This is one of those figures where it feels like some reviewers have had it for over a year, but my Walmart and the back up Pulse order I made in anticipation of Walmart surprise canceling my pre-order just arrived the other day so I want to talk about it. The U.S. has been getting these figures dead last, so I have to make a choice to either pay exorbitant prices for overseas shipping or just wait patiently. The figures sometimes feel like old news by the time I get them, but with all the figures coming down the pike, I have to play patient. Let’s look at retro-Snake Eyes!
I know the card is a big part of the appeal of these figures to a lot of collectors, so it is a shame that the card is so easily bent. I got both of my figures shipped in a box and both got a bit bent up. Walmart just dropped it in a box too small for the size of the card, while pulse packed it up fairly well, but it still got mangled. This is my least damaged card and I think I’ll be able to straighten it out well enough to hang on the wall. The art is a nice tribute to the original card with some of the Classified details like the the holster, sheathe, and grenades added.
I was mainly in this for the classic look and accessories and they don’t disappoint there. Snake Eyes comes with a satchel full of charges, an uzi, a pistol, a silencer, a knife, and two grenades.
The pistol has nice detail and proportion and fits well in the holster. The silencer has a peg that plugs into the barrel of the gun and it can also store on the holster. The design of the silencer is interesting with a more blocky barrel, but I couldn’t quite get mine to look straight. It wants to droop (insert ED joke here).
The knife is cast in black with a bit of gray paint on the handle. The sculpting has that toy-safety rounded off look to it and it fits well in the hand and the sheathe on the left thigh.
For me, the Uzi is synonymous with Snake Eyes and this fits well in the figure’s hand. It’s got a nice amount of detail and the proportions are somewhere in between the original card art ginormous and the figure’s more petite gun.
The satchel is sculpted with three pouches that hold explosives. It would have been cool if the explosives came out of the pouches or perhaps the strap could come off so you could have him convincingly plant the explosives, but the classic styling on the thing is nice and it hangs well.
The grenades are a new touch that I really like a lot. The tiny little serial number and red stripe add a nice finishing detail to the all black outfit, but easily removed if you want that all black look. You can hook them on the satchel strap, but be careful because they can be easily knocked off and lost in posing.
Snake Eyes uses the G.I. Joe Classified Stalker body in a piece of vintage appropriate re-use since they shared parts in the original 13. The head is new and while it is similar to the mask seen in the first Timber pack, it’s slightly less detailed, without the goggle straps and extra mouth piece detail for an even more vintage style. The web gear does have a tendency to ride up a bit when posing, but I love the classic feel.
Articulation is G.I. Joe Classified standard and moves well for the most part with my only complaint being the biceps. They are a little thick and the straight cut stands out a bit to me. When you try to bring the arm across the body for rifle or two-handed pistol gripping poses, the bicep can start to pop off the shoulder and leave a gap. I wish the chest butterfly joints were a bit deeper to allow for more across the chest movement, but he holds the Uzi fine for the most part. He also doesn’t have the hinge in the top of his neck, which is a POA I miss for characters looking up, especially if crawling on the ground like a sneaky commando.
Paint is minimal. He does have a bit of a gloss added to the visor and some gray on the individual pieces on the web gear and the gloves to help them stand out a bit, but it’s fairly subtle..
Overall, there are a lot of Snake Eyes figures in the Classified line, but this one really scratches that simplified V1 commando itch better than the others. The Timber pack version got close, but this one has even more classic nods and the torso articulation isn’t hampered by a chest overlay.
Source: Fwoosh
