[TAO's Note: It's yet another GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra review from prolific contributor Clark. Has Hasbro managed to put out another great movie figure, or is Ice-Viper just another generic Cobra Hechman that's left out in the cold? Read on to find out!]
Name: Ice-Viper
Line: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Released: Summer 2009
8Price: Retail $7.99-$8.99, Online $8.48-$12.95
Accessories: Rifle, pistol, sled with firing missile
Sponsor Listings: Past Generation Toys-$9.95
The strongest features of the Ice-Viper are his design and sculpt. He has a quite a distinctive look, wearing a full helmet with visor, and big puffy cold-weather clothes. According to his file card he is one of many Ice Vipers, all synthetically enhanced with nanomites, which allows them to survive extreme cold and have enhanced strength. Sounds like a pretty dangerous guy. The head sculpt looks pretty plain when you take off the visor, it is just a black helmet with eyes, nothing special, so the visor helps it to stand out a bit. The parka is fantastic, it is large and bulky and riddled with pockets and straps. The pants are also very well done with appropriate wrinkles and folds, and they appear to have reinforced knees. You can remove the parka to reveal a gray body, but the neck is incredibly long, it is obvious that the coat is meant to be left on. The best thing about his sculpt is that he truly looks dressed to survive in cold environments.
Sculpt Score: 9 / 10
All of the colors chosen for the Ice-Viper are distributed well and look appropriate. However, the color of the parka does not match the picture on the package. The package shows him wearing a mostly black parka, with white highlights. This parka is all white, with black straps and a camouflage hood. Nevertheless the jacket still looks great. The arms are fairly simple, two tones of gray, complimented by black plastic gloves. The pants are what really stand out. They have a gray camouflage pattern with black straps on the thighs. The camo looks very impressive and I can’t find any slop on the figure.
Paint Score: 8 / 10
Above the waste the Ice-Viper has your standard G.I. Joe articulation. However, the jacket only allows the torso joint to swivel, and the head can only look up and down slightly. The arms are not limited in their range of motion, until you try to bring them across the body, at which point the bulk of the parka holds them back. His hips are standard, but also limited by the jacket. His knees are unique for G.I. Joe, they are similar to modern Star Wars knees. They can bend a full 90 degrees, and have 360 degrees of swivel. This allows you to get the Ice-Viper into some pretty good poses despite the limitations caused by the jacket.
Articulation Score: 7 / 10
Although the Ice-Viper may be limited to your snowy adventures, he still looks great and is loads of fun. Unfortunately he is a little light on the accessories. He only comes with one pistol and one rifle which is wrapped in fabric. Both of these look more like weapons from Star Wars than from G.I. Joe, but that does not bother me too much. He also comes with a giant sled that fires a missile. I was under the impression that he was going to come with a snowboard, but unfortunately no, and there are no plugs on the sled for him to stand on. Still, this is still a very fun figure mostly due to his cool look.
Fun Score: 8 / 10
I picked this guy up at Toys R Us for $5.00 during their sale. You had to buy two figures at $9.99, but there were several I wanted and I had no problem purchasing several. The regular MSRP is $7.99, and I would rate him a 7 at that price.
Value Score: 10 / 10
9 / 10 - Great sculpt conveying something a snow trooper would wear.
8 / 10 - No slop to be found, and a great camouflage pattern.
7 / 10 - The articulation is limited by the jacket, but his knees add some points back.
8 / 10 - A very enjoyable figure, mostly due to his cool design not the accessories.
10 / 10 - At $5.00 this is a great value, at $8.00 it is an okay/good value.
84 / 100 - This is a Great Toy
As much as I love the design of this guy, had I paid $7.99 he would be a good figure at best. I only picked him up because of the sale. He is one of the more unique figures that we’ve seen from the first wave of ROC characters, so that is positive. If you don’t have a need for a cold climate trooper, then you could probably pass him up. I personally needed somebody to kick my 25th Anniversary Snow Job around.
-Clark
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