The Shadow 1994 Kenner

The Shadow was born in the pages of 1930's Pulp Novels before being adapted to various media entertainment including radio broadcasts (Famously performed by non other than Orson Welles) as well as the more modern Comic book format and black and white movie serials of the 1940's. It was quite a long wait for The Shadow before getting the feature film treatment and had created quite a legacy and inspired the creation many similar characters, among them Bob Kane's Batman.


The superhero genre had been given an overhaul in Hollywood after the success of Tim Burton's Big Screen Batman movie in 1989 and so the time felt right for Pulp classic character despite younger audiences lack of awareness of him. Director Sam Rami had originally sought to bring the Shadow to a modern audience but problems attain the licence prevented that for happening so instead the director opted for an original story that borrowed elements of The Shadow entitled Darkman released in cinemas in 1990 proving to be something of  a hit and has since become a cult favourite!
1994 saw the eventual release of the official Shadow feature starring Alec Baldwin along with an impressive supporting cast of highly regarded performers in what was a fun but hugely flawed end product. Audiences were kinder perhaps than critics, who felt the movie to be "forgettable" despite being visually distinctive, but ultimately preferred some of the other offerings from that year including another Comic Book creation The Mask  (which also had a toy line provided by Kenner!) starring Jim Carrey whose popularity was beginning to reach massive heights at the time.


Perhaps it was the lacklustre appetite for the movie that saw the mediocre sales of Kenner's Tie-In Toy line which had been fairly decent if not anything special. To this day the toys aren't particularly sought after (Aside for some of the vehicles) which is a bit of pity as they really aren't a bad little set! Here we will look at several figures released n the line: 

Transforming Lemont Cranston: The mysterious vigilante known as The Shadow has gone by many different pseudonyms over the centuries in 1930's new York he is Billionaire playboy Lemont Cranston who uses his wealth and influence to help aid him in his crime fighting operations!  The film opens in Mongolia where Cranston has become the evil and corrupt Ying-Ko a brutal warlord  in Mongolia Before being  kidnapped by agents of the mysterious TULKU who then begins to restore Cranston's humanity and teaching him the ability to "cloud men's minds" using psychic power in order to fight evil in the world before returning to his Native New York to take up the Mantel of The Shadow!

In this 1994 adaption of the Pulp classic Alec Baldwin is tasked with playing the duel role of Cranston/The Shadow and he does so with real enthusiasm and relish, he particular has the right raspy vocal talents to pull off the scenes where The Shadow is only heard! Its a great performance in a flawed but fun film and Kenner have done a really nice job of capturing Baldwin's likeness particularly in the days before digital scanning of actors features was possible!
The rest of the figure is decent but really lacking detail and is awkward to pose, what's really great about this particular figure is that he can "transform" into his alter ego by pressing down the head into the body and clipping on various pieces of armour to create...... 

...The shadow! or at least a variant of the Shadow, this particular figure is designed to have  more armoured looked with a sort of gas mask covering the lower half of his face rather than the trademark red scarf!

The extra pieces have some nice detailing and are very effective when placed on Lamont! Also as an extra feature The Shadows eyes light up when a light source passes through the clear red plastic placed inside the  hat

All of the extra pieces clip on and fit nicely and give a great overall look even if it is  a little far off his on screen appearance, he comes with a silver-lined fabric cape attached to the chest piece, attachable glove pieces  and two pistols!

Shiwan  Khan: Former student of the Tulku Shiwan Khan possesses even greater powers than his adversary Cranston  having successfully resisted redemption and so remained evil. Khan is the last descendant of Genghis Khan is set to fulfil his ancestor's goal of world domination!

You really don't get the sense of Khan being a powerful mystical being from this figure even when adorned with his gold coloured armour and snake staff! There really isn't much resemblance between this figures design and the look of the character on screen but despite that he has a pretty decent head sculpt complete with "real hair"! 

Khan also comes with a Snake (Python) Staff and a dagger with an evil face etched into it that come cast in the same colour plastic as the removable armour pieces. Interestingly they both have an action feature where the mouths can be moved up and down to give the appearance of coming "Alive"! 

Dr. Mocquino: The Voodoo master is one of The shadows deadliest foes from the original pulp magazine series. He posses a hypnotic power capable of turning mere men into loyal zombie minions forming his own cult of faithful followers and worshipers of Voodoo rites! 

 Though this is a very nice looking and well made figure he has nothing to do with the movie itself as he appears no where in it! Even his design differs greatly from his comic book appearances! despite all of that this figure is probably the nicest one in the line and even has some very interesting and nicely detailed accessories such as....

....This tiny "voodoo doll" of the shadow! Which is a nice added little bonus making the only figure in this line which has very little to reference  !

One of the Shadows many abilities is that of invisibility! he is "The Shadow" after all and toy manufactures usually achieve this particular effect but casting a figure in clear plastic! Which means there is little to no paint applications to speak of but there are some nice sculpting details to add more dimension to an otherwise plain looking figure! 

The figure also comes with his trademark cloak and pistol as well as a detachable chest piece! He also has an action feature which you can activate by squeezing his legs together, his right arm raises his gun and his left arms lifts his cloak to his shield his face!

As shown above each Action figure has its own unique art design on the packaging!

The packaging also comes with full instructions with picture demonstrations!




The Shadow was a decent attempt at bringing the influential but long since relevant Pulp Magazine character to modern audiences. Much of the Shadow's legacy can be found In Bob Kane's Batman, which audiences identify much stronger with, and so it can be argued there isn't really any need for The Shadow any more he certainly isn't the household name that many other superheroes are! With that said there is much to like to about the movie including a solid ensemble cast including the fabulous Sir Ian McKellen, Peter Boyle and of course star Alec Baldwin  who makes for a very effective Shadow! 
Kenner's Toy line isn't a failure either but is maybe a little generic and uninteresting compared to some of their better licences with only a couple of the figures produced really worth recommending! Still fans of the movie and/or The Character in general will probably want to pick these up as there is very little alternative available! 


Full figures available:  


-Shadow: Lightning Draw
-Shadow: Ambush
-Shadow: Ninja
-Lamont Cranston: Transforming
-Shiwan Khan
-Shiwan Khan: Battle
-Dr.Mocquino
-Mongol Warrior
-Deluxe Shadow: Bullet Proof


Vehicles:
-Shadow Thunder Cab
-Shadow Mirage SX-100
-Shadow Nightmist Cycle
-Shiwan Khan Serpent Bike