Cold Front (1990)
Keeping with a figure focus on arctic operatives, here’s Cold Front, and he strikes me as one of those Joe figures you only sort of remember. And that’s a shame, as the figure is very interesting.
I must confess that my figure is incomplete. That teensy tiny microphone was missing from the version I acquired years ago, and I’ve never come across the part for sale by itself. I wonder if it will become the Heavy Metal mic of the 90s generation of Joe fans. Cold Front doesn’t quite look right without it, with a prominent hole next to his visor. Speaking of which, that piece of clear yellow plastic is quite fragile, if the visor comes out.
He’s not as clunky as some of the other members of the team (his outfit is symmetrical, for one) but his attire and weapon look futuristic enough to fall in with the Battle Force 2000 vehicle driver crew. Then again, maybe it’s just the though-high boots that get me thinking in that direction.
Extremely under rated figure. The microphone’s rarity tends to obscure the fact that the mold, coloring and design are all top notch. This guy’s a lot cheaper than he used to be, but it’s still not easy to track down.
1990 has a number of figures that are well-crafted in the level of detail on the figure just that the figure comes off as forgettable, not very distinctive. Cold Front, Updraft, et al fall into that category. Cold Front is the most forgettable Joe arctic driver (Frostbite, Windchill, and, if he’s counted, Avalanche, all have design details that make them stand out more). The helmet mold is unique looking, as is the transparent yellow visor. The X-suspenders with the gun on the center of the torso is as well. The boots are admittedly a little weird.
He must buy his pants from the same place Ram man buys his.
Cold Front is one of my favorites and I don’t have any problem remembering him at all. He’s a great figure and he was included with possibly my favorite Arctic vehicle, the Avalanche. When I got it from the store, I made sure to pick up a Sub-Zero figure, too and I’d always team him up with Cold Front and the Avalanche. I had a lot of fun adventures with those.
One of my best winter soldiers!
I just don’t get the thigh-high boots for drivers look. I’d be grateful if someone could point me to a real-world inspiration so I can try to make sense of it. Apart from his lower half, Cold Front is okay; GIJoe certainly needs more arctic drivers for all their machines. And he got a lot of time in the comics about 2 years ago, which warmed me up to the character.
”There doesn’t seem to be alot of winter G.I.Joe/Cobra action figures/vehicles variety, during the time of the action figure line from Hasbro 1982-1994.The only winterized vehicles were the, 85′ Snowcat, 83’Polar battle bear skimobile ,88’Artic Blast,90’Avalanche,and finally the 91’Ice Sabre,and 93’Ice Snake. It looks like Hasbro Never Ever made an Artic base playset for either G.I.Joe /Cobra.” ”I wonder why?”
You left off the 1987 WOLF, driven by Ice Vipers. Cobra’s most iconic winter vehicle, and the 1988 Dominator (the Battle Force 2000 vehicle), probably the 2nd or 3rd best vehicle of the 6 BF2000 vehicles, a tank on skis.
Simply put, there weren’t many fixed base sets released past 1986. Hasbro opted for mobile bases (USS Flagg, Mobile Command Center), with just a 1992 GI Joe Headquarters filling that role past then. For the many iconic Cobra bases seen in the cartoon, we just got the less visually iconic Terror Drome and that’s it (surprisingly little considering Hasbro wasn’t shy in giving Cobra vehicles). Having a biome-specific base (arctic, desert, etc) was unlikely. The funny part is the 1980s were generally colder and snowier than recent times (Winter 13/14 aside and a few areas on increased snow tracks), so there were reasonable grounds for it. An arctic speciality figure was quick to arrive (Snow Job in 1983) and a Cobra one as well, once Cobra started specializing (1985). There were a reasonable number of arctic/snow-based figures over the years. The pack of arctic figures in 1993 actually was well-timed given the short-lasting climactic effects from the eruption of Mount Pinatubo (affected weather for about 2 1/2 years once the plume that hit the stratosphere circled the world). If anything, the 5-6 year gap between Snow Serpents was rather long and it was surprising it took to 1991 to get a desert-themed Viper.
Gone now. Can’t remember the exact amount, but I paid a decent amount for a very nice, loose, complete Cold Front. I thought Cold front really added to the overall cold weather G.I.Joes, there is a spread out sub-team of sorts spread out through the lines years.
Even as just a 1990 design, Cold Front fits in with similar sizing and styling details in the mold. Blank slate character for me.
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