Slowly but surely I’m making my way through the first wave of G.I. Joe: Pursuit of Cobra figures.
Already I’ve got Alley-Viper, Duke, and Beachhead posted, and now I’ve added Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, and Snow Job. I believe that just leaves Cobra Commander and Firefly, and with my HasbroToyShop order shipping this past weekend, I should be able to get those posted as well.
Just because I’m anal retentive, too, I may move the Beachhead review to pre-production and do my own production level review as well. Hawkwinter did a fantastic job, but I love Beachhead so much I’m itching to get a review in there as well.
Anyway, check out the Pursuit of Cobra Review Page to check out all of the PoC reviews posted to date!
wow, i couldn’t disagree more with you about snake eyes. i think the jacket adds a nice design change from the snake eyes we’re used to, and the twin mac-10s are pretty awesome as well (i love any accessories that allow the figure to do some kick ass john woo poses). i also love any figure that can hold all of its accessories and the fact that this SE can clip his guns to his jacket (or, as is my preference, to the clips on his harness) is a nice bonus. i also really dig the head, because even though it looks the same as paris pursuit snake eyes, it’s actually painted decently this time, with flesh tone under the visor and nice, visible slats in the visor itself. i don’t really care that the figure doesn’t scream “desert” because i won’t use him that way, he’s just a nice recognizable snake eyes, but still different enough to merit a purchase, and i think he’s a nice blend of movie and traditional design elements.
I’m all for new design elements as long as they serve a purpose. Certainly the clips on the jacket which hold the two submachine guns are great, but what’s up with all that crazy armor plating?
Maybe I was too influenced by the original “Arctic Threat Snake Eyes”, who at least had some unique color to him:
https://generalsjoesreborn.com/wp-content/gallery/joecon-2009-friday-wave-2-2010-figs/snakeeyes-02.jpg
But this updated version just seems like more black/gray same old same old Snake Eyes. Sure, he’s got a jacket, but that’s not necessarily enough to impress.
That Storm Shadow is really growing on me…luckily he’s a figure that won’t be too hard to find 😀
Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow in this series simply do one thing (each) that IMHO forgives their presence in this wave; they improve upon the RoC versions of themselves and make those previous figures forgettable enough to make the PoC versions the only ones you’ll need. The tricky thing about Hasbro is that these two characters always seem like a revisionist work-in-progress. Hasbro gives you what you want, the “Ultimate” Snake Eyes/Storm Shadow definitive figure, and then when we all realize their shortcomings, along comes the New-And-Improved “Ultimate” Snake Eyes/Storm Shadow. It’s a simple little twist, quite well enough to sell these guys, and it’s hooked me (and many of you) quite effectively.
*sigh*
Snow Job however is definitely the definitive “Ultimate” modern Snow Job… for now. 😉
looks like that arctic snake eyes is the same as this guy but with some odd metallic blue and light grey thrown in. personally i like my snake eyes to be dark shades, blacks and greys are his thing, and i agree with blacktron that hasbro just gives us minor tweaks on what is already a solid design, and what this version does best in my opinion is give us what the RoC SEs should have been. with the exception of arctic snake eyes (which was a brilliant figure, but a very specialized one) the RoC SEs left me cold, and i think this guy kinda makes up for that. i’m also a sucker for any figure that can hold all of his gear at one time, which is something a lot of the PoC figures can do and i love it.
i do agree that he doesn’t make much sense as a desert figure, but i think they just did that to pair him against storm shadow in the same mission. storm shadow clearly has some desert influence, and i will honestly say that i had passed on this figure a bunch of times until reading your review, which made me want him and track him down today.
i think we probably just come from two different schools of thought when it comes to snake eyes. i’ve always been a huge fan of him, and while like any joe fan i get overwhelmed with the same old sculpts being reissued over and over, i applaud when they do something different enough but still staying with the core tenets of the character’s design. as for the armored jacket, i don’t see what’s really so outlandish about it. why wouldn’t a guy getting shot at a lot want an armored jacket? maybe the armor is spaced out to make it lighter or easier to maneuver in, i dunno. but it makes enough sense to me.
from reading your reviews it usually seems like you have a predisposed bias against a snake eyes figure when you review it, which is understandable given the sheer oversaturation of the character, but i just don’t share that opinion. for example i remember you didn’t particularly like the 25A update of the 89 snake eyes, while i thought it was amazing with its splinter cell type goggles and removable chest swords.
that said, i love your reviews and you definitely have a more in depth knowledge of joe figures than i, so i’ve definitely got no ill will, i just think we disagree on the merits of snake eyes figures.
Hey, no worries, monkey boy, we can agree to disagree.
To a certain degree you’re probably right. I do have a bit of a pre-disposition towards looking negatively at Snake Eyes, simply because I’ve been buying Joes for twenty-eight years, and I can get kind of sick of his over-saturation.
You make good points about the armored jacket, which wasn’t something I really considered. It looked mostly decorative to me, but I guess if you think of it from a functional perspective, it does make some sort of sense.
However, I do try to give him credit where it’s due. For instance, the RoC “City Strike” version of Snake Eyes I’ve called the best Joe figure in the last ten years. And in fact, the Anniversary re-do of the ’89 version was one that I absolutely loved as well:
http://joebattlelines.com/reviews/toys/25thanniversary/snakeyesv4.htm
I will agree whole-heartedly that by and large the Rise of Cobra Snake Eyes’ were pretty lackluster (though I liked the Paris Pursuit version with the trench coat, which, ironically enough, uses much of the same parts as this version).
So, yeah, to a point you are correct. After this long, a Snake Eyes figure had better “wow” me or bring something new to the table to win me over. But I do try and give credit where I think credit is due.
I enjoy your reviews as well, monkey boy, so I really appreciate you coming over to “debate”. Stop over any time. 🙂
Justin
that’s true, you did give the city strike SE just about the highest marks possible. but you get what i mean. incidentally city strike SE was a figure that i had been looking forward to and then when i finally found him it didn’t do as much for me as i thought it would, mainly because i think there was just too much in the way of accessories that didn’t really tie together for me. but to each there own.
and i guess i must have confused you and fred’s portions of the 89 updated snake eyes review, it was fred who didn’t like the goggles. but like me, you loved them.
paris pursuit was another snake eyes that like city strike i THOUGHT i would enjoy much more than i actually did. like city strike it’s a solid figure and the jacket is cool, but it just ends up being too bland. PoC SE ends up using most of the same parts but gives us more bells and whistles, like the jacket and the clips, and also brings out the paint a bit more with the weathering and the dark silver visor with the slats painted on, and especially the painted face (though like you i wish there was some scarring evident). paris pursuit had all the makings of a good figure but they largely got lost in a sea of dull paint (or lack of paint).
it’s also good to see a new timber, although the action feature i could take or leave. i was actually excited at first because i thought he’d be the first timber in this scale to actually have some real articulation, but it was not to be. personally though i’ve always loved the “pets”, and i think it’s because when i was collecting ARAH i was really young. i always thought the straightforward military figures were too bland, and what attracted to a character or figure was that fantastic element, a cool design or a removable helmet or some kind of cool animal. of course there were limits to this, and i started to drift away from the line once they were putting out pink masked ninjas with rooted hair. but i think the best figures strike a balance between straightforward military and science fiction outlandishness, and snake eyes always did a decent job of toeing the line. timber’s a good example of it.
oops i meant to each *their own. anyway, can’t wait to see your take on firefly! mine should be up at OAFE.net before too long.
Agh…geeze, Snow Job comes with A LOT of cool stuff! I wasn’t planning on getting him ’cause I’m not big on snow guys, but I want a little mess kit! And that rifle. And GEEZE, I didn’t know you could make a lean-to out of his gear! That’s just AWESOME! Man, way to make the little details count, Hasbro. Very cool.
snake eyes: the outfit certainly doesnt fit the environment—but that mattered only when i was 10. filecards and cardart/card blurbs dont dictate my playtime anymore. that being said…not my favorite snake eyes of all time, but hes okay.
storm shadow: nice review……of storm shadow’s accessories. there is a figure somewhere in that package, right? no matter i guess…its a shitty figure all around to me.
snow job: i like him, but if a figure can come with too many accessories, it happened with Harlan.
Hey, thought of something about the armored jacket going for Snake Eyes here in the Desert. This is the battle theater where they are scouting in the AWE Striker for the COBRA super weapon; the H.I.S.S. V! In this battle, the Joes are practically doing the US military job of scouting for the insurgents in Afghanistan and as I see it, the threat of IED and sniper fire would be pretty high, especially since they KNOW that they’re hot on the trail of this thing. IMHO, Snake Eyes is going to need this armored jacket like never before as this story plays out.
One thing about this PoC collection I really like is that it has a story in the making with a standard plot and a “Choose Your Own Adventure” sort of progression. Almost like an unscripted and unfinished comic book.
Justin said : “Hawkwinter did a fantastic job, but I love Beachhead so much I’m itching to get a review in there as well.”
Don’t blame ya one bit. Beachhead is insanely awesome, plus you take waaaaaaay better pictures than I ever could 😉
just pretend that desert snake eyes is really an artic snake eyes the way he was originally intended. how many time have you ever seen wolf in desert anyway.
This is different; usually Justin is labeled a Hasbro cheerleader and now we’re all having to defend a figure from him! 🙂
I too love this Snake Eyes. To me, Snake Eyes variants in the 25th/RoC/PoC scale are like Snake Eyes variants in the Sigma scale: the more the merrier. They lend themselved to such easy customization; pop a head on any given Snake Eyes body and you’ve got an instant badass character.
Of course, I left the States the week PoC hit shelves and I only managed to snag Duke and Snake Eyes, so that may have impacted my affection a bit.
A Beachhead review can further confirm the unfortunate fact that the final version only comes with one knife for the two holsters…
Yeah, I purchased a production Beachhead and he also only had one knife for two holsters. Kind of odd, but I do think two knives may have been overkill on him, as they stick out a bit. Still, I’d rather have them than not have them.
Maybe Hasbro intended the desert Snake Eyes was working in to be a polar desert? 😀