Hasbro G.I. Joe Classified Series: Snake Eyes and Timber (v.2) Action Figure Review

Hey all! Welcome back! Of late, I've noticed a significant uptick in visitors to the Classified Series Commando Snake Eyes review. Seeing that, I figured it might not be a bad idea to grab the newest version of Snakes and Timber to discuss on here. I had debated on getting this but after picking it up, it's the best Snake Eyes, in my opinion, to date!

Snake Eyes... the name alone strikes fear into the hearts of Cobra. The ninja trained commando, long a fixture of the famed G.I. Joe team is as cunning and deadly a warrior as you could ask for. With his wolf companion, Timber, Snake Eyes ventures on the most dangerous, clandestine ops to foil Cobra's plans again and again. A master of martial arts, deadly in the use of bladed weapons and equally adept with just about any type of firearm, Snake Eyes is more than a match for most any foe. Over the years, Snake's uniform design has changed, but one thing remains, when coupled with his ninja brother, Storm Shadow, the pair are, arguably, two of the most popular characters ever created for G.I. Joe.

If some of this review seems familiar, it's because other than the paint job, we did get the same Timber as before. But, with that in mind, we'll dive into our four categories of Accessories, Appearance, Articulation, and Affordability before giving an overall grade to the figures.

ACCESSORIES

My first reaction was..."Wow!" This set comes with a LOT of accessories! Timber has two head sculpts, one calm, the other snarling. Snake Eyes comes with: Two trigger finger/weapon holding hands, one flat "karate strike" hand, one hand holding a throwing star, a removable grenade bandolier, a removable poncho, his sword and scabbard, his combat knife, a pistol with detachable silencer, two rifles, with removable magazines, a crossbow and his trusty Uzi submachine gun. Once again, Hasbro proves that they can pack a bunch of cool stuff with their figures, and yet they consistently fail to do this for collectors. Thankfully, the good outweighs the bad because the weapons are amazing in design and detail. The amount of sculpting on each of Snake's guns and bladed weapons is really amazing and the weapons look like actual military armament. There isn't any of the "futuristic" nerf guns with this figure. In fact, everything about this version of Snake Eyes looks like it could have come right out of an army supply depot. My only real gripe, if you will, is how poorly the poncho sits on the figure. Unless you remove the grenade bandolier, the poncho tends to sit high on the figure. Even with the bandolier off, the poncho still rides a bit high on the shoulders, partially because of how thick it is. But, even so, it's a cool addition to the figure. I am very pleased, in fact, I'm impressed enough with these accessories to give them a solid 9 out of 10.

APPEARANCE

What a vastly incredible improvement over the Commando version. Now, I do like the design of the Commando version, because that was how Snake Eyes first looked in the comics. BUT the biggest issue was that it was entirely molded and sculpted in black plastic with very little paint apps. This figure, on the other hand, looks absolutely INCREDIBLE! This version comes with the visor mask and is laden with paint details! His upper body is charcoal gray with black highlights. The mask is charcoal with a silver visor and black mouthpiece, the bandoliers, belt and other straps are a lighter gray and the grenades are painted a glossy black. His pants are an olive brown, with darker highlights for the knee pads and sculpted trim pieces on the upper legs. His scabbard is brown with gray wraps around the base and top. His sword is painted silver along the blade and even the throwing star in his hand is painted silver. There is so much more painted detail to this figure than any previous versions and the paint is all very cleanly applied. There are so many sculpted details on this figure, that the more I look at it, the more I discover. From the breathing vents on the front of his mask to the forearm guards, there isn't much that Hasbro missed on at all. Even the wrinkles in his pants look incredibly realistic. I really can't get over just how good this Snake Eyes looks! This version of Timber is all white, which kind of surprised me, because the earlier version was really done well with the gray and white paint apps. This variation only has black paint on the claws and foot pads for the body. Both head sculpts have very clean paint apps on the nose/snout, eyes, and scars. The open mouth/snarling sculpt is especially nice as the paint apps in and around the mouth are excellent. The pink inside his mouth and even the black line of flesh around the mouth look amazing. For a very small detail, there is a lot of care put into making it look good. I can honestly say, that this is one of the best looking figure packs that I have. As much as Snake Eyes fully clad in black will always be my favorite look, the changes made for this version are exceptional and only make the figure that much better. I have no issues at all with giving this set an astounding 10 out of 10 for appearance!

ARTICULATION

Unlike the previous Snake Eyes, with the issues it had, this Snake Eyes has amazing articulation. Multi-point articulation at the head and neck gives increased range of motion to look up and down, head tilt, and side to side turning. The shoulders on mine were very tight, so I did have to warm them in order to get a good T pose. However, the full 360 rotation works well and the butterfly joints increase the forward/backward range of motion exceptionally well. The bicep swivel works fine and the double jointed elbows bend in, but not quite as far you'd like, but that's due in part to the design. Sadly though, my right elbow is a bit gummy and though it's not loose, I feel like I need to take extra care bending it. The wrists all swivel, the gun holding hands feature vertical hinge and the other pair, feature horizontal. His torso has fantastic crunch as the upper diaphragm joint bends very nicely both forward and back and the waist joint allows for side to side tilt, pivot and a lower ab crunch, allowing Snake Eyes to get some really deep crunches. The legs can do an almost full split which makes for great kicking poses. Additionally, both legs kick forward very high, feature well hidden upper thigh cuts and double jointed knees that bend in very deeply. Even the boot cuts are hidden well and work as they should. Both ankles hinge up and down very well and the rocker/pivot motion is fantastic. As we've seen Timber before, I'll briefly hit on his articulation. The head is on a ball peg and can look up, down, and rotate. The base of the neck area also features up and down movement and the mid torso section can twist and move side to side. The tail can rotate and move up and down and all four legs have 4 points of movement at the hips, upper legs, knees, and ankle joints. This is fantastic because it really allows you to get Timber into some very realistic poses. While there wasn't anything different with Timber, Snake Eyes is a vast improvement over previous versions and I'm excited to give these figures a solid 9 out of 10 for articulation.

AFFORDABILITY

The G.I. Joe Classified Snake Eyes and Timber (V.2) retails at $44.99 and is available at most retail stores and online. I found mine at a Target, but our local Walmart also has them. This is likely the weakest section because I feel like the pricing may be a bit higher than necessary. I paid $39.99 for the original Commando Snake Eyes/Timber and though this does come with more accessories... I really think the price is too high. Gotta give them a poor rating for affordability at 4 out of 10.

Overall, as much as I dislike the price, I really dig the figures. Timber is excellent, regardless of color and Snake Eyes is just amazing. With that in mind, I've got no issues at all with giving them...

9 out of 10 ToyBoxes

I get excited when I can give good reviews on figures and this is an exceptional set! I'm also really excited for next week in Dan's ToyBox as we begin our new series on Toymonster International's Jurassic Park 30th Anniversary CAPTIVZ line. Until next time... GEEK OUT!!!