If you lined up every figure being released in this Commando wave side-by-side with each other and asked every collector to pick them out in order of favorites, you can bet that Storm Shadow would end up at the bottom of everyone's list (mine included). With no retools, no new parts, no new weapons, and at a $15.00 price point, it would appear on the surface that this Storm Shadow is somewhat worthless, and would not even warrant a second glance.

Well, I definitely cannot guarantee that this figure is none of the above, but for a straight up repaint, it's got it's own appeal, and I promise that's not just a Sigma 6 homer speaking.

If you step back and look at this entire wave, you can see just how many retooled parts and completely new molds were created for this wave. This Storm Shadow aside, everyone else is significantly retooled or are completely new tools. COBRA Commander is the one that has the least amount of new parts, but even his torso had to be completely rebuilt to lose the battle damage feature (and I'm very glad they did!). So the fact that we got this non-retooled Storm Shadow makes perfect sense to me. It all comes down to cost, and in order for Hasbro to release so many figure with totally new parts, they have to have a figure that uses NO new parts. Works for me, and believe it or not, this Storm Shadow is likely to become my default figure for the character. Total repaint aside, this is a great version of Storm Shadow.

You have to have a certain appreciation for a more animated style if you're a Sigma 6 fan. These Sigma 6 figures by their very definition are created in an anime style and are built with exaggerated proportions and cartoony appearences in mind. As the line has progressed, these blown out body styles have gotten more extreme, and if you put the original Storm Shadow and the Crossbow Storm Shadow next to each other, they look pretty different. Lots of people prefer the look of the original...myself, I really dig the anime style of the second version.

That second version is the base figure used here, and I couldn't be happier to be getting a more basic Storm Shadow figure (with a shirt on, no less!) using the Shouri Crossbow sculpt. Storm Shadow's head sculpt is a very narrow, angled, animated design, which gives him a ton of character, and is a sculpt I really enjoy. His oversized arms and hands add more flair to the figure and give him an even more cartoony appearence, which works nicely for me. Those bandaged wrapped arms and hands are huge, angular, and unrealistic, but they definitely give Storm Shadow a certain character he hasn't had before, and I really, really like it a lot.

Combined with this more animated appearence, the figure itself is painted in much more straight-up Storm Shadow colors, with a white tunic and bare arms, he immediately more resembles the classic Storm Shadow look than the Crossbow version did with his bare chest and elaborate dragon tatoo. His black arm wraps also look pretty darn cool, and realistic as well. They could have gone with the white color to better match the '84 version, but I really like this splash of darker color and it blends well with the dark red pants. Speaking of his red pants, I really like the baggy look here, they are very almost feudal samauri in appearence. Also, his darker face mask and gray highlights all work together to give us a great looking Storm Shadow, who looks similar enough to the classic version, yet has enough color to still look really appealing.

Now, since this Storm Shadow is a total repaint, with no new parts, Hasbro tries to cram him full of accessories to make the figure at least somewhat desirable. And wow, did they FILL Storm Shadow with accessories...he's got a ton of them. Of course, like the figure itself, there are no newly sculpted accessories, they're all repaints, but the repaints make sense, and these weapon choices really match the character.

As usual, the Tech Specs section will cover the weapons in more detail, but I do think it's important to mention that even though this is just a repaint, this figure comes with sooo many accessories that it's really not a bad deal. Between the swords, the suction cup infiltration tools, the grappling hook, nunchuks, ball and chain, and even the bola launcher, Storm Shadow is absolutely stacked, which helps offset the lack of value that this figure might hold for some folks.

Ultimately, this figure does kind of pale in comparison to the rest of the wave, which is full of newly tooled, dynamically sculpted, flat out EXCELLENT figures, but really, I think this version of Storm Shadow is a near perfect representation of the COBRA ninja, and I have absolutely zero hesitation using this figure as my default Storm Shadow. The red pants are a little odd, but not overly so, and I actually welcome the color change. I really, really love this sculpt, moreso than the original, and he's got a great color scheme and pretty fun accessories. To me, he's still worth a buy, even with no new parts.

However, it is tough to recommend him, considering there are already two other Storm Shadows (and another one coming, which uses this same cool sculpt and has the same classic colors, not to mention improved articulation). I'm not sorry I own this figure in the least, though. He makes for a very cool COBRA ninja, and he fits in perfectly with the rest of the updated COBRA hierarchy. Not to mention the fact that these COBRA ninja's are all masked, and could easily be used as Storm Shadow's lackies. If you can't buy the entire 4th wave, Storm Shadow is definitely the first figure I'd cross off the list. Still, if you do end up with him by buying a full series online, you shouldn't be too disappointed, there are some merits to this version that makes it worth the $15.00.