Sure, it's never easy having form-fitting battle gear being assembled on your person. But for "G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra" star Rachel Nichols says it was a lot easier than becoming the scantily clad green hottie, Gaila, in "Star Trek" earlier this summer.

"For 'Star Trek' on the full-body days, makeup took about six to seven hours because it was air-brushed," Nichols said in a recent @ The Movies interview. "It was paint, layer, paint, layer, layer, freckles, layer, paint -- it was a very lengthy process and the removal of it was really grim. But being green was so cool and hysterical, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

On the flip side, getting suited up for "G.I. Joe" as the famed heroine Scarlett took about 15 minutes at a time. And while it wasn't as involved as it was becoming Gaila, Nichols said that it was still quite an elaborate process.

"I had to lay on the floor flat and have two dressers assemble the suit. They had to roll skin-tight boots up the leg and then I had to stand up to push the arms of the suit top before they zipped me up in the back. And that was just the under-layer,"

Besides, the second layer of the costume had a unique feature which Nichols adopted a fun name for.

"The over-layer was this vest with 'Robo-Boobs,' as I called them, that had to be thrown over the front," laughed Nichols.

In the film, which opens nationwide on Friday, Nichols' character, Scarlett, is integral part of an elite military team that operates under the code name G.I. Joe. Made up of team members that include Duke (Channing Tatum), Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) and Snake Eyes, G.I. Joe uses the latest in high-tech spy equipment to battle a corrupt arms dealer named Destro and the terrorist organization Cobra, which is becoming a growing threat to world peace.

Although Scarlett's weapon of expertise is a high-tech crossbow, she's also versed in hand-to-hand combat, which comes in handy in the hotly anticipated showdown throw-down between her and the villainous spy The Baroness (Sienna Miller).

"We had a hysterical time doing it," Nichols said, laughing. "They trained up properly, which was good, because learning a fight scene is like learning a dance. You have to learn each move and turn each one of those moves into this one big, long, fluid moment. But there were times when we ended up rolling over each others heads and accidentally punching and kicking each other in the head."

Despite the accidental punches and kicks, the moves were by no means unintentional. Nichols said that director Stephen Sommers had designed for her and Miller that would transcend any on-screen girl fights that preceded them.

"Stephen was excited because he didn't want it to be just a girl-fight. He wanted it to be brutal, grim and dark," Nichols said. "I think we were pretty successful because it's a pretty bad-a-- fight."

Pondering a real fight between her and the 5-foot 5-inch Miller in real-life, the 5-foot 10-inch Nichols isn't sure of her chances, despite the obvious height advantage.

"Originally I might have gone with me, but she's a scrappy one, that Sienna," Nichols said, laughing. "She might wop a punch and really surprise me. I feel like I should vote for myself because after all, she plays evil and I play good."

Nichols, 29, is thrilled over scenes like the confrontation between Scarlett and Baroness, because it carries on the tradition of the strong female characters first created as Hasbro action figures -- and then fully realized in comic book and animated form -- in the 1980s.

"Scarlett to me is extraordinary because she's extremely intelligent, and she was raised in this environment where all of the guys are like brothers to her. She gets to compete with them and win," Nichols beamed. "She has this sweet and innocent soft side, too, which we get to see when Ripcord is introduced because he treats her differently than any guy has ever treated her in her entire life. The character's great because you get to see two sides -- a highly trained, finely tuned machine, and this younger type of girly thing. I thought she was really fascinating."

With any luck, Nichols will get a chance to build on the character with a "G.I. Joe" sequel. And, despite the painstaking paint job it takes to bring her to life in the "Star Trek" universe, Nichols said she'd love to go green again in the film's announced sequel.

"I'm not sure if they're going to bring Gaila back or not, but I think she should because Kirk kind of gave her the shaft there, I think, so she needs to be the girl that comes back and breaks her heart," Nichols quipped. "I've signed on to do 'G.I. Joe' sequels so provided it does well and people like it we'll get to make more."