Oh my god! The end of the line!!

[j_inmon]

Relax, I'm not saying it's random Phil. But telling me the dude in a neon orange and yellow suit is at his best in cold weather, really ain't selling me on him bro. LOL.

I've never understood that, he's a flame thrower troop. Why do Blowtorch and Bbq get a pass for their bright colors but Ice Cream soldier and other later figures do not. As long as the bright color goes along with the specialty, it works. Take the Eco warriors. If you type in Hazmat suit into google images, they are all very colorful, but they get criticism for the bright colors.

[skinny]

Here we go again...



Not just a randomly created name! He served under Sgt. Rock in DC Comics!

Source: Easy Company (comics) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Relax, I'm not saying it's random Phil. But telling me the dude in a neon orange and yellow suit is at his best in cold weather, really ain't selling me on him bro. LOL.

Ice Cream Soldier for Sgt. Rock liked cold weather, Ice Cream Soldier for G.I.Joe liked ice cream at least that is what his file card insinuates by his quote.

The neon colors in the 90's were all the rage. Even I had at least one hypercolor shirt. Kirk Bozigian stated in his presentation last year that Joes sales actually increased and helped sustain the line when the neon invasion began. You have to remember that at this point in history most kids who started collecting in 1982 were not into toys any more, including yourself. It was the ten year olds born in 1984 that wanted Joes in 1994 and they liked bright colors. New generation, new tastes.
GIJOE had to be an ever-evolving line to remain competitive. Ice Cream Soldier gets a lot of flak, but if he had been in different colors and was released in 1987 it probably would have been a different story.

[PJDonnell]

I've never understood that, he's a flame thrower troop. Why do Blowtorch and Bbq get a pass for their bright colors but Ice Cream soldier and other later figures do not. As long as the bright color goes along with the specialty, it works. Take the Eco warriors. If you type in Hazmat suit into google images, they are all very colorful, but they get criticism for the bright colors.

You're right - they're really not so different.



Maybe I just like the 1994 figures a little too much....

[Super Sport]

The coolest thing about the Ice Cream Soldier is his name. That figure just ain't for me. I'd rather have an ice cream sandwich. Though to be fair, if given a choice between an ice cream sandwich and almost anything else, I suspect I'd pick the ice cream sandwich in nearly every circumstance.

[Rasstro]

That would make too much sense.

I get the whole "Vs" theme, and I can see why they felt BT was the perfect foil for the Heat Viper, but I feel that Hasbro missed an opportunity to release another "Concept Vault" figure, or at the very least, release the green PoC Blowtorch that I only want because it's something I can't have.

Maybe it's just me buut I don't even understand this "vs theme," with Blow Torch and HEAT Viper. Blow torch is a flamethrower expert. HEAT Viper is an anti-amor expert. I don't see how they are foils to each other except they both have orange/red figures.

[j_inmon]

Maybe it's just me buut I don't even understand this "vs theme," with Blow Torch and HEAT Viper. Blow torch is a flamethrower expert. HEAT Viper is an anti-amor expert. I don't see how they are foils to each other except they both have orange/red figures.

The only thing I can see is they both have on flame retardant clothing, so maybe Heat Vipers would be impervious to flame weapons? Not quite sure how how he would fight back effectively armed with an anti tank rocket launcher though, and the misssles straped to his legs might be a problem.

[j_inmon]

Ice Cream Soldier for Sgt. Rock liked cold weather, Ice Cream Soldier for G.I.Joe liked ice cream at least that is what his file card insinuates by his quote.

+You have to remember that at this point in history most kids who started collecting in 1982 were not into toys any more, including yourself. It was the ten year olds born in 1984 that wanted Joes in 1994 and they liked bright colors. New generation, new tastes.
GIJOE had to be an ever-evolving line to remain competitive. Ice Cream Soldier gets a lot of flak, but if he had been in different colors and was released in 1987 it probably would have been a different story.

Actually I was born in December of 81 so I was 10 in 1992. I get that a lot of figures were colored kind of weird in the 90s, but there are also a lot of figures that got a great modern (for the time) update. Wetsuit, Desert storm looking Duke (v4), Shipwreck in a wetsuit, General Flag, Lifeline and so on. Also, the Eco warriors, Ice Cream Soldier, and some of the ninja force, the brighter colors work for their specialty. I don't think it is so much the neon colors, as a lot of people dis on anything that came out after 86. There seems to be an almost "Joe snobbery" (that may be too strong a word but it seems accurate) that a lot of folks have, that anything up to 86, no matter how outlandish gets a pass (I'm looking a you Mindbender with your missing shirt and purple pants) while anything after 86, no matter how great gets pushed to the wayside. Why can we get six versions of the Hiss driver, but not one W.O.R.M.S for example. The W.O.R.M.S colors are much more suitable for a tank driver than the bright red of the Hiss driver.

[Alchemist]

Maybe it's just me buut I don't even understand this "vs theme," with Blow Torch and HEAT Viper. Blow torch is a flamethrower expert. HEAT Viper is an anti-amor expert. I don't see how they are foils to each other except they both have orange/red figures.

This is something that I thought about. If they were pairing them up by specialty, Zap or Bazooka would be better choices to be packaged with the HEAT Viper. If they were really going by vs, Blowtorch would be better coming with a Cobra Bunker to try to burn out and HEAT Viper would be better coming with a an armored Joe vehicle to try to knock out. But, I guess that would go against the figure two packs idea.

I'd, also, like to say that I like the idea of releasing the Club's Charbroil in v1 colors. The Club did a really nice job with the Night Force one. I think either him or Blowtorch in the unreleased PoC running change colors would make for a more desirable figure to come with the HEAT Viper. I'd, also, like to see the HEAT Viper get released at some point in different colors. Maybe v1 Viper colors.

[Geek-Viper]

Hey now! Don't mistake my comments as being a neon hater. I have no issues with neon figures or the 90's. I'm a child of the 80's as much as the rest of you and everything was neon. It was cool And yes, hazardous and dangerous people often wear brightly colored clothing.

My complaint is, if I'm going on an Arctic Mission I understand the usefulness of having a member on your team that can totally decimate the environment the enemy may be hunkered down in. I just don't want him to be an easy target cause he's dressed up like a freakin traffic cone. So add an extremely dangerous color scheme to a weird "flamethrower in the cold" specialty with a dumb name...I don't really have a place for him in my collection. I mean, when you're putting together an team of Cold Weather Specialists is this what you picture?



Photos courtesy of General's Joes and The YoJoe! Archive

And Super_Sport, you are now Ice Cream Poster in my head.

[Geek-Viper]

Maybe it's just me buut I don't even understand this "vs theme," with Blow Torch and HEAT Viper. Blow torch is a flamethrower expert. HEAT Viper is an anti-amor expert. I don't see how they are foils to each other except they both have orange/red figures.

You mean matching colors isn't good enough for you? You gotta have them match cause kids are just so dumb these days. I mean, we only know the Social Clash is two girls cause they have boobs. Seriously though, if any of you remember art class, colors on the opposite side of the color wheel are complimentary. So, Red/Green, Blue/Orange, Yellow/Purple. They really should have them opposing colors since it's a "vs" theme. Plus it's a great excuse to give me a freakin green Night Viper. Even if they just used green paint where the red is, making him almost painted opposite of the normal one. Flint/Eel gets a variant. Why can't the other guys?