G.I. Joe Classified Series Nightforce Jodie ‘Shooter’ Craig review (No. 90)

I’m enjoying building out the G.I. Joe rosters from my childhood in the Classified Series, but I’m loving adding new characters in the line as well. Jodie ‘Shooter’ Craig technically isn’t a new Joe — she was referenced way back in issue #1 — but she didn’t have a true Hasbro figure until 2016 in one of those cobbled together three packs.

Now Shooter gets a true dedicated figure with her Classified Series debut. This is one I’ve been looking forward to as she brings some fresh blood into the line and the Joe team gets another member of the Original 14.

Let’s see if Shooter makes the target or is a well-intentioned yet underwhelming release.

Package: As we’re nearing the end of the windowless packaging era, the Joe team continues to show how to make the most of it. There’s a great portrait of Shooter in the jungle with Dark Energon around her. This is playing into the theme of the early 90s series characters Crimson Alley Viper and Mole Rat.

It’s a terrific shot of her with the special Night Force designation, the accessory strip across the top right and the drawing along the right and sides.

I still wish the side QR code actually led to Shooter’s direct bio or purchase page on Hasbro Pulse. The skill specialties on the side are too small to bother trying to read. Better to check them on the rear package along with another shot of Shooter with her gear.

Shooter gets a 3-star rating in Marksman and Long-Range Weapons and a 2-star in Recon and Stealth. Hasbro started working mini-bios onto the character page at Hasbropulse.com so we get some character traits at least.

Jodie ‘Shooter’ Craig may spend days motionless waiting for her target to appear. Then her esoteric knowledge of wind deflection and bullet drop along with precise breath control guide her as she flexes her trigger finger.

Likeness: This sort of a tricky question as there’s not a lot of comparison and various takes to decide if this likeness is dead on. Shooter basically made a three-issue special stint and only half of it in uniform. In that special, Shooter wore a traditional OG13 outfit just black to fit her specialty.

The Hasbro CS team started Shooter off with the basic premise that she had basic BDUs (heh-heh, look at me using my military vocab I learned from reading GI Joe) and then personalized it a bit.

Once again, Hasbro’s smart reuse allows them to essentially hide what could be simple repaints with other lines. She’s using the top half of Lady Jaye and the lower half of the Snake Eyes Origin Scarlett figure. She’s got a light armor chest plate along with a semi-standard classic harness setup like Grunt with gear and the knife sheath. Shooter has very short sleeves and gloves with trigger hands.

Her belt looks classic while having pouches presumably to store some meal rations while she’s awaiting her target. She’s also rocking some thigh pads with a cool layered shell pattern. The right leg also has a harness for Shooter’s smaller pistol.

She’s got the typical knee pads and bulkier material around her ankles leading to her unlaced, semi-flared sneakers. I dig that touch as it adds a little more character to her.

Shooter is packed with her hair sculpt that includes the gas mask that covers her face.

Her head sculpt is flawless, just really exceptionally done conveying a focused soldier ready to take out some Cobras. You’ll have to look a little close, but she does have the signature small turtleneck collar of all the OG13 14.

Paint: Since Shooter operated in her lone mission at night, her rocking a primarily all-black base attire is fine.

There’s more than enough green/grey accents to avoid any confusion with Snake Eyes, who keeps the monopoly on all black outfits.

The linework on the thigh panels and the lining around the chest armor requires the steadiest hand. Besides some very minor overspray that’s more me looking for flaws than a problem, the paint is strongly applied. I love her tattoo with the arrow shooting through a snake.

She’s also got a very cool tattoo of an arrow going through a snake to literally show the Joe vs. Cobra conflict.

Hasbro did masterful work with Shooter’s eye shadow, which helps make her eyes pop without making her look like she’s ready for a night out.

I do wish Hasbro could have splashed a little more love on her sneakers as even in Night Force mode, I like the idea of her bringing some cool footwear out on the battlefield.

Scale:  Shooter’s card art says she’s 5’9″ so she’s not short, but also still looking up at most Joes.

Articulation: Shooter is the team’s long-range sniper so hitting effective sniper position poses is essential for her.

She can hit all kinds of fun sniper shots as well as more up close and personal attacks.

Shooter has:

• head
• neck
• shoulders (butterfly)
• elbow (double-jointed)
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• mid-torso
• torso
• waist
• hips (ball-jointed)
• drop down hips
• knees (double-jointed)
• ankles

Accessories: Shooter doesn’t get the same massive rollout of accessories as the other Joes.

She does have one of the larger guns of any of peers though with a massive sniper rifle. It’s nearly her height, but Hasbro didn’t skimp on the detailing with an impressive amount of paneling and mechanics to it.

You can also plug the rifle on her back so she can effectively walk around with all of her gear.

Shooter has a slightly curved knife, which is probably just as useful in clearing her sniper scope as it is for slashing a Cobra’s throat.

Her smaller pistol looks like it packs a punch even at its smaller size. It also has some fantastic sculpting detail.

To mix up her presentation as you’d like, Shooter comes with three hairstyles. The one with the small hair strands on either side of her face is my favorite.

The second is one with some of her hair braided.

There’s some nice colorwork with some lighter brown in the three hair sculpts, providing some nice small aspects to show more of her personality.

And of course, you can store all of her gear in the handy footlocker.

Worth It?  For $25, Hasbro gives us a basically new Joe and brings back its innovative hair swap technique to provide two additional portraits. She’s not overflowing with accessories like some other Joes, but I don’t hate the value for what I’m paying.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

I wouldn’t mind if Shooter had a few more weapons, but I love the display options at work with her. And it’s very nice to add a “new” character into the line.

Where to get it?  Shooter is still available at Walmart and Pulse might restock her eventually.

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