Today we’re looking at a figure that’s very special and important to me, but also is not a figure I actually love. I don’t even use or photograph it all that often.

I figured it was time to finally look at an official, 3 3/4″ version of GI Joe’s most popular character, though, so today I’m reviewing Snake Eyes version 9 from the turn of the century.

2000 GI Joe Snake Eyes, My First Ninja-Commando

Every GI Joe fan has their favorite version of Snake Eyes. For most people, it’s the Snake Eyes figure they had as a kid. Back in the 80s and 90s, Snake Eyes figure releases were much more spaced out than they were in the following decades.

My own non-scientific research confirms that the 1985 Snake Eyes, also known as version 2, is far and away the most popular. But fans who were kids in the early 80s tend toward the original (or swivel-arm) release, and people just a bit older than me tend to like version 3 from 1989. The 1991 version also has a fair amount of fans, even if it is fiercely derided by many older collectors.

Personally, the 1991 version is my favorite, but I didn’t have it as a kid. I had the Hall of Fame version that used the same look and I really liked that figure, which means the 1991 look is my favorite.

After all, there were only 6 versions of Snake Eyes in the vintage ARAH line, which seems absurd today. According to YoJoe.com, there were 68 Snake Eyes figures (and likely more) produced between 1982 and 2014, most of which came after the year 2000. So that’s 62 Snake Eyes figures released since 1997, while only 6 were produced during the 12 year run of the vintage line.

My point is that there wasn’t always a Snake Eyes on the shelf for kids to buy back in the ARAH era. As a kid, I only saw the 1991 version at KayBee toys once and I’m pretty sure I chose Sci-Fi or Dusty over that figure on that day. I’m still happy with my choice.

As a kid, Snake Eyes didn’t mean much to me, which I’ve written about before. He didn’t do much in the Sunbow cartoon or 1987’s GI Joe: The Movie, which were my main sources of GI Joe media. I did read a few comics where he was heavily featured back then, but even as a kid seeing “SNAKE EYES Featuring GI Joe” on a comic book cover was a bit of a turn off to me.

But as I got a bit older, the Snake Eyes character’s mystique grew on me. I found myself wanting a Snake Eyes figure. When I was 16, my prayers were finally answered when I saw a 2-pack containing a repainted Ninja Force Storm Shadow and 2000 GI Joe Snake Eyes at Toys R Us.

It quickly came home with me.

I loved the look of the figure, but the soft hands frustrated me. He could barely hold his weapons. I also found the GI Joe logo tampograph on his leg to be a little off-putting. I still used the figure a bit, but it wasn’t really what I was hoping for. In fact, I eventually used the 2002 Joe Vs. Cobra Snake Eyes a lot more, despite its questionable head sculpt and reduced leg articulation– just because it could actually hold its weapons.

But still, this is my first Snake Eyes figure in the ARAH style and scale. And that’s something very important to me. So today I wanted to take a look at the Snake Eyes that started it all for me.

2000 GI Joe Snake Eyes Review

Snake Eyes version 9 was released in 2000 as part of a 2-pack with Storm Shadow version 6 (who was a repaint of Ninja Force Storm Shadow) as part of Hasbro’s A Real American Hero Collection. These 2-packs were often much easier to find than GI Joe releases from 1997 and 1998, meaning this figure exists in fairly ample quantities.

2000 GI Joe Snake Eyes is a simple repaint of 1989’s Snake Eyes version 3, and I’ll have some comparison shots a little bit later on in the review. The original 1983 Snake Eyes mold had been repainted twice by 2000, and the popular 1985 mold was apparently unavailable to Hasbro at this point, so repainting the 89 version seemed like a logical choice.

Here’s the figure:

This Snake Eyes is cast in a very dark grey (goth graphite, perhaps?) plastic with metallic blue paint applications. The blue looks very nice against the dark grey, but one can’t help but wish the twin trench knives strapped to his chest were picked out in paint– maybe a different shade of grey.

The knives themselves sort of contour to fit the figure’s body, so they seem oddly curved from some angles. Still, it’s better than the Modern Era version of this design, where the knives were removeable but fell off of the figure with any slight movement.

You’ll also notice a very bright white, blue, and red GI Joe logo placed on the toy’s left leg, which sticks out like a sore thumb.

That being said, I’ve always liked this design overall and the asymmetrical mask is particularly cool.

On the arms, you’ll notice some little pouches and arm bands picked out in blue paint.

He also his a large pouch and/or holster on each leg painted in that same blue color. I’m not really sure what purpose these pouches serve, but they do add extra detail to the figure and the little pops of color look very nice.

The figure’s back is fairly plain, but the torso armor has some incredible texture sculpting. As far as the actual sculpt goes, this is a very well done figure with tons of little bits and details that really catch your eye– even with the dark, simplistic color scheme.

2000 GI Joe Snake Eyes was packed with quite a few accessories, and came with most of the 89 figure’s loadout. He came with a silver submachine gun (with an odd hook on the back), a silver sword with holes in the blade and an ornate handle, a well-detailed backpack with storage for the sword, and a black three-piece staff. He also came with a figure stand, but you know what those look like.

The SMG looks pretty cool but is kind of an odd design. It seems to have a built-in suppressor, and there’s no obvious magazine sticking out of the handle. The hook is also very strange. Technically, you can hook the gun onto the figure’s backpack if the sword isn’t stored there, but it kind of sticks out at an odd angle no matter what you do. As a kid, I saw this accessory come with figures like BAAT and Dr. Mindbender v2, and I had no idea what purpose the hook might serve. I still kind of feel the same way. Still, Snake Eyes needs a gun of some sort and this one isn’t bad at all.

(Eagle-eyed readers may note that the SMG in these photos is a slightly different color than the sword, so it might not technically be the exact right gun for this figure. Those eagle-eyed readers are encouraged to get the fuck over it.)

The backpack looks great and has all sorts of fun ninja equipment embedded into it, like a rope and some smoke bombs. It also holds the sword perfectly. It’s so good that many versions of Night Creeper also reused it.

The sword is a piece that I really like. It looks like something Snake Eyes had custom made by a mystic blacksmith or something. I like the holes in the blade and I like the weird little orb at the bottom of the handle. This is a sword I associate with Snake Eyes and, although it came with many other figures in the New Sculpt and Repaint eras, I see it as a totally unique piece that only Snake Eyes has possession of.

The three-piece staff is an interesting accessory. Getting the figure to pose with it convincingly is pretty tough but, because of the tapered handles, he can actually hold it securely. It’s pretty fun to put one end in the figure’s hand and then whip the staff all around, knocking down other figures and making experimental ambient percussion music. It’s kind of an awkward weapon, but I imagine most kids had a blast with it.

The only one of Snake Eyes v3’s accessories that didn’t transfer to this version was the blowgun, which is no real loss. That’s kind of a fun weapon, but it seems impractical for a dude who wears an intricate mask that’s secured into his armor to pull up that mask, reveal part of his scarred face, and then use his lips to blow a dart into somebody’s neck. Plus, the amount of accessories that 2000 Snake Eyes came with was very generous anyway by Hasbro’s standards at the time.

As mentioned previously, 2000 Snake Eyes uses the entire mold of 1989’s Snake Eyes version 3. It was also used again in 2002 for the Snake Eyes that came in the BJ’s exclusive Sound Attack 8-Pack. As you can see, both other versions have the crossed chest knives picked out in paint, which adds a ton of visual interest to those figures that this one just doesn’t have.

The unsightly leg tampo was also used on the 8-pack version.

Both the 2000 and 2002 figures have one other big difference from the 1989 mold– their left legs are a bit shorter than their right legs, which is a problem the original doesn’t have. This makes standing them up in a neutral pose much more difficult. You’ll notice I’ve used stands for most of these photos, which isn’t something I usually do. But their different leg lengths make standing them at attention pretty hard to do.

And that brings me to the other two flaws this figure has, both of which I’ve mentioned briefly before.

The biggest problem with the figure is the soft hands. It’s great that they’re malleable and you won’t break a thumb, but both the sword and the SMG have very thin handles, so he doesn’t get a very good grip on them. It works fine if you’re just displaying the figure on a shelf (even though he’ll naturally hold the gun at an awkward angle) or carefully pose him for photos, but it really reduces the figure’s overall play value.

It’s no fun to play with an army doll that’s constantly dropping its weapons, is what I’m saying.

The other problem is the GI Joe logo tampo on the leg. It doesn’t make sense for a guy who spends his whole life sneaking around and wearing all black to paint a big, bright target on his leg. But it makes even less sense for that sneaky, stabby guy to broadcast which top secret military unit he’s part of to the entire world. I don’t have any problems with bright or unrealistic colors, obviously, but the tampo is just tacky and I don’t care for it at all. I’m sure it was mandated by someone in the C-Suite and the design team all went on a week-long bender because of it.

Still, this is an overall nice looking figure with good accessories. I’m glad I have it and it’s important to me, but all of the flaws add up to make it a figure I rarely use. I’m much more likely to use the 1991 version in photos.

But still, this figure is a good representation of the character.

Snake Eyes as a character is kind of a mixed bag. He’s the faceless “face” of the entire brand, but I think most fans would be hard pressed to describe Snake Eyes’ personality or any character traits beyond “silent” and “bad ass.” In the old Marvel Comics, you do sometimes see a bit of Snake Eyes’ mischievous side coming out, but those moments don’t occur very often.

In my mind, Snake Eyes is basically just married to his job because it’s all he thinks he has left. I don’t see him as a borderline sociopath like Low-Light, but I do see him as someone who is willing to kill for US interests because he’s convinced himself it’s all he’s good at.

He likes the recognition that comes from being the team’s silent commando, as the positive attention makes him feel more human– and like he’s part of a team that cares about him. Deep down, Snake Eyes knows there’s more to him than he can show anyone else, but he can’t express any of that. So instead, he does his job with gusto and relishes the respect he gets from his teammates. He could have deeper human connections, but instead he’s buried himself in an emotionally-distant hole and made his job into his entire personality.

Which makes sense to me, as the dude has been through some Real Shit, and trauma will do that to you.

This is a toy that will always mean a lot to me. It was my first ARAH-style version of GI Joe’s most famous character and, flaws aside, it’s a totally serviceable version of everyone’s favorite ninja-commando. But it’s also one I don’t tend to play with or photograph much because of those flaws.

Still, I’m glad I got to spend some more time with 2000 GI Joe Snake Eyes for this review. It reconnected me to a lot of old teenage memories and made me think more deeply about the character than I otherwise tend to do. Plus, it made me appreciate the 1991 version even more.

Overall: On the surface, this is a solid version of Snake Eyes. Aside from the leg tampo, the overall look and colors are great. The dark grey and metallic blue look awesome together, and he has a full suite of accessories that basically gives you everything you could want with a Snake Eyes figure. But the long leg/short leg thing, combined with his inability to securely hold his weapons, makes him hard to recommend over other versions. Still, though, if you like the overall look he is Mildly Recommended.

Closing Thoughts on 2000 GI Joe Snake Eyes

Thanks for joining me! This review took quite a while. I actually wanted to make sure I had every vintage version of Snake Eyes before writing it (and tracking down an affordable 1985 was a real treat, let me tell you). I also wanted to make sure they were all complete, and that I had all of the accessories for the 2002 repaint.

Plus, I got overly ambitious with some of the photos. But this was kind of a special one for me, so I wanted to go all out.

I think I’m going to take a break and look at something not related to GI Joe next time.

Anyway, what was your first Snake Eyes? Which one is your favorite? What’s your take on the character? Let me know in the comments!