Zanya, Daughter of Zartan

Presenting Zanya, the Daughter of Zartan. She's one of the 7 Dreadnoks that come in the GI Joe Exclusive Action Figure 7 Figure Dreadnok boxed set that also includes Road Big, Zanzibar, Gnawhyde, Burn Out and Zandar (The man who wears pink).

Hot ain't she? Here's the creepy part, I think she's technically 14 or 15 years old. Creepy.

Anyway to the uninitiated, remember the Cobra Mercenary Master of Disguise, Zartan - AKA the Leader of the Dreadmoks, Killer of the Hard Master (Which created the really cool Snake Eyes versus Storm Shadow scenario), and the person who shot Sepentor in the eye ending the Cobra Civil war.

Zanya, is his teenage Daughter.


Zanya was the product of a love affair between Zartan and an un-named woman in Chicago. She never grew up knowing who her father was and Zartan never knew that the woman had conceived. At age 9, Zanya started lashing out at the world, what with having to live in a rough part of Chicago with an angry, bitter mother and her abusive boyfriend. It was at this age that she found out who her father really was.

At the age of 14, her mother caught her trying to set fire to her bed. Her mother tried to beat her, a match fell to the floor and the next thing you know, mom and her boyfriend are barbecue and Zanya is off to find her father.

Zanya goes off with her boyfriend to live a life of crime where she finds out that she can pretty much beat up anybody - girls and boys. She auditions for the Dreadnoks and calls her dad out to fight. She beats him senseless but loses to the more experienced fighter who compliments her spirit. Zanya reveals that Zartan in her dad and earns the ire of her aunt, Zarana, who thinks Zanya is running a con - though later Zartan reveals that he does remember Chicago and that Zanya reminds him of a woman.

Zanya earns her place in the Dreadnoks by killing her boyfriend who was plotting to take out Zarana.



What's to like about Zanya, Daughter of Zartan?

The good-news is, Zanya is not a complete re-sculpt of her dear loving aunt Zarana. It's still Zarana's complete upper torso - down to the hands  that sadly lack the new GI Joe articulation.

But Zanya does come with a wonderful new metallic paint job on her shoulder Pauldrons, fishnet gloves. and Zartan's face on her tank-top. At the back of her tank-top are the words "For Life" - unfortunately I'm not sure what that's a reference to.

The two new things are Zanya's legs and face sculpt. Gotta love the piercings that she has - one over her right eye and another above her chin. And the lovely green dreadlocks that she has.

Zanya comes with an AK-47 and a 44 Magnum.

As you can see, Zanya can kneel and double-hand-hold her .44. Here's a closer look at her face and piercings and her back:

What's NOT to like about Zanya, Daughter of Zartan?

The biggest problem with Zanya is that her upper torso is a repaint of Zarana - so don't look for nice wrist articulation. And when you put the two side by side, you can see how obvious it is. In fact, maybe that's why Zarana doesn't like Zanya. 

Another problem is that she's really white. Zanya was depicted in the comic books as having a tan almost mulatto skin color. I wouldn't be surprised if her mother was African-American. I would love to re-paint her skin. 

And the last problem with Zanya is the lack of extra ammunition for the AK-47, nor a holster for the 44. 

Other than that, Zanya is a nice addition for any Dreadnok collection.

This particular Zanya was purchased loose from the Black-Market in Greenhills for PhP 400 (Roughly US$ 9.30). The GI Joe Exclusive Action Figure 7 Figure Dreadnok boxed set is available on Amazon for US$ 49.99 (Roughly PhP 2,149.57 plus shipping).