 There is one character you know, even if you know nothing else about GI Joe. He has been a Hollywood star, a comic book hero, and immortalized in plastic more than any other action figure. He is the man in black. Snake Eyes. Hello everybody, HoodedCoverCommander788 here. This is the show where we review every vintage GI Joe toy from 1982 to 1994. This is a review I wanted to get to for a long time. I have reviewed version 1 Snake Eyes before, twice actually, but those were early videos on this channel and they weren't very good. I want to take another crack at it. Snake Eyes is popular. So popular he has been overexposed. There have been way too many Snake Eyes figures. At times he has overshadowed the GI Joe team. That wasn't always the case. In the beginning he was just a guy. He was one among the 13 original Joes. What made him special? Snake Eyes may be silent, but we are going to talk a lot about him. HCC788 presents Snake Eyes. This is Snake Eyes, GI Joe's commando from 1982. As you can see we have two action figures here, so we will be looking at the 1983 release as well. Version 1 was released in 1982 as part of the first wave of GI Joe action figures when the line was relaunched that year. It was only available in 1982. In 1983 it was replaced with Version 1.5. All the 1982 Version 1 figures were reissued in 1983 with updated articulation. The Version 1.5 figure was also available in 1984 and was discontinued for 1985. At some point Snake Eyes was available through Hasbro Direct. This figure was designed by Ron Rudat for Hasbro. The all black color was a cost cutting choice. There are zero paint applications on this figure. The money saved on paint sprays could be applied to other figures such as 1982's stalker with his camouflage. The characterization of Snake Eyes was done by Larry Hama, the writer of the Marvel comic book. There were six versions of Snake Eyes in the vintage era and dozens of post-vintage versions in every scale. Snake Eyes is the most popular GI Joe character. Version 2 was released in 1985. This is the most recognized and replicated design. This version has the visor, a sword, and the wolf companion Timber. No later vintage versions of Snake Eyes included the wolf. Version 3 was released in 1989. This is lesser known but still a classic with the black and silver. A very good looking figure. Version 4 was issued in 1991. This is a departure from the classic black, adding blue and gray. This version has a lot of fans but I am not one of them. This doesn't look like Snake Eyes to me. Version 5 was released in 1993 as part of the Ninja Force subset. It was still mostly black with blue highlights. It also had an action feature which limited the articulation. Version 6 was issued in 1994 which was the final year of the vintage GI Joe toy line before it was canceled. It was part of the Shadow Ninja's subset. It was a reissue of version 5 with a color change gimmick. 1982 Snake Eyes is listed as a commando. Actually, the first four versions are all listed as commando. In the GI Joe comic book series it is revealed that Snake Eyes is a ninja. Is he a commando or a ninja? I don't know why he has to be one or the other. He is both and both are important to the character. Commando is a person or unit that specializes in raids in enemy territory. Originally commando was used to denote a specialized unit, not individuals in that unit. The usage of the word in military parlance originated with the Boer Mounted Infantry in the 1st and 2nd Boer Wars. A ninja would bring a lot of relevant skills to the role of commando. Snake Eyes is the strong silent type. In fact, he doesn't speak. An injury on an early GI Joe mission disfigured his face and destroyed his vocal cords so he is unable to speak. He only spoke one word in the comic book. We will get to that later. Snake Eyes is closely associated with the Cobra Ninja Storm Shadow. These action figures are obviously intended to be enemies with the black vs white, but their connection was deeper than that. They are members of the same ninja clan, the Arashakage. I'll cover that in-depth when we talk about Snake Eyes' media appearances. The comic book also portrayed Scarlet as a love interest for Snake Eyes. In the animated series, Scarlet was paired with Duke. I am definitely on Team Snake Eyes. The origin of Snake Eyes starts before the creation of GI Joe. Larry Hama was developing a special forces unit for Marvel Comics called Fury Force. It was supposed to be led by Nick Fury's son. The comic book was never produced, but some of the ideas were implemented in GI Joe. The character, Spook, evolved into Snake Eyes. Snake Eyes wears a mask, but that wasn't always so. Larry has said he based the look of young Snake Eyes on Bob Light, someone he knew in Vietnam. The name Snake Eyes refers to a pair of dice both landing on one. It is the lowest possible role and is considered bad luck. Snake Eyes has lived up to his name. Snake Eyes' name is metaphorical. It doesn't have anything to do with snakes or dice. Don't take his name too literally. I'm looking at you, writers of the Snake Eyes GI Joe Origins movie. Oops, too late. There were many, many post-vintage versions of Snake Eyes released and I have one modern era version of the figure here. This is version 28 from 2007. It was in the GI Joe battle pack with Duke, Scarlet, Roadblock and Gung Ho. The first thing I notice about this figure is it is gray, not black. That's an odd choice, but the design is clearly meant to evoke that version 1 Commando look. For accessories, he includes an Uzi, which is appropriate for Snake Eyes, and a callback to the version 1 accessory. Not a bad Uzi too. It looks okay. A little bit modified, just changed a little bit. There's no rear sight and there's also this folding stock on it, but still looks pretty good. It also includes an explosives pack with a strap that goes around the figure, and this is another callback to the version 1 accessory. It's well sculpted with texture and buckles. It even says explosives on it and there's some paint application. That's nice. We rarely got paint on vintage accessories. These modern era figures were able to have more working sheaths for knives and holsters for pistols. This one has a removable knife on the right leg and a removable pistol on the left side of the belt. The final accessory that's intended to be removed is this figure stand. These modern era figures had figure stands with the name printed on them. These modern era figures are slightly taller than vintage figures, averaging closer to four inches rather than three and three-quarter inches. He also has updated articulations. So a ball jointed head. The arms have comparable articulation to the vintage figure, but added wrist articulation. So you have a wrist swivel. You have the chest cut, so there's articulation at the torso, and on the legs you have double jointed knees, and you also have ankle articulation. The vintage figures did not have that. The sculpting is also updated. In some ways it's more detailed. In some ways it's less detailed. The top half of the figure depends on this strap and belt piece for most of the details. That is removable. You can remove it. It is on the figure in the package, so you're not really intended to remove it. And if you do remove it, you will lose most of the detail on the top half of the figure. Standing next to the vintage figure, the vintage figure is simpler, but more elegant, and it's actually black instead of gray, so it's easy to pick the vintage figure over this modern version. Snake Eyes jumps into the six-inch scale. There have been many Snake Eyes figures in the six-inch GI Joe classified series. This one is most inspired by the version one figure. It also includes the wolf timber, and the head of a second wolf that he has murdered. This is actually an alternate head for timber, so you can pop on his mean face. I've already done a full review on this figure, so I won't go too much into it. The accessories are pretty good. He has an Uzi, or a submachine gun that's like an Uzi, close enough. He also has a removable pistol and a holster on the right side, and a suppressor that will fit either on the pistol or on the Uzi. He has a removable knife on the left side. He does not have the explosives pack, but he has a couple other submachine guns. He has this one that has a removable magazine, looks a little bit like an MP5. Then he has this one looking kind of like a Nerf gun. It also has a removable magazine, and that's nice. No removable magazine on the Uzi, but the only way they could have done that is to make the grip thicker and that would not fit in his hand. Now, these are fine, there's nothing wrong with these accessories, but he cannot hold all of his accessories at the same time. There's just too many weapons for him to hold, and that is a pet peeve of mine. I would have preferred the explosives pack and leave off one of these submachine guns. This figure has classified series articulation, which is generally pretty good, somewhat limited at the torso because of this vest and belt piece. But like the 2007 figure, it needs this extra piece for most of the detail on the top half of the figure. The head articulation also seems kind of weird. I mean, he can look around and he can look up pretty well, but this is as far as he can look down. It just seems like it's obstructed a little bit, and it seems like he should be able to look down more than that, but that's as far as it goes. The rest of the articulation is mostly similar to the 2007 figure, but we have a couple extra points. We have double jointed elbows. We have swivels at the wrists and hinges at the wrist. On the legs, we additionally have a swivel at the thigh cut. We have the double jointed knees. We have a swivel at the boot cut, and we still have the ankle articulation. The design of this figure is obviously inspired by that version one figure. On his head, he has what almost looks like a hockey mask with goggles. There's a lot of detail added here, and that is necessary for the scale. This scale must have additional detail and articulation, which it does. There are also a few reused parts from other action figures, and that is also reminiscent of the version one figure. This is a pretty good-looking figure. This is not my favorite classified snake eyes, but it's a pretty good one. Let's get back to the vintage figure and look at Snake Eyes' accessories. He didn't come with many. In fact, he only had two, but let's start with the most important one, that is the Uzi. It is in dark gray plastic. It is based on the real Israeli submachine gun. There's a variation on this accessory. Some of them have thin sights at the front and the back, and others have thick sights at the front and the back. It's a very small difference, and you may not even notice. This same accessory came with 1982 and 1983 Steeler, the driver of the MOBAT tank. There is another variation of this accessory in a lighter gray that came in a Battle Gear accessory pack in 1983, along with a lot of reissues of other 1982 accessories. You can see it right there, and compared with the one that came with the figure, it is in a lighter gray. Version two of Snake Eyes from 1985 also included an Uzi accessory that is very similar to the one from the 1982 and 1983 figure. One way to tell the difference is the 1985 accessory has a thicker barrel. The only other accessory is the Explosives pack. It's a very simple accessory. It's a pack. It looks like it has three segments and blasting caps and a strap to go over the figure's shoulder or around his body. As with the Uzi, there is a variation on this Explosives pack that came with the Battle Gear accessories pack, and it is also in a lighter gray. That's it for accessories on version one and 1.5 Snake Eyes. He has no backpack. Snake Eyes travels light. He only has what he needs to infiltrate enemy territory and do his job. He doesn't need anything else weighing him down. Let's take a look at the articulation on version one and 1.5 Snake Eyes. And the articulation is the main point of difference between these two figures. Version one had the articulation that was standard for a GI Joe figure in 1982. So he had a swivel head. He could turn his head from left to right. He could lift his arm up at the shoulder and swivel at the shoulder all the way around. He had a hinge at the elbow so he could bend his arm at the elbow about 90 degrees. No other articulation points at the arm. This is where version 1.5 was different in the articulation department. 1983 figures had what they called swivel arm battle grip. In addition to the 90 degree bend at the elbow, he also had a swivel at the bicep so he could swivel his arm all the way around. Articulation for both figures otherwise was the same. They were O-ring figures, meaning they were held together with a rubber O-ring that looped around the inside. That allowed them to move at the torso a bit. He could move his legs apart about so far. He could bend his leg at the hip about 90 degrees and bend at the knee about 90 degrees. Let's look at the sculpt design and color of Snake Eyes. Like most other 1982 figures, Snake Eyes shared parts from other figures. He had more unique parts than most of his 1982 counterparts. Let's start with his head. He has an all black mask that covers his entire head. He has black goggles that cover his eyes and vent holes over his mouth. He has a headband on the back. This is a unique head. Some 1982 figures did not even have unique heads. The chest is all black. There is no paint. There is an elastic collar. Straps on the front and the back. Pouches on the top part of the front straps. A grenade on the right strap and a knife on the left. This chest is shared by 1982 Grunt. Breaker. Stalker. And Hawk. And their 1983 re-releases. The arms are all black. They feature long sleeves, square pockets on the outside upper arms, elastic band cuffs and black gloves. This is all unpainted. These arms are shared by Grunt. By Short Fuse. By Hawk. By Stalker. And by Zap. Here's another difference between the 1982 and 1983 figures. In addition to swivel arm battle grips, the 1983 figure has the pockets moved from the side of the arm to the front of the arm and it has added detail. These updated arms are shared by versions 1.5 of Grunt, Short Fuse, Stalker, Zap and Hawk. The waist piece is entirely black. It has a single pocket on the back. It has a wide unpainted belt with an H-shaped belt buckle. The belt buckle is probably a Hasbro brand stamp. The 1983 figure has an updated waist piece. It is slimmer with a more detailed belt and the belt buckle now looks like the old Hasbro logo. The 1983 figure still has the single pocket in the back. The version one date stamp says copyright 1982. On version 1.5 it says copyright 82-83. They're using a two digit year. In 1983 they didn't know about the Y2K bug. That's why on January 1st, 2000 this waist piece rebooted. The waist piece was used on all the 1982 male Joe figures. It was standard. The legs on version 1 and 1.5 are the same so we'll just take a look at one of them. They are of course all black and unpainted. On the right upper leg there are two pockets. On the left upper leg there is what appears to be a dynamite bomb with a timer. The legs have stirrup boot covers with straps around the calf and of course he has black boots. The upper legs are unique. The lower legs are reused from flash and grand slam. This figure has a lot of reused parts and a lot of unpainted details but this is the rare instance when it is an asset rather than a problem. Making this figure all black is inspired. It is monochrome but it still looks right. The black plays into his specialty and makes him mysterious. It's the perfect blank canvas to create a great character. Let's take a look at Snake Eyes' file card. The file card has his faction as GI Joe. It has a portrait of Snake Eyes. Excellent artwork that really brings the character to life. His specialty is Commando. His codename is Snake Eyes. Hasbro can't seem to decide if Snake Eyes should be hyphenated or not. There's no hyphen in this name but on the version 2 file card there is. Then the hyphen disappears again on the version 3 and version 4 file card. And then on version 5 and on version 6, the hyphen is back. Current hyphen status is no hyphen. His filename is classified. His primary military specialty is infantry. His secondary military specialty is hand-to-hand combat instructor. His birthplace is classified and his grade is E5. So his filename and birthplace are classified. All the information about him before he joined the army is a mystery. This paragraph says Snake Eyes is proficient in 12 different unarmed fighting systems in parentheses karate kung fu jiu jitsu and is highly skilled in the use of edged weapons. To get to the number 12 different unarmed fighting systems he had to include slap fighting, P-knuckle and rock paper scissors. By that standard I'm proficient in five different unarmed fighting systems. Has received extensive training in mountaineering, underwater demolitions, jungle, desert and arctic survival and some form of holistic medicine, qualified expert all NATO and Warsaw packed small arms. This bottom paragraph has a quote. It says that the man is a total mystery but he's real good at his job. Heck, he's the best. There's no mention here of his inability to speak. Nothing about this says he's a ninja but it hints at it. The ninja backstory is filled in later mostly in the comic book. The file card was written by Larry Hama, the writer of the comic book series. His 1985 version two file card had his Vietnam and Ninja backstory fleshed out and it closely follows the comic book continuity. Looking at how Snake Eyes was used in G.I. Joe Media he was used a lot less frequently in the animated series than in the comic book probably because he is silent. He had more appearances than you probably remember but he was less frequently the focus of the episodes. He first appeared in the first mini series in 1983 in the first episode. In that series, he sacrificed himself to save his teammates on a mission to retrieve radioactive crystals. He was able to escape the crystal mine but the radiation was sure to kill him. He was cured by a blind woodsman. That's also where he picked up his wolf, Timber. In the follow-up series, Revenge of Cobra Snake Eyes and Duke Get Captured that gave Snake Eyes a little more screen time. A little more. Snake Eyes is forced to fight Duke but I suspect they didn't have to force him too much. His role in the next mini series, Pyramid of Darkness was even bigger. He was paired with Shipwreck probably because they both had animal companions. They infiltrated a Cobra base. Escaping was more of a challenge. Snake Eyes had to break dance and dress in drag. In the animated series, there is no connection between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. Instead, Storm Shadow's rival was Spirit. This was again because Spirit is a character that could speak and exchange dialogue with Storm Shadow. His most screen time was in the episode The Invaders. A battle between G.I. Joe, Cobra, and the October Guard is interrupted by flying saucers. A purple alien, not that one, takes Tomax and Zemot for examination and you know they're talking about butt stuff. The Joes fire themselves out of cannons to get an October Guard headquarters. Snake Eyes and Wong from the October Guard get captured and the Dreadlocks tell them the entire evil plan. Snake Eyes takes over one flying saucer and shoots down the other. Snake Eyes figured out the plot because the alien had a carton of milk next to him. I didn't make any of that up except for the butt stuff. Snake Eyes was briefly in the 1987 movie. He was captured by Cobra Law, escaped and was captured again. He didn't do much. He continued into the Deak era of the series. He was featured in the episode The Sword which also included Storm Shadow in his Ninja Force year. Snake Eyes was wearing his version 4 uniform. In the comic book series published by Marvel Comics, Snake Eyes was much more prominent. He was one of the main characters in this series. At one point in the 90s, he got top billing on the cover. To say he was a popular character is an understatement. He appeared in the first issue in 1982. He wasn't the most prominent character in that story. He was paired with Scarlet on a mission to rescue Dr. Burkhart. He was in most issues after that. The Cult of Snake Eyes didn't start right away. He became a fan favorite character so more stories were written for him. He was in a story arc with Quinn and Dr. Venom which ended with the death of both of those side characters. Issue number 21 is famous because it includes no dialogue. Silent Interlude has Scarlet captured by Cobra and Snake Eyes infiltrates a Cobra castle to rescue her. She is resourceful and manages to escape and fly away with Snake Eyes on a Cobra claw. That issue also introduced the Cobra ninja Storm Shadow. On the final page, it is revealed that Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow have the same hexagram tattoo on their right forearms. A two part origin of Snake Eyes was published in issues number 26 and 27. It revealed his history in Vietnam on a long range recon patrol team with future GI Joe teammate Stalker and future enemy Storm Shadow. He lost his family in a tragic auto accident. After the war, he joined Storm Shadow's ninja clan, the Arashakage, only to see the leader of the clan, the hard master, assassinated. The assassin had ties to Cobra. After that, he retreated to the mountains and befriended a wolf. When the GI Joe team was formed, Stalker recruited his old war buddy Snake Eyes. On one of GI Joe's first missions, a helicopter crash burned Snake Eyes' face and made him unable to speak. After that, he always wore a mask. Storm Shadow joined Cobra to find out who killed the hard master and get his revenge. When he learned that Zartan was the man he was looking for, Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes infiltrated Cobra Island on a mission to kill him. That mission failed and it left Storm Shadow apparently dead. He was still alive, but that's a story for another time. Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, Stalker and Scarlet formed a tight circle of friends. When Stalker, Quick Kick, and Snowjob were imprisoned in the fictional country of Borovia, Snake Eyes and Scarlet went on a secret mission to rescue them. There was no way Snake Eyes and Scarlet would leave their friend, Stalker, in that prison. In issue number 93, Snake Eyes' face is revealed for the first time. He wants to get surgery to restore his face. The Baroness mistakenly believes Snake Eyes is responsible for killing her brother, so she leads an assault on the hospital where Snake Eyes is under the knife. She takes Snake Eyes captive and shoots Scarlet in the head. Snake Eyes is brought back to the Cobra Consulate Building in New York to be tortured. He escapes with some help from his buddies Stalker and Storm Shadow, but his face is burned again. Destro informs the Baroness that Snake Eyes did not kill her brother. Scarlet is in a coma, so maybe she has more in common with Duke after all. While Scarlet was in her coma, Snake Eyes spoke his only word, Scarlet. Well, that is her codename. Her real name is Shanna, but I guess they're not on a first name basis. There are many other stories focused on Snake Eyes far too many to list in one video. In the continuation of the Marvel continuity written by Larry Hama for IDW, Snake Eyes was killed off and replaced by a new character, Throwdown. The death of Snake Eyes was covered by codename New 2 Vero 2 in my review of Snake Eyes Version 3. Snake Eyes is a tragic figure, but he is also honorable and loyal. That is the key to his character. He's someone we want to root for and we feel his pain when something bad happens to him. I normally only cover media in the vintage era. Snake Eyes has appeared in nearly every iteration of G.I. Joe, so I could be here for days talking about post-vintage media. In this case, though, I think it's appropriate to look at Snake Eyes' movie appearances. Snake Eyes has been portrayed in three live-action movies. The first was G.I. Joe, Rise of Cobra in 2009. He was played by Ray Park, the same actor that played Darth Maul. As you would expect, Snake Eyes didn't speak and wore a mask. Even so, Ray Park was able to imbue him with some personality. The second movie was G.I. Joe Retaliation in 2013. Snake Eyes had an even more significant role and Ray Park did a good job of letting us feel his emotions without seeing his face. The most recent had Snake Eyes as the star. Snake Eyes G.I. Joe Origins had Henry Golding playing the title role. This movie focused on the time before Snake Eyes was silent and masked, so he spends quite a lot of time unmasked and speaking. That's okay as long as they got Snake Eyes' character right, tragic, honorable, and loyal. He spent most of the movie lying, betraying the Arashikage, working for Cobra, and seeking revenge. What the hell? Looking at Snake Eyes overall, this is a very simple figure. It has everything wrong with it. It has a bunch of reused parts. It has zero paint applications. It's entirely monochromatic. It works because it uses minimal resources in the best possible way. If you're gonna go with only one color, black is the right choice. If he can have no paint, then he has to be masked. Being masked makes him mysterious. If you can't see his face, maybe you can't hear his voice either. He is masked and silent. You can do anything with a character. You can make him a ninja. You can give him a tragic backstory. Snake Eyes' design may have been a cost-cutting measure, but it is genius. It gives G.I. Joe a layer deeper than just the good guys versus the bad guys. With Snake Eyes, you have secrets to uncover. The accessories are good for 1982. This is still my favorite iteration of the Uzi for G.I. Joe. The explosives pack is superfluous, but also unobtrusive. The Uzi is the star of the show. It is Snake Eyes' signature weapon. As Snake Eyes without an Uzi just doesn't feel right. If Snake Eyes were just a mysterious bad ass, that would sell a lot of action figures. He's more than that, though. Larry Hama made something special out of him. He is dangerous, but he's a good guy. He's not just on the side of the good guys. He's a good guy. He is honorable, loyal, and cares deeply about his friends. When he hurts, we feel his pain. Snake Eyes has been hurt a lot. He lost his family. He lost his face. He lost his voice. He hasn't lost everything, though. He still has his friends and his teammates. Is Snake Eyes a commando or a ninja? I have never bought into that dichotomy. For me, he has always been both, and both are integral to his personality. His experience in the army was formative. His training with the ninjas completed his development. Snake Eyes is not my favorite G.I. Joe character, but he's part of why I love G.I. Joe. Snake Eyes, Stalker, Scarlet, and Storm Shadow represent what G.I. Joe is all about. With them, you get the fighter with the heart, disciplined leadership, intelligence combined with strength, and an enemy who got a chance at redemption. If G.I. Joe only had those four, it would still have a lot. That was my review of Snake Eyes, and this is my definitive review of Snake Eyes Version 1 and 1.5. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please give this video a thumbs up on YouTube, subscribe to the YouTube channel so you don't miss more G.I. Joe toy reviews, and share this video with your friends. That's what helps this channel grow. You can find me on social media, on Facebook and Twitter, and I have a website, HCC788.com. If you'd like to support the channel, Patreon is a great way to do it. You can get some early access and get your name in videos, like the names you see scrolling on the screen right now. I'll be back soon with another vintage G.I. Joe toy review, and for the next one, you might need some batteries. I'll see you then. And until then, remember only G.I. Joe is G.I. Joe.