Decided To Lean Hard Into The 'edgy Rival' Vibes And Im So Glad I Did - Blog Posts

G.I. Joe: My Version #2, this time with everyone's favorite morally questionable ninja! I always thought the backstory from the live-action films was really interesting, so that's what I'm basing him off of. Since that means Zartan's gang is involved, my SS design takes inspiration from protective cyclist gear, which blends surprisingly well with the ninja armor styles of the series. He's also got a bit more of a punk-ish vibe to fit with his Dreadnoks origin. The face paint is to reference both Zartan’s mask(?) and Zander’s face paint, along with paralleling the cheek scar for backstory reasons. I also thought it might be fun to include music that fits the vibes of these redesigns, so here's SS's:

(Backstory + extra stuff below the cut! Also, if anyone has any asks or anything for this, by all means ask away! It helps me figure out how I want things to go.)

Storm Shadow was an arrogant child who used his position in the clan to make enemies rather than friends, so when his uncle was killed with Storm's weapons, no one argued that he was innocent of the crime. He had no choice but to flee for his life... right into the path of the shapeshifting assassin Zartan (who was also, suspiciously in the area on "business." You can guess what kind). Having a ninja seemed useful, so SS was swiftly drafted into the Dreadnoks, where he became a loyal, if difficult assassin; he sees the bikers and their leader as his true family now, and he takes on a younger-brother-ish role in the group. It wasn't the most responsible way to grow up and his maturity reflects that, but he's still a powerful fighter, and through Zartan's machinations, another clan of ninjas has recently adopted him as their leader. Unbeknownst to Zartan, however, he's also got a secret weapon of his own he's been hiding, something he picked up on a trip to Arashikage territory... Other things: - He has a bike of his own; teaching him to drive is one of the Dreadnoks' favorite memories with him. - He still has the dual katanas that can fuse, however, they are not Arashikage; they're from the Red clan. - He is genuinely liked by the bikers, who will usually call him "Slash" (he's not too fond of the nickname but doesn't care enough to complain). Zartan is the only one that really uses Storm Shadow. - He struggles with mixing ninja traditions with the biker aesthetics of the Dreadnoks, and will switch between outfits depending on who he's with. - Occasionally uses British curses, then gets embarrassed over it.