Review: Sand Serpent
The Highs: Neat paint job, loads of stickers, unique figure, new sounds, loads of playability.
The Lows: The gray buttons, limited availability, pricey in the secondary market, figure could be more unique, sounds may be too loud for some, wheels still don’t roll.
The Verdict: Not a must have…unless you can get it for $15.99.
Ross stores make their money by buying overstocked, slightly irregular, and cancelled items dirt cheap and reselling them for highly reduced (below MSR) prices. While they primarily focus on clothes, interestingly enough they do have a small toy section. Those toy sections have become heavily trafficked by Joe fans the past couple of months, because Ross was fortunate enough to purchase the now-cancelled RoC wave 3 Target exclusive small vehicles, overstocked PoC Bravo vehicles, and the also now-cancelled RoC Night Raven clone, the Sand Serpent. Since I already have a review of the RoC Night Raven out, I’ll primarily focus on what differentiates the two.
The Sand Serpent, as noted above, is a reuse of the mold from the Rise of Cobra Night Raven. It is molded in new colors: gray underneath, desert camouflage on top (similar to the pattern worn by the modern US military) with black accents and wings. The translucent plastic in the cockpit is a light yellow, and matches the body well…as well as making the pilot a lot more visible than in the RoC Night Raven. I wasn’t too sure if I’d care for the color scheme, but after pulling my Sand Serpent out of the box and checking it out with my own eyes, I kind of like it.
Like the Night Raven before it, the Sand Serpent is loaded with features. There’s the opening cockpit, retractable landing gear, flip-down handle with trigger, firing missiles (with accompanying flashing lights and sounds) and three buttons that make different sounds. Gripping the front part of the Serpent and cocking it like a pump-action shotgun cycles the missiles into firing position. As for the sounds, the first button makes a missile lock sound on the first push, followed by firing sounds and flashing lights from the LEDs in the wings. The second button is a bunch of pilot-talk sounds, while the third button is engine noise. I should note here that the pilot-talk sounds are different from those on the Night Raven. The engine sounds and firing sounds seem to be the same, but they are extremely loud on the Serpent compared to the Raven…so loud, in fact, that they verge on annoying. The main thing that bugs me about the Serpent’s electronics is the fact that the sound buttons are gray. Not black like the wings. Not tan or brown or anything else that matches the desert camo…light gray, like the underside of the plane. While it’s true that the Night Raven shared this flaw, the paint on the Night Raven’s buttons at least went with the overall theme of the vehicle…the gray on the Sand Serpent’s buttons just sticks out, ugly-style. If this vehicle weren’t cancelled and were released at full retail price this way, I would find the gray buttons inexcusable. Also, just like the RoC Night Raven, the wheels on the landing gear still don’t roll, a feature that I absolutely hated on the Sand Serpent’s predecessor.
We get a new figure to pilot the Sand Serpent, the Star-Viper. Star-Viper was the pilot of the Stellar Stiletto in the original line, so it somewhat makes sense that he would be included with the futuristic Night Raven variant. Star¬¬-Viper uses the 25th Anniversary Strato-Viper’s body with a new head. His boots and gloves are black, with the rest of the uniform a very dark gray. There’s a red Cobra sigil on the figure’s right breast. The kneepads and wrists are a copper color, somewhat similar to the original figure’s gold accents. The figure’s helmet is vaguely similar to the original Star-Viper’s. It is very large, with an angular purple faceplate. There’s an integrated environmental unit built into the helmet. The same copper color as the kneepads and wrists, the environmental unit hangs down from the helmet by hoses that come out of either side of the helmet’s lower part. It’s a little large and looks a little strange, but it does fit the figure.
I have a few problems with Star-Viper. While I love the helmet, there’s not enough to set him apart from Strato-Viper, and because he uses the same mold he has that figure’s inherent flaws…mainly, the tiny feet that make it hard for him to stand without support. I believe the dark gray/black looks too monochromatic, and there are not enough copper accents to break up the blandness of the color scheme. Without the Strato-Viper’s strap-on breastplate with integrated pistol, the figure looks pretty plain. I also wish that Star-Viper’s faceplate was red so he would be more similar to the classic figure. I will say that it would be very simple to customize this figure to make him more closely resemble the classic figure…simply repaint the faceplate red, the copper accents gold, and slap on a gold-painted version of 25th Screaming Duke’s harness, and you’ve got a much more faithful-to-the-original version of Star-Viper.
If you like the Sand Serpent well enough to try and track one down, prices aren’t outrageous…but it’s not that cheap either, unless you get lucky enough to find one at a Ross. The Sand Serpent sells at Ross for $15.99, less than half of the RoC Night Raven’s original $39.99 price. If you have to turn to the secondary market, expect to pay around $30…still less than the Night Raven’s original price, but not exactly cheap…especially if you’re just after the Sand Serpent for Star-Viper. I would hesitate to call the Sand Serpent a must-have…unless you can in fact find one for $15.99. At that price, you’d have to be stupid not to pick one up…if nothing else, keep Star-Viper for yourself and give the vehicle to your kiddo, or take a cue from quite a few eBayers and sell the vehicle sans figure, just to make your money back. The Sand Serpent’s a neat vehicle for a very right price…if you can find one!
