Night Force Sneak Peek (1988)
Odd is an appropriate one word descriptive term for Sneak Peek. It’s quite an unassuming figure. The sculpt is on the chunky side, both in the face and torso. The overall design seems like it would be more applicable to another laser trooper, with its padded upper body.
The accessories are another source of oddness. While the idea of a specialist in advanced information gathering is interesting, the execution of his gear leaves me dumbfounded. I have never been able to figure out how (or if) Sneak Peek is supposed to hold his periscope-like viewer. The package art shows his hand wrapped around it in a way that’s just not possible with vintage articulation. His other accessories aren’t bad, and I rather like his binoculars and radio, which can handily hang on his waist clip. Thankfully, he also gets a weapon, the same M-16 carried by Footloose. I often wondered why these high tech Joes sometimes got shafted in armaments. He’s definitely equipped to defend himself should he be discovered while on a mission.
Sneak Peek got his fair share of repaint love, appearing here as a member of Night Force as well as the UK/European Tiger Force. Where I always found the original paint job to be rather boring, I really like the Night Force version. The night fighter concept also meshes well with his specialty.
Finally, there’s the name thing. The story goes that he’s named after the son of horror writer Stephen King, a fan of GI Joe. Funny thing about the file cards, even in cases of figures being named after real people, the disclaimer still read at the bottom of the cardback, “the name ____ does not identify and known person, living or dead.”
I remember seeing Sneak Peek (And Fast Draw) on the card backs of the first wave of new figures that year, and thinking they looked really cool. Then when I got them. I found them both disappointing. Fast Draw had cool weapons but the figure was just odd, and Sneak Peek was kind of chubby, and dull looking. Your comments on the big periscope are so dead on too, he could never seem to hold it and I didn’t really understand exactly how it was supposed to work. I never had the NF version, but his color scheme is Miles ahead of the original version and I agree they make a lot more sense given his specialty.
Ha! I found a loose Night Force Sneak Peek at the same flea market where I got my recent jackpot of a haul! The left arm was broken, so I ditched it, and I just remembered that at that same table my haul came from, among the accessories the guy was selling were his binoculars! I’ve been jotting a list down for a return trip because of that.
I never found much to love about Sneak Peek. The periscope was one of the most cumbersome accessories ever. This Night Force version could have been a considerable improvement, but what’s up with those light green pants? They don’t fit in with the torso, arms, head and boots. If they had been gray like most of his outfit, this would have been a far better figure.
You could always take the waist and legs of an extra V1 Sneak Peek, paint the red portions, and slap them on this figure…
His chubby appearance never bothered me. Do some fans want all the Joes to be adonises? Crew cutted, squared jawed Duke clones? Or masked killers with bad attitudes?
Some years back I read that a significant portion of US military personnel are (were) overweight, too.
The scope was awkward. That’s true.
I think I can manage to get him to hold it (once I get the scope). It’s flat on that one end, right? So, all I do is just have it stand like so, then have Sneak Peek behind a ridge or something look through it while laying on his stomach.
This figure mostly salvaged the character for me. He’s often overpriced due to being “exclusive Night Force” though.
I have the opportunity to buy a carded S.P. (with hole in upper card) for 25 $. I’d only be buying it for the mike though and it’s hard to justify buying a figure I already have for a tiny piece of plastic.
You’d think that Hasbro would’ve thought of maybe putting the mike (along with Heavy Metal’s, Hartop’s and Lift-Ticket’s) in an accessory pack.
A great Marvel comics character too.
“Funny thing about the file cards, even in cases of figures being named after real people, the disclaimer still read at the bottom of the cardback, “the name ____ does not identify and known person, living or dead.” ”
Excellent point!
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