I found the 25th Anniversary versions of Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow a week or so back at K-Mart of all places, thanks to a tip from David Willis, the man behind the Shortpacked! web comic (very good strip, BTW), which I was turned onto by Adam Pawlus via his web site 16 Bit. But, enough with the shameless plugs already.

These new Joes are nothing like their older counterparts in terms of construction. They're more akin to the super articulated Star Wars figures that have come out on occasion over the past few years. Gone is the rubber band that holds the crotch and legs together with the torso. While I see the benefits of the new design, I miss being able to turn my Snake-Eyes 1080 degrees and let his fists fly out in a flurry of bad-assedness.

I also miss accessories that don't bend. The old school rifles and swords that had no give seemed to hold better in the hands of the figures. This new Snake-Eyes can barely hold his Uzi straight due to the materials used in his hands and weapon. I'm not saying I want easily-breakable toys, mind you. However, I took very good care of my toys as a child because I knew there would be no replacing them, so I only ever broke two G.I.Joe thumbs back in the day. Breaker didn't really need it and my '85 Snake-Eyes had his glued back in place and it worked fine after that.

Timber was a let down since they used the same mold as the previous Timber from Valor Vs. Venom. At least, I think it was VvV. My Joe memory is not so good these days. Although, I do still remember Airtight's "real" name is Kurt Schnurr and Alpine's is Albert M. Pine. Don't know why, but I have those two memorized. Probably had something to do with them being some of my favorite Joes, but that doesn't explain why I don't remember Snow Job's or Quick Kick's. Huh.

Storm Shadow is pretty neat and seems to have a better grip than SE when it comes to his accessories. From what I understand, except for the head and a a diferent mold for his backpak strap, this is the same figure that comes in the Cobra 5-pack. That nulifies buying the 5-pack for me as I have the Comic-Con Destro on the way and don't care about Cobra Commander or his soldier. I wouldn't mind having the Baroness though. Maybe I'll have to look into eBay for her. I am thinking about buying the Joe 5-pack though as I like the more commando-esque SE, Roadblock, and Scarlett. Duke and Gung-Ho can go get a room together for all I care. They aren't my favs by a long shot.

Anyway, like SE, SS is super-articulated and just plain fun to pose and goof around with. I like him a lot and he's also an updated version of my all-time favorite Storm Shadow costume. Despite him being a Joe in this outfit, I prefer to think of him as Cobra. Maybe the brainwave scanner kicked in a little harder this time around, eh?

In closing, I'd like to recommend these new Joes to any casual fan out there. They're not the same and some may think they aren't better, but they certainly are fun. Yo Joe!