 Hello everybody and welcome to the show. We just wrapped up 90s month and now we're ready to get back to looking at GI Joe Toys from the 1980s and we got a great one lined up for you this week. It's November, the weather is changing, we're getting that chill in the air. I think it's time to look at a winter vehicle. It's almost 80 degrees here. I put this review on the schedule months ago, I thought it would be colder by now. Anyway, even though it isn't the right weather for it, we're still going to look at a snow vehicle from the 80s. A great cop here to love GI Joe. Swatterize it! March! March! Ready! Ready! Ready. Silence killed. Quick Commander 788 here, I want to start by thanking Kurt Kessler for joining the ranks on Patreon. For one of Kurt's perks, I'm supposed to give him a funny codename in a video, so I guess I better get creative. It's a little known fact that only one other human being was ever named Kurt. Very uncommon name, and that person was Kurt Cobain. Also, in keeping with the tradition of making codenames by just adding the word viper, Kurt I dubbed the flannel viper, grungy, post-punk, flannel viper welcome to the ranks. Now let's get back to the 80s. This week's review covers a popular vehicle from 1987, the Cobra Wolf. GI Joe already had a couple snow vehicles. In 1987, you could finally send a cobra snow vehicle up against them. The wolf had a driver, the ice viper. Now that's not nearly as cool a codename as flannel viper. The figure came with some unusual accessories. Let's see why these toys were so popular. HCC788 presents the Cobra Wolf and the Ice Viper. By the way, I'm wearing a tie because I just got off work. There's no special significance to it. This is the Cobra Wolf and the Ice Viper from 1987. This vehicle and figure were sold together in 1987 and 1988 and were discontinued for the year 1989. The wolf was available as a male-away offer in 1991, but the male-away version was in different colors. The male-away wolf did not include the driver. The Ice Viper was packaged with the wolf in 1987 and 1988. Overstock figures were sold at the 1993 GI Joe convention. There were no other versions of the Ice Viper in the vintage line. We will take a closer look at the Ice Viper later, so we're going to set him aside for now. The box for this vehicle says wolf is an acronym for winter operational light fighting vehicle. However, there is a sticker on the vehicle that says the acronym is for winter operations land fighter. The color is not quite white. It's a very light gray. This was Cobra's first dedicated snow vehicle. Cobra had earlier vehicles that were white or off-white and would have worked fine in a snowy environment. Some examples being the snake armor, the claw-powered glider, and the trouble bubble. These weren't snow vehicles, though. They were just vehicles in a light color. Before 1987, Cobra didn't have a vehicle that was dedicated for winter operations. Before 1987, GI Joe had two snow vehicles, the polar babble bear from 1983 and the snow cat from 1985. The snow cat most closely matches the wolf in size and features. The wolf is Cobra's answer to the snow cat. Even in the names, it's wolf versus cat. The two vehicles match up well. Both have four missiles, both have two ski pedos, but the wolf has something the snow cat doesn't have. With the mounted machine gun, the wolf outguns the snow cat. Let's look at the parts and the features on the wolf, starting up here in front. It has two skis. These skis flip up and down, but they do not turn for steering. That's a little surprising. The skis on the polar battle bear did turn. That's a bit of a downgrade, in my opinion. The wolf has an angled body and an asymmetrical design. The driver and gunner are on one side and most of the weapons are on the other side. It has a pop-up missile rack. Just press on the back to pop the missiles up. You have four red missiles and a deep cavity under the missiles, but there is some technical detail in there. These missiles are identical and they're pretty small. The blueprints call these WAM-4 or winter-oriented heavy ordinance surface-to-air missiles. These missiles are WAM. You connect the missiles to the missile rack by sliding one of these top fins into a slot. They are smaller than the yellow missiles on the snow cat. I'm surprised they are listed as surface-to-air missiles. I would expect them to be anti-arrow missiles, but they are mounted at an upward angle, so they could be intended to shoot down aircraft. On the port side, we have two cockpits in a row, one behind the other. The front one is the driver's position. They both have blue canopies that are hinged at the back so they pop up. The front canopy has a sticker for a heads-up display, and we can pop that open to get a look at the cockpit. The cockpit has a well-sculpted seat, a minimal control panel, and two control sticks. These are pretty small, so you may be able to get the figures' hands on them. Let's place the figure in the cockpit so you can see what that looks like. Looks like there's plenty of head clearance, that's good, and you can kind of get the figures' hands on the control sticks. However, it is narrow. There isn't a lot of elbow room. Let's move the main gun aside so we can look at the gunner's position. The blue canopy has a sticker crosshair on it. We can pop that canopy open to look at the gunner's seat. Here we have a control panel in the center and a single joystick and a seat that looks very much like the one in front. Let's put a figure in the second seat. I have a spare ice viper that I like to put in the gunner position. You can slide him in, and his hand can also somewhat fit on the joystick. There's a lot more room in the back seat than there is in the front seat. Oddly enough, the box art for the Cobra Wolf shows Crockmaster in the gunner's seat. Crockmaster has no business being on a cold weather mission. On the starboard side, we have vents, and we have the ski pedos. The blueprints call these snarl, or snow environment advanced attack range laser ski torpedoes. They connect to the body of the vehicle in slots. This vertical piece here just slots in. To launch the ski pedos, close the missile rack. It looks like they are intended to slide down the angled body of the vehicle. The snow cat also had ski torpedoes. I addressed these ski pedos when I reviewed the snow cat, and I still feel the same about them. I have to admit though, they can be a fun play feature. You could get these skidding across the snow pretty well. Okay, let's demonstrate these ski pedos by seeing how well they will ski across the snow. Now, we haven't had snow here since 2015. Next we have the machine gun. The blueprints call it Ripper, pivoting 20mm repeating cannons. Named after the Dreadnock Ripper? That's a surprising choice. The gun can pivot all the way around 360 degrees and it can elevate. The gun is mounted on an angled post and that can be a weak point and a common point of breakage. So do be careful with that. There are kill marks on the body of the vehicle and these markings are the logo for the snow cat. So this cobra wolf has apparently killed four snow cats. The wolf has its own logo, a nice wolf's head logo here. On either side of the vehicle we have intake vents, toward the back we have three foot pegs on each side. They're pretty close together, you may not be able to use all three at the same time. You can use these foot pegs to carry snow serpents, cobras, polar assault trooper. The colors on the wolf match up very nicely with the snow serpents so that looks great. On each side we have removable skis and those skis each have two foot pegs. You can use the ski as a snowboard for a figure but the platform with the foot pegs is raised so it's kind of like skiing on stilts. I guess you could put both on the same figure and use them as skis. It works. The wolf has a pair of fake treads, one on each side. It actually rolls on wheels but the connector point for those wheels is extremely weak and breaks frequently. I did a fix it job on one of the treads to keep the wheel attached. It's easier to fix these things than to find an unbroken one. With the side skis attached it has another feature. The treads fold up. This is so it can slide on the skis only. This would be for a silent downhill attack. Unfortunately only one of my treads folds up. The other one is way too tight and I don't want to force it because I'm worried about breaking it. There is a little bit of molded detail on the underside but I'm not sure why they bother. Most of it is hollow. The back of the vehicle has a lot of technical detail and looks great but it doesn't have any other features back here. I think it could use an engine cover in the back. I think that would really put it over the top. I thought this piece was an engine cover but it's not. It's just an extra piece. The more I look at this thing in the back the more I think it looks like a Star Wars Empire Strikes Back snow speeder. If you break it down the wolf is a beefed up ski mobile. It has treads in the back, skis in the front. It is only suited for the snow. The vehicle is low and wide which reduces its target profile. It is aerodynamic. The canopies probably make the least sense. The occupants have no protection. Other than that it is an intriguing vehicle. We expect Cobra vehicles to be a little strange looking compared with Joe vehicles. I would send this up against the snow cat. I think it's worthy. Now let's look at the ice viper. There weren't many Cobra snow troopers released by 1987. Before the ice viper you only had the snow serpent. The snow serpent was a fantastic figure from 1985. According to the file card ice viper are snow serpents but more specialized. Unless I'm mistaken Cobra didn't have another dedicated winter environment trooper until 1991 with snow serpent version 2. In the meantime GI Joe had several cold weather specialists by 1987. They had snow job in 1983, frostbite in 1985, iceberg in 1986 and avalanche from battle force 2000 in 1987. Let's look at ice viper's accessories. He had a helmet, a grey helmet with goggles sculpted on and a band that goes around. This helmet looks almost identical to the sculpted on helmet from the Kenner Star Wars AT-AT commander. It's the same color, the same basic shape, even some of the details are the same. It's too similar to be a coincidence. He also came with two Psy spelled in English S-A-I. These are martial arts weapons. Why would the ice viper come with martial arts weapons? I guess you could use these as ice picks. They are made out of a soft flexible plastic. These are not likely to break. These Psy have a bonus feature. They peg into slots on the thighs of the figure. So they actually holster on the figure. That is a rare feature on a vintage GI Joe action figure indeed. And it's nice to have. Let's take a look at the articulation on the ice viper. He had the articulation that was standard for GI Joe figures by 1987, meaning he could turn his head from left to right and look up and down. He could swing his arm up at the shoulder and swivel at the shoulder all the way around. He had a hinge at the elbow so he could bend at the elbow about 90 degrees. He had a swivel at the bicep so he could swivel his arm all the way around. The figure was held together with a rubber O-ring that looped around the inside so he could move at the torso a bit. He could move his legs apart about so far. He could bend his leg at the hip about 90 degrees and bend at the knee about 90 degrees. Let's take a look at the sculpt design and color of ice viper, starting with his head. And on his head he has a red balaclava mask. The red is a bold shock of color and it looks excellent. He can get away with these bold colors on cobra figures when they wouldn't quite work on a GI Joe figure. On his chest he has a white winter coat with a red cobra symbol. He has a gray fur collar. He has a brown bandolier that goes all the way around front and back. This bandolier has segments and these segments could be pockets but there's no indication that they are. There's an elastic band around the bottom of his coat. On his arms he has white sleeves. He has brown diamond shaped patches on his upper arms that match the color and the aesthetic of the bandolier. He has black gloves, looks like fur lined gloves. On his waist he has two black belts that cross in the front and the back. In the front he has a silver belt buckle with a star. On his legs we see white trousers. There's lots of sculpted folds in the cloth. It's meant to make the cloth look thick and insulating. There are brown diamond shaped holsters for the size, one on each thigh. They match the shape of the patches on the upper arms. He has tall black and gray fur lined boots. If you didn't know the Ice Viper was a snow vehicle driver, what would you think he was? There are some details that indicate he should operate in a cold environment. But doesn't he look kind of like a ninja? If the Ice Viper were a ninja the Psy would make sense. I can imagine a lot of kids using the Ice Viper as a ninja or as an updated version of Storm Shadow. There are a lot of different colors on this figure and they are used well. The base white color isn't overpowered by the paint. The color is used sparingly to pick out the details and add interest to the figure. The best part, there are no unpainted details. Every detail that seems like it should be painted is painted. Let's take a look at the Ice Viper's file card. It has his faction as Cobra. It has a portrait of the Ice Viper here. It has his codame as Ice Viper and he is the Cobra Wolf Driver. Here it says, Ice Viper's are the mechanized branch of the snow serpents, both of which must first qualify as Cobra Eels in parentheses Cobra Frogman. They must take the additional training of Techno Viper's and be prepared to service and repair their own vehicles in hostile arctic environments. This file card describes the career path of the Ice Viper. He starts out as a Cobra Eel and becomes a snow serpent. Add a Techno Viper training and you have an Ice Viper. A Nice Viper? How nice! Ice Viper's are fed a special high fat diet to help retain body heat and have their faces depilated to prevent frost from their breath icing up their beards. Here is our vocabulary word for the day. Heat means to remove the hair from, so they have to be clean shaven, that's all that means. This bottom paragraph sounds best when read like a Ford Truck commercial. When it's 40 degrees below zero on the tundra and everybody's buttoning up tight in their shelter because the ice storm is blowing from the north, that's when you have to worry about the Ice Viper sneaking up on you. Out there in the big whiteness there isn't any place to hide. Whoever bundles up first because he figures it's too cold to fight, loses. Looking at how the wolf and the Ice Viper were used in G.I. Joe Media, they didn't make it into the animated series, they were only animated for commercials. The Sunbow series was discontinued after the 1987 animated movie, so they didn't have an opportunity to get into the cartoon. Looking at the comic book series published by Marvel Comics, I am reasonably certain the wolf and the Ice Viper first appeared in issue number 68. That was the same issue that introduced Battleforce 2000 and some other new vehicles. In that issue, Cobra tried to use paranoia inducing radio waves in the fictional country of Frusenland. There was a spectacular snow battle with a lot of vehicles involved. They were also in special missions number 20, they even appeared on the cover. In that issue, the Joes in the snowcat intervene when the Russian October Guard are attacked by Cobra Wolves. That issue has all-out arctic action. It says so on the cover. Looking at the wolf and the Ice Viper overall, the wolf is a middle-tier vehicle. Although it has some good points, it also has some flaws. I like the asymmetrical design. That may be off-putting for some people, but it works for me. The front skis should turn. The wheels and treads are too delicate. The fact that the wolf has skis means it only operates in the snow. It is less versatile than the snowcat, which was a half-track with wheels. Despite the drawbacks, it is a fun vehicle with lots of features. The colors match up well with the snow serpents, and it has plenty of firepower to take out any snow vehicle the Joes throw at it. The Ice Viper for me is a top-tier figure. I didn't expect to say that about the Ice Viper, it's just a vehicle driver and not one I played with very much. And the accessories are peculiar. But the Ice Viper does a lot right. The colors are perfect. It has just enough color to add some pizzazz, but he's still dressed for the snow. No detail is left unpainted. He even has holsters for the accessories. This figure does everything I want a figure to do. It has earned its place in the top-tier. Hey, I'm just as surprised as anyone. Not all top-tier figures are created equal. The snow serpent is still better, but I'm happy to have the Ice Viper fighting alongside the snow serpent. That was my review of the Cobra Wolf and the Ice Viper, I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please give it a thumbs up on YouTube and subscribe to the YouTube channel and share this video. Thank you again, Flannel Viper, I appreciate your support. I have a website, hcc788.com, lots of stuff there, go check it out. You can find me on Facebook, Twitter and Patreon, your support helps keep this show going. So what are we going to do next week? I think I'll let the patrons decide. That's all for now. I will be back next week with another vintage GI Joe tour review. I hope to see you then. And until then, remember, only GI Joe is GI Joe. But now, Cobra's got the C-Ray. Incredible C-Ray splits to become a mini-sub and an armored glider. Cobra! And for attacking on snow and ice, there's the Cobra Wolf. It's the Techno Viper. Cobra C-Ray and Cobra Wolf, each sold separately. Yeah. Before you go, go, don't leave me hanging on like a...