1983 Snow Job
Since a young age, cold climates and snow have always fascinated me. I don’t know if it has something to do with the fact that as a person from the deep south, I’ve never had much snow, or if it has to do with a memorable impression I got from watching both The Empire Strikes Back and The Thing as a kid. Either way, it’s led me to value arctic themed figures more than I probably should, most of all, Snow Job.
My first Snow Job figure was the ‘97 version, and as a kid he was probably among my top 3 GI Joe figures. The entire Arctic Mission Team got a lot of use, but Snow Job was the most interesting figure to me of them all. Now, I don’t feel like that figure is the best version of this character, but he in some form has always been a favorite of mine.
With that said, one thing the character has going for him that a lot of GI Joe characters don’t, is that the overall quality of Snow Job toys has been pretty good. While the ‘97 figure has issues with it’s quality, it was a fine stand-in in lieu of the V1 figure. The 25th figure was also pretty good given the standards of that time, followed by the 2009 “Past and Present” figure that may even be arguably better than the V1 figure. The POC version was also one of the best figures released in that line, so overall you have the character featured in a few different styles and yet there’s never really been a bad Snow Job.
Snow Job has a pretty simple aesthetic and sculpt, like a lot of the 1983 guys. One of the nice elements of the figures from this year is that they tended to have more basic, less busy designs similar to the ‘82 figures, but with far more variety in terms of sculpt and colors. Snow Job’s sculpt features a decent amount of detail, but never goes too far into looking busy like 1988 Blizzard, for example.
Snow Job’s parts are yet another one of the figure’s strong qualities. He included the iconic XMLR-3A laser riffle, a set of skis and ski poles, and a backpack that could hold all of his ski gear. The ski gear is a lot of fun even if sometimes I find it mildly cumbersome, and I think they add a lot to Snow Job’s character and play value. The laser riffle is a great part too, and if you’re into the Sunbow’s take on Joe, it’s the standard riffle for the entire team.
V1 Snow Job’s can vary a lot in terms of price. One reason for this is because he’s a white figure, and like all of those that means he’s prone to yellowing. So a dead-mint example that’s complete with his filecard can go for as much as $20 to $30. But this is a common figure and you often see similarly well conditioned figures go for around $10, so one definitely shouldn’t pay too much even for a stark white example.
Having spent most of my youth in the south and then living in the north now for 17 years, I can say that any fascination I had with snow went away a long time ago. The extra long drive on bad roads to and from work. The salt on the roads that rust your cars. Not going anywhere because it’s too much trouble. And of course, shoveling the stuff.
I didn’t have Snow Job back in the day, but I had the Polar Battle Bear and lived in Texas, so yeah, it was hard to use. Snow Job was just a figure my brother had that I had no great feelings about.
I forget that at least 3 Snow Job repaints were actually White Out, Frostbite and Frostbite. They should’ve done an o-ring comic pack issue 11 and made grey Snow Job, Wild Bill and I dunno…arctic Doc?
“Having spent most of my youth in the south and then living in the north now for 17 years, I can say that any fascination I had with snow went away a long time ago.”
You have to be born to it, I guess. For me, the first snow of the season still brings back that child-like sense of wonder, every time, but perhaps somewhat ironically, I never really had a passion for the Arctic-outfitted Joes. I liked the ones that I was given well enough, but they never really got any playtime in the snow itself (probably because I was a very fastidious child and very concerned about losing accessories, which likely stemmed from a traumatic incident around the age of 4 where I had somehow managed to pop an arm off of a Super Powers Batman figure in the bathtub and then lose it down the drain).
Snowjob is a fun character, and you’re right, there’s never really been a bad version of him! My 83 is off coloured at this point, so I tend to look to that weird as hell 2009 version.