The 2011 SDCC Hasbro selection was great and featured Zarana in two styles including the vintage theme of pink and blue and the “Cold Slither” version in mostly black with black hair. The sister of Dreadnok Zartan, Zarana was a favorite of both boys and girls alike in the 80’s.

The vintage action figure featured a color changing plastic that when in the sun or heat as it was, the skin tone would change to blue-ish—it looked cooler in the commercials!
Zarana was very much a biker-babe and depicted as Australian in the cartoons. A sign of the times, Zarana wore a torn up hot pink top and torn jeans with boots. Her hair was red with a Mohawk of a separate piece of red plastic that could probably be pulled off (never tried it). There were a pair of variants in the head of Zarana, the first on the left I refer to as “Ugly” and the one on the right which is rarer referred to in the collectors circles as “with earrings.”
Zarana’s weapons consisted of a buzz-saw that appeared to be a rifle and a red backpack with some sculpted detail. The file card had a great description and as always the character art was awesome.

The SDCC Zarana has a similar appearance to the vintage; however, the detail is far superior from head to toe.

The package resembles the vintage and the bubble houses the figure well. The figure came with an official Star Case to protect the piece.

The back of the package gives a section of comic art on the characters first appearance and a file card that is not as good as the vintage, however the resemblance is very close—realistically, if you read both file cards, the vintage will easily trump the modern for how interesting and fun it is to read.

The figure is the attraction here though, the head detail is just amazing and Zarana features pink-ish hair with a yellow (Manic Panic anyone)? Mohawk—something a true punk would have. The outfit resembles the vintage except for the modern details and color washes.

Included with Zarana is a figure stand, her buzz-saw rifle and instead of a red backpack, she includes what appears to be her “mate” Ripper’s rifle with nasty bayonet and she also includes a gold dagger which she may or may not have “lifted” from Serpentor while he wasn’t looking!

This Zarana does not change color in the sun, but if anything, at least the character exists in figure form.

Zarana is a great piece of G.I. Joe history, a great character and a perfect addition to any Joe fans collection.

Click all photos to enlarge!

GRADE: A (For SDCC Zarana)

The vintage figures are simply just cool!

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