This is the most excited I've been about a new GI Joe release in... I don't know how long.
Jodie "Shooter" Craig may spend days motionless waiting for her target to appear. Then her esoteric knowledge of wind deflection and bullet drop along with precise breath control guide her as she flexes her trigger finger.
With Image Comics' release of A Real American Hero #301 a few months ago, Larry Hama achieved something entirely unheard of in the comic industry: he has now written one continuous story for 40+ years at four different companies. The GI Joe license started at Marvel, was eventually revived by Devil's Due Publishing, was picked up again by IDW, and has now transferred to Robert Kirkman's Skybound Entertainment (being published through Image). And while DDP and IDW had their own continuities, Larry's made it quite clear the books he wrote for them while they had the license were in "his" story. Sadly, the fact he's still doing this is not entirely by choice, thanks to the way the industry works, but that's still kind of amazing!
But possibly even more amazing is the origin of this character. GI Joe #1 was published in 1982, as a way to promote the new toys; so naturally, the first issue introduced all 13 of them. We see a military-grade crisis happen, and the Joe team assembled to face it. Being blessed with the gift of foresight, Hama chose to suggest these 13 soldiers weren't the entire roster, just the ones being selected for this particular mission. We're shown them in pairs on a computer monitor, but 13 doesn't divide evenly by 2, so artist Herb Trimpe cleverly had the computer tech's hand casually blocking the view of the 14th entry. Originally entirely illegible, by the time the book saw print the last "member" of the team had at least had their codename revealed - "Shooter," an Easter egg reference to Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. Fun!
One of the books Larry did for DDP was GI Joe Declassified, which showed the pre-Joe lives of the O.G. 13 (and a few later additions) and how they were recruited for the team, as well as their interactions with the regular grunts on Ft. Wadsworth, the Staten Island base where their covert headquarters was hidden. A sergeant on the base kept these petty conflicts from becoming actual trouble, but seemed to be otherwise disinterested in the situation. Eventually it was revealed that Sgt. Craig was the team's sniper, held so far in reserve the others didn't even know she was with them. She was the absolute last line of defense, the final marker to make sure nothing went wrong right at the end.
There was a Shooter figure before, as part of the 50th Anniversary line, but it was a Big Bad Toy Store exclusive, so it's entirely possible you never knew it existed until right now. This one is a Walmart exclusive, sold during one of their various unpredictable "Collector Con" events, which means she's really only available online, and you're unlikely to ever see her in a store. Some things never change.
Surprisingly little of this figure is reused: it's sort of the opposite of the Steel Brigade girl, in that Shooter has Lady Jaye arms and Movie Scarlett legs. Paul Harding sculpted all the rest, including the torso,
all the add-ons like her vest and belt, the hands, the shins, and the shoes. We have to admit, those shoes look pretty casual for the military - like she's getting ready for a suburban jog in her athleisure, not a trek through the dense jungles to be the team's backstop. Her vest is nicely detailed, with three pouches on the front, a sheath for a knife up by the left shoulder, and a digital readout on a small screen on the opposite side from that. What do you think that is? It tells us it's currently measuring 00.05 of whatever it is it measures; is that time? Light? Sound? Distance? Atmospheric pressure? Wind speed? Blood sugar levels? How much money the workers who make these toys get paid per figure? It doesn't seem like it would be something Shooter needs to keep track of closely, because the screen isn't placed somewhere she'd be able to see it easily. Share your best guesses with us on our message board.
When Shooter appeared in the comics, she was designed to match the aesthetic of the other original Joes, as though she'd been designed in 1982 to be sold alongside the others: a fairly plain green uniform with pockets on her sleeves and legs, and a simple webgear harness. So basically, the same thing Zap and Short-Fuze wore, just fitted for a woman's body. The Generation 3 figure was part of
a themed three-pack where all the figures were in stealth wear, so while the toy attempted to duplicate the comic design, she was entirely wearing black, not green. This Classified release is technically part of Night Force, so she's closer to the last figure than the comics, but Night Force has an advantage here: not being solid black. Her shirt and pants are black, but the rest of her gear is a combo of grey and a desaturated green, which fits in with the colorscheme the subline has had since it was created in 1988. Her skintone is a very warm brown, adding even more color to the toy, and she's got a tattoo on her left forearm: an arrow piercing a writhing snake.
From the beginning, GI Joe was a progressively diverse team: several nondescript white guys, a black guy, a Hispanic guy, a redheaded
karate hillbilly, a man who likes to drive cars... all the races! The team's diversity didn't draw attention to itself, that's just the way it was; Shooter being a black woman fits perfectly into the era of her supposed creation. Despite her role and experience in the military, she's very religious and doesn't want to have to kill anybody. She's not a pacifist, like the medics (the first thing we see her do in combat is shoot an enemy through the hands so he can't use his gun), she just recognizes that killing is a sin and would need to reckon with that if she had to make the decision to do it.
Like some other figures in this line, Shooter gets alternate looks by way of swappable hair. There's one piece with two French braids along her scalp and the back of her hair hanging down straight. The second has her hair simply pulled back into a small ponytail, with a few strands falling in her face. The third is that same style, but she's also wearing a gas mask over it. Since she was released at the same time as the Mole Rats, it's good she's wearing protection! The braided hair looks best, but all three work really nicely.
Shooter moves like any other Classified figure: swivel/hinge ankles, swivel shins, double-hinged knees, swivel thighs, balljointed hips mounted on a hinge, balljointed waist and chest, swivel/hinge wrists, double-hinged elbows, swivel biceps swivel/hinge shoulders on pectoral hinges, a balljointed neck, and a barbell head. It's easy to overlook the chest joint, because it lines up exactly with the bottom of her vest. The important thing is, you can get some decent sniper poses, which is a prime concern for a sniper figure. Though the gun could really use a bipod (or at least some sandbags) to rest on.
In addition to the scalp coverings, Shooter's accessories include a knife, a pistol with a laser sight below the barrel,
and a sniper rifle that's nearly as tall as she is. There's also a piece that plugs into her back that's basically just a little frame to tote the gun, meaning all three of her weapons can be carried at the same time and her hand can still be free for any other fighting that needs to be done.
With Shooter, Larry Hama turned a one-panel shoutout from 1982 into a fully realized character with her own motivations and personality, answering a question that had been lingering for over 20 years. And he did it well enough that when it was revealed she'd been killed during that first mission against Cobra, it was a heartbreaking loss, despite her functionally only appearing in two issues of story. The fact this is a Night Force version means there's a chance we may see a standard, non-exclusive release of Shooter later (paint her green, give her camo facepaint, a ghille suit, and swap the gas mask piece for one with a boonie hat), but until such time, this is a great Classified figure of a character no one expected to see.
-- 03/15/24
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