6 INCH: SHADOW TRACKER

This character is a complete enigma to me. If there was lore or canon written about him in the comic, I sure wasn't around for it. I'm guessing IDW would have something to do with fleshing him out. Shadow Tracker originally came from the Pursuit of Cobra theme of GI Joe, figure around 2010/2011. I had only heard that the designers were into the 1987 movie Predator and created a few figures influenced by it. Shadow Tracker was one of those figures.

I was on the fence about this figure. I had the small version but couldn't ever figure out how to use him well. I usually don't have a problem writing characterization for a figure, but this guy was such a weird entity, I didn't know what to do with him. The small version, his mask didn't come off. Those who did take it off found he looked a lot like what is pictured above. But, that skull didn't look like a mask. Which made the buyers question what he even was. The Classified version, the skull looks like a mask. Which he wears two masks (he comes with the standard green one too; not pictured)!

Shadow Tracker doesn't have a role in the Zedd Universe at the moment. He was, for the most part, an impulse buy. A collector's item? To a degree. But I see him as an odd addition to the, uh, collection. An outlier of a figure for the bad guy side of the Zedd Universe. 

The story of his purchase. I found him on Ebay, no biggie. Paid about MSRP for him, pre-owned. While in good shape, he stank. The figure stank like it had sat in a musty, cigarette-damaged motel since release. It took a lot of time (and Google searching) on how to remove the stench. That stench got on everything it touched. ie; the desk and whatever else was nearby. I didn't confront the seller but definitely put me in 'buyer beware' mode. My gal, after doing several other attempts, suggested I use melaleuca (tea tree oil) on it. A few long baths of that and Shadow Tracker (and his accessories) ended up hunky dory without damage. Still have to use him for a proper photoshoot.