 This is Jinx, G.I. Joe's ninja slash intelligence agent from 1987. This figure was available in 1987 and 1988. It was discontinued for retail in 1989, but it was available as a male way offer that year. There were no other versions of Jinx in the vintage line. Jinx was our female figure for 1987. Up to that point, we had a new female figure each year. In 1982 we had Scarlet, in 1983 we had Covergirl, in 1984 we got the Baroness, in 1985 there was Lady J, and in 1986 we got Zorana, and then of course in 1987 Jinx. There was no new female figure in 1988, nor in 1989 or 1990, in fact there were no new female G.I. Joe figures until 1993 with version 2 of Scarlet, and no I am not counting the Street Fighter series, sorry. That is expected from a toy line marketed toward boys, but the loss of women characters causes the line to lose a dimension. Action figures of women didn't sell as well as figures of men, but in the early years Hasbro would still give us one woman figure out of 15 to 20 men. Sure it was tokenism, but without the one figure you don't even have the token. A Jinx is a person who brings bad luck. In the 1987 G.I. Joe animated movie she was referred to as being unlucky or bringing bad luck, so that fits her name. She is a ninja and she is in the direct lineage of another G.I. Joe related ninja, Storm Shadow. Storm Shadow started out as a villain, a Cobra Ninja in 1984. In 1988 a second version of Storm Shadow was released and by then he had switched sides and was working with G.I. Joe. Storm Shadow's Switch to the Good Side was engineered by Larry Hama, the primary writer of the G.I. Joe comic book and the file cards for the figures who was himself a Japanese American. I'll go into more detail on that the next time I review a Storm Shadow figure. Her file card has her name as Top Secret, however depending on whether you believe her media appearances or modern versions of her file card, her name is Kimi or Kim Arashikage. Arashikage is a combination of Japanese words with Arashi meaning storm and Kage meaning shadow. It translates literally to Storm Shadow. The comic book revealed a lot more about her background, but we'll get to that later. Let's take a look at Jinx's accessories, starting with what the contents of her card refer to as her Ninja Toe. There are two of them in silver plastic. Ninja Toe is a ninja sword. These swords have a slightly curved blade and Ninja Toe were usually straight. The Ninja Toe also tended to have square guards. The guards on these swords are rounded at the edges. The size is right though. They tended to be shorter than the Wakazashi, the long samurai sword we often see moving ninjas carrying. The Ninja Toe is not a traditional weapon, it is a 20th century invention. Both of these swords can slot into her backpack. There are two slots, one for each, and they both fit in pretty well. These swords should not be confused with Quick Kick's sword. They are the same color, but his sword is longer and has less detail on the handle wrapping. Let's move on to her next accessory. We have what the contents of the card refer to as a Naginata. It is in silver plastic. It is a staff with jagged, multi-pointed blades on each end. And there are two grips on the staff. They are almost right. A Naginata is a Japanese staff weapon with a blade on the end, usually on one end. If any examples of a double bladed Naginata exist, I haven't found it. This weapon is designed like a pugil stick, which is a padded stick used to train soldiers in rifle and bayonet combat. However, instead of padding, this stick has blades at both ends. Jinx is seen training with a pugil stick in the 1987 animated movie. The problem with having blades on both ends is, to strike the enemy with one end leaves the other blade pointed at you. There is high potential for self-injury. Her final accessory is her backpack, and the backpack is black. It looks like a parcel tied together with rope. It has four ninja stars sculpted on it, but the most important feature on this backpack is the storage for the swords. Storage for weapons is a bonus, and we didn't get enough of it on vintage figures. I want a figure to be able to carry all of its accessories all of the time. The only downside to this backpack is, there is no place to put the Naginata staff when the swords are in use. You can wedge the Naginata between the backpack and the figure, and that kind of works, but it's not designed for that purpose, it doesn't stay well, and it'll fall out. What would have been better is a clip on the backpack, like the one on Alpine's, that holds his pickaxe. Let's take a look at the articulation for Jinx. She had the articulation that was standard for G.I. Joe figures from 1987, meaning her neck was on a ball joint, so she could turn her head from side to side and look up and down. She could swing her arm up at the shoulder and swivel at the shoulder all the way around. She had a hinge at the elbow that allowed her to move her arm at the elbow about 90 degrees. She had a swivel at the bicep that allowed her to swivel her arm all the way around. The figure was held together with a rubber O-ring that looped around the inside. That allowed her to move at the torso a bit. She could move her legs apart about so far. She could move her leg at the hip about 90 degrees and bend at the knee about 90 degrees. Let's take a look at the sculpt design and color of Jinx, and as it's easy to see, she is primarily red. There is a reason for that, and we'll talk about that later. On her head, she has a loose-fitting balaclava mask, which is associated with ninjas. We can only see her eyes. This figure was sculpted by Bill Merkline. There is a Q&A with Bill Merkline on YouTube, in which he talks about his experiences working for Hasbro and sculpting G.I. Joe figures. He addresses Jinx specifically. He felt it was a mistake to make a good guy with a mask. In his mind, the villains wear masks, and the heroes show their faces. I tend to agree, but there can be some exceptions. In the case of Jinx, the mask is a little frustrating. In her media appearances, she usually did not wear the mask. Kids could not reproduce those scenes or follow those play patterns with this figure. On her chest, she has a loose-fitting red top with a black collar, and she has a black dragon tampo on the left side of her chest. On her arms, she has loose-fitting red sleeves with black cuffs, and on her hands, she has fingernail polish. To my knowledge, this is the only G.I. Joe figure with painted fingernails. It looks kind of funny on the figure because the fingers aren't well differentiated. She has the usual C-shaped hands, like all G.I. Joe figures, so she could hold her accessories. But the fingernail polish looks a little bit like red dots painted on the ends of oven mitts. We didn't have any other figures with fingernail polish, but we did have other women G.I. Joe figures with lipstick. Efforts were made to make the figures look more feminine, and they needed the help because the sculpting wasn't always up to par. For Jinx, they avoided the problem of having a female figure with a masculine face sculpt by putting her behind a mask. On her waist, she has a black belt tied in the front, and she has a smaller waist than what was given to male G.I. Joe figures. This was another effort to give the figure a more feminine shape. I don't think it worked well, though. The problem is the articulation breaks up the sculpting too much, so it's a tradeoff. This figure type you really just couldn't have both. On her waist, we have loose-fitting red trousers with black cuffs at the ankles and red shoes. At least she is wearing shoes, unlike Quick Kick, who chose to go barefoot. This also means she will get service at the 7-Eleven, whereas Quick Kick will not. Why is Jinx wearing red? Red has been associated with the Arashikage Ninja Clan since his introduction in the G.I. Joe comic book. When Storm Shadow first appeared in issue number 21, the famous Silent Issue, he was accompanied by Ninjas in Red. They continued to appear in the comic book series and were even included in the 2013 live action movie G.I. Joe Retaliation. Let's take a look at Jinx's file card. This file card was printed on the back of the card on which the figure was packaged. This file card is not perfect, it has a hole punched in it and looks like somebody cut a notch. To be honest, I forgot this file card was cut up like this and I did not have time to get a better one before this review, but my general rule on file cards is I just want them to be readable and this one is, so it's good enough. It has her faction as G.I. Joe and it has a portrait of Jinx here. It has her codename as Jinx and she is a ninja slash intelligence. So she is not just a ninja. She is also a spy and I appreciate that they gave her an actual function on the team. Her filename is top secret, we have already talked about her real name. Her primary military specialty is intelligence. Her secondary military specialty is finance clerk. These file cards sometimes gave the characters mundane secondary specialties like finance clerk. In this case, she has the same secondary specialty as Alpine, who was also a finance clerk. Her birthplace is Los Angeles, California, the same birthplace as Quick Kick. Her pay grade is E5 so she is a sergeant. This paragraph says Jinx studied and competed in three forms of martial arts from the time she was 7 until she graduated from Bryn Mawr. She attended Bryn Mawr College, which is a prestigious women's college in Pennsylvania. Lady J also attended Bryn Mawr. I get the impression that Lady J is older than Jinx so they were probably not there at the same time. Upon arriving in Japan for vacation, she discovered that her family had been ninjas for generations and she was officially initiated into the clan. Jinx was recruited for the joe team by Snake Eyes. There is no mention of the Arashikage clan by name. It does mention Snake Eyes, who was also a member of the Arashikage clan, although he was not a blood relation. Her ninja affiliation almost seems coincidental. She discovered it on vacation in Japan. In the comic book it was central to her character. Jinx is ethnically Japanese and nationally American. This is another interesting parallel with Quick Kick, who was half Japanese and half Korean, but also an American from Los Angeles. This bottom paragraph has a quote. It says, don't underestimate Jinx. She has been to the secret mountain and studied the seven silent forms with the Blind Master. The Blind Master is a character from the comic book and another member of the Arashikage clan. She has the eye that pierces, the iron hand, and the heart that waits. She also has the nose that blows, the finger that points, and the butt that trumpets. She can see through your deception, batter aside your defenses, and dazzle you with the strength of her will. This card seems to say a lot about Jinx, but it actually leaves a lot unsaid, such as her relation to Storm Shadow and her history with the Arashikage clan. Both the comic book and the animated movie expand on the character. Here's an odd coincidence. In reading through Jinx's file card, I referenced three other file cards, all from 1985. Looking at how Jinx was portrayed in G.I. Joe Media, she did not appear in either the Sunbow animated series nor the Deke animated series. She did appear in the 1987 G.I. Joe animated movie. In that movie, she was a new recruit, along with Chuckles, Tunnelrat, Big Lob, Law, and Falcon. Unlike most of those other guys, she was a main character in the movie. She was the love interest for the main protagonist, Falcon. She had three important scenes in that movie. First, she trains with Beachhead, where it is revealed that she fights better when blindfolded. Second, she has a scene where Falcon slaps her on the ass, which is apparently something she was used to, because she didn't immediately spin around and ninja punch his testicles. In the final battle against Cobra Law, she uses her blind fighting technique to defeat Python. You probably already know that I disliked that movie, but Jinx was one of the better parts of it. She also mentions the Blindmaster, who appeared in the comic book series. I think that makes the Blindmaster canon in the animated continuity. Bonus! She later appeared in Valor versus Venom, but that came after the vintage GI Joe run, so I don't normally look at those appearances. In the GI Joe comic book series by Marvel Comics, she first appears in issue number 59, in which she does not wear her red ninja costume. She wears a white gi and appears in the Blindmaster's dojo. She confronts Billy, the son of Cobra Commander, who had been trained by Storm Shadow. Yeah, the ninja storyline in the comic books had become kind of convoluted at that point. But it was still pretty good. She appeared in issue number 85, a silent issue that was an homage to number 21. Although that silent issue is not as famous as the first one, it was still really well done. It is a masterpiece of sequential art. The story is told entirely without dialogue, but it is still very easy to follow and understand what's happening. In the comic book, she sometimes appeared in her red costume, fighting red ninjas, such as in issue number 91. It's easy to spot the problem with this. It can be confusing. It's hard to tell who's who. In some panels, you have to look for the one with boobs. That's Jinx. She was appearing in the comic book clear into the 1990s, long after the Jinx action figure was discontinued. This is something I appreciate about the comic book. Of course it existed to sell toys, but it was more than just a toy catalog. There was no Jinx action figure to sell in 1994, when she appeared in issue number 145. But by then, she was an important part of the story, so she didn't just disappear. It was the same with a lot of other characters too. This is something I'm not sure everyone at Hasbro understood. Selling GI Joe toys was not just about hawking plastic. It was about selling the fantasy. This is something Larry Hama understood. It was about creating a fantasy world with interesting characters the kids could relate to and exciting stories they could follow. That's what made kids want to buy the plastic. Even though the GI Joe retaliation movie is well outside the vintage GI Joe run, it is worth mentioning here. There was a live action Jinx played by Elodie Young. She wears a version of her red costume in a training scene with snake eyes. In that scene, she trains a blindfolded, which is a nice nod to the 1987 movie. The blind master also appears in that scene. Later, when she fights ninjas on a mountain with snake eyes, she does not wear her red costume. She wears a yellow suit. The reasons for this change are easy to understand. She needed to stand apart from the crowd of red ninjas. If she had worn red, she would have blended in and confused the action. It was a smart choice. The yellow is probably a nod to Bruce Lee's yellow suit in Game of Death.