Ice Snake (1993)
Believe it or not, the end of the Real American Hero line produced a few nice vehicles. Although the line was going the way of less intricate multi-part kits and also incorporating spring loaded action features, several of the releases transcend these elements and emerge as solid and fun vehicles.
The Ice Snake continues the long tradition of GI Joe arctic vehicles that began ten years earlier with a simple armed skimobile called the Polar Battle Bear. After that small beginning, the snow vehicles kept coming, with the likes of the Snow Cat, the Cobra Wolf and the impressively weird Avalanche. In the final year of the line, a bulky behemoth of a missile firing tank, the aptly named Blockbuster ended the original line’s complement of vehicles.
The Ice Snake is one of the smaller Cobra snow vehicles, and is a light, fast attack hybrid of wheeled and ski designs. The wedge shaped design makes for a fast appearance. Even the surface is highly detailed, with panel lines and rivets throughout. The Ice Snake shares a few common parts with another 1993 vehicle, the Mudbuster. The roll cage, cannon and wheel assembly are the same for both vehicles. A cost saving measure to be sure, but I don’t think either vehicle suffers for it. Paper stickers are another cost saving element common to the end of the line. In this case, the silver background of the stickers doesn’t help the chintzyness of the paper, but they are easily removed. In fact, most loose Ice Snakes’ stickers are in less than pristine shape anyway, so its probably best to remove them. In the stickers’ defense, the icicle font is a nice touch.
The Ice Snake is a real diamond in the rough; a useful, tasteful ride that won’t embarras your Snow Serpent forces.
Ah, my last vehicle before I moved on from Joe into my teenage years. I think (and hope) I have mine in storage, mostly intact and probably begging for a makeover.
Probably perfect for 25th Snow Serpents, RoC Ice Vipers and Arctic Destro to tear ass around the peaks in.
The later vehicle releases suffered a lot due to tooling cutbacks (basically, a hollow shell with some snap-on canopies or guns) and the dreaded paper stickers. The Ice Snake and Mudbuster both fit in that category. They do work okay if placed in the same category as the Ferret or other smaller vehicles from the earlier years, but they still feel too light for my money.
Nice vehicle!
Though I like the WOLF a lot more than the Ice Snake, you’re right about it being a decent vehicle (esp. compared with the neon Ice Sabre). Once I got one, I was surprised at how large it is. And I thought they nicked the font type from the Misfits (punk band).
I thought the font also resembles the Rocky Horror Picture Show as well.
I was long out of Joe when this came out. Looks kinda cool. I like the arctic Firefly hangin on the back.
I love this little, often overlooked vehicle. It’s a great addition to my snow Serpent forces fitting right in with the Wolf’s.
As an aside, the Mudbuster should have been a Dreadnok vehicle.
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When I had a Cobra arctic threat force, the Ice Snake was the “jeep” at that time.
Solid vehicle, which with a new gun/ turret, and maybe something underneath in place of the missile storage, this little tear-or might make a cool release in the modern day.
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Looks like i’m late to the party.
For xmas in ’93 i got the Mudbuster and my brother got the Icesnake. They both got a lot of mileage.
Two years later, the Ice Snake doesn’t look bad at all. Repro stickers in clear vinyl can make it better.
Compared to what we get in modern times, and the amount of, there’s a lot of good in the post 1985 GIJoe years. “Faithful homages” needn’t be.
Great little snow vehicle, it is one of my favourites. Got my first one from a cousin “donation” about 10 years ago, it was all painted in a light gray camo, not bad in fact, i wanted to clean it so i used a paint remover and the ice snake just melted except for the blue parts and wheels, go figure. Since then, i´ve completed one and bought another one and stacked them with snow serpents, just love the winter themed toys. Oh and i will be having clear vinyl repro stickers for it in a week or so.
http://www.rattlerrepros.weebly.com
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