STORMSHADOW bust

The latest addition to The Cluttered Desk has actually been "sitting on the bench" for a number of years. It's a 6" tall resin bust of Stormshadow, the enigmatically cool Cobra ninja from the G.I. Joe franchise. It was made in a very limited run by Palisades Toys of Ellicot City, MD, and is probably one of the coolest mini-busts of its kind. That's saying a lot since there have been a lot made between Marvel and DC Comics and the burgeoning number of other entertainment franchises' characters.

I bought Stromshadow off eBay for what I can only remember was so reasonable amount that I bought two of him. When I received them, they were so pristine in their packaging, that I promptly buried in my small storage unit. My intent was to acquire one of the Snake Eyes busts and display the two together, but for some reason I could never find the Snake Eyes bust either for a reasonable price or at all. And so the Stormshadow bust didn't resurface, and receded to the back of my memory.

And during that time, something happened to the busts' boxes. The glue holding it together began to fail. When I uncovered them last week during my archaeological dig of my storage unit to find stuff to sell on eBay, their boxes had come unglued and terribly warped with the cardboard itself in a stated of bloated brittleness that comes with age and or exposure to drastic temperature variations. With all my OCD concerns for pristine preservation dashed, I felt free to unbox the bust and display one of the damned things.

The thing is formidable in appearance. The picture I posted truly doesn't do it justice. From the trim of his tunic to the sculpted folds of fabric to the detail of his sash and strap buckle, everything is crisp and cleanly detailed. His muscle sculpt is also impressive as it reflects an actual human physique wearing fabric, which is much more impressive than a lot of sculpts that just paint a costume onto what is, for all purposes, a nude sculpt. Stormshadow's head is also finely done, showing a mask with actual stitching seams and trim over a face tha has a nose, ears, cheekbones, an eyebrow ridge, and flexing forehead. It's been a pet peeve of mine to see characters loose all facial features when donning a full head mask (think Spider-Man or Deadpool). Stormshadow's head sculpt reminds me of the old 50's Italian comic book anti-heroes like Fantomas or Diabolik who later made their way to films and Beastie Boys music videos.

Maybe I'll look for that Snake Eyes bust...