Kim "Jinx" Arashikage - SDCC Exclusive (White) - Variant Version

Big thanks to Gyre Viper from the JDSO Podcast and Jay from Carded Heroes for sending this figure along for review purposes! You guys rock.

As much as the fandom probably hates to admit it doing Jinx as an SDCC exclusive, especially this year, is really a very good decision. She isn't an extremely mainstream character (gaining most of her notoriety in the 1987 animated movie), she is a female character, which generally doesn't get soliciated at retail, and she is also a high profile character in the upcoming film. It's really a perfect storm for the figure.

Of course, with Jinx, her familiar red uniform was a given, but I think this variant probably took some folks by surprise. Based loosely off of the way Jinx appeared in the G.I. Joe Marvel series, circa issue #59 (her first appearance) and through issue #63, where Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes lead a team of ninjas to rescue trapped Joes in Borovia. Even with this somewhat high profile usage, you wouldn't think this particular uniform would be familiar enough to warrant a variant. Then again, we got Cold Slither Zarana last year which was completely made up, and still incredibly cool.

This figure does a couple of things, really. It gives us a different variation of Jinx that isn't critical to collections because she doesn't necessarily resemble a familiar look. But for those folks who like a little vintage tie in the white uniform does match a scene from the Marvel Comic. Lastly, it gives them a chance to do an unmasked version of the character, which actually looks remarkably like Elodie Yung, the beautiful actress playing the character in the G.I. Joe: Retaliation film.

This figure uses the bulk of the same tooling as the mainstream red version, only with the plain, unmasked head sculpt. As I mentioned in the other review, the tooling is very nice, allows for great range of motion, and gives her a nice classic vibe, yet with the armor and added trimming, it is still different and at least somewhat modern.

The character still ends up not being at all combat-ready, however, so believe it or not, as cool as this figure is, I think I'm actually more looking forward to the Figure Subscription Service one. That has all the great ear marks of Jinx yet she appears to be a lot more prepared for real world combat.

Now, Hasbro could have been content to just release this white uniform variation, but they added some nice extra dragon deco paint apps to the figure as well, one on her left arm and one on her right leg, which both add some very cool detail to what could have otherwise been a somewhat bland figure. I like the red trim as well, instead of a more traditional black they could have gone with.

This version of Jinx comes with the same swords and scabbards (only in red) and the same battle stand, but comes with a very cool kata rather than the battle staff of the other version. Some accessory variation is nice, and they all suit her pretty well.

I like this figure a lot. The unmasked head looks terrific (even if it bares little resemblance to how the somewhat spike-haired Jinx looked like in the '87 film) and the dragon deco is very interesting. Ultimately, it sort of a toss up to which variation I prefer. The main release version (in red) looks a lot more striking and vintage accurate, but the unmasked head from this one is a terrific addition. In the end I think the pluses and minuses balance out and they both end up with the same score, though if I could only get one of the two, I would likely get the red.

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