G.I. Joe is a line sparse in females. We know why Hasbro rarely makes them, or why they claim to, though many other companies do make females in their lines and most have no real problem selling. But as it stands, Joe is a line sparse on females. A member here recently put up extra items for sale and in that was an assortment of Lanard's old WOW girls. I remember these as being basically civilian female G.I. Joe type figures, alongside The Corps and Star Force and from what I can recall, they seemed to sell reasonably well. I also have a liking of the old Lanard lines back when they made o-ring bodies and barely even glance at the modern stuff. Customizers can also get some potential for the near-compatibility of body parts.

Anyway, I do collect the female characters because I think a line based on any fiction that has them should have them in the toy series. I'm actually excited for Mattel's Retro GB line to be getting Janine in full GB gear because she was as important a character as the main 4. Minimates RGB got her as well, two versions.

So anyway, here's the lot I purchased here(I expect it Tuesday according to tracking)-


4 figures with duplicates and accessories. I already have some customizing plans to make a female RAH Snow Serpent with one of the spare skiers. Anyway, I decided to dig into the line but found... little. A couple sites with some decent photos, I gathered up what is probably the entire line plus repaints and head swap repaints and some MOC pics but that's about it. I guess not many of these sold to Joe collectors in the day and are really hard to find now. I mean REALLY hard. There's 1 eBay seller who has any listed. What I did learn is that they were typically sold in a pack of 3 with a vehicle and there was some 7-pack set that I can not find photos of.

They have RAH Joe legs and t-bars but no o-ring as the torso is solid with no waist. The arms are basic swivel shoulders and elbows with no bicep swivel. One idea I heard was that Lanard, as they were marketing to girls, decided to simplify the arms and waists to make them less bulky. I can sort of agree with that, I have seen RAH females and they have bulky muscle arms(some figures actually used male arms over the years!) and the body shape with the o-ring waist can get a bit big. Or it could be Lanard being cheap, what with taking a risk on a female Joe-type action figure line. Action figures are not really marketed towards girls, but I tend to go with the first theory here. They also have holes in the feet compatible with RAH Joe stands and accessories. The necks are swivels, possibly early RAH compatible but I will have to open a figure to check that possibility. 2 or 3 figures did seem to have soft goods but good luck finding those with the figures, not that they looked very good, they looked like they were made for a larger scale line.

But anyway... one eBay seller with loose and complete figures. I pulled in enough on sales to buy these 3 complete-




2 extra figures for their accessories, sure, but I can make good use of the extra figures. I am not going completist with this line, some of them do not really interest me and a few others I could go loose on as their accessories don't grab me, plus the prices can get high just due to rarity. I think some of these accessories are also a bit useless what with the tiny hands. I do like the big bikes though. I did add these to my wants in BST, at any rate. Some of the base figures interest me, I might put further work into customs using them. I saw a nice one someone made using the lifeguard and a Baroness head.

I also think some of them make for decent "civilian" figures since they're not all in gaudy fashion clothes. Actually, the veterinarian is dressed in a sort of jungle exporter suit and would make a decent military type figure.

I do have to give a lot of credit for the female astronaut. For a long that was mostly aiming towards the typical "girl" venture, it's a bit of an unexpected addition but a welcome one. Just wish I could find a helmet for one of mine.

_________________

Pictures with Joes for comparison?


EDIT: errr okay, AFTER you get them, post pics with Joes...

Those look pretty cool. I could totally see them as civilians. They better watch out when Shipwreck is in town and hits the local bar.....

_________________

I had the astronaut one before, pretty small figure and he torso is no good if you plan to cusomize with other figs

I have the majority of the line, there are some drawbacks:
-no swivel arm
-they are very petite, more like little sister to a Joe.
-They hold up well with ARAh, but alongside newsculpt or 25th, they seem sort of cheesey.

That said, I still like them a lot as I collect lanard, but they no longer look well next to my 25th collection.

_________________

Hope this helps. I'm hoping to try to put some '83 arms on them and see how they look for size

_________________

You can--with just a little bit of modding--add ARAH arms to them.

_________________

Comic Pack Zarana, Astronaut, Comic Pack Scarlett


84 Cobra Commander, Skater, 84 Destro


ROC Agent Helix, Skater, 25th Lady Jaye


25th 5-Pack Baroness, Equestrian, 25th Scarlett

_________________

I have a bunch of these and use them as placeholder types for civilians.

The skier, lifeguard, and skater can be used for many things. Great head sculpts...

_________________

The heads seem to be somewhere in between the quality of new sculpt and the comic pack heads.

My only gripe is that all the ones I got were glued together around the main torso screw area and the tops of the thighs. Getting apart the ones I did was quite difficult. Are they supposed to be glued together like that? Or did a previous owner of my batch do this?

_________________

I'll check mine when I get home tonight and let you know

_________________

Mine were glued.

_________________

All mine were glued. Very frustrating.

Here is one I modded with ARAH arms
http://www.joecustoms.com/customs/custo ... rs&c=mimik

Here is one I customized for my wife
http://www.loserville.us/~matthew/lesliewedding.htm

_________________

I have several, all of the torsos are glued. I used a ball grinder in their arm sockets to make ARAH arms fit. YOu can also get ARAH lower legs to fit their upper legs. The Joe legs are too bulky to fit into their waist.
As is, the video director, fashion designer and singer would make decent civilians.
Here are some I've modded. I used sculpy too add breasts (These figures are fairly small busted, not that there's anythign wrong with that.), then boiled them. I reglued the torsos and had to fill in the gap before painting.
Glenda:
http://evilface.com/zarana-x/glenda.htm
Alyssa Diamond:
http://evilface.com/zarana-x/alyssadiamond.htm
Deanna:
http://evilface.com/zarana-x/deanna.htm
Ms. Demeanor:
http://evilface.com/zarana-x/demeanor.htm

_________________