Disney+, Paramount+, Apple TV+ — modern life has more plus signs than a third grader's math homework. But for me, an elder millennial whose primary hobby through four decades of life has remained purchasing simulacrums of pop culture figures rendered in articulated plastic, the only plus I care about right here and right now is Reaction+.
Super7's Reaction+ toy line is a nod back to simpler times when action figures were held together by a tiny rubber band primarily used in [googles] "pumps, cylinders, valves, and connectors." You definitely know this kind of action figure and refer to it as "a G.I. Joe." That's why Super7's Reaction+ line primarily — although no longer exclusively! — features classic characters from the G.I. Joe Franchise. And if you've been hanging around Pop Heist for a minute, you know that, uh, this is very much of interest to me.
We're two waves deep into Super7's G.I. Joe Reaction+ line, with a third just announced at Toy Fair 2025 (along with the reveal of O-ring figures for Back to the Future and Universal Monsters). Now that I know Super7 is hella committed to this format, and that they're ready, willing, and able to immortalize deep cut Joe characters in this iconic style, I have a few demands — 10, to be exact.
Here are the 10 (okay, more than 10) G.I. Joe characters — from the animated Sunbow cartoon era — that I want to add to my collection. Are you listening, Super7???
10. Lady Jaye
This list kicks off with a no-brainer. Lady Jaye was the most prominent member of the Joe team in the '80s cartoon, logging more screen time than Flint, Duke, Shipwreck, and definitely Snake Eyes. The fact that she only ever received one action figure during the line's 1982 to 1994 heyday was criminal. Insult to injury: that figure looked nothing like how Lady Jaye appeared in her 9,094 seconds onscreen (source). So — Super7 can finally correct this error by doing what they're doing for Wild Bill in Wave 3: Give us a Sunbow-accurate Lady Jaye, complete with a quiver full of javelins.
9. Jinx
I will admit this now: you're going to see a lot of love for 1987's G.I. Joe: The Movie on this list. That's because 1. It's an objectively perfect film and one of the most epic send-offs a cartoon has ever received, and 2. The film's new characters never got the attention they deserved because, oops, the movie ended up being an epic send-off for that iteration of the cartoon. And the characters who did get figures, like the badass California ninja Jinx, were slightly off-model. Now, I love the Jinx we got in 1987. She served martial arts realness via a cool mask and bright red nail polish, thrilling every gay child who loved G.I. Joe but also wished that they were a little more fierce (hi). But like Lady Jaye, we need a screen-accurate Jinx — one without the mask, with the big dragon on her chest, and the G.I. Joe logo on her thigh (@ me if you also wrapped a vehicle decal around your Jinx figure's leg back in the day).
8. Big Lob
Now we're talking. Super7 has made it clear that they're using the Reaction+ line to fill out the ranks of the original toyline. Cartoon characters like Ramar the gladiator and the Fatal Fluffies stood out in syndication but never made their way to toy aisles, until now. With that in mind, there are two major holes in the initial Joe toyline that Reaction+ has the chance to fill, and Joe fans know exactly who I'm talking about: Big Lob and — okay, there's no reason to keep it secret. Pythona. Duh, yes, obviously. She's #2 on this list, but don't scroll ahead. I would call Big Lob goofy, what with his basketball metaphors and insistence on narrating his actions like sports commentary, but he's on a team with a spy in a bright Hawaiian shirt who never speaks, the aforementioned wise-racking ninja mall babe, a guy whose whole thing is tunnels, a Very Good Boy (and his human partner), and Don Johnson. They all deserve figures, they all got figures — except for Big Lob. Fix it!
7. Raven
If you're seeing this and saying to yourself, "... Who?" then brace yourself to say that a few more times. Raven — or more accurately, a Strato-Viper who has been nicknamed Raven due to the fact that she piloted a Night Raven spy plane — appears in only one episode: "In the Presence of Mine Enemies," the penultimate episode of the show's initial run. It's a killer episode, though — a play on Enemy Mine (or the Star Trek: TNG episode "Darmok" or, hell, Void Rivals depending on your age and reference point). In it, Joe pilot Slipstream crashes alongside this random Cobra trooper, forcing them to work together to survive. If you thought an '80s cartoon geared primarily towards selling toys to children couldn't pull off a storyline brimming with intrigue and sexual tension, uh, think again! The complicated dynamic between the Joe team's fourth most prominent pilot and Raven made this episode incredibly memorable, and Super7 already immortalized Raven in its Reaction line of simpler, 5-point articulated figures. Give Raven the + she deserves!
6. Cadet Deming
Okay, a not insignificant portion of the people who knew who Raven was are now saying "... Who?" — but hear me out! Like Raven, Cadet Deming is a female Cobra agent appears in precisely one episode ("There's No Place Like Springfield" Part 2). Deming is a Crimson Guard trainee who clocks some hours performing a hypno-interrogation light show on Shipwreck. She goes from ASMR to "Leave Britney alone!" during her one scene and, like, werk diva. But I want a Reaction+ figure of her because — well, primarily because the entire franchise is lacking in women and when you see a scene-stealing female character on this show, you celebrate her. But also, she has a fantastic, toyetic character design with her cobalt blue Crimson Guard uniform and black hypno-goggles (not pictured). Super7 has made variants of female troopers in the past, so this doesn't seem far-fetched!
5. Mara
Remember what I just said about celebrating the unsung female characters of G.I. Joe? It's time for Super7 to sing the song of the siren and give us Mara, the first of Cobra's scrapped squad of aquatic mutant soldiers. The girl's got gills! Mara's notable for having an episode named after her ("Memories of Mara"), appearing in three episodes, and getting to live out every gay G.I. Joe fan's dream of hooking up with Shipwreck. Just me? I know it's not just me. Whatever — just look at Mara in her going-out fishbowl helmet and tell me that she doesn't deserve a figure.
4. Honda Lou West & Roadblock
Unlike toy manufacturers in the '80s, I trust Super7 to see the value in releasing figures of female characters. Culture still has a long way to go (partly because we keep drifting backwards), but I think toy collectors — re: not 8-year-old boys conditioned by society to think that a girl action figure is "a doll" and wanting one makes them "a sissy" — want these characters. That's a tangent and roundabout way of me talking about this Honda Lou West and Roadblock 2-pack idea, pulled from the "Revenge of Cobra" mini-series that helped establish the franchise way back in 1984!
But here's the dilemma that I want to mention, one that this list is emblematic of: outside of the top-tier women (Baroness, Lady Jaye, Scarlett, Zarana, Cover Girl), attempts to diversify toy chests means digging deep into the Joe canon. You can't deny that most of the women outside that A-List quintet didn't get much screentime. Hell, even the action figures of the female leads were denied the longevity afforded to the leading men via repaints and re-issues. So while I know Super7 has no qualms about making female figures, most of the women are just lesser-known characters, period. See: Raven, Deming, Mara — and probably Honda Lou West, even though she appears in nearly the entire "Revenge of Corba" mini-series, plays a crucial part in saving the world, and is present in the triumphant hero shot before the credits roll. Honda Lou West deserved the world. Know her name!
But — if Super7 wants to release deep-cut characters by pairing them with popular ones, then pop off! Pair Raven with Slipstream and Mara with Shipwreck. And who wouldn't love to see Roadblock in the Reaction+ line, in his Sunbow colors?
And y'know ... Quick Kick and Amber is another possibility here. I'm just saying.
3. Nemesis Immortal (née Enforcer)
Back to G.I. Joe: The Movie (a phrase my husband is now sick of hearing) — whenever Reaction+ moseys into 1987's lineup of characters, they have to do justice to Cobra-La's bat-winged bruiser Nemesis Enforcer (now Nemesis Immortal — I am dying to know how the Joe brand lost the copyright to a name as singular and bizarre as Nemesis Enforcer, but that's another article ...). Hasbro's already done it in their 1:12 scale Classified line, but Super7 has the opportunity to vastly improve upon this character's meager '80s figure. For one thing, Super7 figured out how to bulk up characters in the O-ring style, something that Hasbro never really attempted in the '80s and '90s. The Ramar figure is the perfect foundation upon which to build this wonderful monstrosity, thus finally allowing Nemesis Enforcer to tower over all of his puny opponents.
2. Pythona
Duh. Essential. You know it. I know it. I really can't add anything to this conversation. Pythona needs a figure in every scale and style. I'm talking Hasbro's Classified line and Super7's Reaction, ULTIMATES!, and Reaction+ lines. Hell, Hot Toys — what are you waiting for? Everyone do what Pythona would do and get this job done.
1. Satin, Shipwreck & Snake Eyes (and Polly & Timber)
Sorry not sorry, but Super7 adding Cold Slither Zartan to Wave 3 of the Reaction+ line absolutely establishes precedent here. This is it. This is the one. If y'all are diving into the deep end of Sunbow's madness, it does not get any more extravagantly '80s than Cobra nightclub diva Satin, Snake Eyes in Boy George drag, and Shipwreck looking like he's backing up Paul Shaffer on Late Night. Even Timber and Polly are in on the vibe! This box set could offer accessories galore; in addition to the pets and instruments, maybe Snake Eyes and Shipwreck's wigs are removable, I dunno! This would absolutely be a hit and quite possibly the zenith of the Reaction+ Joe line.
Which Sunbow-era G.I. Joe characters do you want to see get the Reaction+ treatment? Let us know on Bluesky. And if you haven't yet, consider supporting worker-owned media by subscribing to Pop Heist.
