G.I. Joe 2011 SDCC Exclusive: Zarana Sister to Zartan

Presenting the SDCC 2011 Exclusive Zarana: the younger sister of Zartan and older sister to Zandar.

There's a lot more to Zarana than meets the eye. A lot of people only see her as the female version of Zartan  or as the Dreadnok's token greedy, ambitious short-tempered bad-ass female - which is definitely easy to understand given that she is notoriously short-tempered - which unfortunately at one time led to her being sent to the Cobra dungeon.

But if you've read the Marvel comic book series, you'll actually see that naturally auburn hair colored Zarana is more than a mistress of disguise, she actually at one time rose to the become the second in command of Cobra Commander and more than once has she displayed a keen tactical intellect fully utilizing her natural ability to read and mimic other people's personalities - at one time, to turn on fellow Dreadnok Thrasher's berserker rage, she punches his broken arm.



SDCC 2011 Zarana's Blister card says that her real name and birthplace is classified and that her military specialties are Intelligence and Sabotage. It reads "Zarana is an astounding mimic and a quick study. She's also rude, tight-fisted and generally mean. She needs only moments of observation before she can assume a subject's body language and voice characteristics down to the smallest detail. While her brother Zartan makes his impersonations work with exact physical resemblance, Zarana becomes her subject, going as far as trying to think like him or her. "I wish there were two of you. Then I could knock your heads together and really get your attention.""

What's to like about the 2011 SDCC Zarana?

I'll have to go and say the DETAIL! Hasbro really went out of it's way to make looking bad really good and I give them two-thumbs up for that. If this Zarana was a real person, her facial detail and body sculpt - look at those abs - would make every red-blooded male look and drool, then avert their eyes and hope she didn't notice that you were looking when she looks at you. Her face is absolutely seething with... well it's a look that says "You better not want to F with me because I will F you up!" Hasbro made her to be one scary confident woman.

Her accouterments are also finely detailed as can be seen in these pictures:

Note how Hasbro bothered to give the SDCC 2011 Zarana spurs! They also not just add six full layers to her shoulder pauldrons, they added studs to each individual chevron. This stud detailing continues on to her belt. Hasbro even bothered to give the SDCC 2011 Zarana a finely carved knife - and just look at the detailing on that sheath. The SDCC 2011 Zarana is definitely one fine looking biker chick.

What's NOT to like about the 2011 SDCC Zarana?

I only have three complaints about Zarana really:

• It would have been nice if they gave the 2011 SDCC Zarana the new G.I. Joe wrists. I mean they came this far didn't they?
• And what's up with those weapons? The 2011 SDCC Zarana come with a very... unique shotgun that has a rotating cutter at the end, a scoped assault rifle with a huge slashing bayonet attached, and the aforementioned blade. 
• No extra ammunition, no backpacks, no other accessories.

End of the day though, this will go down as one of my favorite G.I. Joe pieces ever. The 2011 SDCC Exclusive Zarana is available on Amazon for US$ 34.99 (Around PhP 1,500 plus shipping). The black blouse variant sells for as much as US$ 60 on Amazon (PhP 2,580.00 plus shipping. I purchased this particular Zarana for PhP 1,200 (Aound US$ 27.90) on the black market in Greenhills. 

We'll close by taking a look at the blister card of Lady Jaye - because the two are like two sides of the same coin - from the Weather Dominator battle pack whose blister card reads: "Lady Jaye doesn't go in for that phony wig and rubber mask brand of disguise like those jokers on Mission Impossible. She becomes the subject: body language, subtle gesture, correct shading of dialect - the right look in the eye. Cloaked and sandaled, she can squat down with a basket of oranges in any Middle Eastern marketplace and blend in perfectly." I truly appreciate the irony at how close their blister cards are to each other.