With three third party incarnations of Overlord and... five? six? versions of Six Shot, some still yet to be released, one has to wonder why Black Shadow (Sky Shadow, whatever you want to call him) has yet to receive the same love. Not just as the third member of the phase-sixer trio, but as an iconic character from Transformers Victory, a series that has steadily been gaining more love in recent years.

While the Titans Return version is a GREAT figure in his own right, and being able to re-enact his death scene in the comics thanks to the removable legs is a neat bonus, he does look a little odd standing next to the likes of, say, Carnifex and Hexatron. Plus, he's just a little too boxy for my taste, especially in the legs. I think it's only a matter of time before someone in the third party scene whips up their own ka-rayzee take on the character.



So... what's your ideal, dream not-Black Shadow you hope to see in the future? What would he look like? How big would he be? How complex should his transformation be? Should he keep the pretender/crossformer gimmick or just be a sturdy chunk of giant robot man? Which 3rd party company do you think would do the nicest job? Masterpiece or chug? IDW or some other flavor? The choices are yours.

As for me, if MMC gets to him first, I'd like him to be a head taller than Hexatron, but not as tall as Carnifex.

In any case, closer to the former's eight than the latter., but still pretty darn big. That wingspan, man.

Looks like Iron Factory's already won the race.


I'd like his look to fall somewhere between the original Victory version and the Titans Return version, with a lean build and sleek limbs that aren't necessarily fleshy, but still have a streamlined, muscular shape to them. Long legs, big pointy feet, arms that look ready for boxing, maybe give him spikes that sort of resemble brass knuckles.



Also, guns that look waaay too big for him like the Generations' deluxe version.


He should have SOME bulk, but he doesn't need that much to be imposing and scary, since he'd already tower over many other figures. I'd like for the wings to be adjustable in various little ways, like Garatron's Thunderstorm's wings (we'll touch upon that figure again in a moment) for more expressive posing. Point them up to make him look angry, for example. If another company like, say, GCreations made their own Black Shadow, I'd be fine with him being taller, since it looks like their not-Sixshot and MMC's Carnifex could be around the same height, anyway. Then you'd just have three super-tall dudes.



Speaking of Thunderstorm, it's easy to imagine Garatron simply repainting/remolding him and releasing their own not-Black Shadow, but I dunno...


He's cool as $%#&, and probably the most badass representation of Thunderwing we'll ever see, but I just don't think those big honkin' shins and the Ultra Mode fit Black Shadow as a character anywhere near as much as they fit an already strange, alien being like Thunderwing.



However, given how simple Black Shadow's transformation has always been (even in Titans Return), I'd like for the engineering of the alt mode to be similar to Thunderstorm's (not necessarily how it looks, though. Again, it fits Thunderwing's character, but not so much Black Shadow's. I'd like him to be more "together", not so spread out.). Something along the lines of that or Energon Megs would be complex enough for me, just... you know, SOMETHING more than lining up the arms and laying him face down like an arielbot.



Some sort of pretender gimmick would also be neat, but I can live without it if a gimmick like that would make the overall figure suffer. I'd like to see how well a Masterpiece-ish figure could capture how he looked in the cartoon, but I'd honestly rather see some of that extreme chug flavor we've been seeing in the likes of Maketoys' Cross Dimension or TFC's more recent figures.

Come to think of it, IF's Soul Reaper is already pretty darn close to my perfect imaginary figure, boasting many of the desired traits I've listed, including the adjustable wings and giant weaponry. He's just really small. Oh well. Still charismatic as all hell, that's for sure.



So, what do you want? What do you hope to see when this guy DOES eventually get his time in the limelight of the third party scene, and everyone starts releasing their own versions of him around the same time? Sound off!

 

Iron Factory will do nicely for me. He'll scale well next to Evil Lord and Tengu.

 

This is a toughie, as the upcoming Titans Return one will be good enough for me, especially if a 3rd party group makes him a new head.

I'll need to ponder this a bit....

 

Oh, snap! I completely forgot about him. I've made sure to include a mention of him in the OP, now. Thanks for that.

 

He is reeeeally good, man. He's just missing a few things.

 

The headmaster can stay inside for transformation, but I wouldn't say no to a kit with some new shins and a transforming drone.

 

I'd like MMC or Maketoys to tackle him. Iron Factory's is great and I like how they refined the deluxe design but I would hope for someone else to do the same in making him about voyager size (maybe the same height as Kultur.)

 

I think something's wrong with the images, guys. One of them isn't showing, and the other is a... face.

EDIT- replaced them with similar images from other sources.

 

I love my Generations version and while I don't collect CHUG anymore I am tempted to get the Leader class one as it looks like a hell of a lot of fun. I have no affinity to the character so would not pay 3P prices for one unless it blew my mind/load.

 

MMC or Maketoys would be ideal, but he's not really a character I care too much about and the TR figure looks really good, so that is probably what I'll end up with for my Black Shadow. I mean, he existed just to die in the comics.

 

Yeah, I more or less just like him for his amazing character design and how much of an impression he makes in the cartoon. He has a lot of the same appeal as Starscream, only he's somehow EVEN MORE EVIL.

I mean... just look at him! You see what I mean?

 

My only exposure to Black Shadow is his pitiful death at the hands of the DJD, so the Iron Factory one suffices for my collection.

 

I think the TR one will be good for me - I think of him more as a Victory character than IDW, so he'll fit in with other Victory-based figures I believe we'll be seeing sooner or later (Greatshot from TR Sixshot, Star Saber and Deathsaurus in the PotP vote). That being said, MMC is probably the company most likely to make him (given their other releases) and would do a great job - only concern is if they make him a retool of Stratosfear (same issue OP had w/Garatron). I'd like to see Garatron go for him, though - Thunderwing looks glorious (he's in my PoL until early Feb) and I think they'd really put a lot of care into making him.

All that being said, if someone makes a Blue Bacchus to go with him, I'd pick both up just to show my thanks

 

Oh I know, but I'm hoping that like God Ginrai, someone like Perfect Effect will make a better head for him.


Sixshot as well.

 

MMC did wonders with Hexatron and Carnifex. I really want to see them do a Black Shadow to go with them.

 

I want to see a real Pretender, with full transforming inner robot, which combine. Inner robot as large as possible, shell at least Leader class. Working missile launchers.

 

i would love to see Maketoys do an MP style one once they get their Headmasters out of the way and a Blue Bacchus  

 

Since I've got (en route  ) Carnifex and CloneDroid Sixshot, my money is with MMC. Iron Factory Soul Reaper has a nice design to it and just that final sizing and MMC aesthetic is what I think will push it to perfection.

The Titans Return version is just too blatantly Overlord-ish to be even worth considering.

 

Eeehhhh. The thing that clicked with me immediately, already being familiar with Black Shadow before that scene, is they were using him to make the DJD look ridiculously powerful, to create a sense of scale. You know, like "HOLY CRAP! If Black Shadow is one of the strongest Transformers ever, these guys are NO JOKE if they're strong enough to taker him down!" It's something shows like Dragon Ball do all the time, hype up one character as seemingly unstoppable, and then introduce another character that immediately wipes the floor with them, like when Trunks kills Freeza. If we'd had a chance to see Black Shadow's power on display at an earlier point in the comics, like Sixshot and Overlord both delivered in spades pretty early on, we'd have a better sense of why we should think he's cool and be shocked that someone could take him apart like that.

 

I think I'm going to just stick with the three Phase Sixers from Titans Return. I can buy all of the three for one Carnifax. As nice as the display piece looks, I'm getting a bit weary of 40+ step transformations and fiddly bits that pop off easily. Especially when I pay $150+ for a toy.

A nice trio of toys to display on my desk shelf and play with while I'm bored suits me fine anymore.