The Power of Packaging: 1982 Scarlett
In previous editions of TPOP, I’ve talked about my childhood experiences with GI Joe as it relates to card art. Looking at the packaging again through adult eyes brings back thoughts I hadn’t had since I was a kid staring at these bold depictions of the characters. Being able to peruse high-resolution versions of the old paintings is really a blessing. Isn’t technology wonderful?
Scarlett’s card art brought me back to the frustration I sometimes experienced when comparing the figures to the card art and even the comics. Some of them just didn’t quite match up to their drawn or painted counterparts. I know it’s obvious that Scarlett isn’t the most beautiful representations of a female face in action figure form, but the card art portrays her as an attractive enough yet dangerous lady. Unfortunately in this shot, we don’t get to see the slingshot she carries in her back pocket.
Knowing her from the comic, the art also implies the pony tail that didn’t come to be until almost 25 years later.
I got Scarlett the same day I got Stormshadow and the the JUMP with a Silver Pads Grand Slam for my birthday in 1984. Having gotten the WHALE just a few days prior, Scarlett didn’t have much of a chance to gain a foothold. (Especially when the Dreadnoks showed up a couple days later.) So, I never really cared for the figure. The fact that her filecard was somewhat skimpy on information was also somewhat of a letdown.
I heard that Scarlet was a shelf warmer. As she was the least popular of the ’82 line up, Hasbro put the following years female character [Cover girl] with the wolverine.
Her pose is weird. Is she surrendering? She almost looks surprised.
Scarlett was always one of my favorites, but I never had the original figure. The only Scarlett I ever had was the Ninja Force one, which I never thought was all that great.
On the subject of attractive faces on the female Joe figures, Cover Girl’s the one that got screwed over the most, in my opinion. By all rights, she should be the prettiest in the line, but I guess the Hasbro sculptors weren’t all that great when it came to designing women. It would’ve been great if they had made her figure look like her appearance in the M.A.S.S. Device series with the blonde hair. Later on in the cartoons, they made her look too much like Scarlett.
”Whatever year Scarlett(1982) came out , she IS always the #1 favorite female action figure ,along with 1986 Strato-Viper,That I own.”Especially 1982.”
It looks like she’s saying,”What? Whoch way is Phopps Plaza? My frond is getting married and I need a new dross.”
The art highlights the details about Scarlett that made her an effective spy for my early Joe adventures. The holdout pistol, the bomb on her thigh, the ka-bar & shuriken. The figure may not be the best, but her bio and the cardart made up for it to me.