Snake Eyes - Hall of Heroes (Figure 1 of 10)

Yes, it's true. Looking back on the past four years of G.I. Joe figures, and I'm not ashamed to admit, I wasn't a real big fan of the Anniversary line. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of gems, and I appreciate the fact that these figures brought so many new fans to the table. But I've been collecting G.I. Joe figures for the past twenty-nine years, and I've been there and done that. The new sculpting and articulation style certainly added some life to some of these two-decade old designs, and there were lots of things to love, but it wasn't all wine and roses.

The Hall of Heroes series was supposed to be a collectors' mecca. The ultimate 10-figure set based on fan votes that would give us the big bang wave that would knock all of our socks off. All of the complaining fans had done with the Anniversary line concerning mis-used parts, slits in the forearms, bad articulation...well, it was all going to be fixed and this would be perfect! Well, it didn't quite turn out that way, and thanks in part to some mismanagement on the marketing side, and some strange decisions, most of the "perfect" figures included in the Hall of Heroes set got overshadowed by other releases, sometimes figures that came out before this ten-figure assortment.

But you know, even though my feelings on this assortment are lukewarm, I've been getting inundated with requests to review these. So here we go.

First and foremost, I started this review off pretty innocently...I took the front and back pictures, and then started to pose Snake Eyes for some weapon firing poses. That's when it happened.

Yeah. Bummer. Of course, this is the only one I had, and I don't have any local stores that have these, so like it or not, the rest of the review will contain Snake Eyes minus half of his right arm. Now, I was doing this review in my garage, which had some pretty cold temperatures, so I'm thinking the plastic was a bit too brittle. I'll try not to detract from the review in this case, but maybe he deserves it.

The first time Hasbro released their homage to the '85 Snake Eyes it was a minor retool to the commando version, and as such it was not really an accurate representation of the original uber-popular '85 version.

Hasbro corrected this mistake with their DVD Battle Pack version, however the color was a more purple shade, to force him into a Sunbow aesthetic. While I loved that look, a lot of folks didn't, and lamented the fact that they still did not have a proper black Snake Eyes in this familiar look. Well, Hasbro promised that the Hall of Heroes would remedy this...and they did. To a point. While Snake Eyes finally got the much deserved all black repaint version, they used the old school head (which had a much less animated look) and gave him pretty much all the accessories he would need.

It was a great figure...except Hasbro released him in a G.I. Joe Battle Pack as well (with the animated head sculpt). So while this was certainly something the fans had been asking for, he kind of turned into "yet another Snake Eyes" because a worthy update had already been released. The paint changes did add some nice diversity to the figure with more realistic looking belts and straps as well as the underlying black uniform.

I find myself really liking this version, mostly because of the older head, but by and large he is pretty much what we got in the Battle Pack. The darker arm color makes the wrist dart blend in a whole lot better, which is nice, but beyond that, it does have an element of "been there, done that".

For accessories, Snake Eyes comes with the standard gold display stand, his classic ninja sword, Uzi, Timber and his combat knife. Unfortunately, he has no place to keep the combat knife.

It's a pretty small, simple accessory compliment, but has everything Snake Eyes' needs.

Ultimately, this is a pretty cool figure, a great display piece, but from a pure toy perspective it falls a bit short due to the release of the G.I. Joe Battle Pack. One thing that the Hall of Heroes did very well was the presentation, and without a doubt, the presentation here is gorgeous. The toy itself does lack some excitement.

GRADE: