EPISODE SIX - HEAT WAVE

Snake Eyes falls into a trap in wintery Romania, and Duke, Scarlett and Heavy Duty come in to rescue him. However, they end up trapped themselves by Destro and the heat is on. Will Snake Eyes and his new wolf friend be able to save them in time?

Detailed Synopsis:

The episode starts in a dark and wintery remote location in Romania. Snake Eyes glides silently through the air on his parachute, hitting the mountainside on his snowboard and whipping through the arctic tundra. He quickly finds out that he is not alone as a pack of wolves make their presence known.

CLIP ONE (.wmv)

Snake Eye scontinues walking through the wooded region, trying not to notice the wolves flanking him every step of the way. Pretty soon it's obvious that he cannot ignore them any longer as the leader of the pack blocks his path and glares intently at him. Up above the two, a shadowy robotic creature hovers.

The wolf charges as a blanket of snow roars down the slope just above Snake Eyes...the mysterious robot as caused an avalanche! The wolf latches on to Snake Eyes' arm, but the mute Sigma 6 ninja swiftly kicks him away as the snow slams down on top of him. Quite a distance away, a shadowy figure stands inside a sinister looking castle, laughing malevolently to himself...

Along the snow covered terrain, an Ice Sabre and Night Ops VAMP drive, heading towards the castle. Duke, Heavy Duty, and Scarlett are inside, all in arctic gear. Hi-Tech informs the team that Snake Eyes hit the drop zone, but then disappeared and there are some plasma readings coming from the castle blocking communications.

CLIP TWO (.wmv)

Hi-Tech also notifies the team that the castle is rumored to be haunted, which is something that Heavy Duty is not at all happy about. Yet, they continue on.

Not too far away, a familiar whipstar shoots out from beneath the pile of snow and Snake Eyes frees himself from the avalanche. However, his wrist communicator was damaged by the wolf attack, so he's alone and cannot let his teammates know that he's okay.

Meanwhile, the Ice Sabre and VAMP stop at the castle, and the three Sigma 6 members disembark. Heavy Duty hears a wolf howl, which makes him nervous, but besides the cold weather, there is nothing else bothering Duke or Scarlett. The enter the freaky looking castle, hoping to warm up a bit. Heavy Duty is not at all comfortable with entering this place. A few scares give Heavy Duty the willies once they're inside, and Heavy Duty reveals that Tunnel Rat told him the castle was haunted by a "Wolf King". When the Wolf King was overthrown, the wolves swore their revenge, and the mysterious pack of wolves surrounding the castle carry spirits of the Wolf King. Needless to say, Heavy Duty does not like this story at all. The three teammembers continue on through the castle, but soon find out that some of the scares Heavy Duty was getting weren't ghosts...they were Overlord Virus, a hi tech COBRA B.A.T. trooper! Sigma 6 engages Overlord Virus and he scampers away under a barrage of gunfire.

CLIP THREE (.wmv)

Back out in the arctic wilderness Snake Eyes and the wolf pack-leader face off on the edge of a cliff. It's a quick, tense battle, but ends with the ninja on the ground with his tonfa sword pressed tightly to the wolf's throat. He doesn't make the cut, though, and spares the wolf's life.

CLIP FOUR (.wmv)

The wolf departs, and Snake Eyes decides to head towards the castle, not realizing that the wolf didn't go too far, and is actually tailing him on his way.

Back at the castle Duke, Heavy Duty, and Scarlett are hunting down this strange power source, and Hi-Tech tracks it to beneath their feet. The three teammembers blast away at the floor and drop down into the rooms below.

Back outside, Snake Eyes is swiftly scaling the mountainside, but the footing isn't great, and he almost plummets to his death. His quick reaction with a whipstar grappling hook halts his descent, and the mysterious timber wolf leaps to his rescue, returning the favor of saving his life.

Inside the castle, the Sigma 6 team tracks the power source and comes across a strange contraption inside a glassed in room. But the contraption isn't the only thing there...Destro is, too! Destro informs them that they've just fallen into a trap and he closes them within the room with this device! The strange power readings are Microwaves that are eminating from this machine. It will torch their machinery first, then cook them alive. They are trapped in a shatterproof glass room, with no way to escape. As the microwave emitter starts tearing the castle apart, Destro attempts to escape, only to meet up with Snake Eyes and the wolf on his way out the door! Snake Eyes strikes, but Destro avoids the sword, only to be confronted by the wolf. The wolf chomps on Destro's hand and the datacard he's holding, ruining it. Enraged, but concerned for his own safety, the COBRA agent flees the crumbling castle.

CLIP FIVE (.wmv)

Back in the chamber, Duke plants a couple of grenades, which go off and weakens the glass shielding around the microwave generator. Heavy Duty charges and finishes the shattering of the glass, and the three teammates are free! The castle is still crumbling so the team is looking for an escape route...when Overlord Virus makes a return appearence. Without weapons, Sigma 6 has to get creative...Duke uses his power knife to hack away at Virus, and Heavy Duty unloads with his Power Gloves. Virus seems un-deterred, but Snake Eyes and the wolf show up just in time! The wolf leaps on Virus, distracting him, while Snake Eyes hacks at him with his tonfa sword and brings him crashing to the ground. One good punch by Heavy Duty's Power Glove, and the robot is stopped in his tracks.

The castle comes crumbling to the ground as the Sigma 6 team watches from aboard the Sea Titan, parked nearby. Snake Eyes seems to be bidding farewell to his new wolf friend, will we see Timber again? Only time will tell...

THE END

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EPISODE THOUGHTS

This week wasn't too bad, definitely a step up from the King Tunnel Rat the Ninja episode of the previous week. The Romanian setting was done very well with a somewhat spooky atmosphere, and some okay action scenes. We got to see Snake Eyes on his snowboard (though he wasn't in his arctic gear, unfortunately), and Timber made a very solid first appearence as well. Duke and the other Sigma 6 members showed up in their own arctic gear (very reminiscent of the Arctic Duke look from the last wave of Commando figures, which is always cool).

We saw Overlord Virus again, and Destro made a pretty evil return appearence (though he continues to be totally unsuccessful against Sigma 6...I would think he would have done SOMETHING right by now).

All in all, a somewhat solid episode. Heavy Duty's freaking out over the "haunted" castle was pretty lame, but only took up a few minutes of the episode. Still not as cool as some of the earlier episodes were. Right about middle of the "pack" (so to speak).

The Good:

- We continue to get lots of shots of new product, like Snake Eyes' snowboard, Timber the wolf, Arctic Duke, and the parachute that Snake Eyes will come with in one of the new 2.5" sets.
- The dark and melancholy atmosphere worked really well with the mysterious music and the European setting.
- I kind of liked the way they portrayed Timber as a leader of the pack of powerful wolves. It was tough to tell whether or not he joins the team, but it was cool to see him.
- The VAMP and Ice Sabre looked really cool running side by side! Here's hoping we get a 2.5" Ice Sabre somewhere down the line.

The Bad:

- Heavy Duty's wussiness at the "haunted castle" got pretty old pretty quick.
- While Destro was still somewhat imposing here, his repeated failures make you really question his use to the COBRA cause

Not a bad episode, start to finish...it was entertaining for the most part, and it was neat seeing all the new product introduced here. Looks pretty good, though next week's introduction of Sigma Strike Duke looks even better!

Next Week on Sigma 6!