 Hey Joe fans in this episode we get to solve a minor mystery in the GI Joe universe We get to answer a question. We've had about a major character since 1984 we finally get to see what's under the hood It's not what you think hooded Cobra commander 788 here It's time for another vintage GI Joe toy review and this time we are going with the second version of a major character But it's from a sub team that we haven't had the best of luck with in the past I'm talking about ninja force before we get started on that I have to take care of another codename for a patron like with the last review I'll just go with the next name on my list and that name is Michael Johnson Michael Johnson well, let's see Michael Johnson makes me think of both Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan Michael Jackson was the king of pop and Michael Jordan played for the Chicago Bulls therefore Michael Johnson shall forever be known as the king of Bull Welcome Your Majesty. Thank you again master Chinese for the title card art for this video That guy always comes through and produces some amazing artwork starting some time of the 1980s There was a whole ninja craze in the United States There were movies toys cartoons tons of stuff with ninjas in it and that craze continued into the 90s GI Joe tried to capitalize on that as early as 1984 with the introduction of the Cobra ninja storm shadow By 1992 they had an entire team dedicated to ninjas ninja force now Not everything in ninja force is all bad They gave us some updates of some popular characters, but not all of those updates were stellar It was also another step away from the toy lines military routes and the way they presented ninjas was not the black clad Silent assassins that you might think instead They were bright and colorful with all kinds of crazy weapons and gimmicks the figure We're gonna look at today was one of the most popular characters in all of GI Joe Zartan continued to appear in the cartoon and comic book series even after the action figure was discontinued version one of Zartan from 1984 wore a cowl over his head. What was under the cowl was a mystery. Well, it's a mystery no more in 1993 we got an updated Zartan and Wow, did he look different is Zartan a ninja though? Should he be in a ninja force? Let's explore that HCC 788 presents ninja force Zartan This is Zartan version 2 the master of disguise from 1993 this figure was only available in 1993 and was part of the ninja force series Ninja force was first introduced in 1992. So this figure was part of the second year of ninja force This is the second version of Zartan. The first version of Zartan was introduced in 1984 And he was released with a small vehicle the chameleon swamps skier The 1984 Zartan had a gimmick the second version does not have Both the figure and the vehicle have a color change gimmick if exposed to sunlight The skin on the figure and the light green part of the vehicle will change color as a master of disguise The 1984 figure actually had an accessory that would allow the figure to be disguised in his backpack. He hides A mask and that mask can actually be placed on the figure's face And so the figure is actually disguised the second version of Zartan doesn't come with anything like this Although admittedly it's not very much of a disguise. He has a different face But he's wearing exactly the same very peculiar costume of Zartan I don't think this would fool anyone whether it's a good disguise or not At least version one of Zartan has a disguise which version two does not Zartan is a character with many layers. The name Zartan is an anagram for Tarzan Zartan is a master of disguise a swamp dweller the killer of ninjas And the leader of the dread knocks the dread knocks was a rogue motorcycle gang that often worked with cobra In 1985 three dreadknock figures were released buzzer torch and ripper More dreadknock figures were released later including some vehicles ninja force was a set of ninja themed figures released in 1992 and 1993 They often didn't look very ninja like they were often very colorful They all had action play features and even though this series is kind of hit and miss and has a lot of duds There were a few good figures and the series gave us updated versions of some fan favorite characters Like snake eyes scarlet and storm shadow ninja force was discontinued for 1993 But in 1994 some of the molds for ninja force figures were reused for shadow ninjas Shadow ninjas had in viso power They were so ninja like and stealthy that nobody even remembers them So let's not talk about them anymore the second version of zartan was in ninja force But is zartan a ninja? I don't think so But zartan did go up against ninjas and he would frequently beat them Zartan killed a few ninjas in his day zartan was one of the most important characters in the gi joe universe He was connected to so many other characters including cobra commander snake eyes Storm shadow all of the dread knocks and he even had a brother and a sister that had action figures in 1986 zartan's brother and sister zandar and xarena were introduced of the two Xarena is the more remembered These two figures had the same color change gimmick that the first version of zartan had If you exposed them to sunlight their skin would change to a bluish color Let's look at the card back for ninja force zartan And I actually have a carded example of this figure so we can see what the figure looked like when it was brand new Looking at the card art. This is pretty typical of 90s figures. We have a pink swirl in the background We have the character in kind of a knees up leaping forward pose This card is actually a variant of my other card back This one has a small parts warning here in the center and the advertisement for the action gimmick is over toward the side On the other one, it does not have the small parts warning and the action gimmick is in the center And on this one. I noticed that on the card art the two knives that go on the leg Are on the wrong side the accessories came on this plastic tree and you're supposed to clip them out To my eye, this looks orange, but the camera is giving it a slightly more pinkish hue But to me it looks straight orange flipping the card around to the back We have the cross cell with more ninja force action figures and the ninja lightning motorcycle That's one. I'd like to get my hands on a couple other sub teams here Then we have the file card for zartan and unfortunately it is in that same pinkish color And these are the worst to me. These hurt my eyes and I really hate to read them Let's take a look at zartan's accessories starting with the most important one the bow This orange bow is a direct copy of the black compound bow That came with version two of storm shadow in 1988 and of course it does look a lot better in black Disregarding the color. This is actually a really nice bow It fits very snugly in the figure's hand so you can see it's kind of scratched up there where he grips it It also has three arrows sculpted on. This is a very important accessory for zartan Again, despite the color it makes perfect sense in the comic book series zartan is portrayed as being a master archer In fact, if you wanted to recreate some of the scenes in the comic book You could give version one of zartan storm shadows compound bow His next accessory is this sword and I believe this is the first time this sword was used It was used later in the street fighter 2 series and it was used for nun chuck version two But I think this is the first use of it. There's nothing especially remarkable about this sword It will fit in the figure's hand, but it's kind of a tight fit The next accessory is this sickle and this is a reuse of the weapon that came with 1992 dojo This weapon doesn't really have anything to do with zartan, but he's in ninja force So he just has to come with a lot of melee weapons. Next we have what is frequently called a machete Even though it doesn't really look like a machete. It's kind of this short sword looking thing And this is a reuse of the machete that came with 1988 spearhead Next he has two knives and the knives actually have storage space on the figure on the left leg There are two slots where they can be sheathed and that's a feature that I like a lot Of course, it looks a little bit ridiculous. They're sticking out really far on the outside and on the inside They're kind of stabbing his other leg But even so we didn't get a lot of weapons storage on gijo figures So I appreciate it when we get it and lastly we have the accessory that is always the best Accessory on these 90s figures the figure stand 80s figures did not come with them 90s figures did Hooray for the 90s. Let's take a look at the articulation on zartan He did not have the typical articulation for a gijo figure because he had an action feature His head would turn left and right and look up and down He could swing his arm up at the shoulder and swivel at the shoulder all the way around He had a hinge at the elbow that allowed him to bend his arm at the elbow about 90 degrees He had a swivel at the bicep that allowed him to swivel his arm all the way around He did not have an o-ring because he had a spring loaded Swivel on his hip and that was the action feature if you pull him back and snap him forward He will punch. They called this the moroto chop moving past the moroto chop He could move his legs apart about so far He could swing his leg up at the hip about 90 degrees and bend at the knee about 90 degrees Let's take a look at the sculpt design and color of this figure and we need to spend some time on the head because obviously He has a huge orange mohawk and i'm not saying it's not sculpted. Well, it's nicely done But this is a huge departure from the hooded look of the version one figure It was always kind of a mystery what zartan had under his cowl I mean he was a master of disguise so he could change the way he looked anyway So I guess it didn't really matter But this definitely is not what we expected. I don't think he has this mohawk under his hood This is something that he did to himself later He still sort of has his face makeup But it's bright orange on the version two figure Whereas it was black on version one and had white pupilless eyes He also has white eyes on the version two figure So, I mean it is kind of zartan like but wow We went from kind of a dark mysterious figure to a loud obnoxious one Does this face look like zartan? Well, there's no way to tell zartan changes his look frequently That's a trait of the character as crazy as this head is it kind of makes sense I mean the dread knocks were not punk rockers, but they were anti establishment And so you could kind of imagine this as a dread knock figure Although this does not work for him as a master of disguise I can't imagine zartan taking on this non-conformist look There is a scene in the comic book series where zartan is not wearing his cowl and he has black hair But again as a master of disguise you can't take that as what he really looks like that also could have been a disguise Why did he have the cowl in the first place? Well, the real reason is just so he could fit the mask on for the gimmick on the action figure Moving on on his chest. He has what the file card calls a rawhide leather jacket. It's really a vest It has a high collar in the back It has an orange painted chain around his right arm And it has some unpainted chains hanging over his left shoulder It is true that this chest is not nearly as iconic as the chest shield on version one It's really not all that crazy It's just basically a black leather jacket with an orange chain The file card calls this a kusari fundo assault chain and that is a real feudal japanese chain weapon It's worth noting since this is not an o-ring figure There is no screw hole in the back this figure cannot carry a backpack His arms are mostly bare. His left arm is totally uncovered On his right forearm He has a black brace with a couple straps to go around his forearm The file card calls this a sword blocking forearm guard and he has a black glove These arms are actually fine. I don't really have any problem with the arms at all The bottom half of the figure gets pretty crazy though on the waist piece He has a purple studded belt with a black belt buckle And he has bright neon green trousers Seriously, this figure has both neon green and bright orange and that has to be the most obnoxious combination They could think of on his left leg He has two purple raised details with some thin purple straps that go around his thigh And of course, this is where you can sheath those knives And you know without the knives there they don't they're not out of place actually the the those details don't stick out too far They're not too obnoxious. So if you leave the knives off, the figure looks perfectly fine And then he has his boots. He has tall purple shin guards over tall black boots Before we move on, I wanted to take one more look at these figures side by side and obviously version one looks better Those darker colors make the character look more mysterious Even so the look of version two does kind of make sense to me, especially as a dreadknock I could imagine zartan going with this look as kind of an antisocial character These colors are not unknown to dreadknocks. He looks like a dreadknock Even so, I think if they had done version two in colors closer to version one, it would have looked better Let's take a look at zartan's file card and zartan has a checkered history with file cards The earliest releases of his version one file card had a reference to him being a paranoid schizophrenic That didn't sit well with some people. So later releases of his file card removed that reference the version two file card does not have that problem. So let's take a look at it and Like I said before this color background is really hard on the eyes So let's try to look at it quickly. We've got a portrait of zartan here It says his codename is zartan file name unknown primary military specialty is master of disguise Birthplace is unknown. It has a quote here. It says my personality changes as often as my looks and they're both bad I think this quote is awkwardly worded, but let's move on It says zartan can alter his skin color at will to blend in with his environment No, he can't the version one figure had the skin color change gimmick This figure does not this is advertising a feature the figure does not have He's a master of makeup and disguise even though he does not come with a mask A ventriloquist a linguist in parentheses He speaks over 20 languages and dialects an acrobatic contortionist and a practitioner of numerous mystical martial arts Does not say he's a ninja little is known about his background Even though you just said something about his background But captured cobra documents revealed reports listing him to be as Lethal as a two-headed rattler disguised as a garter snake So his wild bill giving quotes to cobra now He changes his appearance and personality so often even he can't keep track of them And that's all I have to say about that. I just want to stop looking at it a word about zartan's disguise ability In the comic book it was accomplished with holograms But according to larry hama the writer of the comic book series zartan is a mutant He has an innate camouflage ability that is enhanced with holographic technology That means as far back as 1984 there was at least one mutant in gi joe And i'm not sure if i'm comfortable with that So maybe version two is lacking in the disguise department, but you can still disguise him as a joe You just have to do it the same way we did it as kids like this Check it out now. He's disguised as leather neck looking at how zartan was used in gi joe media He first appeared in the cartoon series in revenge of cobra part one in that episode He rescued cobra commander from imprisonment Now if you were a fan of the cartoon series and you thought what zartan had on his head was hair You're not mistaken. It's not just you the animators also made that mistake and sometimes drew his cowl as hair I would be remiss if i didn't mention the episode in which cobra tried to take over the world via rock and roll And zartan and the dread knocks formed the heavy metal band cold slither Zartan was a popular character and had many appearances in the sunbow era But he didn't make the transition to the deke era So there are no appearances of zartan in his version two uniform in the comic book series Zartan is one of the most important characters ever He first appeared in issue number 24 It took some time for larry hama to figure out what to do with him He was later integrated into the backstory of several characters zartan was hired by cobra commander to kill snake eyes But instead accidentally killed the hardmaster who was the head of the arashakaga ninja clan and storm shadows uncle Storm shadow infiltrated cobra to find the identity of the assassin When the truth was revealed storm shadow and snake eyes attacked cobra island looking for zartan But zartan had switched places with ripcord and was taken to the gi joe base the pit He was later rescued by zirana zandar and the dread knocks during the cobra civil war Zartan sided with the cobra commander imposter fred seven against serpentor Zartan ended the war by killing serpentor with an arrow See why the bow accessory is so great? He later killed another ninja master the blind master and for a while He took his identity when the real cobra commander returned He imprisoned zartan along with his other enemies in a landlocked freighter and buried it under a volcano Zartan escaped zartan even appeared in his version two outfit beginning in issue number 139 He had to reintroduce himself to the baroness and destro because they didn't recognize him looking at ninja force zartan overall This figure is crazy. It's a total departure from the original figure. The hair is insane There's no way he had that under his cowl. They just completely changed the look of the figure altogether but I don't hate the figure as much as I probably should have Stick with me now. Let me explain Obviously these colors and the hair don't work for zartan as a ninja assassin But as a dread knock They kind of work and they kind of make sense Now i'm not saying that it looks good. Obviously version one looks better. I'm saying it makes sense I'm not saying it's good. Another thing I like is the compound bow. It's perfect for zartan Zartan should have a bow. I wish version one had one but of course the color Ruins it if this figure had been released a couple years before We would have got a nice black compound bow even a straight reissue of the storm shadow bow Would have been fine. That's about all I can think of that. I like about this figure There's still plenty that I don't like the colors even though they do make him look like a dread knock I'd really prefer other colors. Anyway, I mean bright green and bright orange are both pretty obnoxious I don't like the action feature. It limited the articulation That was a plague of ninja force figures as for whether zartan is a ninja I don't think he was he certainly had extensive martial arts training in both armed and unarmed combat And he can turn invisible with his camouflage ability So he is a literal invisible assassin But even if he's not a ninja, he is a well known killer of ninjas So it's appropriate to have him as an enemy of ninja force The best I can do for this figure is put him just slightly into the middle tier Which is a lot better than I thought I would do when I first looked at this figure There's a lot to not like about it But they gave us a dread knock zartan with a bow and those are good things for those reasons I can't really rant about this figure even though it's far far far from a good figure That was my review of ninja forces zartan. I hope you enjoyed it If you did, please give it a thumbs up on youtube and please subscribe to the channel and hit the notification button So you get future videos. This channel would not be possible without my patron So I extend my thanks to all of them If you like this channel and would like to support the channel in that way, please check out my patreon You can find me on social media on facebook and twitter and you can visit my website hcc788.com Thank you everyone for watching and thank you for sticking with me through some tough times. Yes, it is Kind of a tough time right now And I'm doing everything that I can to keep this channel going and keep these videos coming And your support has just Really done a lot of good for me and has helped me keep going. So thank you for that My expectation is to be back with you next week for another full vintage gi joe toy review If anything happens and I'm not able to give you a full review next week I will give you some kind of substitute. So I'll still join you next week one way or another So thank you everyone for watching. I'll see you again soon. And until then remember only gi joe Is gi joe