G.I. Joe Classified Series Retro Storm Shadow review
I’ve been trying and clearly failing to talk myself out of buying the Retro Storm Shadow. The first Cobra ninja one was fine, I said. There’s no need to go the slavishly comic/original Real American Hero design.
Of course, the Retro Storm Shadow look is one of the coldest and coolest looks of any Cobra character. The bad guy in white was such a novel idea at the time and unique among ninja properties as well. I’d been helped in this “decision” by the Retro SS constantly being sold out at online retailers. But then Hasbro Pulse had him back in stock and I couldn’t resist.
Let’s see if the Retro Storm Shadow ends up being another Classified Series figure I’m glad I went full on nostalgic with or if I could have stuck with the classic upgrade.
Package: Hasbro is using a pretty flimsy material for the card back. They’re not nearly as tough as the retro Marvel Legends cards and are prone to very easy bending and folding. Good thing I just plan to open my figures.
As Hasbro makes slight alterations from the RAH designs, so too is the artwork slightly changed to more accurately reflect the CS Storm Shadow. The sleeves reflect the cut off nature of the figure, the collar features the hood down look.
Other changes include the compound bow positioned along the quiver and the white belt is switched to black. The swords are swapped for Storm Shadow’s more Cobra theme hilts and the boots reflect the more slipper-like setup.
On the back, Hasbro crammed five language versions of his file card making for a tight setup. Just a portion of the original file card is intact.
Likeness: Storm Shadow’s redesign was a sleek upgrade of the original classic design with a more modern aesthetic. Since the original Cobra ninja look was pretty faithful to the original outfit, Hasbro doesn’t have a ton to “fix” to make this even more retro.
Most of the figure is the same featuring that killer, determined head sculpt. The overall body is the same with the biggest changes playing out with the arms and ankles. This is a pretty major change if you’re a comic book purist.
The forearms and knees have the classic wraps around them. The detailing on them is very nicely done properly conveying that style of material that’s much different than the rest of his outfit.
I almost wish Hasbro could done a comic book homage and have a swappable right arm with the wrist tape starting to slide off.
Since the belt is smaller, Hasbro couldn’t swap the shuriken, which are attached to the shoulder strap, onto the belt.
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Paint: Hasbro went with a very stark white that truly pops. This isn’t an off white, which wouldn’t fit that vintage look at all. The wraps are a danker grey-ish shade of white.
The Cobra logo is clean and the face painting is pretty close to perfect. Some of the lining of the eyebrow doesn’t line up just right.
The red scar around his left eye is expertly done.
Scale: Storm Shadow is average height and should be about eye level with his fellow Vietnam vets Snake Eyes and Stalker.
Articulation: Storm Shadow needs to be one of the most fluid and smoothly articulated figures in the line and the retro version nails those demands.
He can do split kicks, chops, side kicks, jump kicks sword slashes and strike a pretty impressive notching an arrow pose.
His limitations are largely just up to your imagination.
Retro Storm Shadow has:
- head
- neck
- shoulders (butterfly)
- elbow (double-jointed)
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- mid-torso
- torso
- waist
- hips (ball-jointed)
- drop down hips
- knees (double-jointed)
- ankles
Accessories: Storm Shadow retains most of the accessories with the original figure with some cool additions.
The compound bow returns with a white painted grip as well as a quiver with white fletching (the ‘feathers’ at the back of the arrow).
I still love the quiver with the sculpted Arashikage logo and cobra skin pattern inner section. The two scabbards are slotted vertically on the quiver.
I really love the swords with their snake head hilts to show how ingrained into Cobra that Storm Shadow is at this point.
The hood is gone, replaced by swappable hands. The lowered hood section is included, but it can be removed for a full classic look. One is a left fist, and the other is a right hand clutching a shuriken.
Finally, he’s got the stand although his name isn’t on it.
Worth It? Storm Shadow was $24.99. That’s $2 more than the original Storm Shadow figure. He comes with a reasonable amount of accessories so it doesn’t feel as terrible a value compared to some other lines at least.
Rating: 10 out of 10
This is exactly what I wanted from my Classified Series Storm Shadow — a near perfect 6″ version of the classic RAH figure. Now I need Hasbro to release a Ver. 2 Snake Eyes ASAP.
Where to Get It? The Retro Joe waves are Walmart exclusives with a limited availability on Hasbro Pulse. You can find him from secondary sellers on Amazon.
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