Ninja-Ku Storm Shadow (2008)
As an homage to an Argentinian figure I’ll probably never get my hands on, this was a welcome addition to the collection. You could say that this figure as well as the same year’s pilot Scarlett were Hasbro’s first forays into giving fans some some exclusive and elusive foreign variations of classic molds. The Collectors Club has since taken the ball and run with it, working in even more of the non-US figures into con sets since 2009.
I know I’m not the biggest supporter of what Hasbro attempted with the 25th anniversary line, but I am supportive of making new variants of old figures or also making never produced figures available to the general market. Now that this sort of thing seems mostly confined to the Collectors Club, whose premium prices aren’t within my budget, I am a little disappointed to not be able to obtain most of them at this time.
The file card makes a cursory attempt to reconcile the Ninja-Ku name, but it appears to me to be just a replacement for Arashikage. Is it an offshoot, or a sub-group or something? It would seem a simple thing to just explain it a bit more. The shoehorning of Stormy into this name doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, and I can only assume that the reason was to have a big name character in an assortment. It would have been even cooler to have this figure in a darker skin tone like the original. In the end however, I must say that Storm Shadow looks pretty slick in black and gold.
So let’s see, we’ve gotten this mold in white, red, blue, and black. If only Hasbro would have found a way to work in yellow and pink versions, I could have finally built my Arashikage Power Ranger team.
One of the things that drives me crazy about modern era Joes is the rounded tips of every bladed accessory.
Did too many kids in the 80s and 90s poke rack others eyes out with pointed Joe sword accessories?!
The backpacks and most other modern accessories are way more detailed and wonderful, for example if you compare the 1983 torpedo backpack to the ME one, there’s no comparison.
He was a great idea like Pilot Scarlett. why Hasbro did not call her simply Glenda!?
While I appreciate that they did something different with it, I never really bit on this version of Stormy because I was experience Storm Shadow burnout by this point. That said, the black looks slick (and reminded me of one of the covers of the original Joe run where Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes teamed up to break into Cobra Island after learning the identity of the Hard Master’s killer…at least in the trade paper reprint, on the cover both Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes are wearing black). But I’ve also gotta say, you’re a pretty pimpin’ ninja if you’re running around with gold-bladed swords…and not that bright considering how malleable gold is. đŸ˜‰
I still want to get this figure, especially two of them. One of them will donate their upper left leg to this Night Force Tripwire custom I’m working on.
Rob, did you hit the nail on the head with your observation about the con exclusives! As much as I love this hobby, there is a “joe elite” that shall go nameless that has unlimited acsess to Joe exclusives/prototypes/unreleased figures, and then brags about it.
The final straw for me was this year’s con sets, with Darklon and Annhilators thrown in for good measures along with the Oktober Guard and Voltar. That’s why I’ve pretty much given up on Moderen Joe collecting. All the figures that old time Joe fans want are riduculously priced exclusives.
Being a completist now is a richer person’s hobby. One reason I really don’t collect Modern stuff. As kids we read “collect them all”, which was often not possible for most of us. As adults, we find that is still a difficult task.
I don’t see this as much in Star Wars collecting. Not familiar with other collecting communties.
I went through this lot buying spree on ebay when I only wanted 25th anniv ninjas and ended up with a couple of these mint, I like em but have a few loose in white and blue. I could see some Sub Zero’s made from this, good figure