Snake Eyes (2009 Rescue Mission)

All black Snake Eyes figures are things of beauty to me. There’s something great about the simplicity of that first figure from 1982, clad in just one cast shade of black plastic. Through the years, there have only been a handful of figures to go this route, one of which I’ve covered here before.

The Target exclusive Rescue Mission boxed set would offer a couple of very well done and unique Joe team members outfitted in duds different from their single pack comrades. This Snake Eyes, with the exception of the head, was a preview of things to come, as it was later released in a late run Rise of Cobra series City Strike version, as well as an even later Resolute five pack. At the time, the mold had a reputation as one of the nicest Snake Eyes figures to date. I would tend to agree, though in this case, the movie head just doesn’t quite match up with the style of the newer body.

There weren’t too many versions of the Rise of Cobra Snake Eyes that really struck my fancy. Technically, the two that I really like were mostly made up of parts from other lines. I guess that says a lot about the design issues with first film’s version of the legendary ninja commando. Regardless, with a simple head swap, this figure can be improved.