What evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!
Today we head back to 1994 for a look at Lightning Draw Shadow, from the movie tie-in line from Kenner.
For a toyline based on a film with very few villains, it is not a surprise that Kenner had to come up with a few alternate versions of the hero and make up some villains to fill out the line. Among them, Ninja Shadow, Ambush Shadow, Bullet-Proof Shadow etc… But there was one Shadow that most closely resembled his film counterpart, and that is Lightning Draw Shadow.
The Shadow has light piping in the top of his hat to help the eyes glow, but it doesn’t work too well. This is forgivable considering the time the figure was made. Like most figures of the 80’s and 90’s, he has an action feature, although a well hidden one. Squeezing the legs together makes both arms spring up in a quick-draw type action. And despite this action feature, each arm is still poseable.
His two guns, which stay in the hands well, can also be put into the holsters under his arms. They look a little silly there, but it works well enough. The guns also have a peg on the sides, presumably to peg into holes somewhere on the figure for holstering, but there are no such holes. His nicest feature is the full cloth cape, which is black on one side and red on the other. The cowl and cape are removable as well.
Although this is a super simple figure by today’s standards, I keep finding myself looking at it and playing around with it. Ive always loved the character, and even the film, but if you’re even an occasional comic figure collector, I’d suggest this line for the pure look and style of it. It really is something unique and special.
Until next time, remember… “The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Crime does not pay….The Shadow knows!”
I actually thought the movie was okay. I didn’t see it till 2008, and I thought that Alec Baldwin was okay. What really surprised me was the fact that Jonathan Winters was still alive at that time, and that he in fact IS still around.
Great coverage! Great photos! I love the character and the fight on the bridge at the beginning of the movie was pure Walter B. Gibson/Maxwell Grant awesomeness.
The toys were great for the time for the die-hard Shadow fan – I love this one (though they forgot the nose was exposed and not covered by the scarf – no doubt a tooling workaround) and the quick draw one with the gun sounds. Though watching that commercial and knowing that The Shadow is form the ’30’s seems like a really strange sell to kids especially when they had TMNT at the time.
How hilarious that a plain “taxi” was the vehicle that the made to go with the line. You guys should try and find the product managers that worked at Kenner at that time and find out why/how they came up with this line.
Awesome! I loved this figure and the film back in 1994. I had all the vehicles and most of the figures. Those were eventually given away, but I was able to pick up this guy, Bulletproof Shadow (which I didn’t have before), his car and the taxi, on eBay a couple of years ago.
It was a fun movie and the toy line.
Great review of a favorite toy line and property!!!
oh man i HAD this figure along with a few others. the memories! i just rebought this one after many years. i also had that motorcycle which was pretty neat. i love the movie and the toy line by kenner was very cool! btw, in response to the poster Casey, the reason that the thunder taxi was in the toy line was because the taxi was IN THE FILM and was the primary means of transportation for the shadow. the taxi toy though was actually pretty neat with the cannon and action features. the toy line had some kinda limo and cycle which were cool but NOT in the film. i always wanted that taxi.