Lady Jaye

85LJ

Lady Jaye is one of the very few figures I’d never owned any rendition of the mold of, until June of 2020. Even with the fact it was a mold that had various reissues, I somehow had managed to never own one. I kind of get a kick out of my poor ability at obtaining famous and common figures, I think 2019 was the first time I ever saw a Techno Viper in person, and I’m kind of hoping 2021, involves getting one of the Sky Patrol figures that isn’t Static Line or the guy who uses the Strato Viper mold.

85LJ2

I was really impressed with the Lady Jaye sculpt, as it balances the feminine body type, without being too slight, or being the same proportions as any of the male figures released the same time. That’s a fairly impressive aspect of the female figures in the Joe line. They weren’t done in a way that made them lesser, but they definitely weren’t the same as the male figures.

Her head sculpt was probably the biggest surprise to me. I always figured her head was pretty similar to Cutter or Shockwave, so when I noticed that her head was a three piece thing, I was really surprised. The fact the head, hat and hair are all separate was interesting, especially since it’s never mentioned! I’m not really sure why they decided to try that style, but it makes Lady Jaye unique. One thing I’ll always respect Hasbro for, was there willingness to push the envelope when they’d figured out a sculpting style. Combining the way they did hats like Shipwreck’s as well as hair like Buzzer or Spirit’s, is obviously something being done, just to see if they could, just due to the fact that the cartoon and comic book appearances of Lady Jaye more often than not omitted the hat entirely.

As an aside, I’m not sure if it’s intentional, but the Lady Jaye face sculpt is very reminiscent of Barbara Hale, the actress best known for playing Perry Mason’s dutiful secretary, Della Street. I think that fact, has made me a much bigger fan of the Lady Jaye figure than I otherwise would be, because Perry Mason is my favourite television show, and unless there’s a hockey game on, I’ll probably watch it in the evening.

Lady Jaye’s figure is a very good one, but it’s hurt in a way, not too many other G.I. Joe figures are. Action Figure designs and their media tie-in designs often don’t match up. With G.I. Joe, usually the cartoon and comic design models were simplified for ease of drawing. Lady Jaye is one who was really affected by the changes made to her design. The figure wears a hat, in both the cartoon and comic it was often omitted, the cartoon took it a step farther and changed up the colour of her pants, giving the design a little more visual appeal as it wasn’t so monotone. At the end of the day, Short Fuse‘s missing glasses and Zap’s missing moustache aren’t nearly as bad.

Lady Jaye’s spy character is neat, and her strong acting skills making her passable as a native is cool. Unfortunately that doesn’t translate well in the adventurous world of 3 3/4″ action figures. The figure is also probably the best suited for combat of any female figure in the line, so it’d be waste to not use it in those scenarios. So Lady Jaye winds up being a figure who gets put in either recon roles with something like the AWE Striker, or she winds up leading a small team. I’m not sure if it’s just the uniqueness of her being a female figure or how she was characterized in the Joe Media, but Lady Jaye as a figure does have air of command, that certain figures wound up receiving, though it probably winds up being a combination of the two factors.

1985 was an interesting year for accessories, some figures got really good and unique ones, others got the typical backpack and gun. Lady Jaye’s camera, backpack and javelin are fairly well done accessories, though the power javelin is an oddity. It looks okay, but I’m still not even sure which way it’s supposed to face. It’s not the worst accessory in the world, but I like to just give her Alpine’s gun and be done with it.

Lady Jaye is probably the best overall female figure in the G.I. Joe line. The character is excellent, and the figure is better done than a lot of the other females in the line. She’s combat ready, unlike Scarlett or Baroness, and a much better sculpt than Cover Girl. She’s also not as outlandish as Jinx or Zarana, even though their figures match the characters quite well.

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7 Responses to Lady Jaye

  1. Mike T. says:

    Lady Jaye wasn’t a big part of my childhood. So, because of that, she’s never mattered to me. She never really had a bad figure. Despite that, I never use her. She does look better with a smaller, pistol type weapon. I do feel her head is a little big for her body. But, the camera strapped over her shoulder helps to mitigate that.

    I thought she was overused. But, we got 3 repaints, one being in 1997, one a convention release and the third a Comic Pack at the end of the line. It felt like Scarlett and Baroness got a lot more repaints. But, in looking back at the actuals, that’s not really the case. Lady Jaye could have used at least one release in a TRU 6 pack.

  2. mwnekoman says:

    Lady Jaye and the Baroness are definitely tied for the line’s best female figure. The only downside to both is that their parts were somewhat questionable. Of course, I’d also say they’re the only good female figures, as the other four leave a lot to be desired.

    Lady Jaye was a pretty fun character, but one I thing I hate about her and most of the females in GI Joe, are the couples. It strikes me as being really corny, and I was always irritated with almost any story that involved her and Flint (though Scarlet’s worse, honestly).

    That Alpine gun looks so good with figures besides Alpine. It along with Zartan’s pistol are the two parts I would hope the most that TBM or someone would toss in with an army-builder.

  3. A-Man says:

    Did not have her as a kid, my older brother did, though. I’ve less attachment to the character because of that. She was a decent figure, though the buttons on her pockets reminded me of nipples. I wonder if that was intentional.

    Never a Tiger Force Lady Jaye, not in any “generation” of sculpts, which seems like a glaring omission to me. I supposed that 2003 Con figure could be used as such…the club’s odd “team of 3 joes in a unique camo scheme”.

    It was odd Hasbro lost the mold or something and remade it, slightly smaller for the comic pack Daina and LJ figures, with no buttons on her breast pockets.

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