Built To Rule - Sand Snake
Unfortunately, one of the casualties of my webspace problems has been the archive of my former Built to Rule reviews. Basically, I chose to eliminate them, mostly out of simplicity, not because I have anything against these pseudo-Lego toys. Quite, the opposite, many of these items are pretty inspired...I just wish most of them were regular vehicles instead of ones I had to assemble from scratch.
Don't get me wrong, I miss the old days of assembling my own regular vehicles, and I LOVE doing that, but I guess Lego building just isn't my thing. I'd rather bust my toy out of the package and be playing with it shortly thereafter. It's not as much of an issue with these smaller vehicles, but items like the Armadillo and Raging Typhoon took me a good hour and a half to build. There was barely any time to appreciate them!
But the Sand Snake is a smaller vehicle, and only took me a short while to get it together. After I did get it assembled, though, I realized it's not really that dynamic of a vehicle. It's got an interesting design, and translated to an actual COBRA jeep, it might look great, but in this design scheme, it's just not all that exciting.
It is very slim and sleek, which is cool. The large canopy area quickly trims down to a very thin chassis, which comes to a nice point. It's got some flair here and there, but doesn't surprise or really impress. Were it a normal vehicle, I might be interested, but it's not cool enough to break those BTR barriers...not like the Armadillo or the COBRA Moccasin.
It's colors are interesting, a nice combination of desert hues and faithful COBRA shades. I still like the different sized tires, and the sleek look they give this quick looking little vehicle, but it doesn't impress enough to bring it into my "real" Joeverse.
Again, like other BTR vehicles, this one also lacks a real "control" area. Inside the canopy, Firefly just sits there. No seat, no steering wheel or console. No real way to make this thing drive or do anything. This affects the usability of this vehicle as well, and just brings it down a couple more notches.
But I will tell you right here and now...this BTR set will be a favorite amongst lots of people, for the same reason that the Raging Typhoon impressed. The vehicle is all right, but the figure is an absolute must have. I basically spent $30.00 on the Typhoon for the Blowtorch figure, but thank goodness I didn't have to drop that for this Firefly as well. Now that I have it, though, I can fairly say, that if I DID have to pay that for this figure...it would be worth it. This Firefly is that good.
I am one of the few that recognize some merits of the Wave 2 Firefly. He was a fairly large departure from his normal look, but his new armored vest, holstered pistol and great shin guards made him a pretty neat COBRA operative. Mix that with his improved articulation (swivel thighs and jointed ankles!) and it made for a great figure. But now that I have this one, my Wave 2 Firefly is being retired to his storage drawer for good. This figure is GREAT. As close to perfection as I've seen the new sculpt figures come yet.
Built To Rule has done nice figures before...but I've always found the little "Lego nubs" to be a distraction, but didn't like the figure enough to take the trouble to sand or cut off those knobs. Well, the BTR Firefly's knobs were gone within half an hour of opening this baby up, and he is now my default Firefly. His mold is slim and well-proportioned, coming about as close to RAH scale as I've seen. The ski-mask is detailed perfectly looking nicely knitted and like an honest-to-God terrorist. His torso is solid and LOADED with details from the COBRA symbol grenades to the holstered pistol, and including some nicely done layered stomach armor.
His legs also have a great assortment of gear, including an AWESOME looking package of C4 strapped to his left thigh and another pistol on the right. Even his waist-piece is stuffed with pouches, straps, and accessories. Everywhere you look on this figure there are belts, straps, and pouches...I mean, they are EVERYwhere. But unlike the Wave 3 Snake Eyes (whose articulation is pretty hampered by the enormous pouches) these are very streamlined and add details without sacrificing movement. Adding to this look is his metallic forearm guards and shin-guards, which were unfortunately saddled by the BTR knobs. I shaved them off with an exacto, and it does the trick for now, but I'll be taking a Dremel to them eventually to even them out somewhat.
Firefly sports the new swivel-arm articulation, which is a great approximation of the original mechination, and he also has the mid-thigh articulation of the original! A very cool addition. The only real downside and I can come up with for this figure is probably coloring. He really just has a pretty monochromatic gray uniform, although they manage some cool shades here and there, and the silver grenades and off-white explosives look really, REALLY great.
You should not hesitate to pick up this BTR set. This Firefly figure is worth the $13.00 on his own, and you get a little Lego vehicle as well. It took me about 10-15 minutes to shave off those knobs, and it was time well spent, as this version of Firefly will quickly become my default sabotour for my COBRA forces. Money well spent!
