Night Creeper (2004)
Here’s a Night Creeper whose look measures up to his name and abilities. Ever since the original, we’ve been led to believe that these guys are high tech infiltration ninjas. I could see the ninja aspect in the 1990 mold, but aside from the helmet, not so much the high tech. This one looks much more like it fits the file card’s description.
This well-traveled mold showed up first in Spy Troops, and has made four other appearances since. It’s been in the regular line three times, once as a discount store repaint, and even showed up as a driver in the DTC series. This particular version is my favorite flavor, with a subdued, yet interesting color scheme. The armored bits complement the uniform underneath well, and the darker straps provide a little needed contrast.
The figure has the long limbs and short torso problem that was prevalent during part of the relaunch era, but I can look past it thanks to sleek design and extra articulation. The strange proportions I think work for this version of the Night Creeper, giving it a kind of inhuman serpentine quality. The unearthly, glowing eyes add to the mysteriousness of the figure. I’m surprised they didn’t make it one of Mindbender’s venomized troops. Having a little snake DNA mixed into this guy would have made perfect sense. Overall, a fantastic and memorable design.
It’s kind of funny, his color scheme almost matches that of the V1 Night-Viper.
I think I’ve found a means to justify all those color variations. Way I see it is, each color represents a different division of the Creepers that operate in certain environments:
-The original figures from 1990–and thus their 25th Anniversary counterparts–are the basic entry-level Creepers.
-The Ninja Force/Shadow Ninjas versions are the Elite, more upper-division branch.
-The 1998 versions of course are the polar ops division.
-The 2004 Urban Division 6-pack figure and the 2009 ROC Two-pack version represent the urban ops Creepers.
-The 2003 Spy Troops versions are the aquatic branch (hence the scuba gear).
-The gray figures from 2004 (the one that came with Link V1) are the night ops Creepers.
-The green ones from the two-pack with the Ninja Trooper are the jungle-ops Creepers.
-The blue and gold ones are the Night Creeper honor guard.
-And finally, the red ones from the DTC HISS tank are the vehicle specialists–though they are motorcycle drivers, not tank drivers.
I dunno, with that super squat torso how is his spine even long enough to support his long spindly ninja kicking legs?
I think i like this version of him the best.
There seem to be enough Night creepers for them to start their own rival faction with
There is no way on earth i’m ever going to watch Night of the creepers ever again.
@Skymate
The DIC cartoon episode where Cobra uses a bunch of undead ninjas?
Proportion issues aside, I loved this particular version of the Night Creeper. The glowing eyes really sold it for me, though not as a venomization thing but as really high-tech night vision capabilities. I usually ditched the sword and had them as a modern stand in for Night-Vipers if I needed them. And that added articulation in the wrists and ankles (as I recall, ankle joints were still pretty uncommon at this point in Joe history) made me like him even more since I could coax more cool poses out of him. Every Joe ninja should look to this Night Creeper mold as to where their articulation should be.
@Acer Yeah thats the one. Thing that really irritated me the most about it was that there wasnt anything about undead mystic Tiawanese ninjas written on the V1 nightcreepers card.
Give me the Greenhouse effect any day over that
The original Night Creepers were interesting but this guy does look more “tech” than his predecessors. I found out that green made a nice color for Cobras after the ’89 Night-Viper debuted and it works well here again. He’s also got a cool, Super Villain-like vibe going for him.
Bad mold!
So he’s got some problems…still, great headsculpt and paint job on the face, decent colors, the forearm armor and wrist-swivels are really effective, he’s a cool figure. I think this design for the Night Creepers is probably the best, the most tech-ninja-like. The others are just weird.
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