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Meat and Potatoes; 4.5
Perks; 4.5
Homer Facor; 4.5
The newest incarnation of Snake Eyes is almost 8” tall. He’s decked out in all black, special ops gear, but the sculpting has a manga-ish slant to it. He has a ton o’ articulation for many poses.
Snake Eyes s equipped with 2 ‘tonfa swords’, a knife, sub-machine gun, repelling gear and climbing gear, multiple goggles and facemasks, and a ‘locker’ to hold everything.
‘GI Joe’ is still searching. A few years ago Hasbro tried to jump-start the shaky line with ‘GI Joe Extreme’. Yeah, the entire line wasn’t any better then the name. The scale of the figures was bumped up to about 5” and the figures were so bulky they looked like they were on steroids. The response was... oh heck, people thought they sucked.
So back to the 3” line Hasbro went, and the toy line exploded to life with new fans jumping on to the new vehicles and sculpts. The line-up wasn’t as massive as the old days, but it was still pretty cool.
Well now it’s time to tinker so what to do? Hasbro decided to try to mess with things AGAIN and came up with ‘Sigma Six’. Rather then the classic huuuuuuuge army of Joes, the team has shrunk to 6 military specialists called in to take on the crazed plans of COBRA. Sounds kinda like ‘The A-Team’ but with six guys. In addition to the organizational change, the biggest transformation came in the figures.
No longer 3” pieces, the new line is larger, with different sculpts. Yeah, EVERYTHING changed. After the last disaster, is the new line up to snuff? Well, mostly...
Meat and potatoes are driving people nuts on this one. The good news is the articulation is amazing. Ok, it’s not quite Marvel Legends, but the articulation on Snake Eyes lets you do a LOT of fighting poses. The problems come with the sculpting. Rather then do a ‘true to life’ look, the figures have a bit of a manga look; lankier and angular features. Even the musculature tends to come in hard edges rather then gentle curves. Personally, I like the new look but some fans can’t stand it. It’s your call.
The perks are a combination of cool features and surprising shortcomings. . As usual, Snake Eyes comes with a ton o’ weapons. He’s got a pair of swords, a knife, and semi-auto machine-gun, you get the idea. He also comes with a removable harness that looks like a bandoleer. It’s a nice touch, even the clips on it work. Very nice. The figure is also covered with ‘holes’. Each one is meant to hold a 'post' that is mounted on an accessory. You slide the 'post' into the 'hole'. Instant utility belt. The swords and the machine gun have them. It works for SOME of the equipment, but other things that should work, such as the knife and the extra goggles, can’t be attached to the posts. Yes, a bit odd. Not horrible by any means, but odd.
Another nice touch is the top and bottom ‘caps’ of the display box can be used as storage ‘locker’ for the extra gear. But again, something quirky is going on. The directions state the foam piece that holds some of the equipment in the display box can be put into the ‘locker’. Unfortunately the foam can’t hold everything in place, so not everything fits info the ‘locker’. Granted, I just left eh foam out and it works ok, but still, kinda odd to have this be a problem.
Homer factor. Ah, this is a tricky one. If you’re a die-hard, old school fan... you’re probably tempted to drop kick the thing. The figure is a HUGE departure from the figures we’ve been raised on if you’re a Gen-Xer. HOWEVER, if you’re new to the entire line, the new look and accessories are a nice look.
So the final word? Well, OVERALL it’s a very good piece. The articulation, new look, and ton o’ accessories make up for any weird shortcomings. There is one slight problem; these figures are $15 each with general retailers. Nope, not kidding. Sure, a DC Direct figure goes for the same amount, but you can only find those at comic shops. But these can be found at your corner mega-store, so it’s rather odd that a line that is readily accessible is THAT pricey, especially since a Marvel Legends figures go for about $10 each. In the end it’ll be interesting to see if this grand experiment works... or if it’s back to the drawing board.