2009 Rockslide (Past and Present)

Well guys, I made it almost a whole year of posting on the blog without missing a week (that I can remember). That was until this week though, when I got some kind of fairly bad sinus infection that had me away from doing… much of anything. So with not quite the photos I wanted for one post and not many options for others, I was left asking myself what toys I realistically don’t feel like taking new photos of: the 2009 Rockslide fit the bill almost perfectly.

The Rockslide, formerly known as the Polar Battle Bear, is really a fantastic toy. So when I say I don’t feel like taking new pictures of it, it’s not because I dislike it; rather, it’s just because I’m a boy of the deep south. Outside of a freak stint of snow I got in the 2010‘s, it almost never snows here. So I don’t get to use arctic vehicles very much, and trying to find some method of making fake snow with copious amounts of white powder never turns out the same. Plus if I put that in the yard, the local homeless population might mistake it for free smack.

Hasbro making a skimobile in 1983 was a pretty bold choice, especially given that the only figure that really went with it was Snow Job. It has a nice size to it and is fairly reasonable looking, which is a staple of the early line, but I always do appreciate it. The rotating skis, and linked chin-guns add a good bit of fun to something that could otherwise get tired pretty quickly. It’s easy to take little things like that and the removable engine cover for granted, but when you compare it to a similar item like the LCV Recon Sled, you can see how a niche vehicle like this provides a decent amount of play value, whereas the Recon Sled gets boring… as soon as you touch it.

Of course, this post isn’t about the ‘83 Polar Battle Bear, it’s about the ‘09 Rockslide. So, here’s some weird tidbits about this release: First, the boxart is a new asset for the set, not vintage art. And instead of showing the included Snow Job figure, it shows what’s pretty clearly V1 Frostbite driving it. I assume this is probably an artifact of a canned 25th Anniversary release, since I remember there being computer listings for an entire wave of vehicles we never saw in any capacity. Other than that, it’s basically an unchanged ‘83 Polar Battle Bear, as even the foot-pegs are left in the vintage size. Like with the Snow Job included, the white is a slightly cooler tone than the original, which frankly I like the look of a bit. Also, I think the date stamp was 2002 on the bottom, from that time they gave it a big dumb missile launcher.

Oh yeah, another weird thing about this release is that it’s part of the Past and Present series. Hasbro had planned a full lineup of figures that would be released as Target exclusives (if memory serves), which would give you an original ARAH figure (represented by a 2004 comic-pack repaint) and the present version, which would be an unchanged copy of a ROC Joe. This exciting (not!) little idea never came to fruition after the entire ROC line failed at retail, this set especially. Nothing of value was really lost, though I always thought it was funny that Hasbro had stuff like this planned, but then just a year or so later all of the original o-ring tools fell into a black hole or something.

So the whole boxed set now fetches around $45 to $50, though I assume the, uhhh, “ARAH Rockslide”? -The old one, would probably go for much less on it’s own, but good luck finding one. This is one of those items that was pretty nifty when it came out as being a way of getting a very old vehicle in new, clean white plastic. Most of that appeal is gone now though, since it’s way harder and more expensive to get one of these than a nice vintage PBB.