Digimon - SAKUYAMAN!

Digimon: Digital Monsters Season 3 - 6" Digi-Warriors - Sakuyaman - Bandai 2001

This figure has been a holy grail of mine for many years. She is one of the scarce female characters in the 6" line of original Digimon characters from Bandai. She's a popular character and it's almost impossible to find her complete for under $100. Technically, she is a genderless being, but the genders in this franchise aren't exactly subtle. My favorite thing about her is the fox/kitsune motif to her design. Beyond her fox armor and belt buckle, her characters has four tubes attached to her belt (unseen on this figure) that contain four Kuda-gitsune spirits (aka Tube Foxes) representing the elements of Fire, Water, Wind, and Thunder. These colorful fox spirits wrap around her from four directions and make the figure look super awesome. Coincidentally, these fox spirits are the missing culprits of the "incomplete" figures you see all over eBay. I picked up my Sakuyamon loose, and the fixes seem pretty firmly attached (except for the yellow one that pops off), but my previous owner might have glued them for safety.

G.I.Joe Classified - BLUE NINJA!

G.I.Joe Classified Series (6" Line) #51 - Blue Ninjas 2-Pack - Hasbro 2023

The G.I.Joe Classified line has taken an interesting turn recently by offering original characters (or at least original versions of characters). With a seemingly endless supply of fodder from the original cartoon and toyline, I'm surprised Hasbro is already going off-script. The first inkling of this new direction was when the female H.I.S.S. Gunner was announced as a stretch goal in the 2022 G.I.Joe Haslab campaign. (Female infantry were historically rare). I was ecstatic but assumed it would be a one-time thing. But since then we've seen a 2-Pack of female Cobra Troopers and this Cobra Blue Ninjas set. What I especially love about this Ninja set is the subtle homage to Vypra, the Jinx repaint that had several releases between 1998 and 2015. This Blue Ninja seems to specifically reference the 2015 Collector's Club figure (that's sadly absent from my collection).  She's the first female Classified figure that isn't an A-Lister, but now I'm excited for the potential of other obscure additions. Let's check her out below!