I gotta say, I’m really excited to see G.I. Joe Retaliation at the end of the month. All the trailers have been good, and everything we’ve seen and heard about it looks great. It looks to be a really fun ride.
…oh right. It got pushed back to March of next year because Paramount wanted to convert it to 3D.
What a load of bull. It really makes me wonder what the heck is going to happen with all the toys, since, well, they’re already on the shelves, and there’s no way Hasbro can keep this line going until next Spring. I really hope this isn’t the last nail in the coffin for the G.I. Joe line.
Well, I searched high and I searched low, but I couldn’t find the amazing Renegades Storm Shadow for a decent price. I’m hoping I can find the Ninja Fore homage version, but for now, G.I. Joe Retaliation’s Storm Shadow will be a decent substitute. I quite like his design here. The original movie Storm Shadow was cool, but the only one that REALLY “wowed” me was the “Final Battle” one, with no shirt and all the scars. This one has a look almost reminiscent of Sigma Six, and I can dig it.
What really drew me to him is the articulation. It’s astounding! Part of the mantra for Retaliation is cutting back on articulation for money reasons, but it seems like all of the ninjas aren’t affected by this, as it should be. Storm Shadow has all the joints you can imagine (save for the elusive double-elbow, but hopefully we’ll be seeing those on Joes soon), including ankle rockers.
These things REALLY make the figure for me. A ninja needs as many joints as possible, and I’ve just been having so much fun with this toy. It makes me happy to finally have a good Storm Shadow in this style. Not to say the Rise of Cobra ones are BAD, they just aren’t as useful to me.
He can even reach for his swords!! IT’S SO COOL.
Storm Shadow comes with two swords, a katana and… that small sword like a katana. I’m not really into these. The lack of an Arashikage emblem kind of kills them for me. The sheath isn’t very cool, it’s really just a piece of plastic with two holes in it. It does its job, I guess.
I guess I should talk about the big silly zipline, but I actually misplaced mine. Whoops. I guess I’ll just talk about the whole concept of it here. The Ziplines are actually kind of fun, and work. They’re much better than the silly spring-loaded launchers from Rise of Cobra, because they actually DO something instead of the old launchers which were just spring-loaded weapons for the sake of being spring-loaded weapons. A lot of these are fun, and I personally don’t mind them. I just wish they didn’t eat up 90% of the weapons budget.
As a standalone figure, Storm Shadow is great, and I’d say he’s a decent replacement for the Renegades figure. He’s poseable and stylish; all I really ask for. Keep an eye out for him and all the Retaliation figures at FPNYC!
