I’m keeping this Super7 train rolling along with the third straight Ultimates review! This time I’m digging into my first look at the initial wave of Super7’s Sunbow cartoon inspired figures. It’s crazy to think how long we’ve gone with absolutely no GI JOE toys to speak of, and now we’ve got Hasbro shooting out Classified figures and Super7 on board with the ReAction and Ultimates releases. It seems like it was a damn long wait to get these in hand, so let’s kick things off with a look at Snake Eyes!

If you have any Ultimates figures in your collection, the packaging will be somewhat familiar, as you have a window box with a slipcover that lifts off the tip. And oh boy do I love what they did waith the art design on this package. You get a green camo deco with some silver scuffing and scraping to make it look like a metal container. The GI JOE logo is printed proudly across the front, and you get a dog tag type graphic down at the bottom with Snake Eyes Elite Commando on the back. YES, COMMANDO… NOT NINJA! Sorry, but that’s been a sticking point with me since I was a kid. Lift off the slipcase and you can see the figure inside and all the goodies on a clear tray against the vintage Real American Hero style explosion for a background.

The colors! Yes, these figures are based on the 80’s cartoon appearances, more specifically from the original Mini Series, which means Snake Eyes is all decked out in his blue commando outfit with purple patches, black harness and boots, and no gloves. The colors here really pop beautifully, and they go a long way to make up for the fact that there is not a lot of sculpted detail on this figure, to convey the simpler cartoon design. The shoulder straps are cast in soft plastic and worn by the figure, while the purple arm bands are secured directly to the biceps. Hot damn… this figure looks outstanding!

The blue masked portrait is as simple as it gets, with some stitching lines sculpted along the top of his head, and some breathing holes in front of his nose. The visor is painted purple to match the pouches, and has a really nice glossy finish that comes close to being reflective.

An obvious sticking point on these figures is going to be the articulation, which follows Super7’s usual Ultimates pattern. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and elbows, with swivels in the biceps and pegged hinges for the wrists. The pegged wrists allow you to swap out the myriad of hands, which include sets of: Fists, trigger hands, wide grip hands, tighter grip hands, and relaxed hands for a total of five pairs! The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have rotating hinges in the knees, and swivel hinges in the ankles. You get an ab crunch hinge and a ball jointed neck. All the joints on my figure feel great with none being stuck or too loose. These are clearly figures that are going for the cartoon aesthetic over being super articulated, and I’m actually fine with that, because I have Classified as the more poseable option.

Also included is the Timber companion figure, and I’m pretty lukewarm on this doggo. Overall he looks OK. The sculpting is pretty smooth in a lot of areas, which makes the fur a little less than convincing. The head sculpt is OK, but I would have liked to have an alternate growling of Cobra-chomping head. Maybe that’s asking for too much. The articulation here is really off, though. The neck has two points of articulation, but it doesn’t feel like it’s designed to give all that much. The front legs have a little lateral movement for a wider stance in the front, but the back legs just rotate, and the paws don’t really seat well on the ground. The body also appears to be hollow, giving him less heft than he feels like he should have. I don’t have Hasbro’s Classified Timber on hand to compare (I’m not even sure I ever got around to opening that Snake Eyes), but I suspect that one is going to be the better wolf.

Snake Eyes comes with the iconic Sunbow-style laser rifle, which is a design I really dig. As a kid, I used to wish Hasbro would release an accessory pack with like ten of these for my RAH figures. It’s a great looking sculpt with a bit of paint, and the trigger finger and tight or loose grip hands work well with it. I’ve seen some reports of these rifles coming out of the package warped, but this one is straight as an arrow. Hopefully Duke’s will be too.

He also comes with a little walkie talkie, which has a frequency display and a dial on the bottom. It’s a simple accessory, but it looks good, and works perfectly with the wider grip hands.

Next up is the Cobra cannister, which contains the radioactive crystals needed to power the MASS Device. It has a Cobra emblem printed on the top, and it does not open or contain any crystals. Which is a good thing, because if it did and you opened it, you would die of radiation sickness, unless you had some bullshit leaves that somehow absorb the radiation and doesn’t spread it when you burn them and… WHAT????

Snake Eyes’ final weapon is a laser pistol. I actually don’t remember this one at all from the cartoon, but it has a cool design with a winged back. It’s cast all in black.

And last but not least you get a big purple jet pack which is pretty damn sweet.

Ultimates Snake Eyes turned out great! It seems like he doesn’t come with nearly as much stuff as the other figures in the wave, but considering that Timber is somewhat articulated figure and the jet pack is pretty big, I think Super7 went for the less is more strategy on this release. And to be fair, there really isn’t anything conspicuously absent. And while I have no complaints about Snake Eyes himself, I think Timber could have been better. He’s not awful by any means, but he doesn’t feel as polished as he could have been!