Shadow Tracker (2011)

The Predator homage came full circle with Shadow Tracker. With Jesse Ventura (I mean Recondo) and Sonny Landham (I mean Spirit), already in the line, all we needed was an Arnold figure, which almost came to us in the cancelled Joe-based Jurassic Park line. Wanna complete the Predator Joe team? Go hit up eBay for one, or ask your favorite Chinese connection, if you’re the hooked-up type (which I’m not, so pick one up for me, willya?).

Shadow Tracker is one of the baddest looking Cobras to come along in a while, and it was an agonizing wait from the time he was first shown to the time he was on shelves. I never saw him on shelves, by the way, and lucked out in getting him during one of the ten seconds that he showed up at Amazon.com.

The figure is impressive even without the cool mystery man aspect. Early samples appeared to feature a removable mask, and lurking under it was a creepy skull face. That’s the kind of total weirdness I can really get into, and it’s unfortunate that the final figure’s mask is glued on. I suppose it can be removed, but probably not without destroying what’s underneath.

I can also appreciate the color, especially the yellow on the jacket. Yeah, that won’t blend in to the jungle, but who cares? And the pants–I haven’t said this in a while but–nice pants. Like many other recent figures, he’s absolutely loaded with gear, some of which is quite playable, like the bow with removable arrow and the capture net.

Shadow Tracker really was worth the wait and the pain of tracking down. His mysterious look, a load of great accessories, and even some splashes of color came together to create one of the standout figures of the Pursuit of Cobra line.