Força Fera Grey Snake Eyes (Red Laser’s Army)

There was an exclusive set based on various Foreign concepts, that was produced by Red Laser’s Army, but designed and sold through another avenue. To me, some of the figures were trying too hard, others were quite cool, and a few were good pieces of fodder that could be used to create some LBCs that would fit my collection. One figure I didn’t have much interest in, but looked usable enough, was the grey Snake Eyes.

Snake Eyes is a somewhat problematic figure to me. I’m a fan of the character, and the figure itself, but I happen to have a bunch of uses of the mold. While pretty much every Snake Eyes from 1997-2004 was the same figure that was just an inferior attempt to be version 1, there’s actually been some variety to the mold since. There’s the COBRA Mortal, the Invasor, and a couple where he’s not even wearing black! The figure being profiled today, though, is probably the blandest release since Comic Pack #4, but I’m surprisingly thrilled with this rendition of the Shadow Man.

Snake Eyes being black and grey has been pretty constant. This figure, though, is quite interesting as the black and grey have been inverted. His straps, facemask and pouches are black, and the base body is grey. I really like this, because grey isn’t super common amongst 82-84 style Joe figures, he now matches up with the Action Force exclusives Moondancer and Dolphin, and it’s a departure from Snake Eyes but isn’t too out of character. The figure also has one additional colour, a nice emerald green is used on his visor. This really stands out, and gives depth to a fairly monochrome figure. Like all the Força Fera figures, he’s got some Tiger Force stripes on his legs. They’re black and not all that intrusive, but they kind of miss the mark, as one of the hallmarks of the Tiger Force was how two-toned all the figures were, so when it’s on a figure that’s grey on top and bottom it loses some of it’s impact. One nice thing about the RLA figures, is there’s a good variety of accessories available with them, and since there’s been a few uses of the Snake Eyes mold, he made sure to put out the 1982 Uzi and Pack. I gave this version the silver versions of the accessories, since they match pretty well.

Character-wise, I find Snake Eyes to be fairly problematic. The whole mysterious lone-wolf is a cool character, but when he’s supposed to be a member of a tight-knit commando unit, it’s stretching things a bit. Even during my favourite comic arc, he fucks off to hang out with Kwinn on some revenge mission, I mean it’s vital to the story, and we learn great facts about America’s Greatest Conversationalist, he’s a jerk, a killer with the dice and he bleeds money. The fact he ditches his teammates to help Kwinn really stuck with me.

Because of this I don’t really see Snake Eyes as a member of the Joe Team, dude’s probably not even in the army anymore. I feel he’s a highly qualified mercenary that has done some real shady stuff, and Hawk holds that over his head in order to use him against COBRA. However this is a double edged sword, as Snake Eyes isn’t an asset the Joes feel comfortable using in high stakes situations, as that intel is good as gone to the highest bidder afterwards. A good friend of mine once said that Snake Eyes’ real identity should be D.B. Cooper. I liked that, and funnily enough, the likely man behind D.B. Cooper was a guy who fought in Vietnam, it all kind of ties together.

I actually quite like this figure, as a Snake Eyes. It’s different, while still true to the character. His base grey colour is really unusual, without being different for the sake of different. It also doesn’t impose on the non-Snake Eyes uses of the mold, such as the COBRA Mortal, or Kickstart. It’s nice, as you get the traditional Snake Eyes appearance, without it looking the same as every other Snake Eyes.

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Heads up!

A while back I recorded a podcast with Plastic Battles , where Paul and I discuss photos from a European G.I. Joe catalogue. I truly hope that my utter contempt for Lightfoot comes across!

 

https://www.plasticbattles.net/podcast-feed/2019/4/17/ep-05-1990-gijoe-benelux-catalog-photography-break-down

 

Great Moments In G.I. Joe History

Main Expertise: Strategist and leader of the forces of terror. Secondary Specialization: martial fights and development of fulminant electro-radiati weapons.

The wickedness of Ciclon comes from the cradle. Born and raised among fanatical Satanists, he was prepard to govern the dark side of the universe. Through dark mists, climbed the highest positions of command, always with total dominion over his troops, competing with the own leader Destro. In the near future, a confrontation between these leaders will be inevitable. Destro, as long as you care, in the sharp claws of Ciclon can tear you from the pages of history of organized terror

Compounded His Folly By Selling His Services To COBRA

Black Legion Guard (Black Major)

I’m going to be honest, there’s a few figures in the G.I. Joe line I’ve never owned. Probably the most ridiculous and glaring omission is the 1985 Crimson Guard. In fact, until the Black Major Siegie, I don’t think I’d even had a figure using the original mold. So it’s a figure whom I’ve never quite understood the hubbub about, since I’d had no exposure to it. I figure I should take a look at the mold, and since I still don’t even have a Crimson one, I’d go with one that still has a fairly vintage take on the mold. The late 2000s, Black Legion Guard

The Siegie sculpt is a fairly nice one, there’s a lot of ornate details on it, and such as the ceremonial cords and the medals. It really shows this is a ceremonial outfit, but there’s also some fairly sinister details to the figure. The spurs on his riding boots, the sawn-off Shotgun attached to his leg, showcase the likelihood there really is an “Initiation too hideous for description”. The head sculpt, and it’s face, are a real winner too. The 1985 Crimson Guard, as well as the Snow Serpent both had cold, emotionless masks. You know that behind that mask was a man who didn’t feel anything.

One thing that I find very interesting, is the fact that the Crimson Guard as an idea, likely didn’t have the kindest of inspirations. About a year ago I was watching some early 60s CBS documentary on the Invisible Empire, the Ku Klux Klan, and it seemed like a lot of the things they were discussing about the Klan, and how it was populated by seemingly upstanding citizens, could also work for the Crimson Guard. I guess the only difference is that instead of police officers, it’s bankers.  It’s kinda fucked up, but I think it’s pretty cool, and I think it shows a real example how a thing like COBRA would engrain itself into society. Combine a shadowy secret society with BCCI and massive reduction in banking regulations, and all of a sudden the Viper having $50,000 worth of equipment makes sense.

This version being done up in black, silver and grey is a very menacing looking figure. The dark colours really emphasize both the regality and the sinister appearance of this mold. The Black Major was really into the Skull/COBRA logo for a bit, as he made a few figures featuring it. I like it, because it’s not too hokey, and suggests figures with it are up to no good, even in the seedy world of COBRA Command.

The custom Crimson Guards were solid figures. There were some loose joints, but you also have to be realistic with what these figures actually are. Of all the CGs, I think this one or the blue one were the most interesting, and integratabtle with vintage Joes, though it’s such a solid design, they’re all great figures.

Great Moments In G.I. Joe History

Great Moments In G.I. Joe History