As a kid I was always mimicking the cartoon characters I idolized. It wasn't necessarily blatant or intentional. I wouldn't hold a stick aloft and shout "By the Honor of Grayskull" or anything so obvious. In fact, I think it was largely subconscious. I went through a phase where I couldn't pass a broomstick without performing some type of acrobatic vault. I realize as an adult I was mimicking Diana from Dungeons & Dragons. I once leapt off a dresser fully expecting to glide across the room to my bed a'la Princess Peach in Mario II (I was on crutches for months), and most disturbing to my young classmates, I went though a phase in 1987 where I chased kids around the playground with worms and slugs acting out all my Pythona fantasies. The opening sequence of G.I.Joe the Movie (1987) features the mysterious Pythona stealthily infiltrating the Cobra Terror Drome with a menagerie of gross biological weapons: electric eels, shellfish, tentacled larvae-like things, exploding spores, and her own acid-tipped claws.
As nerdy nature kid who collected dead bugs and made Ewok-style stick weapons every weekend, I was obsessed. Pythona's lack of merchandising has been a very sad thing for me. There was a 2016 Collector's Club figure that was unfortunately out of my reach for many years. (I eventually got her loose and incomplete). But then 2025 rolled around and gave us two glorious Pythona figures in one week. First, a perfectly retro Reaction+ figure from Super7 arrived on Monday, and then on Thursday I picked up this gritty modern G.I.Joe Classified figure at NYCC. I think she's glorious. Let's check out the G.I.Joe Classified Pythona below!
Pythona comes with two heads and three sets of hands (two of which are displaying her acid claws).
She also comes with five accessories of her various biological creature weapons.
And finally, she comes with two ponytails, two serpent discs, and the large pink gemstone she used to bribe the Dreadnoks.
Here is her body unadorned.
If you haven't read any of it yet, Pythona is a major supporting character in the current Void Rivals series from Image Comics' Energon Universe. Written by Robert Kirkman (Walking Dead, Invincible). The story also features an obscure/forgotten Transformers character who has been a favorite of mine for decades. Such a good book.
My brother knows my obsession with Pythona and sent me these early Pythona design concepts this Summer from an art book he had just purchased.
Time for some Group and Comparison Pics!
Here are the three offical Pythona toys so far: Super7 ReAction+ (2025), G.I.Joe Classified (2025), and G.I.Joe Collector's Club (2016) (with a replacement cape).
And here is my movie assortment so far: Pythona, Nemesis Immortal (Nemesis Enforcer), and "Once a Man" Cobra Commander. I sadly never picked up Serpentor. I hope he will be re-released on a vintage card someday.
Cheers!
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