Female Blue Ninja

By Hervé St-Louis
March 28, 2023 - 16:12

The female Blue Ninja is an original character to the G.I. Joe lore that was released in 2022 as part of a set with the male Blue Ninja. Now, Cobra has had ninja “troops” ways back in G.I. Joe A Real American Hero #21 (1984) but they were red. Other white ninjas who looked like Storm Shadow also appeared a few times in the 1985 season of the G.I. Joe cartoon. Later, Cobra added Cobra Vipers who were the ancestors of the Blue Ninjas. Other Blue Ninjas were introduced in G.I. Joe A Real American Hero #172 (2011). These were cyborgs.

I like the idea of Blue Ninjas and think that reusing the Akiko build for this action figure is a good way for Hasbro to amortize the cost of the first figure with a popular new character that adds to the G.I. Joe universe. We have not seen these characters in comics yet, but they surely will make themselves present in the future.

I’m an army builder, so although I wanted to pass on these figures at first, I got around and got three sets which I styled differently using their many parts. These look great next to the Red Ninjas and other ninjas.

Likeness

The female Blue Ninja is an original character that has not appeared in any media before. But her colour is coordinated with the male version of the Blue Ninja, although the suits are totally different. The female Blue Ninjas look more like classic ninjas than their male counterparts who are repaints of the more high-tech Red Ninjas.

Sculpt

The sculpt is a reuse of the Akiko action figure with new parts for the head and the heels. Whereas Akiko had high heels, the Blue Ninjas have flat feet with their big toes separated. Here, the tunic is the same blue all over except for darker blues for the feet and the hands. As well as the regular ninja masked head, there is a second optional head with a sculpted in Kitsune mask. Kitsune masks are traditional masks of foxes, representing their shape-shifting abilities. It’s an incredible alternative head that adds a lot of personality to the Blue Ninja whale reusing an old body. It is one of the best features of this figure. Her neck is too thin and unrealistic, though.

Paint

There is minimal paint of the figure as the base plastic is blue. However, there are a few white highlights and incredibly well-painted heads. I don’t like that there are no irises with the masked head. However, the Kitsune mask does have some. There is a Cobra logo on the forehead of both heads, but the one on the Kitsune mask is integrated within the design of the mask. Instead of white highlights, I would have picked red ones for the body suit.

Scale

The female Blue Ninja is the shortest G.I. Joe Classified action figure thus far, but as an Asian warrior, the size is just right. Even the Articulated Icons/Fwoosh ninjas are a tad taller than the Blue Ninjas. Of course, she looks great with Akiko, but also other G.I. Joe ninjas and even the various Fwoosh ninjas.

Stability

Stability can be a problem although the figures can be posed for action. Their quivers are top heavy and make balancing them difficult. Yet, they have flatter feet than the Akiko figure, so they stand better.

Articulations

One of the problems with the Blue Ninja is the lack of articulations that reflect the G.I. Joe Classified standards. She has the articulations of a typical female character. That means she has less and that’s not great. Her head sits on a high double joint neck. She can look down and up, and tilt side to side easily. She has an abdominal ball joint, allowing her to twist and bend slightly. The tunic gets in the way. It also gets in the way of the butterfly joints in her shoulders. She does have a separate waist articulation but as you can already tell, the tunic gets in the way of that too.

She only has a single elbow joint which can bend at no more than 90 degrees and rotate. As she is an archer, that is insufficient for dynamic action posing shots. She has up and down articulations at the wrists, which can also rotate on themselves. Like every Classified figure, she has the dreaded dropdown articulations, but they are not a problem with her, although again, her tunic gets in the way of more posing.

She can raise her legs to about 75 degrees and do 60 degrees split. This is not enough for a ninja. She has thigh curls and double knee articulations that work well enough. She cannot kick her own buttock with her heels, but she can bend her knees well. Of course, she has a lower tibia curl and rocking ankles that can bend up, down, and sideways.

Plastic

Blue Ninja is made of PVC mostly. The harder plastics in the joints, such as her kneecaps and elbows match the blue shade of the softer plastic.

Props

Blue Ninja has a lot of props that can be exchanged with her male counterparts, but that probably look better on her. The male Blue Ninja comes with the same weapon’s pack as the Red Ninja. The female Blue Ninja borrows a lot from the Arctic Storm Shadow released in 2020. She has his quiver, his string-less bow, a larger sickle, and katana that she can put on the quiver. the katana has silver paint. The sheath attaches on the quiver. There is no extra arrow like with the Storm Shadow action figure. There is a grappling hook with a soft material rope.

Of course, every part can be exchanged with the male Blue Ninja. However, both of their gear sets come win different packages. The quiver has the Arashikage clan logo which is odd as the Blue Ninjas should be from a different clan. The extra kitsune mask is incredible, as mentioned above. While it has an odd shape and would probably be a hindrance in battle, it looks great fore ceremonial purposes, where the ninjas must appear next to other Cobra troops.

Packaging

The Blue Ninjas came together in a windowless box with nice artwork on the box showing several of them fleeing from an explosion. On the back, there is an image of the figures. In this new type of packaging, all figures are tied to cardboard with paper strings. This is best for the environment. Their equipment sets are packed in a sealed paper bag.

Cost

The Blue Ninjas retail for about $44.99. Amazon regularly has sales if you want to get this set.

Availability

The Blue ninjas are sold as sets of two figures, including one male and one female. While not available at regular retailers, they can be purchased at Amazon. While Amazon exclusives, a smaller quantity was available at Hasbro Pulse. For now, the set is still widely available on Amazon. Because of the steep price, the set has not sold out quickly.

There are very few generic-looking female ninja action figures. Most are specific characters such as Elektra or female Power Rangers action figures. Thus, these are great fort customizers too. When many are bought at a time, they look great as an ensemble piece led by Storm Shadows. I’m still impressed by how Hasbro transformed a boring an unliked figure into a great one.

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Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12

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