One of the great things about the classic ARAH line, and a strength that I'm surprised Hasbro has never really leaned into, was its diversity. And not only in ethnicity but in gender as well. There was one female Joe or Cobra for every one of the classic years (1982-87) which might not sound like a lot, but it's extraordinary for an 80s male action toy brand. Most contemporary lines had one or none, and a lot of cartoon rosters ended up missing their female teammate when it came to the toy aisles. In 2024 (the last year the data set wasn't contaminated by a drunk with a Knights Templar chest tattoo) women accounted for 17.9% of active duty military, so if you want your shelf demographics to match America's modern military, pre-purges, roughly one in six of your Joes should be a woman. Even with the better than average start, you're gonna need some reinforcements.
Kestrel comes to us from 5x5 Toys (an expression I learned from Faith on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and is one of two women in the initial assortment of Delta-17, the other being enemy commander Death Sparrow. In the fiction she's a Polish soldier who hooked up with the American Delta-17 unit while foiling one of Death Sparrow's operations. Generally this line seems more grounded than Operation: Recall, aside from the obligatory sword guy and the evil techno-samurai. For her part, Kestrel looks like a pretty basic soldier, dressed in a yellow-green uniform with darker green webgear and a blue beret. Her brown hair is pulled back into a tight bun. She's got one eyebrow cocked and a regulation-defying red lip atop a confident smirk. She exudes confidence, poise, and a desire to prove that she's better at this job than you are. In a Joe context, given her bird of prey-themed code name, she probably is. Make her be Hawk's niece or daughter, eager to prove herself worthy. Or Falcon's sister or cousin, eager to smack him upside the head.
The plastic is nice and dense and feels comparable to a 90s figure. It does have that shine to it that bothers some people. She's mostly molded in color, including her skin--Death Sparrow has painted flesh, and the difference is what led me to choosing Kestrel over her. The figure moves very well. Her wrists are maybe the tiniest bit sticky but nowhere near needing freezer time.She can aim her rifle with its attached grenade launcher (she's a grenadier, which incidentally was my university mascot) very convincingly. She also includes a combat knife with an intricately molded serrated edge. The knife fits into a slot on her compact green backpack somewhat loosely, so don't store it there if she's going to be packed away. The figure can also hold her backpack by the loop which is kind of a neat touch. Finally, she includes a Delta-17 logo base. Most of these third party figures include bases with a wider footprint than a standard Joe base, which I'm finding I kind of prefer. Half the time your figures end up not centered on the standard base, and if that kind of thing aggravates you then you're in the right place.
I really dig Kestrel. She's simple, she's grounded, but you need those kinds of characters in your Joeverse or else it's all ninjas and laser troopers and Fatal Fluffies. I could see using her as a main character or a squad leader were I still possessed of a childlike imagination. With these kinds of lines the main factor is if the designs appeal to you, but that doesn't mean anything unless the fundamentals are sound. They are. So take a look and see if you like 'em. Besides the women, I also vibe with Rooster (who looks like the Joes' Hit and Run and The Corps' Whispering Willie tossed in a blender) and Preacher (whose code name and visible cross necklace makes me see him as the Army's most badass chaplain). Maybe we'll look at them one day.
