Back in 2020, Hasbro restarted their GI Joe brand with a new line called GI Joe Classified. These figures were six inches tall instead of the old standard of 3 3/4 inches. Since the eighties, GI Joes were always that 3 3/4 scale, but the toy world had shifted, and most people were collecting six inch figures now. So, Hasbro adapted to the times and turned GI Joe into a six inch line.
To kick off the line, they decided to make a big splash with a deluxe figure that would be exclusive to their new Hasbro Pulse website. I'm sure, if you didn't know already, that you could guess which figure this first release was. Yup, Snake Eyes.
Well, I was a huge fan of GI Joe as a kid, so I was pretty pumped to get my hands on some figures that were in the scale that I was doing all my collecting in these days. I jumped at the chance to get that first exclusive figure, even though it was selling for $40, and came with a bunch of upgrades that I would certainly never use...but would probably feel to bad to throw away, so they'd just be taking up space in my closet.
I was just excited enough to have a six inch Snake Eyes that I would take what I could get. I was in the process of trying to make my own six inch custom figures. I was going to buy a 3D printed head off eBay, and put it on a Deadpool body to make my Snake Eyes, so this was much easier, and probably even cheaper too.
My order was part of the second wave of figures to get sent out, though. The first wave was sent out, and everyone started reviewing the figure on YouTube and so forth, and it seemed like the demand for the figure ratcheted up to the next level. People started selling theirs on eBay for $80, $90, even $100.
I was in a quandary now. I wanted Snake Eyes, but opening that figure up and putting it on my shelf would be like taking $60 and throwing it in the garbage. Think of how many regular GI Joe releases I could buy with that money...it's three. That's pretty easy math actually.
I just couldn't do that in good conscience. Instead, when my Snake Eyes finally arrived, I opened the box, looked at the contents, then put it all back and put it in my closet.
It was a very fancy box, with its own slip cover over the top.
And this intricate, embossed etching of the Arishkage Ninja Clan on it. Both things that I had no need for. I usually throw my boxes away.
It came with the regular figure in a regular box, and all these extra ninja implements and a stand to hang them on in the foam. Those would surely have to stay in that foam, as I had no place to display them.
It came with this thing that is, I believe, a lithograph (if I'm right about what a lithograph is) of the Arishkage design, the same one that is etched into the box.
Oh, and did I mention it came with a figure? I think I did, but here's a shot of that.
I was going to have to sell it, but I wasn't up for that right now. The value would probably only go up as it got older anyway.
I put it mostly out of my mind, and went about my life with that $60 net profit sitting in my closet. That profit did creep up even further. If you had enough patience, you might be able to get $150 for that figure now.
Well, things finally changed this month. I couldn't leave that Snake Eyes sitting in my closet any longer. Out of the swirling snow, a giant monster came lumbering into sight. A toy that I've wanted for years now, but has always been priced way out of my reach, became available for purchase again.
Way back in the early days of my Big Anklevich On Toys YouTube channel, I did a video about Christmas decorations, and talked about how I wanted to add the Mythic Legions Ice Troll to my display.
That was mostly on account of this photo I saw one time on Instagram.
It's glorious and beautiful, right? Over the years, I've acquired the snow elf and the polar bear, but the troll still remained out of my price range.
In fact, as time went on, the troll only got more valuable. BBTS was listing it for $169 on that YouTube video above, but it climbed to around $300 in value on eBay before long.
I grumbled about it, because if I'd been one of the people who preordered it when the Soul Spiller wave was offered, they were selling the trolls for only $100...or $80 if you bought the whole wave. It was highway robbery...or supply and demand. One of those two.
The Four Horsemen, the makers of the Mythic Legions line of which the troll is a part of, are pretty good at re-releasing their toys eventually...sort of, a bit. They do what they call All-Star Waves. They allow their fans to vote on the figures that they want re-released, and release five or six old figures that people want a second crack at.
This time, though, they did it a little differently. They're doing a wave purely of trolls, just two trolls to be exact. You can get the arena troll or the ice troll, and this time around, each comes with a second head. The extra head is just the head of a different troll painted in the colors of the one you're ordering. For example, here's the picture from their site.
So, you get the one-eyed head and the horned head. The original head is the horned head. The one eyed head originally went with Brontus, the arena troll, and looked like this:
I'm not really much of a fan of the one-eyed head. I love the original head, however.
And it comes with both, so I will be all good. Maybe I can sell the second one...though I can't imagine who would buy a troll head. Maybe somebody who bought the troll before it came with two heads, and they want the option, but don't want to buy a whole new one...it could happen.
Anyway, I'm over the moon excited with the chance to finally get this guy. I put my Snake Eyes up on eBay, and it sold for $120, which was just enough to buy this monster to take his place. I just mailed Snake Eyes off to the buyer, a guy who lives in Norway, and placed my order for an Ice Troll. I think I did pretty good, considering that I only paid $40 for Snake Eyes, and now he's managed to secure me a troll.
My guess is that I may have to find a way to keep it on the shelf all year round instead of just for Christmas. I suppose we'll have to see. I can't wait to have that problem.
The one sad thing is that it's not expected to arrive until Spring 2023, so I won't be able to put it up for Christmas this year. I'll have to wait for the next trip around the sun.
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