Toy Review: Ninja Armor Snake Eyes

Ninja Armor Snake Eyes

My Sigma 6 collection is probably the line I am closest to actually completing, but I’m still only about 65 to 70 percent there. out of 70 or so figures in the 8″ scale line, I’ve only got about 45 maybe, give or take.

Since the line ended, I’ve been slowly trying to track down the ones I missed out on. It’s been hard going, since many of the waves never reached retail here, and some (like the Cobra Firefly and Combat Squad) never reached us at all. Even the ones that were somewhat available back then are still in the range of Php 1,500 to Php 2,000 loose ($30 to $40).

Most of my aquisitions are from collectors who have decided to move to other lines and are giving up all the figures they have, usually in lot buys, which I can’t really afford (either because I’ve got most of the figures they’re selling, or I just can’t shell out tens of thousands to buy the whole set). But once in awhile, I’ll luck out.

Thanks to str1ke of PinoyToyKolektor, I was able to get a loose Ninja Armor Snake Eyes, complete with all his gear and the foot locker he came with.

The Ninja Armor Snake Eyes is one of the toys that came out in the first wave of 2006. The line had 2 assortments, the “Soldier” wave that came in the more mundane bubble card packaging with relatively few accessories, and the “Commando” packaging (which had nothing to do with their lack of underwear). The Commando figures had the deluxe accessories which featured modular weapons, various sheilds and launchers, and the awesome foot locker box tops that made this one of my favorite toy lines.

In this case, the accessories were various pieces of armor that attached to a re-colored Snake Eyes figure. If you have the Snake Eyes figure from series 1, then you can use any of the armor pieces on that one as well. Many of the later figures got a new head mold without the removable googles/visor and some other minor tweaks, so some of the gear doesn’t fit as well on those guys.

As you can see in the photo above, this version has the chestplate, two shoulder pieces, two shin guards/greaves and the heavy duty visor which slips over his head. For offense, he has a “tri-blade sword”, a SMG, and a modular spear, as well as some pop-out blades on those shin guards. He also comes with a backpack that features pop-out “air-brake wings” that looks pretty good when he’s on his bike (more on that later).

All of this adds up to a pretty mean looking, tech saavy ninja. While I prefer the first iteration the best, with his array of commando specific weaponry, this one has it’s own charm.

Note that he’s by no means a “must have”. The figure itself is no different from the first one and there isn’t a lot of different things you can do with him. Though the spear is designed to break down so you can attach the bottom haft to the sword, there’s not a lot of variation. He only really has the two, sword or spear, and the sword is one of the less apealling designs Hasbro has offered.

The sub-machine gun looks pretty good, but it doesn’t really fit all that well and feels out of place with all the blades. Plus there’s no where to really store any of this stuff on his person. If he’s not holding on to it, you’ll need to store it that foot locker.

If you have a Jungle Commando Snake Eyes from the second Commando wave, the sheild may look good with him. The two figures share the green/gray motif and the high-tech look of the sheild goes well with the overall look of this toy.

There is one reason to get this particular figure, and that is so you can display him on the Ninja Hoverbike.

The Hoverbike comes seperately, but it’s worth the purchase since it has a great action feature that coverts it from a generic street bike, to a hover vehicle with a few presses of some buttons. It also comes with additional ninja accessories to fill out the armory of the Ninja Armor Snake Eyes figure.

In addition, that backpack with the “air-brake wings” looks tailor made for this vehicle. Having both just makes perfect sense.

You need to keep in mind however, that buying both now is going to cost you. If you are lucky like I was, you’ll find the Ninja Armor Snake Eyes at Php 1,500.00 loose, Php 2,000.00 or above if you find one mint in box. The price of a loose Ninja Hovercycle (I don’t think I’ve ever seen one MIB) is normally around Php 2,000.00, though it’s usually bundled with other figures. I paid less for the Adventure Team Recondo.

The kind of cash you need to shell out for this particular display is pretty daunting, and definitely brings down the value score of the Ninja Armor. It’s a hell of a lot of fun to play with and a great addition to a collection, but considering the price, the fact that it’s another novelty variation of a popular character, and it’s availability, this is probably one of the Sigma 6 figures you can pass up. Use the money to track down the 1st Snake Eyes figure or the Commando Snake Eyes from 2007.