For a figure in a smaller scale like this, sometimes details have to be tossed out in favor of function, but this fellow is still packed with sculpt details in pretty much every part of his costume. From the expected wrinkles in appropriate places, to the laces and treads on his boots, Snake Eyes really does look good. There are also various stitches, pockets, grooves, buttons and other minutiae that bring the figure to life. And these details aren't forsaken on his accessories either, which feature blade carvings, insignias, and every other small touch you'd expect on such items. I'm slightly less impressed with Timber the wolf, as his fur looks more like muddled clumps of clay than individual strands of hair. He has a nice texture, but I'd still ask for a little more crispness to him altogether. On the other hand, I am thankful that he's posed so dynamically, and he admittedly looks cool next to his human pal. Snakes Eyes has a good posture, and looks cool in just about any pose that I find, thanks to an already great character design and well-implemented physical features like proportions and accurate muscle groups. I will point out one sculpt issue here; if you look at his right calf, you'll notice it's much wider than the other, as if the muscle is overdeveloped. If there's a reason for this, I don't know it, and to me it just looks funny. The only other wonky looking spots are derived from his articulation, but we'll get to that later on.
    Snakes Eye's head is very basic, and still manages to look great. His visor has a cool shape, as well as crisp straight grooves running through it. Cloth wrinkles at the back and parallel lines running along the top of his head are appreciated extras that help him stand out a little more. You can even make out the silhouette of his mouth and nose coming through his mask, which is another nice touch. Snake Eye's hands are both sculpted as if they were holding guns, but you'll notice he only includes one gun, so that's a bit silly. It's also rather hard to get him to hold on to the combat knife, but the long sword does fit well. 

Sculpt Score: 8 / 10

      Snake eyes is a pretty simple fellow when it comes to color schemes. It's almost all black here, with just a little gray and silver to brighten things up. The black is well executed, coming off at just the right balance between shiny and matte, but they implemented a neat effect on his boots and gloves, which was to make them much glossier, appearing more like leather than the rest of his costume. It's not exactly a revolutionary effect, but it's a subtle change that makes a big difference when everything comes together. The gray patches on his costume (all the accessory pouches, grenades, belts, etc.) are the right color too. It contrasts against the black well, making everything visible. I do wish that not everything on his person was gray, some variation on these accessories (green grenades, even pouches that were a different gray than the belts) would have helped a lot. There is a little bit of silver placed in appropriate places to simulate metal, and it looks good, although there are very few spots to see it.
     Applications are pretty simple here; all that had to be done was color in the costume accessories, and overall it's a pretty good job. There is very little over or under spray and things look tight, especially around the visor on his head, and the silver marks on his belt. Snake Eye's weapons are all pretty much perfect, especially his longer sword which has some great details and insignias worked in. The stand is a nice new gold/bronze color which looks great, and his name is nicely centered and crisp enough to read easily. Finally, Timber the wolf is molded in a light gray with white painted on his stomach and face. The details on his face are crisp and clear, but the plastic he's molded in looks much too glossy to me. More paint on old Timber would have helped significantly improve him (this doesn't come across in my photo, but he really is shiny). 

Paint Score: 9 / 10

      This figure has a pretty good range of joints, as you can see in the image above. While you can get him into a ton of different and action-packed poses, I do wish a thigh or knee swivel was standard on GI Joes, because there are a lot of crouched poses that look awkward with this articulation model. Really though, this is a poseable figure for the scale. All of his joints work as intended and have a great range of motion. Nothing's too loose, although a couple spots do feel flimsy, particular his hinged ankles, and the swivel wrists. It feels like the peg could tear at anytime, but I've experienced this weakness with a lot of Joes in the past, and usually the foot/hand just pops out before causing permanent damage. Snake Eye's hands do pop out really easily, and it can be an annoyance when trying to pose him with weapons.
     The big problem here is how much his articulation really reflects poorly on his appearance. Since these fellows are meant to be playable above all else, this is almost a necessary evil, but more steps to mesh sculpt and articulation could have been taken. Particularly, the ball at his chest looks terrible, along with the hip/crotch area. In this toy's case, there are some well placed costume details (all his belts) that happen to distract from these ugly joints, and yet they're still pretty ugly. Another problem is that at his armpits he includes a severe indentation to accommodate his lowered shoulders, but with his arms up, this comes off looking weird. Even with these problems, I would still choose the numerous points of movement over attractiveness, because this fellow really is a blast to pose next to other figures, sword in hands (I was able to pose him with sword in both hands pretty easily, as long as it's right in front of his body) and gun blazing. Timber the wolf has no articulation to speak of, and that would have been a nifty addition too.    

Articulation Score: 7 / 10

 

Fun Score: 9 / 10

     An average GI Joe single runs around $7 at retail, while this fellow is going to cost you upwards of $10-$12. That's a huge change in price for something I don't consider a huge change in value. There is definitely new and snazzier packaging, and supposedly in increase in paint quality and so on (I can't attest to this, as I never had the previous version). This figure still feels very much like a $7 toy to me, because he's at the 3.75 inch scale, includes the relatively normal three accessories, an animal pal, and a stand. That's a lot of pack-ins, which would obviously be an amazing deal at $7, just not so great at $10. He does seems durable, except for the projectile hands and weak ankles which might give you problems, but I would still bet that he would stand up to some pretty heavy play situations. Also, he's just normal sized, not too big or too small, so it feels like a decent amount of plastic in your hands. One last thing; this figure is a rerelease that a lot of people probably already have, and a new figure with only slight modifications seems like a much worse value. Especially considering all these parts have been seen before, and the cost to Hasbro was probably much lower than a standard release. I feel like more of the savings could have been passed on to the consumer. 

Value Score: 6 / 10  

Summary

8 - Amongst great details and a cool design are some wonky spots like his huge leg and loose grip. Timber could also use a little grooming. 

9 - Simple but effective paint job with some nice effect work. 

7 - An articulation model with almost enough points, great playability, and some ugly spots too. 

9 - A classic character with fun articulation, a load of accessories, and great packaging, but we've seen it before. 

6 - Overpriced and re-used compared to standard figures, but otherwise includes a lot of accessories and nice packaging. 

 

 

Snake Eyes is an enjoyable action figure that features great sculpting and paint for his size; it just costs a little too much to get it.

P.S. This could be the figure I'm giving away this month, just leave a comment for a chance to win (if it's the one).