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As I've been working on my own version of the Original 13 joes, I've come to a conclusion: Scarlett is the original original Joe. Hear me out...
First, she's the only 100% unique figure in the original line-up, sharing no parts with any other figure. There's a certain interchangeability, by design, with the Original 13, but Scarlett is all her own. Beyond the singular femininity of her sculpt, she's loaded with character-specific details that define her beyond her sex. This character specificity would come to be the defining characteristic and ultimate strength of the line.
Second, while other O13 Joes walked the line between military realism and sci-fi/fantasy that would come to define the brand, Scarlett is arguably the boldest and most successful. Flash and Grand Slam may have the flashy colors and future-tech gear, but Scarlett's design is the purest form of the brand at its most fundamental--military fiction presented with spy-fi flare and sweetened with a generous dash of comic book super-heroics. In 1985, Snake Eyes V2 would cement this aesthetic balance in the public imagination, but Scarlett beat him to it by three years.
Finally... throwing stars.
Not even Snake Eyes had such an exotic weapon in his arsenal in 1982. Scarlett was GI Joe's original "ninja commando."
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