Hey there! Thanks for checking out our review on the Super 7 G.I. Joe Ultimates! Storm Shadow Action Figure. There are a lot of great things to say about this figure and some... not so good aspects to it as well. My next addition from this line will be Snake Eyes and that will probably be the last Super 7 figure I pick up. I just can't afford to go too crazy on adding new toy lines.
For as much as I enjoy writing my own background information on characters, sometimes there are much better sources. In this instance, the old G.I. Joe File card on Storm Shadow is the perfect tool and thankfully, Super 7 printed a variation of that information on the back of this packaging. So... credit to Larry Hama, long-time writer on the G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero Marvel comic, as he was the author of the original Joe File/Index cards on the back of each action figure package in the 1980's.
Real Name: Arashikage, Thomas S.
Birthplace: Classified
Primary Specialty: Assassin
Secondary Specialty: Intelligence
Storm Shadow can trace his family history through thirty generations of assassins. He can scale sheer walls with bare hands and feet, move with blinding speed, and endure unspeakable hardship and pain. Qualified expert: Long bow, Samurai sword; Throwing stars; Nunchaku sticks; 8th degree black belt in five martial arts.
"The great Ninja assassin clans disappeared a hundred years ago. If they were wiped out, nobody took the credit for it and if they're still around, who are they working for?"
When Storm Shadow was first introduced in the classic "Silent Interlude" story in ARAH #21, I remember being absolutely blown away. especially with the reveal on the last panel of the matching tattoos on his and Snake Eyes arms. I'm sure just about every other reader felt the same way. The ninja craze of the 80's was in full swing and to see this mysterious character with some hidden connection to, arguably, the coolest member of the Joe team was mind boggling. Naturally, I couldn't wait to learn more and, thankfully, didn't have to wait long. Storm Shadow played a major role in several forthcoming issues, including the phenomenal two part "Snake Eyes; The Origin" in issues 26 and 27. This figure has been out for a few months and I only recently decided to pull the trigger and get it. So, let's discuss Storm Shadow, shall we?
Accessories: 9/10
I confess that I was very surprised by the items included with this figure. We get both his long and short swords (Katana and Wakizashi), a nunchaku, though the connecting chain is much longer than it really ought to be, three throwing stars, one tanto knife, his long bow which has an actual string, with three arrows which can be placed in his quiver, a sniper rifle, which was featured in issue #24 as he rescued Cobra Commander from the Joe team, the legendary sword, Excalibur from the cartoon series, an alternate head sculpt with full underwater face mask/rebreather from the same cartoon episode as Excalibur, an alternate right forearm with his wrist wraps un raveled, exposing the Arashikage hexagram tattoo and five pairs of hands. One pair of fists, one pair of weapon holding hands, one pair of flat "karate chop" hands, one pair of rifle holding/trigger finger hands, one hand designed to hold an arrow, and one hand to hold his throwing stars. His scabbard/quiver combo is attached to his body, which is good. Although, it does seem to be rather flimsy and other reviews I've seen expressed concern that the quiver could come loose. I sort of feel the same way, so just make sure to take care with how you handle the figure. Another point to watch for is putting the arrows in the quiver. I learned that instead of being glued directly to the black strap over his shoulder, the quiver is glued to a peg from the strap. This peg limits the space in the quiver. You CAN get the three arrows fully in, but it takes a bit of work and wiggling. I was most impressed by the fact that the arrows are sculpted with notches, allowing you to actually nock the arrow on the bowstring, while Storm Shadow holds it! My biggest area of grief though are the swappable pieces. The hands are an absolute nightmare to plug back in. If you don't get them in the entire way, they'll flop around loose on the wrist, but it takes some effort to pop them in fully. In fact, I've also noticed that removing the hands from the wrist peg holes tends to cause paint to flake off, oddly, it seems to be coming from INSIDE the arm, rather than the wrist pegs. Either way, it's incredibly annoying to deal with. I've also not attempted to swap the heads out yet because of the difficulty in removing them. I'll likely heat the figure up at some point and see if that helps. I was able to exchange the different forearms and really like the look of the semi unwrapped forearm. I thought about giving the figure a 10 for accessories, but the difficulty in changing hands, the mysterious paint flaking, the excessively long chain on the nunchaku and the issues with putting his arrows in the quiver reduced the score just a bit.
Appearance: 10/10
Appearance is where this figure truly shines. As much as I enjoy my G.I. Joe Classified and Retro Card series Storm Shadow figures, this is the definitive cartoon and comic book look. The Cobra emblem is applied cleanly and looks fantastic on that white background. In fact, all areas of paint application are done extremely well on this figure. His eyes/eyebrows convey an aura of menace and don't have any flaws or blemish in the application. Really, there's not much they could get wrong as the character design is relatively simplistic. That being said, Super 7 really did an amazing job on the sculpt and paint details. I look at this figure and think... "Man, he could have stepped right off the comic page or out of the cartoon." The likeness is that good. The black belt around his waist is sculpted very nicely and designed to hold his tanto knife. Unfortunately, putting the knife in the spot looks terribly awkward, as you can see in the preceding photos. The two stars already sculpted in look as good as the three loose stars, which are also pointy, so handle with care. I was a bit baffled by the cerulean blue sniper rifle given that it was black in the comics, to my recollection. However, the scope does have black paint on both lenses, so there's something to be said for that. Excalibur is actually much better than I expected and comes with a bonus... the blade glows in the dark.
Being in my lightbox for so long helped give the sword a pretty outstanding glow. I was very surprised by how well the photographs turned out, to be honest. The jewels in the hilt are painted good enough and, thankfully, haven't scraped when I've placed the sword in his hand. Unfortunately, I did notice some paint rub on the handle of his katana when I removed it from his hand initially, same with the nunchaku. That was disappointing and I'm honestly unsure if I'll display him with those weapons in hand. The arrow points are silver, but the rest of the arrows are a flat gray. I'm thinking about adding some color to the fletches, but we'll see. This may sound silly, but I just find myself staring at this figure, in awe of just how good it looks to me.
Articulation: 5/10
Alas, for as good as the accessories and appearance are, the articulation really brings the figure down. His head easily turns side to side but cannot look up or down and has the smallest amount of tilt. The shoulders can rotate a full 360 and raise to just about a T pose but are somewhat stiff. The bicep swivel works fine. The elbows are the first major disappointment. They are on single joints which can only bend 90 degrees. There is a swivel at the elbow because of the peg, which helps given that mine were turned backward when I unboxed the figure. The wrists can all swivel and are on hinges. However, the hinges are very tight and movement range is limited. Storm Shadow has a diaphragm hinge but there is very little forward crunch or back bend, sadly. The waist swivels but is very tight and there is no side tilt. His legs can do pretty amazing splits but had to be worked on due to stiffness. There is no thigh cut, but there is a hidden swivel as the upper thigh does appear to be on a ball and socket joint. The knees also are on a single joint, limited bend to about 90 degrees. There is, however, a boot cut which works fine and the ankles are on a nice hinge, which also allows for good pivot range. As this is the first Super 7 figure I own, I'm not familiar with their engineering style, but I am disappointed that my ninja cannot move with more flexibility. I'd love to be able to get him in some really dynamic poses, but I don't think that's going to be much of an option.
Affordability: 7.5/10
While Super 7 isn't as expensive as imports like Mafex or Amazing Yamaguchi, they are still on the pricey side. I didn't measure my figure, but it is taller than my Joe Classified series, so I'm guessing it's probably around 7 inches in height, and it does come with quite a bit of stuff, which helps justify the higher price tag. I ordered Storm Shadow from BBTS for the retail price of $54.99. I also saw that the Snake Eyes is currently on sale for $43.99, so if you want to grab both, they are available.
Overall, I have mixed feeling about the figure. I really do enjoy the look and the great accessories, but the issues with changing hands, heads, and forearms lowers the degree of fun for me. Additionally, the relatively limited articulation is kind of disappointing given that this figure would look awesome in dynamic fighting poses. Still though, he's a fun addition to my G.I. Joe collection and I'm really glad that I decided to get him. With all that in mind, the Super 7 G.I. Joe Ultimates! Storm Shadow earns:
8.5 ToyBoxes out of 10
I'm going to be adding Snake Eyes to my collection and am looking forward to discussing that figure with you all. In the meantime, thank you for spending some time in the ToyBox. Until next time... GEEK OUT!!!