Six Scale Sickness

Its my pleasure to welcome Tim AKA The Eater AKA Snake Eater AKA Sucker of Snakes as the newest member of the six scale sickness team. we hope you enjoy his first of many reviews - eRock.

“Snake? Come in Snake? Can you read me? Are you there?” He most certainly is and he rocks. Produced by Medicom Toy in 2005, this Real Action Hero is the first of their three representations of Naked Snake, AKA Big Boss, from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. The first one is the Tiger Stripes version, which was closely followed by the Squares and Crocodile Cap versions.

This was my first 1/6 purchase which sparked my ever growing collection, bought on release for the bargain price of approximately £90 (132 USD) with shipping from Hong Kong to Guernsey. The first version is now considered the rarest and is the highly sought after version, even though there are only 500pcs of the Squares one and 1000pcs of this one. That can be justified by this being the original I should think.

Snake is often seen, (or not seen), hiding in a cardboard box, but never before has he been secreted in one so lovely. The box is relatively sparse but gets the job done and is a friend to collectors, as there is not a twisty tie in sight. Just two clear plastic trays to house Snake and his accessories, placed inside a standard window box with a covering flap which seals with a single piece of Velcro. There is a brief summary of the figure on the inside and the outside of the box is adorned with some fantastic Yoji Shinkawa illustrations that really add to the display value of the box

I find Medicom can be a little stingy when it comes to accessories, however Snake does not fair too badly. He comes with his M1911A1 pistol with removable suppressor, along with two knives, (hunting and CQC), and five hands, (two left, and three right). It would have been nice for them to include a few more extras, a cigar and a couple of rations perhaps, but it is a good effort nonetheless.

The clothing is where this figure really comes to life. Snake’s outfit is represented almost perfectly from the game. Whether it’s his skin tight ‘sneak suit’, his combat fatigues or his stabo harness, it is all realised very faithfully and is tailored well to match. However, Medicom go even further and include a whole number of pouches around his waist that include anything from a water canteen to a rollaway bed, which ALL include working fastenings. It really is in the details with this figure and Medicom went the ‘whole hog’. The pattern itself on the camouflage is authentic Tiger Stripe and looks fantastic at this scale.

One area where this figure perhaps falters slightly is the pose ability. He has a good amount of pose ability, however the plastic can be very fragile on RAHs and I already have minor cracks on the hand pegs. This is an area where Medicom need to improve, as you don’t want to be in the situation where you cannot pose your figure without fear of breaking it.

The head sculpt is spot on to Snake’s game counterpart, however may look plain comparing to today’s standards. He is a little pale and does not look quite as detailed paint wise as in the promo pictures, but he is still a beauty in hand. Worth noting too that the bandana ii moveable, a nice touch and good to see Medicom made the sculpt frayed as it should be.

Overall, this is a fantastic figure and definitely worth picking it up if you’re a fan of Metal Gear. I shouldn’t say it matters which of the three you grab, just personal preference and budget I guess, but they all look superb.


I will give it a score of 9.0/10, knocking off a half point for accessories and plastic quality, but it really is a great figure.

Review and Images by - TIM