He waited.

He had been here for forty minutes, upside-down, one hand dug into the tree via a climbing claw, the other clutching a combat knife. The target was running late.

He waited. This wasn’t unusual, but if the target didn’t appear soon, he’d have to change position. He could feel the pressure starting to build behind his eyes.

A mosquito buzzed in his ear, landed on his arm. Its proboscis attempted to pierce the deceptively thin fabric of his suit; after a few seconds, it gave up and flew off to find prey that wasn’t wearing body armor. He hadn’t moved a muscle.

Then he heard it…soft footsteps, coming his way. He tightened his muscles, working out the stiffness and increasing blood flow before he had to move. Still, he didn’t move.

He waited.

Every so often, a toy comes along that is the plastic equivalent of a wildly successful, critically-acclaimed blockbuster movie. It gets almost everything right. It brings in people who aren’t even fans of the franchise. A few recent examples include Masterpiece Optimus Prime, MOTUC Battle Cat, and the Big Millennium Falcon. Well, you can add another toy to those ranks–the Pursuit of Cobra Snake Eyes.

As I’ve often noted, I am not, nor ever have been, a G.I. Joe fan. My childhood went from Star Wars to He-Man to Transformers to Ninja Turtles, more or less in that order and with few deviations. However, at the recommendation of a friend, I’ve recently read and enjoyed the old 1980s G.I. Joe: Special Missions comics, which focused on somewhat more realistic plots (fighting “real world” terrorists, rescuing diplomats, aiding defectors, etc.) than the more science fiction-oriented stories of the cartoon.

But I wasn’t immune to the appeal of certain characters, particularly the franchise’s Boba Fett, Snake Eyes. He was a ninja dressed all in black who used both guns and swords; like Grimlock, who was both a tyrannosaurus and a robot, Snake Eyes was ideally designed to appeal to young boys.

Hasbro has made a few Snake Eyes figures over the years. By YoJoe.com‘s count, this one is the 54th since the first one hit stores nearly thirty years ago…but it’s hard to imagine a future figure that surpasses this one. (more…)