I was expecting a bit of a lull in G.I. Joe Classified shipping after the year end deluge of figures, but Shadow Tracker showed up this week, so I decided to squeeze one more photo review in for the year. Let’s take a look at Shadow Tracker!
Shadow Tracker is a Walmart Exclusive and comes in Plastic-Free packaging. The rendered scene on the front has a cool temple backdrop and the portrait has an interesting take on the character. In the artwork, the translucent nature of the mask isn’t there and the there are eye holes not present in the figure. It’s kind of a cool variation I wouldn’t mind having in figure form. The figure has no bio information, but there is a bit of file card data on the sales page on Hasbropulse.com:
Shadow Tracker works for Cobra as a wilderness hunter and guide. He tracks his prey using primal instinct: he hears the dark whispers of the jungle, senses distant footfalls in the earth, and tastes his victim’s fear in the wind. When his quarry sets foot in the jungle, Shadow Tracker instantly knows and starts the hunt.
Shadow Tracker comes with a bow, some sort of add-on for the bow, a backpack quiver with removeable arrow, two masks, an axe, and a wicked looking knife.
The bow is one solid piece of fairly stiff black plastic. There is a small cylinder that you can plug into the front of the bow. It kind of looks like a silencer for a gun, but I know that doesn’t make sense. A little googling makes me think it might be meant as a stabilizer. It can slot into one of the two sections on the back of the quiver.
Since the bow has a static string, it’s utility for firing poses is limited. Really the one satisfying bow pose is the one he has on the box, holding the arrow onto the bow. I wish if they were going to do bows with plastic strings that they would also include one with a nocked arrow with the string pulled back.
The arrow can slot into the top of the quiver and the bow can clip onto the back. The knife and bow stabilizer can slot into either loop on the side or back of the quiver. It’s a pretty tough plastic, so you kinda have to shove the front of the bow handle in where it’s most narrow and flip it down.
The axe is also a stiff black plastic and can be held on a loop on the thigh. It’s got some sharp detail for this type of accessory.
The masks are held on mostly by friction, but there are some thin pegs that attach to indents on the skull-face jaw. The Panther skull mask matches the one on his shoulder pad and has some sharp bony details that are brought out by a subtle wash. It’s a fun option.
The yellow translucent mask is probably my favorite because it’s got some subtle tech details on the front and you can barely make out the skull face beneath. It’s a creepy effect and a fairly unique look. I do wish they had the eye holes open like the original figure to emphasize the depth of the mask and ups the creep factor.
The body is mostly re-use of Zartan with a new chest overlay, forearms gauntlets, necklace, skirt, and head. The new parts work great with the Zartan stuff, though he really takes a hit in the articulation department with the solid one-piece vest, long hair, and skirt.
The ab crunch is fairly limited by the vest, the skirt impedes leg movement on the left leg a bit, and the hair limits head movement when he’s wearing the quiver. The long hair is sculpted to go around the quiver, but it does get in the way the most when you want to move his head to look in the direction the bow would be pointing. The necklace is a separate piece that can kind of interfere with the head movement, but it’s more fiddly than anything. The skirt can also be easily repositioned to move it out of the way.
Paint is solid and clean and there are some nice washes on the cougar masks and skull face, a nice leopard print on the skirt, and an overspray on his dreads. I do wish the bones on the necklace and gauntlet had the same wash as the skulls. The one issue is that the knee pads are black and the pants are green so the discs on the knee joint stand out when bent which gives the figure a bit of an unfinished feel.
Overall Shadow Tracker is a cool figure and while I have a few articulation nitpicks, his novel design mostly overrides those concerns for me. I also really like that while the Classified team has mostly drawn from earlier in the ARAH run, Shadow Tracker shows that they are willing to draw inspiration from more eras of G.I. Joe.
