STORM SHADOW

GI JOE: RETALIATION

G.I. Joe: Retaliation was….ummm….well, it was a movie with G.I. Joe in the title. It was also about 90 minutes long. It was shot using cameras. It had a script, with words even. Was it a good movie? No, not especially. It had its moments, but that’s really the best that can be said. On the plus side, Hasbro did make a line of figures to go with it, and they didn’t totally suck. Let’s look at Storm Shadow, one of the film’s many ninjas and just the worst human prop of all time.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Storm Shadow was released as part of the first series of G.I. Joe: Retaliation figures. You know, the ones that came out a full year before the film’s release due to Paramount pushing back the movie’s release date at the last minute? Yeah, fun times. Technically, he’s based on Storm Shadow from the movie, but, in reality, he’s a mostly made up design. Granted, I like it more that the movie design, so I’m not complaining. The figure stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has 24 points of articulation. Unlike several of the early Retaliation figures, Storm Shadow didn’t have any points of articulation cut, so he retains full movement, which is a definite plus. Structurally, the figure sported a brand-new sculpt. As noted above, it’s not really accurate to the movie’s design. That being said, it’s actually a pretty sound sculpt, with nice proportions and lots of fun detail work. Interestingly, though he’s a movie figure, he seems a bit more stylized than other figures, to the point that he almost seems like he’d be more at home with the Resolute or Renegades figures. It’s nothing really overt or anything, but there’s definitely a bit of flair to this guy. One small nit: his collar is a separate piece, and it doesn’t fit exactly to the body, making it rather obviously a separate piece. It’s slightly annoying. The paintwork on Storm Shadow is pretty decent overall. It’s nothing too fancy, but the grey accents are nice and the small bit of flesh tone and the eyes are pretty clean. The Cobra logo is well done, though it’s actually inaccurate, since (SPOILER) Storm Shadow is no longer affiliated with Cobra in Retaliation. The figure was packed with two swords (one long, one short), a backpack that holds them, and one of Hasbro’s signature oversized missile launchers. Yay!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I mostly skipped out on the Retaliation stuff when it was released, mostly due to being unable to find the few figures I actually wanted from the line and then not really caring enough to buy them when I did find them months later. So, why do I have Storm Shadow? Clearance. He was $3 at Toys R Us, and I was already buying other things, so he felt worth it. (Also, Super Awesome Girlfriend was with me at the time and she will literally not let me put an action figure back.)  After opening him and playing around with him a bit? He was definitely worth it.