Entire figure: V3 Kamakura
Sword on back: V3 Kamakura
Arm gauntlet: Most VvV figures
Everything else: Various weapon lots on ebay
Paints used: Mr. Hobby Cream Yellow (Mask), Tamiya Black Green (Kimono lining, arm bandages), Mr. Hobby Super Gold 2 (Scabbard, armored gauntlets/greaves, katana guard and pommel), Mr. Hobby GX Metal Yellow (Katana handle)
This is meant to represent the Kamakura of my childhood Joeverse. I was a child of the Spytroops/Valor vs. Venom era, with some exposure to the 80s cartoon. So my Joeverse was pretty much the 80s cartoon, and the CGI movies from the early 2000s, plus whatever stories I could brew up with my figures.
Kamakura was my favorite (the V3 figure to be exact. Never had a V1, and I thought the V2 was garbage), so when I'd play with my G.I. Joes, I practically treated him as the main character. I pretty much portrayed him as something of a mix between a samurai and a ninja (which, if the Master and Apprentice comic is anything to go by, isn't too far off). I pretty much thought back to my childhood 10-year-old mindset for this, hence some of the more ridiculous choices.
First, as much as I prefer the black or navy blue mask, I mainly remember him with the yellow one he had in VvV, so I went with that here. Plus, yellow and green is just a nice combo in my opinion, which also explains the gold gauntlets and greaves.
The sword on his back was pretty much unique to him in the toyline, and the Valor vs. Venom movie treated it as an ancient mystical heirloom sword, so as much as it's not my favorite sword mold, I felt like he HAD to have it.
I gave him the Joe-Com gauntlet because as a kid, I liked how the Joes all had them, and the VvV movie emphasized how important they were.
The katana he has in his hand is actually a reference to something I used to do with my 12" Kamakura as a kid. I had this set of mini metal swords (pictured here in fact) I got in my local Chinatown, that were in scale with 12" figures. I recall making my 12" Kamakura wield one and saying it was a mystical ninja clan artifact or something. So I gave that sword special treatment and painted its handle. So...he has TWO mystical artifact swords.
As for the other weapons, I pretty much entered the mindset of my 9-10-year-old self and thought of the types of things I totally would've given him.
On his Joe-Com gauntlet, he has a pistol because I always liked him having a sidearm. He also has a handheld rocket launcher because despite it being pretty un-ninjalike, I could totally see my 10-year-old self giving him something like that. And it WAS in the weapon lot.
Finally, the Slice-style sword. I got it from a weapons lot, but apparently this grey variant came with one of the 90s Mortal Kombat figures. I gave it to him because, again, my 10-year-old self totally would have. Secondly, his 12" figure I mentioned earlier came with this exotic dual blade thing in addition to his katana, so I guess this rather unusual blade is a reference to that.
