While I’ve stayed relatively clear of the Sideshow Collectible 12″ figures, simply due to price point, luckily, GeneralsJoes contributor Mysterious Stranger is all over ’em!  Even more luckily, he reviews ’em for me, too.  Click the “Read the Rest of this Entry” link below to check out the whole thing.

Sideshow Collectibles continues its run of 1/6 G.I. Joe figures with the infamous ninja assassin Storm Shadow.  There were two different releases, a regular edition and an exclusive.  The exclusive is identical to the regular edition with the addition of a “bonus” accessory, in this case a set of nunchucks.  I passed on the exclusive and went with the regular edition.
Storm Shadow comes in the standard Sideshow box with collector friendly trays wrapped in excellent graphics with a magnetic closure.  He is packed in the tray with the unmasked head on the body and a standard gripping hand and the wider throwing star hand.  Overall the figure itself is good.  If you have a Sideshow figure you know what you’re getting.  Super-posable with joints in all the right places.  I will say that this particular body seems a bit loose in some areas, particularly the waist and ankles.  Nothing that takes away from posing but worth noting.
The head sculpts are great.  The unmasked head definitely has an asian influence and the facial expression is determined without being too “scowly”.  He’s definitely not happy but no overly so.  The masked head matches the unmasked well and looks like a hooded head should.  The seams are crisp and eyes are just as determined as on the unmasked head.  The white paint matches the uniform well and looks great.  The other sculpted pieces are the feet and they look better than I expected.  There is a light amount of tread on the bottom which add to the realism.
The uniform is a bit of a mixed bag.  The shirt, pants and gi are all nicely done.  The Cobra emblem on the gi tends to get wrinkled in most poses but its applied well and smooths out okay.  But the wraps on the forearms and shins are where they lose me.  The wraps themselves are nicely done but the ties have ends that are left dangling and stick out too much.  I appreciate the attention to detail these ties give you but they just aren’t practical. I would have been just as happy with white elastic or simply sewed on ties instead.  But I think with a little work they can look good, I just haven’t taken the time to play with them much.  The addition of both a black and white waist sash is a nice touch though and gives you a little variety to add to his look.  And there are pouches in the sashes to hold the throwing stars.  I opted to leave them out but they work well enough if you choose to use them.
The accessories are what you’d expect from Sideshow for this line.  Storm Shadow comes with a black strap across his chest.  It fits a bit too loose for my tastes but once you get it in a good pose it stays there.  There are four elastic loops on the back of the strap that hold the two sword sheaths.  They are nice and tight and look really good.  Also attaching to the back of the strap is the quiver complete with Arashikage logo sculpted in.  This combination looks exactly like the 25th Anniversary version only with more detail.  The swords and sheaths are nicely sculpted and well painted.  The quiver holds the six arrows but it attaches to the strap with a metal clip (think belt clip). I’m sure there is a better way to attach it to the strap but the clip works.  Storm Shadow also comes with 4 throwing stars that fit in the waist sashes and his hands equally well.  The final accessory he comes with is his bow.  It is a nice combination of old world heritage and modern technology.  Its a simple bow with a targeting sight and counterbalance.  The string is tight and the arms of the bow have enough give to allow it to be pulled without fear of breaking.  With a little fiddling you can string an arrow and put him in a firing pose pretty easily.  The included bow hands are perfect for this.
Storm Shadow comes with several hands, the most of a Sideshow Joe figure yet: 2 fist, 3 gripping, 1 karate chop, 1 open splayed fingers and the bow set.  So the number of poses you can achieve with the accessories is limited only by your imagination.
I have to say I wasn’t as excited about Storm Shadow as I was Snake-eyes and Cobra Commander but he’s still a great figure.  I’m happy to have him in my collection.  If you’re collecting the Sideshow Joes you won’t want to miss out on him.

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