GI Joe Jodie "Shooter" Craig Review

Jodie "Shooter" Craig

Welcome to a review on the 14th original GI Joe member Jodie "Shooter" Craig.

In 1982 Marvel released the GI Joe A Real American Hero Comic book with 13 original GI Joe characters: Hawk, Snake-Eyes, Scarlett, Stalker, Zap, Rock & Roll, Short-Fuze, Flash, Grand Slam, Clutch, Grunt, Breaker & Steeler. However a 14th GI Joe Member is mentioned in a panel listing the 13 original Joes - Shooter (Which was a joke/tribute to Marvel then Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter).

However that character's face was blocked out and "Shooter" would remain in the shadows for decades until Devil's Due Comic's GI Joe Declassified # 1 in 2006 which revealed Shooter to be a an attractive NCO assigned to the Chaplain's Motor Pool who was secretly a sniper assigned to the GI Joes.

Ten years after that, and she's finally an action figure.

MORE AFTER THE JUMP

Shooter's first appearance

Jodie "Shooter" Craig

There is some argument as to whether or not she was ever really a Joe. Her role was to act as the silent unsung killer that protects the Joes in the field and in the Joe motorpool - the ultimate failsafe - which is why she technically was not a Joe. Jodie "Shooter" Craig's blister card reads:

FILE NAME: Craig, Jodie F.

SN: 012-07-JF70

Primary Military Specialty: Infantry

Secondary Military Specialty: Chaplain's Assistant

Birthplace: Montclair, New Jersey

Grade: E-7 (Sergeant First Class)

"Pulling the trigger is the next to last thing Jodie "Shooter" Craig does as an expert marksman First, she might take days to move into a shooting position, progressing by inches. Then she remains motionless in the hide, waiting for the target to appear. Once the target is acquired, she uses hard-won skills and esoteric knowledge to judge wind deflection and bullet drop before exercising precise breathing controll prior to trigger break. The last thing she does is the hardest - getting away." 

Interestingly enough, that's exactly how she died. Jodie "Shooter" Craig was killed-in-combat after she decided to expose her position in order to save some civilians from COBRA.

It's a wonder though how she never ran into Lowlight or why Lowlight never became nothing more than a final solution as well. 

Shooter and Lowlight

Jodie "Shooter" Craig

WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE ABOUT THE GI JOE JODIE SHOOTER CRAIG ACTION FIGURE?

FIRST: Shooter is a poorly made action figure. Why:

a) She carries a big, heavy weapon but comes with a soft pair of hands that prevents her from properly holding it. 

b) She doesn't have the new GI Joe wrists would have helped with the handling of her primary weapon. 

And we had such high expectations for her. 

As it is, she can barely use her own rifle - which is waaaay too big for her anyway.

SECOND: Just like lowlight, she comes with a flimsy rifle that hypes the fact that it can be disassembled, packed and re-assembled. It was a challenge in patience to have her pose with it.

Here's that case that she has opened up. Yes the rifle looks great disassembled, but note that there's no space for the bi-pod and the bi-pod does not fold into storage.

ERRATUM: A friend of ours, Aries, was kind enough to point out that the bipod can be inserted in the upper right hand corner of the carry-case. We dismissed this early on since we didn't think the bipod could bend 90 degrees. We'll re-shoot it and show it here soon.

Another problem with the rifle - at least our rifle - is that the scope won't attach properly with the rifle. For it to fit, we'd have to shave off a portion of the mounting stud for it to align properly:

Here's Shooter's rifle in comparison to Low-Light's original Cheytac:

Here's Shooter's rifle with Low-Light's 3rd Party Cheytac:

Here's Shooter's rifle with Snowjob's sniper rifle:

Eventually we decided that it would be best to make the scope and the stock's connection to the rifle permanent via glue. 

Eventually we decided upon switching out her rifle for Low-Light's 3rd party Cheytac. 

Yes the GI Joe Jodie "Shooter" Craig action figure can kneel! Yay for that! Note though that she does not have the articulation required to stare down the scope of her rifle - and the rifle will probably rip her shoulder off when she fires it - but she doesn't have the articulation to fire it from a prone position either. 

Speaking of her bag, it's hardly.... tactical. Shooter is dressed for infiltration, but that bulky case is not something you want chugging around when you're trying to "inch" into position. Lowlight's softer case seems more practical:

Deadest member of the GI Joe Wolf Squad

WHAT'S TO LIKE ABOUT THE GI JOE JODIE SHOOTER CRAIG ACTION FIGURE?

FIRST: There are two small details that we like about the GI Joe Jodie "Shooter" Craig action figure. First is the nice GI Joe "Wolf Squad" logo on her left shoulder, and; how her rifle also has the gray and blue colors of "Wolf Squad."

Unfortunately she's deader than a dead-bolt so we wonder why Hasbro bothered assigning the logo to someone who could not wear it for long.

SECOND: Shooter's articulation is actually quite good when it comes to her using her knife:

THIRD: And she's also wonderful with her pistol:

The GI Joe Jodie "Shooter" Craig is part of the 3-pack G.I. Joe, 50th Anniversary, Special Forces Action Figure Set that includes Outback and Falcon. It's available on Amazon for US$ 32.00 (PhP 1,600) plus shipping.

Jodie "Shooter" Craig