Ice-Viper

First seeing this figure at Toy Fair in February, I was immediately wondering exactly who the heck it was supposed to be...some sort of Arctic Snake Eyes? He had the visor, he had the black facemask, and he appeared to have the same camouflage as the Joe figures, so what was up? Well, one question to a Hasbro rep, and I quickly found out that this was an Ice-Viper, not a Snake Eyes, and I was immediately smitten.

The Ice-Viper reuses a lot more parts than is evident from the first glance, as he shares the torso and arms of the MARS Troopers and the various Vipers that have hit the line already. But obviously what separates this figure are the huge sculpted baggy pants, which work remarkably well. I'm pretty surprised at how well it works, honestly. Even with the huge sculpting the range of motion in the hips is fine, the knee joints are great even with those big legs, and the paint apps are just fantastic. I'm a bit surprised that they went with this specific camouflage pattern. Even though it matches the arctic environment, it's also somewhat similar to the pattern the Joes use...but, the camouflage is perfect. The various whites and grays all mesh together nicely and work for an arctic environment.

Perhaps the coolest part of this figure, though, is the head. He's got that great flip-up visor that fits securely on his head, yet lifts with little effort, and looks very cool. But under the visor, he's also got a pretty elaborate sculpted head that looks awesome as well. It's almost a shame that so much of it gets buried under the visor and raised hood of the additional vest.

Speaking of the removable vest, that is a highlight of a very cool allotment of accessories. He doesn't have a huge number of them, but they are very elaborate and interesting. As I mentioned, the large removable parka vest is absolutely beautiful, intricately sculpted and well designed. There's two fastening clasps on each side with large pouches, and a very elaborate backpack sculpted onto the back. The hood and collar built up around the head fits excellently, and all geared up, this looks like a deep-freeze capable arctic soldier, just as it should. I really hope, since there is some combat in the Polar Ice Caps that we end up seeing this guy in some form in the movie.

But the vest is only part of it. He's also got a nice futuristic looking rifle (likely a pulse gun) that is wrapped in canvas, and a smaller, familiar pulse pistol as well. But what rounds it all off is the obviously vintage themed "Ski-Pedo" that was made popular with the Snowcat in '85, but then revolutionized with the COBRA Wolf in '87. The original Wolf came with an Ice-Viper, so it's only suitable that this revamped Ice-Viper also comes with a Wolf inspired snowpedo, this time reworked into a spring-loaded rocket launcher. Yeah, it's a rocket launcher, but it's still cool to see the homage.

I'm not big on environmentally themed figures, but the Ice-Viper is an exception. The removable vest is great, the paint applications are awesome, and even with the reused Trooper parts, this is one impressive looking figure. I don't see myself beefing up my snow squad with these guys, but he's an excellent figure that belongs in anyone's collection.

Buy this figure at Big Bad Toy Store!

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