Budo

BUDO (v1) SAMURAI WARRIOR

    Series: Seven (1988)

Kyle A. Jesso  Code name: Budo ~  Samurai Warrior

Budo's father was an orthodontist, his grandfather was a famer in Freso, his great-grandfather was a track-worker on the Rocky Mountain Line, and his  great-great-grandfather was a fencing master in one of teh last great samurai warrior families of Japan. On his eighteenth birthday he was given the family swords and a haiku written by his ancestor;

The great sword sheathed

Glitters brightly in the dark

Unseen and at rest

"The man has a fifth-degree black belt in Iaido (the art of the live blade) and a similar rank in three other martial arts. He would have even higher rankings if he didn't spend so much time working on his chopped pan-head Harley and listening to heavy metal."

 Budo was released carded as part of the seventh series (1988). 

Accessories

Budo came with red and silver samurai head gear, a brown backpack, a crimson sword, a silver ornamental sword, and a silver sai.

The silver ornamental piece on top of Budo's helmet can be removed with some effort, but is not intended to be removable.

There is a silver hook on Budo's waist to support Budo's sword.

Budo's body is completely original - all new body parts.
Budo's entire mold was re-used and re-colored to create Budo (v2) (1993).

The Mortal Kombat Movie, Shang Tsung figure, is a special piece amongst some GI Joe collectors, because this figure was created from the mold of what was supposed to be "Ninja Commando Budo" from the canceled 1995 line. This figure offers a look into what could have been in the GI Joe Ninja mythos.

Shang Tsung (v3) was released carded in 1995 as part of the Mortal Kombat tie-in with New Line Cinema's Mortal Kombat motion picture. While the previous versions of Shang Tsung were of an old man (as depicted in the Mortal Kombat video games), the motion picture depicted Shang Tsung was a young man, so a new figure was released to reflect this change.

However the mold used to create Shang Tsung is actually Budo from the never released Ninja Commandos. The Ninja Commandos were planned for a 1995 release, but the G.I.Joe line was cancelled before they reached stores.

G.I.Joe collectors may never get a chance to see the cancelled Ninja Commandos - except in the form of this figure.