If you know me, you know that I wasn’t a fan of Ninjas taking over my GI JOE. But Ninjas were all the rage in the late 80s and into the 90s, and I was already getting out of GI JOE by the time of the invasion, so it wasn’t that big a deal to me. Of course, for a while Storm Shadow was the only token Ninja and I didn’t mind that. Indeed, I thought he was pretty damn cool in the cartoon and since I always regarded Snake Eyes as a Commando and not a Ninja (FIGHT ME!), Storm Shadow was a unique force to be reckoned with when playing with my figures. So let’s head back into Wave 3 of GI JOE Ultimates and check out Cobra’s specialty assassin!
In the third wave we were still getting the top slipcover as part of the packaging, but the box itself loses that metallic glossy finish from the earlier waves in exchange for a dull matte. The deco is done in a striking blue camo pattern with some weathering effect to simulate paint rubbing off steel and a bold crimson Cobra emblem front and center. The back panel has some shots of Storm Shadow from the cartoon and a little bio blurb. This is still a very nice presentation and it’s collector friendly too! But, the running changes here have convinced me to not keep the boxes for these figures. And my closets rejoiced!
Out of the box, Storm Shadow is a damn fine representation of what we got in the Sunbow cartoon. He’s dressed all in white, including white forearm bindings on his otherwise bare arms. He’s got a super crisp Cobra emblem stamped on the left side of his chest and black waist belt and black shoulder strap with an ornate silver buckle. The only thing about the costume here that I’ll nitpick is I think the tops of the sleeve cutouts should be flared out just a little more to hang over the tops of his shoulders. The shoulder strap secures the panoply of weapon storage on his back. This includes a quiver with three arrows, scabbards for his two swords, and his bow, which is secured around the quiver by the string. It doesn’t look like this gear is designed to come off, and I’m not going to risk trying, but it would have been nice to make it easily removable.
There are two silver shuriken sculpted into his belt and room to insert one of the three loose shuriken that come with the figure. I really love how they did this, as he was usually depicted with the shuriken tucked in there, but being able to have one removable is a nice little touch.
The head sculpt is about as simple as things get, and yet still a great recreation of his animated counterpart. The mask is all but featureless and cast in beautiful, pure white, just like the rest of the outfit. The cut out for the eyes shows some crisp printed facial features.
You also get an alternate head with a scuba mask. This was featured in the episode Excalibur in which Storm Shadow’s Rattler was shot down, forcing him to ditch it in a lake in Great Britain. He ejected underwater only to find the Lady of the Lake at the bottom and the legendary blade, Excalibur. Because that was just the sort of thing that could happen in any given episode of the GI JOE cartoon! Hell, it probably doesn’t even make the Top 20 of the Craziest Shit That Happened in GI JOE list. The head is a pretty cool option with a clear plastic shield over his face and a little breathing cylinder under the chin. Will I ever display the figure with it? Nope!
Articulation in this line has been a sticking point with many collectors, although I usually don’t mind the limitations. I did, however, expect to be really bothered about it with Storm Shadow, and in the end I both was and wasn’t. On the one hand, he’s a Ninja so the lack of superb agility is troublesome. On the other hand, I was pretty happy with some of the poses I was able to get him in. I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t have liked to see more range of motion in his arms at least, but I was still able to have a lot of fun with him. He comes with a lot of hands, including fists, chopping hands, a left hand for holding the bow and a right hand for knocking the arrow, gesturing hands, a left hand for holding a shuriken, and a pair of accessory gripping hands.
You also get a swap out right forearm, which has his wrappings partially removed to reveal his Arashikage tattoo. It’s a cool bonus, but I never really associated that tatt with his cartoon version. I’m also a little embarrassed to admit that I thought I got cheated out of his right accessory gripping hand, before realizing it was attached to this forearm! D’oh!
As an assassin, it’s only fair that Storm Shadow comes with a lot of weapons to do his job! Many of these are updates to the gear from the original Real American Hero figure, while others are added from the cartoon. Starting small, we already saw the shuriken, and those are followed up by a tanto knife. The shuriken specific left hand works really well to hold them, but if you want him to hold them in his right hand, the arrow knocking hand works well for that too by tucking it between the fingers. The tanto has a black hilt and silver painted blade. It looks great, but there’s nowhere for him to store it on his person when not wielding it.
The bow is cast in black plastic and has an actual string, which is a huge win in my book. I absolutely hate when these action figure bows get useless, chonky plastic “strings.” There are three pale gray arrows, which can all be stored in his quiver, and I was pleased that even with the limited range of motion in those elbows, I was still able to get him to knock the arrow and prepare to fire.
His twin swords match the tanto, with black hilts and silver painted blades. These fit very well in the scabbards on his back and he looks great wielding them!
And you can’t have Storm Shadow without a pair of nun-chucks. These are extremely cool in that they have an actual metal chain connecting them. Some loops on his belt to hold these would have been helpful, but if we’re going by cartoon accuracy, I think these pretty much just appeared out of thin air when he needed them.
Next up, you get a blue sniper rifle. I’m sure this was referenced in the cartoon or comic, but I can’t remember the specific instance. This is the one accessory where his articulation really lets me down, because he can’t really hold it like he’s going to fire it. I can’t say I was planning on displaying him with it anyway. The sculpt is pretty nice, but the bright blue is kind of weird.
And finally, Storm Shadow comes with Excalibur, from the previously mentioned titular episode. It’s a really nice recreation of the sword from the cartoon with a gold and bejeweled hilt and a sort of glowy pale blue blade. In the episode, Storm Shadow found that the sword cut through anything and even made a cool lightsaber sound when he swung it. Destro determined that the sword was invincible and wanted it for himself so badly, that he tried to kill Storm Shadow with a rocket launcher, but sneezed and missed. I’m not lying about any of this… watch the damn episode!
There’s no doubt that Classified Storm Shadow is the better Ninja figure when it comes to crazy poses, and it’s occurred to me that I still have to get around to showcasing that figure here. Maybe when I do, I’ll do a comparison. But, all in all, I was still really pleased with how much fun this guy turned out. His weapons are all well thought out, and he can carry several, albeit not all of them. But it’s the pitch-perfect cartoon aesthetic that really sells this figure to me, and I was happy with how well he could interact with most of his accessories, especially the bow. He’s a great addition to my Sunbow Cobra shelf! One Ninja is fine, but I’m prepared to leave it at that!