Something that always struck me as odd about the 1993 Joe line, is the sheer amount of figures released. At a glance, I’m pretty sure there’s more figures released in this year than any other year of the Joe line. There’s so many figures Hasbro even had room to crank out 3 arctic themed Joes in the Battle Corps line, with Snow Storm, Frostbite and Iceberg. I never really saw these figures as a set until now, as it never really occurred to me they came out at essentially the same time.
V2 Iceberg is a competent update to the original 1986 Iceberg. He has a few warts I’ll get to in a bit, but as a design this isn’t a very extreme looking figure for a 90’s release; in fact, he’s pretty mundane. The biggest issue I could see for him is the choice to give him a bright yellow ski-mask. It’s perfectly realistic (save for the color), but still kind of an odd choice to completely obscure his face. In Brazil they even went as far as to sell Pântano as a Cobra, and it’s a role the figure works as. Some people are obsessed with the idea that covering your face makes you a terrorist. I’m fine with masks to an extent,but it has to suit the character. For Iceberg, it’s kind of odd he would suddenly cover his face up when both of his files explicitly state how much he likes the cold.
There’s some belts of bullets sculpted to him now, which would be a cool touch with his original LMG, if only he still had an LMG. Inconsistencies like this always made me wonder how many last minute swaps Hasbro made with accessories. A few are pretty obvious, like Sonic Fighters (AKA Eco Warriors) Major Bludd having the Air Devil’s gun in his card art. Iceberg has all these bullets, but no gun they would be compatible with.
Otherwise, the sculpt is strong and the colors are well within reason. I like this Iceberg a lot, though I rarely have motive to use him outside of going for something odd on the rare occasion it snows. In a few areas his sculpt is probably a little stronger and sharper than the original figure’s, yet somehow he’s still not really all that exciting. To a certain extent, I think arctic Joes fall into a trap of feeling more samey than others, since ultimately it’s always going to be a mostly white figure in bulky clothes. Even older figures like Sub-Zero and Blizzard feel like they cover old ground.
Speaking of that Brazilian repaint, it looks like he got released over there and then the mold disappeared forever. A shame, since the head on a real Cobra might’ve looked pretty cool. The jacket is vague enough too that I could see the whole figure repainted into darker woodland colors like Big Ben’s and making for a decent figure. This Iceberg’s colors are already decent enough, so it’s not much of a loss though.
Iceberg does include some TOTALLY RAD accessories, like a JET POWERED SNOW BOARD! Yeah, although most of the parts are recycled sculpts, they made sure to toss in a brand new snow board, I guess since extreme-sports were just that popular at the time. His other accessories include a pistol and long-barrel uzi pulled from Blizzard, a machete (Muskrat) and a knife (Hit & Run), as well as the requisite missile launcher. It’s a little flimsy, but by far my favorite part of the figure is the snow board. When I was kid the snow Joes flew around everywhere on that thing, it was like the JUMP, just more radical.
A carded figure is worth about $30 and a loose complete V2 Iceberg will fetch about $13. Fairly standard pricing for a ’93 Battle Corps figure at this point, so it sounds about right. This Iceberg really isn’t a figure essential to a collection, but he’s well done and nice to have around. Though, he also doesn’t feel like he has a life much outside of background fodder in a photo.
The Viper Pit 