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Kamakura (Rise of Cobra)

November 27, 2010 | By Errex More

Even though Snake Eyes is cool, as a character he is not that easy to use from a storytelling point of view because he never utters a word. One way around that particular problem lies in surrounding him with characters that take care of all the dialogue and exposition for him.

This solution of course, brings it’s own set of problems to the table, as using the same few characters over and over again tends to dilute the coolness of all of the characters involved, and using random new characters each time made it difficult to develop any kind of complex storytelling.

So, in the end a compromise was made by having characters that shared some traits with Snake Eyes babysit him (Storm Shadow, Scarlett, Jinx, etc.) and adding some new meat to the stew every few rotations to keep things fresh.

Enter Kamakura, Snake Eyes’ ninja apprentice. The character was developed in the late 90’s and has had about five action figure incarnations since then, although for the Rise of Cobra line Hasbro decided to go for a wholly different look, foregoing the muted greens used for the previous versions and using a powder blue scheme that better fits with the good guy uniforms in the movie toy line.

As part of the Not-Actually-Seen-In-The-Movie characters, Kamakura is constructed with a number of parts taken from the 25^th Anniversary line as well as some of the newer molds used for the first batches of movie figures. Head, arms and lower legs are the same as the Storm Shadow figure from the 2009 Cobra Set, while the torso, waist piece and upper legs are taken from the RoC Shipwreck. The end result looks quite effective as a modern version of what a ninja would wear nowadays, and the color scheme really helps in selling the idea of this being a completely new figure.

Articulation for these G.I. Joe figures is as uniformly standard as it can get, and Kamakura’s goes like this:

• Ball jointed neck.

• Peg & hinge shoulders.

• Peg & hinge elbows.

• Swivel wrists.

• Ball mounted torso.

• Ball jointed hips.

• Double hinged knees.

• Peg & hinge ankles.

Kamakura’s gear was also lifted almost entirely from a 2008 Comic pack featuring, Storm Shadow (again) and Firefly. It consists of a functional square backpack with sword supports at the sides and a removable bundle of plastic rope attached to the bottom. The lid of the backpack opens to reveal a detailed interior where the included mini Uzi can be stored.

Kamakura also comes with two dragon hilted katana, a steel claw, a pair of linked kama and a bayonet seen originally with the Cobra Viper Officer from the 25^th anniversary line. The display base included is done in the RoC style and has the character’s name printed on the front bevel.

The big launcher included with Kamakura is the same that came with the BDU attired Scarlett, and resembles a giant crossbow that shoots a translucent blue projectile.

Leaving the giant launcher aside, Kamakura is one of the better figures from the Rise of Cobra assortment and a good value thanks to the sheer number of useful accessories included.