Review – Arctic Assault Snake Eyes

“Ninja commando Snake Eyes trains the G.I. Joe Team in hand-to-hand combat. He’s an expert at assault missions that take place in extreme conditions, so he is well prepared to help the team infiltrate the M.A.R.S. Industries base in the remote arctic.”
— from the back of the card

I had planned to completely avoid the G.I. Joe Movie toys but there appear to be some really cool pieces hidden in the line. And then there are the pieces that look like they’re great but turn out to be a little disappointing. Like this Arctic Assault Snake Eyes, for example.

What am I unhappy about with this new Snake Eyes action figure? Keep reading and I’ll tell you more than you want to hear.

Packaging

The new G.I. Joe movie toy packaging isn’t quite as cool as the 25th line that came before it, but that’s mostly nostalgia talking and not any serious consideration for graphic design, quality of artwork, or brand identity and shelf presence. Which means that I’m old and loved the 25th packaging because Hasbro did an excellent job of giving us new toys that reminded us of the 1980s. The new packaging is just fine, but it’s nothing especially exciting or spectacular.

Arctic Assault

Our favorite G.I. Joe commando/ninja, Snake Eyes, looked great in his earlier arctic outfit (I swear I’m gonna get that guy reviewed here) and this new one goes a different direction, making Snake Eyes look a lot more like Snow Job (reviewed here) than he ever has before. With the Snake Eyes head almost completely concealed behind the heavy hood of a winter coat, and the entire costume nowhere in sight, this Snake Eyes action figure looks great . . . but only because I’m such a fan of arctic costumes.

Through the use of a vinyl coat (with connected hood) and a vinyl strap the Hasbro designers did an excellent job of making Snake Eyes look like he’s bundled up and ready for extremely cold conditions. The seam where the separate coat accessory meets the sleeves isn’t perfect, but the blend comes close enough — and the colors of the two separate pieces are so close — that the illusion of an actual coat is almost perfect. This may be one of the best “coat” accessories I’ve seen so far.

The sculpt of the figure is excellent. Besides the effort put into making the coat accessory fit perfectly with the figure’s design the sculptors also filled out Snake Eyes’ pants and bunched up the sleeves at the wrists, making it look like the figure is actually wearing thick clothing over another suit. The tiny details, like the way the pants hang down over the boots and the straps on the gloves, really demonstrate how much love was put into this figure.

Unfortunately, those pants legs and the beautiful coat detract from the toy’s poseability, with the pieces drastically limiting the articulation. The feet are especially limited, with the pants cuffs blocking the range of movement on what appear to be ball-hinge joints at the ankles. The limited articulation doesn’t destroy the figure, but it does make me wonder what Snake Eyes is gonna do when it’s time to go all ninja on some Cobra troops.

The paint job, minimal it may be, is excellent. The arctic camo pattern painted on the coat and suit look great and I don’t see any rough edges or spots that look bad. The black lines on Snake Eyes’ white visor are so sharp and perfect that it makes me think a machine was involved in some way. And it’s very cool that the visor itself is a separate piece of plastic that’s snapped on the black head. This adds some real depth to the toy that you just can’t get with one-piece heads.

Accessories

It’s no secret that 3.75-inch G.I. Joe action figures come with the best accessories on the market . . . but the movie toys appear to be loaded with some questionable bits. I’ve seen the spring-loaded missile launchers out there and I’m happy to report that Arctic Assault Snake Eyes doesn’t come with one. He does come with a backpack with climbing hooks, though, and it’s almost a neat piece. Unfortunately, the pack doesn’t fit all that well on the toy and the hooks are so massive that there’s nowhere to put them. So what you get is Snake Eyes walking around dragging a line and two hooks that look large enough to anchor a boat.

The pack may not be great (it would be better if it fit a little nicer and didn’t have the huge hooks fastened to it) but the other accessories are just fine. A sword, a climbing tool, a pistol, and a stand all nicely complement the figure, even if the pistol doesn’t have anywhere to ride around. (Snake Eyes could really use a holster.)

The climbing tool is a really nice touch, since it looks like both a piece of equipment and exactly the sort of thing Snake Eyes would use as a weapon if it was all he had handy.

A Little Disappointing?

Yeah, I did say that Arctic Assault Snake Eyes is a little disappointing and nothing I’ve written here really explains why. I’ve mentioned a few minor faults, an unwanted accessory, and then raved about how great his paint job is. So why is he a little disappointing? Because the articulation issues are larger than they appear to be at first and because this figure just doesn’t look as cool as the earlier arctic Snake Eyes action figure. But that may just be nostalgia talking again, so you should probably ignore me and just move on.

Closing Thoughts

A great coat, a beautiful coat of paint, and an excellent sculpt make this a much better toy than I was expecting from this line. If you do not yet have an arctic Snake Eyes then you may want to grab this guy, but there’s nothing here that makes this a must buy piece. It’s pretty good, but the lack of a holster and a “not very good” backpack make this little more than the “Razor Suit Camo Batman” of 2009. Snake Eyes is cool, someone out there decided, so as many different Snake Eyes figures as can be released as possible has to be a good thing.

After all, it has worked for Batman for a few decades now. And Wolverine and Spider-Man have made it work, so why not Snake Eyes?

Coming soon, Aquatic Assault Snake Eyes. Actually, that sounds kinda neat. I bet I’d buy one if Hasbro created an Aquatic Assault Snake Eyes. I suck.

For a look at another movie Snake Eyes action figure take a look at this Paris Pursuit Snake Eyes review at Articulated Discussions.

Philip Reed thinks that it’s a little unfair that this movie arctic Snake Eyes made it up onto battlegrip.com before the earlier arctic Snake Eyes action figure. That other Snake Eyes really needs his turn here on the site.