Why is Shadow all the way down here? Because he's that hard to get. With so much Scalping going on, Gear had to wait for a third Re-stock at Toys R Us to get ahold of him.
The Space Fighters Shadow the Hedgehog was a *little* dissapointing because he has the EXACT same head as his MegaBot counter part, which was not that great. Only this time, they neglected to paint inside his ears. It seems like they did not try to improve him at all, unlike the other figures.
Shadow is also more prone to paint defects because all his plastic seems to be black so the accents are painted on, giving the chance for smears, holes, 'thin spots' and uneven-ness. This is extra bad, because Shadow is soooo scarce that you have to buy him even if you notice his paint isn't spot-on in the store. See how his shoes look dirty/dingy? They're not, its just his paint over the black surface.
Shadow is unique in that he has a sword, rather than a staff. It is also the top half only, needing no handle-bottom--although it shows one on the box-back! The sword is actually rather cool, with interesting hilt and design on the blade. It also makes a bit of sense, given that he used weapons (like swords) in Shadow The Hedgehog video game. Also: Sword does not photograph very well, there's more detail than that but you can't see it much.
This much rare-er head sculpt shows they could do a pretty decent job with Shadow, but selected the far worse head (seen above) to be the 'real head' for the figure instead. Why would they choose a clearly inferior sculpt? This space fighters figure is much harder to come by, and more valued because it just looks better! It may have been seen at the very start of the release in select areas.
Here's a full body pic of that "Better Head Shadow" from the Space Fighters line. It's a little lopsided (one eye higher than the other) but he looks better than the 'yelling white mouth' one above.
This one is uncommon. If you see it, pick it up. Notice that in the trio of figures above, someone has pried off Sonic's helmet, & the bottom parts of 2 of the magic power staffs (or whatever those are) are missing. Photos discovered by 09SonicFan
Photo by LarryInc64
In all, Space Fighters is a pretty all-right line for this early time.
Added articulation, better body/head ratio sizing, and proof that they can do detailing makes this line nice. The colors, if you notice, are all taken directly from ONLY the colors already present on the figures. Only Sonic's suit introduces light blue, which was technically his color already anyway. This gives the characters' suits a familiar feel and insures that they aren't jarring. This was a very smooth move.
They could have copped out and done different repaints of the same helmets for everyone, but they chose the high-road and made each one different. If you look closely, each one has a detail which looks like a comm-unit. For something so out of left-field, these are surprisingly thoughty.
It's this nice attention to detail that causes the flaws to be downplayed, but baffeling. Why skip some paint portions? Why use a clone-head on Shadow that they KNEW was an inferior sculpt? Why the wide varience in paint quality? Joint mobility & weapon-grasping? The other stuff proves they knew better, or seem to, and then just didn't act to get it that final 100%.
The good points, attention to detail, extra mobility, and smart theming, make this set one to look for, especially with the oddity value. As a gimmic line, it may be overlooked now or shunned, but in the future these figures may prove quite the addition to your collection...or not.
Here is Shadow mint on the card in his Space Fighters box. The box back shows all of the figures on the line so you'd know who else there was & what they come with. Missile Wrist is just labeled "Robot", did they not know what the character was called on the show?
Photo by Max6464
Notice something different about THIS Space Fighters Shadow in his box? Compare it closely with the one right above, and you'll spot what's going on. This box shows his sword with a handle below the fist. Also, notice the figure pictured ON the box isn't the one IN the box. The pictured one (inset, close up) is the much-coveted "Better Head" figure released in the UK. Notice the position of the head on the neck & the eyes...it's much better sculpted & with a better expression than the one you actually get here. The sword handle was likely excluded because it is super tiny & kids would simply lose it right away (which is too bad Because this figure is made of all black plastic, thin-spray could be likely, where the black shows through the other colors that are supposed to be there, as example here with the yellow & white from the shoe.
Photo by Max6464