justjinni

greatest toy ever?


i am a geek for many things. movies, video games, comic books, action figures, etc. but i think my first love might be gi joe, or more specifically, gi joe: a real american hero. my older brother was an avid joe collector, and many of my earliest memories involve him playing in the floor with me, his big box of joes poured out on the living room floor.

i had many favorites, but like most kids, snake-eyes was at the top of my favorite list. originally he was a black-clad commando, and came packaged with an uzi and a demolitions bag. his filecard denoted that he was proficient in 12 forms of unarmed combat, including karate, kung fu, and jujitsu, as well as being skilled with edged weapons.

however, in the comic book, larry hama decided that there was much more to snake-eyes. the mysterious commando was given the back story of a vietnam veteran who had been trained in ninjitsu by one of the last existing ninja clans. not just trained, in fact, but he excelled so much, that the masters of the clan decided that snake-eyes was, in fact, the future master of the clan. after returning to the states (after the sad demise of the clan), snake-eyes was recruited for the gi joe team. on their first mission, his face was horribly disfigured, and his voice forever silenced, in an explosion. an explosion he easily could have escaped...if he had abandoned a trapped team mate.

throughout the course of the comic book and cartoons, snake-eyes grew in status and skill, and his subsequent figures reflected these changes. the ninja aspects became more and more pronounced with each figure release.

for their new line, gi joe: the pursuit of cobra, hasbro has decided to reconcile all versions of the character into one amazing figure. there will be no objectivity in this review...just gushing love for what may be the ultimate 3 3/4 inch figure ever made.



the package

anyone who collected the original figure line during its waning days will feel a slight twinge of nostalgia at the poc (pursuit of cobra) packaging. the resemblance to the old "battle corps" waves is, i'm sure, intentional. bright neon colors, painted art of the character, and a bold logo right on the front. this is old school...and it is good. hasbro has also added a number designation to make it easier to identify how many figures have been made. this snake-eyes (version 54), is designated no. 1101. i like this addition...it lets me know if i'm missing any figures from the wave! snake-eyes is securely packaged in a vac-molded tray, and surrounded by his accessories. and i do mean surrounded! he resembles a warlord pharaoh, buried with enough armament to tackle an army of the undead.

the accessories

good lord, are there accessories. he comes with a sturdy two-peg plastic stand, with his name emblazoned on the front of it. then he gets a repro of his original demolitions pack, an assault rifle, an uzi, two pistols, two silencers, two standard swords with sheaths (which peg onto the web gear), his signature sword, a shoulder mounted sheath with removable knife, a removable boot knife, plastic and elastic web gear, removable knee pads, and an extra head. either pistol can fit into the holster molded onto his thigh,and the holster also has a space for one of the silencers. one of the pistols and the uzi can both have silencers attaced to the barrels for when snake-eyes wants to shoot sneaky.

the figure

first and foremost, there's a lot of black here. other than his knee pads, the blades of two of the swords, his shoulder insignias, and the painted knuckle dusters on his gloves, this guy is all black. luckily, he's been highlighted with several levels of finsih, so the glossy areas help break up the monotony.

now...articulation, you say? he has it. lots of it. ball jointed head, pinned slot & post shoulders, elbows, and wrists. ball jointed abdomen. the classic t-bar joints at the hips. double pin knees (for super deep crouches), and pin slot & post ankles. there's not many poses you can't get him into. hasbro has really upped the ante with this new line...this level of articulation and detail is amazing at this scale.

with the numerous accessories, there is a large variet of ways to display this figure. but just to give us a few more options, hasbro included the alternate head. so you can either have the classic "commando" look, or the "visored" ninja look.

now...photo dump!















so, the negatives...

just one. it's going to be hard for hasbro to top this figure. when the bar is set this high, every minor missed step from this point on will be will be that much more glaring.

so, congratulations to hasbro for giving us something so amazing...

and shame on them for waiting so long to give us everything we ever wanted in a figure...i can hear my inner child screaming at the injustice of not having this figure to play with in the living room floor all those years ago!


til next time...