Pursuit of Cobra Snow Job

To many folks, Snow Job here is old news. He first appeared in overseas auctions several months ago, but for whatever reason I never jumped on him like I did with some of the other Pursuit of Cobra items. I think part of it was because so much of the figure was reused from the Toys "R" Us Shipwreck, part of it was because he was a snow trooper, and I suppose another part of it was just that I've never really liked the character, even though he holds the illustrious title of the Joe character born closest to my home town.

Whatever the reason, I never got him back then, but I was eager to get him now. And even though I'm not a huge fan of snow themed figures, this one just plain kicks ass, and it's all about the accessories.

But I can talk about the accessories further along in the review as I usually do. First let's talk about the figure. Back when I reviewed the Toys "R" Us Shipwreck (like a week or two ago) I made mention of the fact that he appeared to use new tooling for his vest. It was certainly different than the Arctic Snake Eyes. Well, Snow Job pulls from that tooling as well, and makes the most of it, with a nice light brown camouflage scheme over the baggy arctic uniform. The head sculpt is really where this figure shines, though, featuring a fully grown red beard, very nicely sculpted goggles and a great knit cap. Fantastically detailed and it looks remarkably cool, complete with decoed frost in his beard. Sure, unlike the 25th Anniversary version, the goggles are not removable, but even with this fact, the figure is terrific.

But let's move on to the really good stuff. The gear. Oh, the crazy gear.

It's immediately evident to me, that The Pursuit of Cobra is borrowing many pages from the Sigma 6 book, which is not surprising, considering John Warden was a designer for both lines. Using some common tooling and building upon it with absolutely awesome accessory compliments is what Sigma 6's bread and butter was, and it certainly seems to be how Pursuit of Cobra is making it's name. I mean look at Duke and Spirit. Both figures are nearly identical to each other from the neck down (some tooling differences, to be sure, but they both have bare arms, detail-less torsos, and the same legs), but because of their unique head sculpts and insane accessory compliments, both figures are highly desired among Joe fans. It's a great formula, and Snow Job absolutely sells it.

Let's face it, the Toys "R" Us Shipwreck has not exactly been on the top of everyone's "must buy" list, but give Snow Job a new head sculpt and some insane accessories, and the whole thing changes. Let's look at these accessories.

First of all, the backpack is amazing. Crazy amounts of detail, and although it's not immediately evident, you can fit pretty much every single bit of Snow Job's gear onto this one spot. Skis? Check. Poles? Check. Blanket, frying pan, stove? Check, check, check. And yeah, he actually does come with a frying pan and a stove. How cool is that?

But not only can he store all the gear, but with the right orientation of the blanket, the skis, and the poles, he's got a great arctic "lean to" which he can crouch under with his sniper rifle.

Yeah, and how about that sniper rifle? Chock full of bad ass, it's a great, large rifle that is PERFECT for Snow Job. That's one aspect of the character that hasn't really been fully explored... he was an Olympic Biathalete, which means he's an expert skier, AND an expert shooter. This sniper rifle fits that skillset perfectly, and it's a fantastic looking weapon to boot. Of course, there does end up being some trade off. As cool as the sniper rifle looks, it really doesn't fit in Snow Job's hands that well. This is kind of unusual, as the majority of the Pursuit of Cobra figures seem to come with weapons designed specifically for them.

From a tooling standpoint, Snow Job doesn't knock the ball out of the park. He's a great basic figure, but nothing really new and exciting. However, when you equip him with this insane gear, give him his sniper rifle, and look at the entire package, he fits right alongside the other Pursuit of Cobra figures in a "must buy" list, which honestly is where nearly every figure I've gotten my hands on is. Snow Job is readily available at retail prices and has so many fantastic accessories, you really cannot go wrong.

Pre-Order this figure NOW at BigBadToyStore.com!

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