Red Ninja 2007

2007  COBRA RED NINJA (ver2)  G.I. JOE 25TH ANNIVERSARY WAVE SERIES 3

Series: Twenty Three

In 1993 the red ninja was named Red Ninja, then in 2004 it was named to "Red Ninja Viper," and then in 2007 named back to "Red Ninja". So while Hasbro uses different names on the packaging, they are all based on the character "Red Ninja."  

Red Ninja is a mercenary operative, imbued with superior reflexes and advanced ninjutsu training. Connected to the Arashikage clan, the Red Ninja’s prowess earn him top dollar. The Red Ninja is primarily employed by Cobra Commander, and is committed to a given endeavor until it is fully resolved. 

When Hasbro first announced that the 25th Anniversary line would include 25 figures and supposedly be a finite project. It was a surprise too many collectors that the Red Ninja was announced to be one of those 25 figures.

While the Red Ninja is NOT one of the 25 most important or identifiable G.I. Joe or COBRA characters, the Red Ninjas had a pretty important role throughout the comic book series G.I. JOE A Real American Hero, and this figure is an accurate version of the Arashikage ninja clan depicted in those comics.

The Red Ninja figure is based on the the body of the 2007 Storm Shadow (v21) except the Red Ninja has new head sculpt.  The newly sculpted head with the little "ears" makes the Red Ninja look exactly as in the comic book. The head sculpt immediately separates the character from Storm Shadow.

Red Ninja comes with all of Storm Shadow's signature ninja weaponry. He is equipped with back-mounted scabbarded swords and quiver of arrows, black bow and is additionally armed with a large silver metallic  weapon that has been described as a "man-catcher" and includes a black COBRA display base with text "CODE NAME: RED NINJA".

From the neck down the only difference is the color of the uniform which is a terrific shade of semi-bright red hue that is "vibrant and interesting". The leg and arm wraps are done up with paint swipes that darken those colors considerably and adds a sense of realism and "depth" to the figure.  Red and black is my favourite colour combination and Red Ninja has the black trim on the uniform and a black wrap-around "cloth" sash. The original Red Ninjas were not affiliated with COBRA, however this figure has a black COBRA insignia on the left chest side of the uniform.

For articulation the joints allow the figures to be easily posed and the hip articulation allows for some great martial arts poses.

The end result is a very nice looking, comic-accurate "Red Ninja" figure.

  PLEASE NOTE: Hasbro released this figure with two different versions of the packaging - one with the silver/foil border and lettering, 25th Anniversary logo and with a silver/foil background behind the action figure, which seems to be the easiest to find.

The other package has a white border around the edge of the card & lettering and a comic book logo in the upper right corner.Also there is a yellow background behind the action figure.