Snake Eyes

Why is Snake Eyes so cool? Despite having a filecard that doesn't indicate any personality whatsoever, never speaking and a name that makes him sound like he plays for the other team, he is perhaps the most popular GI Joe.

Well, first of all, he's a ninja. Secondly, black goes with everything. The most popular version of his action figure (or doll, if you prefer) comes with a sword, a gun and a timberwolf (or accessories, if you prefer). As for the bad guy-sounding name, it's ophiophagy baby!

More than that, I can't imagine a more perfect action figure for fantasy play. No face, no voice, ultimate power: the figure is the kid holding it. In the tradition of Roald Dahl, the protaganist of the story is purposely underdeveloped, letting the reader project themselves into the leading role. I'll maintain that the Harry Potter books are another example of this phenomenon, but I can't think of any examples in adult literature. I'm sure there's term for this sort of character that I'm also unaware of.

Anyway, that's what I was thinking about when deciding whether or not to get rid of my Snake Eyes minibust. Turns out it was a statue of me all along.