G.I. Joe: Renegades Amazon Exclusive 4-Pack - Ninja Viper

Really what can I say about this figure that I didn't already rave about with his pack-in partner Storm Shadow? He's a simple, straight forward repaint that works quite nicely, even though the Ninja Viper has never really appeared in an animated feature.

Instead of the white uniform with red belt, the Ninja Viper (obviously) uses a red base uniform with some yellow trim that actually looks pretty neat. I find myself exceptionally impressed with this figure, even though it is a repaint, primarily because it's original as well. It's not based off of anything we've seen to this point, and really shows how cool a Ninja Viper could potentially look in an animated series and isn't striving to match some pre-determined look or feel. This almost feels like a concept line for a potential animated series down the road, and I love that, though I know for sure that's not what this is.

I honestly think if Hasbro does dip their toes back into the animated series waters, looking at these figures is a good place to start. They capture that simplified, cell-shaded, animated look without going overboard on the softness or malformed proportions that many fans couldn't get over when it came to G.I. Joe: Renegades.

As I mentioned in the Storm Shadow review, the sculpting of the body for this figure is terrific, merging an animated feel with enhanced articulation, and not losing site of the classic "movable fighting man" theories. And in all honesty, while this figure is very similar to Storm Shadow, that makes a certain amount of sense considering they both hail from the Arashikage Ninja clan.

Like the figure itself, the accessories that the Ninja Viper comes with are a sheath, two swords, and a battle stand, which has since become a hot commodity with the Retaliation line. The weapons are fine, nothing spectacular, but they certainly compliment the figure well enough.

The design and execution of this figure is fantastic. I would argue it's near flawless. I would love to have seen some multi-jointed wrists, and the original hip joints would have been an improvement, but by and large I am loving these figures. Well done, Hasbro.

Ultimately this figure is just as good as Storm Shadow, but without the true classic link, and because it's a repaint of that figure, the score drops, just a little.

GRADE: