Review & pics by: Fred Meyer
 
Valor vs. Venom Wave 4: Snake Eyes & Ninja Lightning motorcycle

  Review & pics by Fred Meyer
 

Snake Eyes & Ninja Lightning bike

This pack is yet another example of just how much difference a repaint can make. Snake Eyes was previously released in gray in the Valor vs. Venom subset. As such, he was “okay” but wasn’t replacing the GvC o-ring Snake Eyes any time soon. However, mold him in black and suddenly you’re looking at SE in a whole different light. Throw in a supped-up street bike from one of my favorite parts of the VvV movie and you’ve got a pack that will fly from shelves.

Snake Eyes:

VvV4 Snake Eyes frontVvV4 Snake Eyes back

I think the single biggest improvement to this figure is found on his right arm—his Arashikage clan tattoo. In the film, sharp observers will notice the clan symbol is found over his heart but in a move taken from the pages of Devil’s Due, Hasbro puts the clan symbol in red on his sword arm. To the best of my knowledge this is the first time that a 3.75” SE has ever sported the tattoo. It looks good on him and will hopefully see inclusion on future figures. The rest of the mold is unchanged from the gray version: blue collar, silver paint on the guns on his calves, etc. My only real grievance with this figure is the soft quality of the plastic used for his hands. SE gets a new, larger katana in this pack and he has a hard time holding on to it. Simply put: the plastic flexes with the sword handle and the result is that he frequently just drops the blade. I don’t know whether sanding down the sword pommel would fix this or not as you’ll lose detail on the sword and will still be left with soft hands. I’m hoping that Hasbro moves back to a harder plastic in subsequent waves as I have the same problem with the Jinx in VvV wave 3.

VvV4 Snake Eyes closeup

VvV4 Snake Eyes Arashikage clan sigil

VvV4 Snake Eyes gear

Ninja Lighting:

black Ninja Lightning bike

Okay, be honest—who didn’t love the bike chase in the movie? In a clever packaging move, Hasbro decided to pack SE with the bike that was featured in the movie. Want to recreate the bike chase? Well, you’ve got to buy 4 of this pack to get the requisite number of street bikes. Marketing aside, this bike is worth the absence of a second figure in the pack. It’s a solid design, with an oversized rear tire and sleek forward aspect. It even has a missile-firing action for the kids! Simply press down on the tail of the bike and the missile fires. However, if the missile isn’t loaded this same mechanism functions as a shock absorber! Figures are held onto the bike by the use of two posts located on the foot braces by the rear tire. While the bike is a bit wide to ideally fit a figure, the proportions are adequate enough so that the figure can assume a reasonable semblance of a riding pose. In the end, this is a solid pack in!

Ninja Lightning detail

VvV4 Snake Eyes & Ninja Lightning

Hasbro has finally given us a good Snake Eyes in Valor vs. Venom. In my opinion, this set is a better value than the Crosshairs w/ Assault Glider or Dart w/ Gun Station two packs as I see fans both young and old alike getting far more use out of the motorcycle. As far as I’m concerned, Hasbro could repackage Jinx and Kamakura with this same bike in later waves. If you see this set, grab it, as you won’t be disappointed.

VvV Snake Eyes mold comparison

VvV Snake Eyes SpyTroops Snake Eyes comparison

Snake Eyes vs Storm Shadow

Snake Eyes vs Storm Shadow bike duel

Snake Eyes Jinx and Kamakura

 

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