Red Ninja (1993)
Ah yes, the Red Ninja. The cobra ninja cannon fodder that made their first appearance in the classic issue 21 of the Marvel Joe comic. I remember reading that issue and hoping I would see them in toy form some day. Little did I know that Hasbro would make that hope a reality with the 1993 Red Ninja fig–wait. What? This isn’t the comic’s original Red Ninja? What? You mean it’s just a shockingly-hued repaint of Ninja Force Dice? Oh. Crap.
That about sums up my disappointment with the figure’s name. The name, you ask? What about the shockingly neon figure and weapon? What about the fact that he’s the driver of one of the all-time flying rodent excrement crazy vehicles in the Joe line? What about the file card that reads like it was written by a staff writer from Cracked magazine?
Those things aren’t a big deal to me. Yeah, I’m most disappointed in the name above all else. After years of pining for an obscure comic character, a name associated with years of expectation is slapped on an obvious afterthought of a figure like this. I’m talking Episode I levels of disappointment here.
I can best explain it like so: Imagine if a figure named Billy showed up on a 2012 figure release list. Joe comic fans would naturally freak, right? The cry would go up: we’re finally getting a Billy figure! Then when press images later show up online, the figure turns out to be an Arctic Destro repainted green and chartreuse, packaged as the driver of the Road Rebel.
It’s one of the worst repaints ever, that’s for sure. Any of the first three Storm Shadow figures would have made for better substitutes. Dice is simply too detailed to resemble the original Red Ninja design that Larry Hama introduced in issue #21 of the comic. But Hasbro was clearly burned out on the RAH brand by 1993, otherwise they would have thought things out. Heck, they re-released the original Stormy as the generic but more effective Ninja Viper mail-in around this time and it worked out nicely. I blame the combination of the overused Ninja Force concept along with the line’s dependence on neon blandness, or should I say, blindness.
This figure rocks! I dug thru my parents attic just to find it this last summer!
As long as the Arctic Destro repaint had a robot leg and an eyepatch… 😉
Give us a Billy!
About ninjas…finally We’ll get a Blind Master action figure:
http://gijoeclub.com/toyfair12/webfiles/blindmaster.jpg.html
http://gijoeclub.com/toyfair12/toyfair12preview.cfm
YO JOE! Ehm… YO Arashikage!
This is one of my least favorite vintage line figures. Such a let down.
I do have a soft spot for the 90s Joes, espeically the Ninja Force.
Miss opportunity by Hasbro, something they’ve made up for with every Red Ninja since.
Dice rules. This guy… does not.
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