YOJOE.COM (http://www.yojoe.com/archive/unproduced/prototype10.shtml)

Does anybody have any more information on this? Like who the artist is, who currently has the art, are there higher resolution pictures, etc? I'd like to know as much about this as possible, but more specifically get better pictures of it. I want to add it to my to-do list.

The image came from Corey Stinson's collection. He's the guy that runs Smalljoes. Check with him.

While that image did come from Corey Stinson, it's actually from the 1994 30th Salute trading card set - YOJOE.COM | Comic Images 30th Salute Trading Cards (1994) (http://www.yojoe.com/archive/tradingcards/30th.shtml)

Who actually owns the art is unknown - Hasbro could still have it, for all we know. There's also the off-chance James DeSimone could have it as he helped out with the trading card set. I'm inclined to think his contributions were more on the 12" stuff, though.

I'm going to have to track down the card and see how the image quality is on it and get some high res pictures to better see the details.

You could say that the concept was eventually realized with the 2007 convention Carla "Doc" Greer figure.

You could say that the concept was eventually realized with the 2007 convention Carla "Doc" Greer figure.

Yeah, they finally released a black female figure.

This is pure speculation and most likely not true. If you look at the symbol on the arm it almost looks like a Z Force logo. She's also in light green and red which are Z Force colors. The Action Force figures were straight repaints of GI Joe and this figure looks like it was meant to be a repaint of the '85 Lady Jaye. A few details are off like the mechanics utility belt and the padded shoulders, but overall it looks a lot like Lady Jaye. An unproduced Z Force figure perhaps?

When I was starting a fanfic for G.I.Joe (it's still a work in progress) I set it in the 1986 time frame and the main character is a Black Female Officer and the main secondary character is a white female noncom If any of the customizers want to try and customize them for me I'll send descriptions of what I picture their uniforms looking like.

The info on the back of the card, assuming it is at all accurate, says towards the the end of the line they were going to introduce a black female character but Hasbro ultimately decided that female figures were not good for sales. The art does very closely resemble LJ which given Hasbro business model of repaints late in the line does make a lot since, especially given the double use of the LJ mold in 97.

End of the line? Does the actual card say that? I assumed the quote here at yojoe is the card text, which means the character was planned for around the time the cartoon was popular.

"Hasbro" in the quote means the money people, the suits. According to an old interview with Kirk Bozigian, he said toy team would pitch new female characters every year and get shot down by the higher ups (after 1987) until ninja force Scarlett anyway. Females were the worst sellers and the bean counters trump the designers.

My mistake, it does say when they cartoon was popular. It was due to the popularity of female characters in the cartoon especially LJ, that is why this figure was planned. Then Hasbro decided "female character were bad business."

Thanks to real1180 for the card. Here are higher res pictures of it.