Right around 2002 was when I started collecting toys as an adult. I had just moved to a new city, had adult income for the first time ever, and was feeling super nostalgic about my youth. I started with a goal to get every female G.I.Joe ever. The only vintage one I still owned at the time was Baroness, and she was always my favorite character. The modern Valor vs Venom style G.I.Joes at the time were not very appealing to me, but it wasn't long until I realized that there was a steady flow of vintage-styled figures as convention exclusives and various collector packs. Later that year was a convention exclusive Crimson Strike Team set featuring red deco'd vintage re-releases of Baroness, Xamot, Tomax, and a dozen Vipers. I had never considered a Crimson Baroness before but I instantly loved it. Apparently everyone else did too, because every 3-4 years thereafter, we got another red Baroness. This Classified 6-7" scale version was part of the SDCC 2023 set with the Crimson Twins. Let's check her out below!
The packaging looks like an armored briefcase. Inside the lid shows an image of a screen with Baroness and the Crimson Twins yelling into the lens over a briefcase full of gold bars. The gold bars are printed on a removeable sheet of paperboard which, when lifted, exposes the three figures in separate compartments with individual boxes of accessories below each.
Baroness comes with three heads, two hairpieces, two glasses, two uzi's, two small handguns, two machettes, two red cylinders (ammo clips? batons? explosives?), a coiled snake weapon, and a figure stand.
With three faces, two hairpieces, and two pairs of glasses, Baroness has 14 different potential looks to display.
Time for some Group and Comparison Pics!
Here are the members of the Crimson Strike Team box together: Xamot, Baroness, and Tomax.
And here is Baroness with the recent Female Crimson Guard figure. It's amazing how much the female body sculpt has improved in this line since the Baroness body was first made (2020). The newer figures are taller, sturdier, and have a much more natural physique with more curves and musculature.
And here is Baroness with her Vintage Card release (2022) and her original C.O.I.L. release (2020).
They all share the same body, but the Crimson Baroness face is larger and more rounded, where the others are smaller and more angular.
Cheers!
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