GIJoe Classified Series Arctic Mission Storm Shadow

Something to whet our appetite for the default version.  

This is the Arctic Mission Storm Shadow. Or if you prefer the Ninja Force Storm Shadow. They look to have based this figure on that version. They are very similar aside for the "skirt" piece which is a separate piece. I would have preferred if he did not have that as it's rather thick and makes him look awkward in some poses. Actually they just need to do without the lower layer of pouches and things would be better. It's not removable or I would have done so for the pics. The body is new. He's wearing some protective gear on his torso and limbs. They have nice sculpted detail on them and some are textured in places. His upper legs too are textured. The Arashikage symbol on his torso was sculpted. There's a blemish on it on my figure unfortunately. The snowy design on his gear was painted on. It's of a different tone from his gear. The shoulder pads are attached on his arms and are flexible so there's no issues with arm articulation. Both hands have trigger fingers. It would be nice to see normal gripping hands on characters like him. I like that they gave him tabi shoes as he should have.   

The textured hood is a separate piece and is removable. Underneath he's wearing a balaclava mask. It's textured and has good detail on it. Storm Shadow has quite an intense look. He seems pissed off at something. The paint for the eyebrows is splotchy. I'll just take it as frost on his eyebrows.   

Accessories. He comes with a bow, an arrow, a sword, sword sheath, a kusarigama (scythe like weapon), grappling hook and a quiver of arrows. 

The quiver pegs into his back and the sword pegs into the quiver. There's no place to store his other weapons here. There's nice detail on the sword sheath and sword handle. 

The quiver will press against his hood when equipped. It hinders head articulation with the hood on and it causes the hood to be out of place when his head is in certain positions. Due to the length of the quiver it cannot be equipped if you pose him arching back.  

UPDATE 4 Aug 2020 - To avoid the issues with the quiver mentioned above, the quiver and the sword can be put at an angle as shown below. Silly me should have thought of that sooner. I guess I'm too used to having a character draw his sword with his right hand. Thanks foldabotZ for pointing it out!   

He can arch back without the quiver popping out now. 

Unlike some of his other weapons the sword has some paint applied. They painted the blade thankfully. It would suck if it too were all white in colour. There's good detail for the handle of the sword and the Arashikage symbol was sculpted on near the guard. Click images to enlarge. 

He can grip the bow well in either hand. The loose arrow is all white in colour. I wish they could have painted it to match the arrows in his quiver.

You can unwind the string of the grappling hook for him to use it. The string will need some straightening out.

Here he is carrying all his gear and weapons. I tied the grappling hook around his waist. It looks pretty good, like it's attached at his belt.

Articulation. He's got a ball hinge upper neck, ball joint lower neck, ball hinge shoulders, butterfly joints, bicep swivel, double jointed elbows, swivel and up and down hinge wrists, ab crunch, ball joint waist, ball hips on drop down hinge, thigh swivel, double jointed knees and ankle hinge and pivot. With the hood on he can only look up and down a little bit and turn his head. The range is much better with the hood off. The elbows and knees have very good range. The ab crunch allows one click forward and one click back. Together with the waist articulation he can bend back well. The skirt piece hinders him bending forward but he can still do so quite decently. He is able to raise and spread his legs out well. One thing is that the skirt piece will get raised and make him look awkward. He could really use some calf swivel. 

Comparison shots.

Storm Shadow is a decent figure. I don't like the "skirt" piece. It gets in the way. Some of the accessories could use a bit of paint. I suggest waiting for the default version which Hasbro will probably make and get this when it's on sale. Thanks for viewing!