Korea!

So I'm in the Republic of Korea. For two and a half months. In winter. As one does.

This place is a dead zone as far as GI Joe is concerned, hardly surprising as post-Retaliation GI Joe market presence seems less than zero. Add to that the fact that this place is a dead zone for action figures in general. Hardly any superhero toys is Toys R Us, in spite of a large section advertising superhero toys... The products available typically only get as far as those ridiculous Spidey (half) masks. You're not fooling anyone kiddo. Less so if you're running around with a canister of silly string strapped to your forearm.

If I was a Gundam fan I'd be in Nirvana.

That's Nirvana in the Buddhist sense.

Just checking.

 Hell, if I was hard to the 1.5 billion Power Ranger knock-offs Ban Dai is responsible for, I'd be similarly happy.

They're colourful, sweet toys. And no points for guessing whether Red Ranger is the most popular or not.

There are also a few decent Transformers to be had. And being in the East always gets my Transformers-itch scratch-worthy. Something about blind boxes and additional surprise accessories get me giddy.

Not to mention the ready availability of the Masterpiece Black Convoy. If that means nothing to you, it's essentially the most premium format of Optimus Prime but done in black and affiliated to the Decepticons. And it's notable Youtube Transformer reviewer Thew's best TF of 2013. So it should be aaaaight. I found an F-86 Sabre in the 1/18 scale done by a company called Merit. It's worth buying, and will forever be linked to GI Joe for me as Hawk pilots one in issue 3 of the original Marvel Comics run. I love it when the most technologically advanced fighting force of the 1980's is forced to use outdated equipment and vehicles. It also happens to be my favourite jet in fact.

Dang. As I write this my need for purchasing that model grows. I don't anticipate it'll be cheap.

But after two weeks this is all I can report on the Seoul toy scene. Nothing approaching the proliferation of new toys, weird nik naks and vintage goodness you'd find before too long in places like Singapore and Hong Kong. It's a good thing I brought some friends.

Anticipating a drought, I packed some old and a few newer ones. The winter setting prompted me to bring my very old Ice Viper along. He was definitely one of my first ten figures from ARAH. He's accompanied by the '85 Snow Serpent I actually only got last year. Two Cobra Officers to call the shots, and a Frag Viper. Why a Frag Viper? Because he showed up in the snow level of the 1990 Taxan videogame of course! And you know who else showed up in that level?


BLIZZARD

 This guy fell into obscurity. Snow Job is the memorable one, thanks mainly to the Sunbow Cartoon. Iceberg also has Sunbow to thank for some notoriety. They turned him into an Orca and stuff. Sub Zero got some DIC love. But Blizzard fell between the two eras and all he has for exposure is the old 8-bit sidescroller, in which he was a bit of a one-trick pony. He shone in the one ice level where he led the three-man team and was as a result a compulsory character. But his stats excelled in nothing and like the arctic troops in our collections he did not leave the toy box very often. A pity really. Because he's the coolest of the lot.

ARAH was not big on figure customisability. There was one figure with webgear. Only one with a removable functional holster. The extent of changing the physical appearance was typically backpack or no backpack. And what gun you placed in the hand. If you were lucky, the helmet was removable. And it's that latter category that Blizzard stands alone.

 Snow Job was a fine figure, if a little basic. The same is true of his more detailed replacement, Iceberg. But none have removable helmets. It's damaging to a figure in a sense when they always look like they mean business. Sometimes the most suspenseful play consisted of the down time between missions. Day to day, base stuff. I want to see my protagonist's eyes, dammit!

The figure is a very satisfying, more so than his predecessors I'd say. The torso has a good heft to it because of the padded snow jacket. A sculpted hood is displayed in it's rolled down condition. Which is nice as removing a helmet only to reveal a hooded head is something that should be reserved for Cobra forces (30th anniversary Airtight, I'm looking at YOOOOO!). He's got an appealing mix of colours which serve to bring out the details - if you could unclip his knife and sheath, web belt, knee and thigh pads he'd be clad in a plain white ski suit with a caramel streak down the front. There's a little vanilla in the form of a polar bear and lightning bolt insignia on his left shoulder. He's got the determined look of a dedicated operative who means business. No goofy grin or outrageous sculpted facial fuzz. Its a winning sculpt.

See the sculpted loop next to his canteen? The hole in the loop is brought out by white paint. Yes pilgrims, the designers were so intent on that detail that they sanctioned a daub of paint for it. White paint on a white Joe. Who cares right? Well, I can't help but be both stupefied and impressed.

But my favourite bit of scupting has got to be the gauntlets. Left wrist has a chunky timepiece or maybe a compass and both sides have padding on the back of the hand. Don't know what it's for, but I've always liked the look of them. Another mystery would be the pads on the thighs. The same pattern is repeated on the right bicep. It appears to be a grille. Perhaps he can open the pads to get some cool air into the suit if he's really exerting himself and needs to cool down. I've got a snow jacket with unzippable vents, but nothing resembling a raised black grille. Mysterious!

The accessories tick almost all the boxes and even include a gimmick. He's got skis; he's got snowshoes. Both can be mounted on his backpack for storage, at the same time. He has an uzi with a stock and an extended barrel and an oversized Colt .45 and both are done in white plastic with sculpted camo bindings. I take issue with this approach, particularly on the .45 as wrapping it in white cloth would surely interfere with the slide's action, causing the gun to jam? Even the bolt on the Uzi might become interrupted if a piece of rag gets trapped in there. But as far as camo is concerned, you could poke either of these weapons out from under your blind and not likely be detected... until it was too late. The helmet is an attractive sculpt which looks like it has a built in radio headset and will keep Blizzard's nose from freezing. I imagine if the temperature really dipped, he'd pull the sculpted hood over his head, seal it tightly, and wear the helmet over that. But I'm still glad he's sculpted this way.

As mentioned, the figure has a gimmick, like so many of the figures of his era. It's centered around the backpack. The skis and snowshoes peg into both front and back of the pack, depending on your preference. But when you attach the ski's to the backpeg side, the backpack's true purpose is revealed.

It's a rocket-powered toboggan.

With two separate (and easily lost) throttle handles complete with brake handles (are you saying this thing has a braking system?), a padded seat (?), a rocket exhaust engine and even armament in the form of a sculpted gun and what appears to be a grenade launcher, it's a one-man arctic ONSLAUGHT!

Er, not quite.

If you ask me this was a bit of piss poor design that cost the figure. Blizzard would be perfectly serviceable and perhaps better off with a standard white backpack for survival goodies and ski/shoe storage. But he forgoes such sensibilities by rocking up with this. Apart from robbing him of much needed arctic supplies, the primary criticisms of this thing are thus:

The deck isn't long enough. When he is grasping the handles, the lower half of his body is over the edge of the surface.

The underside of the skis sit higher than the backpeg. So wherever you go, you'll be grinding away at that peg.

The rocket exhaust is right below Blizzard's nuts. With temperatures cold enough to give you a second bellybutton, you might think that's a bonus. You'd think that for a precious few seconds before your guys get singed to a painful, blistered mess. That is, if you aren't already on fire by then.

Blizzard was a toy that always fascinated me as a child. No-one I knew owned him. Maybe it was the stigma of snow-toys in a country that seldom if ever saw snow, and certainly not enough to play in sufficiently. But I always wondered how the backpack would form some kind of mini-vehicle. I know how now. And boy was it a letdown. But ignore the gimmick. In spite of it, this is still my favourite snow Joe. I recommend him over gingerbeard, Orcaman and ... damn, can't think of a funny handle for Sub Zero. But Blizzard is better 'an him.

Fin.