All parts - Snow Serpent v4
Rifle - Snow Serpent v2
Backpack - Agent Scarlett
Rocket launcher - Tunnel Rat v3
Snow shoes - Snow Serpent
The original Snow Serpent is one of my favourite GI Joe figures of all time, so when it comes to the second version of the trooper, as much as it's a nice sculpt I'm loath to use it as a Snow Serpent. So instead I use it as a specialized subset of the Snow Serpents, the designated marksmen of the unit. The work on the figure itself wasn't too much: I added some camo to the white, put a Cobra sigil on the left arm to match other Snow Serpent, and trimmed away the excess material behind the sidearms.
Most of the work with this figure went into the rifle. As much as I enjoy some sci-fi and fantasy elements in GI Joe, I do like them to be grounded in reality where possible. So I always try to associate a figure's weapon with a real-life firearm in order to have that connection to the real world. Many ARAH weapons were not based on real guns, though, so sometimes this takes some creativity. The original Snow Serpent came with an AKMS rifle, which is entirely appropriate to their role. But the version 2 rifle is clearly fantasy - the magazine is too far forward for the rifle to even make sense. So first I had to decide whether I wanted to modify it into something usable or replace it. Given the size of the magazine, if we assume it's not horribly out of scale it must be something that fires a full-size rifle round (say 7.62 x 51mm) rather than the smaller rounds used in assault rifles (like 5.56 x 45 mm). So we're looking at a battle rifle or a designated marksman rifle, basically. And if we move the magazine back towards the grip, this rifle could pass as something like a Tabuk Sniper Rifle with a folding stock, especially since it's winter-wrapped. So that's what I did - moved the magazine back and trimmed down the grip and the stock a bit, and gave it some paint. I also carved an ejection port out of the wrapping, since that's a pretty important part of a semi-automatic weapon. Now it can pass for a real-world rifle.
All parts - Snow Serpent v4
Rifle - Snow Serpent v2
Backpack - Agent Scarlett
Rocket launcher - Tunnel Rat v3
Snow shoes - Snow Serpent
