Quick Buying Options : You can grab the import version or pre-order the regular version for a fair bit less at BBTS, Sideshow, or check Ebay.

This is the heavily armored version of Snake, wearing more gear than he has in any of the other games. In-game, it slows him down but allows him to take more hits and have heavier firepower. Outside of the game, it makes him a large imposing figure for his scale, just look at those enormous thighs! He comes with an alternate set of hands, a large machine gun (with the folding parts up front), a rocket launcher, and a pistol, as well as an alternate head.

I ran into some issues right from the start. The front folding elements of the machine gun were difficult to wedge in and once in, would not change positions. I wanted to have an image of Snake on the ground with the machine gun in front of him but despite being gentle, the folding elements snapped off. In addition, Snake is incredibly top heavy (strange considering those thighs) which made him VERY difficult to stand up.

When you compare him to Kaz Miller and the other Snake figures, you can see how his center of balance is off. He’s a fair bit larger than them (the other Snake figures are roughly the size of Kaz). Adding all those pouches, while accurate, doesn’t help the weight balance issues. Obviously I’ve played with a few toys in my day and I’d say Snake is one of the more difficult figures to pose properly. To the point where I would’ve preferred one less weapon and a stand included instead. Fortunately, this seems to be the exception in the Metal Gear line! There are ways around this, such as the kneeling rocket launcher pose as shown just below.

The alternate head with the visor looks pretty awesome with the rocket launcher. The accessories do look nice, my machine gun problem aside, so props on that. The sculpting in general shows a lot of care. The armor is beat up with a wide assortment of scrapes, the primary head has some great hair (both on top of his head and facial hair), and the pouches/belts are way more detailed than I was expecting!

The articulation allows the same poses as Kaz, except that Snake is a more dynamic character so you’ll probably be propping him up into action poses. It was good seeing that the bulky armor didn’t hinder movement.

Paint was consistently good over the entire figure. No paint drips or splotches that I could see, weathering was good. The straps look surprisingly real! Check out the high-res pictures and you’ll see what I mean, their level of detail and colour accuracy really makes them stand out.

The box, like Miller, is simple and well designed. No complaints!

3/5. It’s a well scupted figure with solid accessories but it constantly falling over really hampered my enjoyment of it. If you’re going to grab it, get some museum putty and you’ll thank yourself! Super useful for other collectibles too. On the offchance mine had some sort of uncommon weight issue, I will state he’d be a solid 4 without the balancing problem.

Buying Options : You can grab the import version or pre-order the regular version for a fair bit less at BBTS, Sideshow, or check Ebay.

Quick Buying Options : Pre-order available at BBTS, and Sideshow.

Accessory-wise, Miller comes with two guns, an extra pair of shades (that appear identical to the ones he’s wearing), an alternate set of hands, and an alternate masked head. We’re not talking in the range of a Hot Toys figure here but it’s a nice set that allows for a variety of display options. The accessories are well sculpted and the details on Kaz’s suit are particularly well done. Even his little watch looks cool. About the only accessory problem I had was his pistol hostler. While you CAN get the pistol in there, I couldn’t close the holster again, regardless of whether the pistol was in there or not.

The method they use to partially hide the joints from the front makes them really obvious from the back. It’s an interesting take on an articulated figure and it looks pretty good. It can occasionally lead to noticeable differences, like say in the knee area when those are bent, since the jointed parts have a different texture from the surrounding areas. I do wish the arms could rotate out from their sockets just a little further so you had more of a poseable range in front of the figure though.

These Play Arts figures are heavy for action figures! They feel really solid. Most of the materials used are rigid, however, some areas, such as the bottom of the military jacket, are made with a softer material to allow better poses. They’ve done a great job matching up the look of the softer plastic with the harder areas.

I found Kaz quite stable and fairly easy to pose. I shook the lightbox a bit to see if he’d topple but for the most part, he stood. The facial sculpting is quite nice, both on the default face and the masked one. The eyes are nicely painted but he looks far better with the shades. There was a small error under his lip that you can see under the pictures, I’ll fix that later since it’s a tiny bump of additional plastic. Something probably got caught during the molding process.

Paint is rock solid. Lots of weathering along all the raised areas of his suit. Though considering how much weathering there is, they probably should’ve done a bit of wear on his boots and the guns, which would also be messed up from combat situations! That’s a minor detail though.

I suppose the biggest complaint that could be made about Kaz is for people who are familiar with Metal Gear but haven’t played Peace Walker yet. You’ll probably barely remember him, since he’s only kind of in the original Metal Gear Solid! I’m not sure how well he’ll sell due to that but since I’ve been impressed with the Play Arts line in this review, hopefully that’s not an issue for future Metal Gear releases. That Grey Fox especially, he looks badass.

Box design is simple, yet effective. Some nice “Metal Gear” elements, solid design, sample poses on the back which are helpful, and it’s well protected. Can’t ask for much more than that.

4/5. The Play Arts figures are definitely more expensive than people are used to paying for action figures but you’ve got to consider they’re almost as large as a Hot Toys figure. Based off of Kaz, they appear to be really well made, though I’ll have a more fleshed out opinion once I review Snake! If you haven’t played Peace Walker, you really should. Or if you don’t have a PS3, get the Metal Gear HD release for PS3, which includes a remastered Peace Walker. That should get you interested in Kaz Miller here!

Buying Options : Pre-order available at BBTS, and Sideshow.

Quick Buying Options : Amazon and Ebay.

This is intended as a joke costume. You beat one of the boss characters a certain way to get it and it was only useful for one area of the game. You drive a motorcycle towards enemies and when they see you’re a COLD WARRIOR they don’t shoot at you, giving you the opportunity to murder them at will. But once they see your back, they realize you’re an American super spy! It was such a ridiculous scene and rather fun to play.

Since it’s Medicom, there’s a few things you can expect. An overly high MSRP, a lack of accessories, and Medicom’s style rather than a straight interpretation of the character. Sideshow had it for $190 (ouch), it comes with an alternate set of hands, and one gun. At least, that’s what initially evident. He also comes with a large water bottle, two knives, and a radio, but those are contained on his belt. Given the immense variety of weapons and accessories in the game, this is totally underwhelming. Willing to bet Hot Toys takes care of THAT little problem.

The face is what you’d expect from Medicom. It’s an alright representation of Snake but kinda cartoony. He’s far too tan but it’s an improvement over the borderline albino look the previous Medicom release had. The facial hair and real hair could’ve been done more convincingly, they suffer the most from the animated style. The headband is sculpted rather than fabric. It’s intended to give a more dramatic effect and it works alright.

I gotta give props for the fabric. The accessories and clothing are well tailored. All the pouches are functional with working buttons. The pockets on the clothing work. Even the harness is pretty cool! Basically, the clothing and accessories are the best part of the figure. The boots look and feel nice, as do the sleeves. The gloves are fully sculpted, which doesn’t look as good as the fabric, but oh well. What I found interesting was that the hands slide off quite easily. Instead of using a jointed system, they use a triangular peg. This provides less of a strong grip but you don’t feel you’re going to break the figure as you attempt to place another hand on it.

I posed the figure without the stand because I wanted to see how stable he was in a variety of poses. This is Snake we’re talking about, he’s not gonna stand around like a glamour model. I’m pleased to say it was pretty easy to get him in some nice battle-ready action poses. With the stand? Probably could’ve expanded his action style. While the Medicom 12″ body isn’t my favourite one, it’s fairly simple to get it looking natural.

I’m going to start including more pictures of packaging in my reviews. They did a rather nice job on this one. Makes it obvious which figure it is, the colours go well with each other, the inside looks great as well.

3.5/5. Expensive, likeness suffers due to style, gimmick costume that won’t appeal to most people. However, if it does appeal to you and you get it at a reasonable price (I paid $110 shipped from Ebay, basically half MSRP), it’s well worth it. I can’t see Hot Toys doing this outfit either, whereas I can see them releasing the other ones that Medicom previously released.

Buying Options : Amazon and Ebay.