You know, there were very few figures from the 1980s vintage Masters of the Universe line that I (or my little brother) did not own. Strangely, Ram Man was one, as was Multi-Bot, and Thunder Punch He-Man, but we had just able every other figure out there. Oh, and we also never got our mitts on the subject of this First Look: Snake Face. Man, oh man, did I ever want Snake Face as a kid. Not having a particular figure always added a bit of mystique to said figure, but of all the guys we did not have, at least we knew someone who did, so we got to enjoy them on some level. That is, except for Snake Face. I don’t know why he was so elusive (aside from being at the end of the line), but that fact, coupled with his rather freakish design, was a recipe for an annoying beggar child trying to get his mum to find that figure through any means necessary. Yeah, to say that this April is a long time coming is a real understatement for me.
Sure, the Snake Men were never my favorite faction (I was an Evil Warriors and Horde guy, still am), but for some reason the design of Snake Face really caught my attention. I knew his power borrowed from the Medusa character of legend, but he kind of also had this creepy old man look to him too. It was easy to tell that he was not necessarily a snake like Rattlor per se, but since he had, well, snakes coming out of his face, he could easily pass. Again, it must have been that “never had him” charm because, even as a kid, I thought he looked weird with the head holes and retracted snakes, but man, for some reason the fact that he could turn guys into stone made him a walking weapon for the serpents. You can imagine the irony I felt when, decades later, Snake Face turned my favorite MOTU character, Mer-Man, into stone on the MYP cartoon. The most gruesome of the Snake Men, indeed.
Speaking of the MYP cartoon, that is where the Snake Men really come into their own in the MOTU mythos. Unfortunately, Snake Face’s power was turned against him so he spent a good deal of time as a statue in the Etenos prison. He never really had a chance to completely flourish in the vintage line since the Powers of Grayskull execution never came to fruition, and while a few of the snakes made onto the FilMation shows, albeit briefly, alas, Snake Face was not one of them. So, his new Classics bio is really the first chance to get some characterization behind him and in doing so, we learn that he actually functioned as King Hssss’ second in command during the Great Wars. This is a fitting position for a guy that has such dangerous powers.
The figure itself has gone through quite a bit of online vetting and evaluation in the few short months since his reveal. Personally, I think that, from the waist up, he is one of the most eye-catching and detailed figures in the line yet. There is a lot going on in terms of new parts and interchangeable pieces so I would imagine that he was one of the more expensive figures in the line for the year. Starting at the top, he comes with two heads: one standard and one with his face snakes fully unleashed. I am so glad that they went this route with the execution for this figure as the main drawback of the vintage counterpart was that he never really looked right in the neutral pose. Now he has detailed eyes that are not just holes, and you do not have to worry about swapping out those little red snakes, they are all just a part of his alternate head. Both heads have a ton of paint and sculptural details, I am particularly fond of the green snakes along the top of his head and the subtle airbrushing on his cheeks and around his eye sockets.
His upper body is also mostly new and this is highlighted by his unique arms and armor. I really love the arms; they are not like any other MOTUC arms used before and the shoulders have lots of fins, ridges, and crevices that are all accentuated by a subtle paint wash. Moving down, his forearms have painted snakes wrapped around down to his wrists in the same color as the light green overspray on his biceps. Really, there is more going on on his upper limbs than some action figures get in their entire sculpt.
The armor is also really cool because one, it is unique and that is always good when it is appropriate, and two, it functions in a way to continue to support portraying his action feature. The two little snake-shaped pieces on the front fold down so that you can insert two little red snakes coming out of his body. They move back and forth easily and the you should not have any trouble snapping the snakes into place. I realize that those snakes, in keeping with the vintage figure, should be green and not red, but they fact that they are different here does not detract one bit from their effect with the figure. For a character that was essentially a plastic action feature in the ’80s, I am very pleased with how the Horsemen were able to interpret that feature while not sacrificing detail that we come to expect. I do want to comment on the fact that there has been some concern with whether or not Snake Face can position his arms at his side, so while they cannot go completely flush (is there any MOTUC figure that can?) I do not find their posablity distracting in the least. Your opinion on that will vary, of course.
Snake Face also has unique shorts and, from there, he is essentially Skeletor from the thighs down. This is one spot where I wish they would have made a couple of different design choices in realizing this figure. Nothing looks bad on him, quite the contrary, but I would have LOVED if they would have used the Whiplash thighs and Hordak feet to hit a little closer to vintage accuracy. That is just my opinion, but I think using those would have brought the entire effect of this figure home and would give a chance to utilize some parts that don’t show up quite as often in the line.
A quick note on construction too — I have not been able to find any engineering or design snafus here. I know that I keep saying this but Mattel has really gotten on the ball this year with their overall production quality. When figures are $27.00 for a day-of sale price, the need for high quality standards becomes even more important and I really hope this trend continues on through the life of this line.
Finally, in addition to his alternate head and snakes, Snake Face also comes with his cool shield and the almost-missed-it standard issue snake staff. The detailed shield is certainly the highlight and it actually recalls the Staction shield more than the vintage, but I am so glad the staff made the cut. I see it as the standard snake weapon, much in the same vein as the Horde crossbow, so I will always be glad to see that it comes with a snake figure. It is pretty similar to the one that King Hssss wields in terms of color choice, but that is certainly in keeping with the vintage counterpart.
Wow, so yeah, even though Classics King Hssss stood lonesome on your shelf for a long time, we have gotten quite a few of his slithering brothers in the past few months. As the most recent addition, I think Snake Face is a definite winner. I have not decided if I like him or Rattlor more yet, but that is a good problem to have, right? For the most part, all consideration was given to this enigmatic Snake Man, and now that I finally have him in my collection, it makes up for decades of going without. In the end, isn’t that a main driver for the Classics line? You betcha it is.
*Again, thanks to Toy Guru for including Snake Face for this First Look. We will be back soon for something completely different in terms new MOTU items. Stay tuned!
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