the figure's head and looks a bit awkward. It is definitely an accessory that you need to have the figure holding rather than wearing. The small pistol that is included with the figure is comic accurate, but so overused that it's pretty inconsequential. The upside is that Lady Jaye accessories have become much easier to get these days so it's not outside the realm of possibility that you could easily buy some vintage or '98 Volga accessories for cheap and outfit the figure with those. One note of caution, though. As this Lady Jaye has the new, smaller body mold, original versions of Lady Jaye's backpack will not fit into her back. So, you'll have to find a smaller pack should you want to fully accessorize your Lady Jaye figure.

Let's face facts: the Joe line is dead. There is no product planned for release aside from the promise of a 25th Anniversary line that is more than a year away from planned release. (And, that line will likely be a completely new, 3rd type of construction that will not be compatible with either of the existing incarnations of 3 3/4" Joes.) There is nothing else on the horizon. These final comic packs, Wave 4 of the single packed figures and the final 2 six packs are the end of the retail run that we have enjoyed since 2000. Sadly, these final offerings should have been the first. Had they appeared earlier in Joe's rebirth, I think they would be held in high esteem by collectors. Now, though, they seem tired and unimaginative and I suspect that these final pieces of the retail run will be largely forgotten by collectordom as we move further and further from their release. They simply lack the power to sustain their popularity over time.

Had this three pack been released in 1997 or 1998, it would be held as one of the greatest packs Hasbro ever produced. At that time, the notion of a hatless Lady Jaye and 2 new troop builders who were based on classic designs would have been a great seller and a pack that would have seen great secondary market activity. By 2006, though, that is not the case. At this point, we've seen the Lady Jaye mold used twice for Lady Jaye and again for Daina. This is the fourth use in under 2 1/2 years for the Cobra Officer mold. That overuse leads to apathy and collectors aren't fawning over these releases like they would have only a few short years ago. That doesn't detract from the what the figures, by themselves, actually are. They are useful parts of a collection. But they are not the integral parts that we should have seen from Hasbro at this stage in the evolution of the repaint line.

This mold is very interesting. It is not the Lady Jaye mold that was used in 1985, in India, in 1997 or even in 2003. Instead, it is a newly sculpted mold. It first appeared on Daina in 2005 and now appears here. As you can see from the 1st photo below, this mold is smaller and more feminine. It also lacks a few of the details from the original mold such as the buttons on the figure's chest pockets. I find this rather odd. Let's face it, this figure isn't going to be appreciably more popular or sellable due to this smaller mold. In fact, I doubt many collectors noticed. The original mold was available as recent as 2003 and had no issues. So, why would Hasbro go through the trouble of resculpting this mold when there are so many others (like the V2 Snake Eyes, V1 Cobra Commander, Headhunter, HH Stormtrooper, V1 Destro) that collectors would kill to see redone? It's an odd occurrence that is more common in the comic packs than it might first appear. We may, someday, get the info from Hasbro as to why this is. But, for now, it remains one of the little mysteries of the modern line.

Lady Jaye's availability is still uncertain. It is most likely that being in the last wave of retail comic packs, she was produced in smaller quantities than even the Oktober Guard comic pack wave. However, she was not nearly as anticipated as the Oktober Guard, she was available in collector oriented outlets and the collecting world is MUCH smaller now than it was even in early 2005. Plus, there were many collectors who bought this pack in multiples just to acquire the Gas Mask Troopers. So, I don't foresee this Lady Jaye figure ever being highly expensive on the second hand market in the current collecting atmosphere. Sadly, due to the current state of the collecting community, I find it likely that this Lady Jaye figure will end up rather forgotten as time goes on. She is neat, but not so great that collectors are going to go out of their way to seek her out.