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So the last time we got a figure of Jinx was in 2004. And now, in the space of a year, we have two with a third on the way. These are the benefits of appearing in a movie.
Kim Arashikage studied and competed in three forms of martial arts from the time she was seven until she graduated from Bryn Mawr. Upon arriving in Japan for a vacation, she discovered that her family had been
ninjas for generations and was, in fact, the cousin of Storm Shadow. She was officially initiated into the Arashikage clan and trained as a kunoichi by the Blind Master. Eventually, Snake-Eyes took her as an apprentice and convinced her to bring her skills to the GI Joe team, where she earned the nickname Jinx after putting the whammy on Cobra.
Kim Arashikage has been to the Secret Mountain and studied the Seven Silent Forms with the Blind Master. She has the Eye That Pierces, the Iron Hand, and the Heart That Waits. To compensate for her diminutive stature, she also excels in infiltration and covert ops. She can bypass enemy listening posts, slip through their outer perimeter wire, worm her way past the sentries, avoid the infrared sensors, penetrate their command bunker, capture digital imagery of battle plans, and escape without ever being detected.
Jinx seems to be based on the 2004 incarnation, rather than the classic. Which, okay, is fine: we just got the classic look at SDCC last year, and the only other choice would have been the green Tiger Force colors. Like the '04 version, this one has her hair pulled back in a ponytail and wears a red blindfold. It is removable, if you want to see her eyes.
Below the neck the figure is a reused sculpt. This body was previously released as Resolute Scarlett, but that wasn't always the plan. Wait, that's wrong, it was: see, a bunch of Resolute toys were designed, but not released. And then a lot of the sculpts were reworked into movie toys. For instance, the planned Resolute Scarlett became Helix with some major retooling. Anyway, while Resolute release was in limbo, the body was planned to be turned into a "City Strike" Scarlett, and that's where the ultimate inspiration for this figure came from. [Ditto the card art --ed.]
The blindfold (a nod to her appearance on the original Real American Hero cartoon) isn't the only reason we connect this figure with the '04 "Valor vs. Venom" release - it's also the colors. That figure was wearing a red dress with a black undersuit, had a yellow collar, grey kneepads and yellowish/beige wraps around her forearms and shins. This version is wearing a red and black bodysuit, has a yellow collar and gray kneepads, and gets yellow accents on her arms and shins. It's not a direct update the way Dice was, but you can definitely see the parallels. Especially when you put them next to each other.
The bulk of Jinx's accessories are new, but they were
designed for the unreleased City Strike Scarlett. She has a grey MAC-11 and red nunchucks, a red and black grappling hook, then two forearm blades and a sword that fits into the sheath that straps around her right thigh. The details on all the pieces are very high, since they were originally tooled alongside the movie line, when there was plenty of money to go around.
We really should have reviewed this figure first - the GI Joe Collectors' Club has numbered all the releases in the Figure Subscription Service, and we planned to review them in that order. But then somehow I screwed up and did Dice first. Whoops! This may not be Kim Arashikage's classic appearance, but this is a really good figure. If she'd been available in stores, she'd be an easy recommendation. GIJCC members who didn't subscribe can currently pick her up in the Club store, but everyone else will have to decide if the secondary market prices make her worth it.
-- 01/18/13
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