The Power of Packaging: 1984 Baroness
Boys won’t play with female action figures. That’s a familiar refrain to toy collectors. It’s true, to a certain extent. However, in the 80s I think boys changed their minds when they saw the Baroness. Here was a female character who more than held her own against the male heroes and villains, both in the comic and cartoon.
The card art is pure 1984 series magic. What’s not to love about the simple boldness of a villain decked out in snake-themed armor? And the size of the Cobra Enemy emblem is nicely eye-catching. Like Storm Shadow, this is a card back that screams Gotta Have It.
One of my favourites. Did anyone else ever read the side featuring the contents of any figures accessories before opening the packet or was it just me?
Such shame such a well devised, well illustrated and accessorised toy line doesn’t exist to these standards anymore…
Actually, I most likely never noticed those things before ripping the blistered cards open. A real shame, though. Knowing what I know now, if I could go back in time, I would open those cards carefully.
I’d read pretty much the whole card (including the list of included weapons and accessories), usually on the ride home from the store.
Cobra would have never been the same without those henchmen (or henchwomen) characters. Even though she’s dressed like a dominatrix, that uniform, and it’s color, is perfect for the Baroness. That figure sold itself. And that card art helped a lot on making that happening. By the way, a lot of G.I. Joe fans to this day, do not know that not all of these bad guys were actually Cobras. The Cobras were the ones that had the Cobra sigil on their uniforms. Like the Cobra troopers, for example. And on their cards it would say, Cobra Enemy printed on the cover. Those characters that were not Cobras, meaning that they were not employees of Cobra, but instead they were mercenaries for hire, like Major Bludd, or Zartan, and his Dreadnoks, would just have the words, The Enemy printed on the cover of their cards. Some of those bad guys would have their names above the words The Enemy, while others would just say Dreadnoks above The Enemy. This all changed later, most likely in the 90’s.
This one features some of my favorite card art. It’s interesting to note that the Baroness was my first Joe toy ever. I went to the store knowing I would either pick out the Baroness or Shipwreck. If they didn’t have either, I knew I’d be disappointed. If they had both (I could only pick one), I wasn’t totally sure which I would choose. Quite easily, I chose the Baroness and I’ve been happy about that purchase ever since.
And as far as female figures go, she was my third ever. I got Teela and Evil-Lyn together at a department store outing some time before.
I hadn’t noticed accessories were listed like that until the 1985 series and Lady Jaye. I felt a little disappointed I had overlooked it previously, but then it became something I looked at a lot when perusing new figures on the pegs.
”You’re right,boys will always ignore and not play with, female action figures.Toy collectors know this.But the Baroness will Never ,hold a candle, to the G.I.Joe Scarlet,for beauty/brains.”
I always tried to salvage the side accessory listing text and was very careful removing bubbles. I even used scissors to get some out in the late years.
My disappointment with Baroness was that her gun was just a bit too large and didn’t fit well with other figures. My brother got her in Feb. of 1984 at a Value City. They had 3 new ’84 figures. My youngest brother got Roadblock and I got Firefly. Never regretted how that went down.
I saw a video online with several of the Joe heads and design team. Kirk Bozigian, Ronald Rudat and co ALL received complaints from parents about how they felt Baroness was a little bit…. ‘risqué’. They all had a good laugh as her ‘dominatrix’ look was unintentional.