Well, the day is finally here. This is a day many of us have been crossing our fingers and hoping for ever since the advent of the 6-inch action figure: a fully articulated line of 6-inch scale G.I. Joes, kicked off by the obvious introductory figure of Snake Eyes.
In the interest of being upfront, for anybody that didn’t read my G.I. Joe Toy Fair reactions, I was initially a little disappointed in Snake Eyes. Just from a detached first read of the figure, my initial thoughts were that it wasn’t the Snake Eyes I wanted. I’d guess that was the initial reaction of a lot of people, depending of course on how you came to the G.I. Joe brand. I make no apologies about having definite opinions on what I want to see and how I feel about the brand.
I got over that initial reaction, mainly because I know we’ll be getting more than one Snake Eyes and I’m going to wager that somewhere down the line I’ll get something closer to that V1, V2, V3 or even V4 that I want. It’s kind of bittersweet, but that’s toys.
What this one does is a sort of hybrid type of thing, a pulling together of various versions while adding something new, trying to make an “ultimate” type of Snake Eyes. Viewing it like that, as a standaloner, separate thing that doesn’t negate my own vision of Snake Eyes, it is overall a towering achievement in modern non-import articulated figures. It’s not perfect, but instead of feeling like it’s starting a toymaking process from scratch and learning on the go, it actually feels like it’s the culmination of years of effort in streamlining, improving and honing various articulation schemes and synthesis of sculpt and mobility. In short, it’s a toy that doesn’t just rest on the inadequacy of “looking good on the shelf in one pose.” It looks good in every pose, and it can damn near pull of everything you might want. There are only a few areas that could have been improved, and I’ll touch on those as I break the figure down.
The packaging is very nice. I only save packaging in extremely rare instances, and even then I’ve gotten rid of a lot of packaging that I was holding onto, but I think I’ll keep this one. It’s a nice place to store the weapons rack and extra weapons, plus it has an upperscale, durable feel.
The included art piece is a nice touch. It feels like something you might see on the wall of a dojo.
First off, let’s talk about the paint and color scheme. Snake Eyes has a lot of molded plastic, so the paint is only used to hit things like buckles, his visor, the Arashikage symbol and some glossiness here and there. Everything was clean and I didn’t have any smudging, smearing or general messiness.
I know Snake Eyes has tossed some color into his wardrobe over the years (his V4 outfit is practically overflowing with un-Snake Eyes like colors, and I love that one) but I kind of feel I’d like this figure even more if the pants themselves were just a solid black, instead of opting for the brownish color they chose. I’m curious to know if the regular wave version of snake Eyes opts for an all-black look or if they’ll retain the brown.
The sculptwork is excellent, with plenty of armored detail on the arms and chest, and a nice texture to the pants. Despite having that armored feel to parts of him, he doesn’t end up feeling too bulky because of it, retaining the streamlined feel that Snake Eyes should have. My only issue with the sculpt is the Arashikage symbol, which shows up twice on Snake Eyes and once on the scabbard of his sword. That’s probably going to feel like a nitpick, but I don’t see it as his personal symbol, like Superman’s S. I kind of feel like it should be something that he and other members or honorary members of the Arashikage clan keep to themselves, and not paste it all over their bodies like their advertising a Ninja resort. It feels like it went a bit overboard to have it show up so many times.
Since this is a deluxe version of Snake Eyes, he’s loaded with accessories. There are the standard things his regular box comes with, and then there’s the “deluxe” loadout that ninjas him up even more.
His regular box accessories are a sidearm with silencer both of which can be holstered, and a knife which can also be stored on his person. My favorite thing is when figures can store their weapons on their bodies.
He comes with his trademark Uzi. Snake Eyes and his Uzi go together like a particularly deadly ninja peanut butter with dangerous jelly.
He also comes with a backpack that pegs snugly onto his back, and his very recognizable sword, which slides easily into it’s scabbard, and can either be stored on the backpack or by itself on his back. I like the backpack but I’m keeping the sword stored directly on his back. I’ve always loved the unmistakable design of his sword; you can pick it out of a sword lineup with ease.
He also comes with two alternate hands: one flat karate chop hand that has climbing spikes sculpted into the palm and one throwing star hand with a star sculpted into the grip. My default desire is always to get a set of fists, but something had to give.
The extra “deluxe” accessories include a weapon’s rack that allows you to store all of his extra weapons. The extra accessories are: two sais, two kama, two throwing axes, double bladed staff, a long sword that I’m going to say is a nagamaki, and a regular sized sword.
Now on to my favorite part, which is the articulation. From top to bottom:
Head
The head is a regular ball and hinge joint, but the neck connect to the torso with a ball joint, which gives him a lot more side to side and back and forth range. I am a fan of the visor, but I almost feel like this overall version of Snake Eyes would have looked better with the Commando goggles, saving the visored look for a more stripped down ninja version. At the least, I’d have liked to have the option, but I think the visor is probably the most popular for Snake Eyes so I can see why it was the default.
Torso
The torso has an ab crunch with a huge amount of back and forth. This to ain’t got no spine, is what I’m saying. The torso is connected to the waist with a ball joint, and the combo of both of them gives him a very humanoid amount of articulation. He can look around get deep crouches, swivel, tilt, and in general move all over the place. I thought the Power Ranger figures had a large range of motion but Snake Eyes seems to outdo even them.
I do like the huge range afforded by the crunch, but I’m also wishing he had a wobble joint instead. I think it would add quite a lot more side range while keeping what he has. But then lately I’ve been thinking everything needs that kind of joint so I’m biased. That doesn’t downplay that this figure still has a ton of useful range.
The bandolier has a grouping of the classic pineapple styled grenades and has a tendency to float around a little if you don’t have the scabbard pegged into his back. The belt floats around a bit also, so there is some repositioning needed in heavy posing sessions. I’m not going to complain about it, since neither impedes any of his articulation.
Arms
Standard shoulder joint with the addition of a butterfly joint. I had to freeze mine to free up the butterflies, and even then I only managed to get one free. I’m going to have to give it another round in the freezer, but even with one free he has a huge range, allowing him to hold his sword with both hands and cradle his pistol.
There are two straps that you can position so it hides the bicep swivel without getting in the way of the swivelification. Once you get them where you want them they do a good job of staying in place.
The elbow joint is respectable, and he has up and down tilting wrists for proper sword and gun-firing. Here is where a ball-jointed wrist is probably the best one could hope for, but barring that the wrists do an excellent job.
Legs
The hips feature independent drop-down hip joints, allowing you to get Snake Eyes into positions that would make a nun blush. He’s way more articulated than any mass-market Spider-Man figure, able to get full splits to the side and with the flexible material they used for his crotch piece, he can approximate the forward backward splits that make my groid area cry in sympathetic pain. I don’t think I’ve ever been so satisfied with the motion in a pair of legs before.
The holsters do a great job of staying in place and, like the straps on the arms, can be positioned so you don’t notice that there’s a thigh swivel, adding to the overall streamlined look.
The knees and ankles feature the standard articulation and both do a great job. In tandem with the unbelievable range of motion in the hips there’s not much that Snake eyes can’t pull off.
Saying any more about the fun factor of this figure will run the risk of gushing, so I will stop at saying that it is a very early contender for figure of the year. That’s saying a lot about a figure I was very hesitant about, but it won me over with all that motion.
Overall, this is a figure that even casual fans owe it to themselves to pick up when it receives a mass-market release in whatever form. I’ve gone on record about having issues with the upcoming designs/direction that the non-Snake Eyes figures seem to be taking, but if they’re all as fun to play around with as Snake Eyes I can’t say I’d regret getting any of them, even if they’re not quite what I’m looking for in a 6-inch G.I. Joe line.
