The initial Bravo wave of Rise of Cobra vehicles was pretty memorable, much more memorable than the Alpha wave…in my humble opinion, anyway. We got the pretty decent Cobra Gunship and the excellent Steel Crusher. GI Joe got a vehicle as well, but unlike the other two, it wasn’t exactly new. Instead, GI Joe got a blast from the (recent) past, the Ice Dagger.
The Ice Dagger is a repaint of the Ice Sabre, which was originally released in 2004 as part of the Valor vs Venom line and again in 2006 as a Direct To Consumer vehicle. (Side note: want to name your Arctic vehicle? Simply name it “Ice” followed by some type of cutlery). The Ice Sabre/Dagger can best be described as a halftrack on skis. There are two large skis under the front of the vehicle with tank treads under the rear for propulsion. For the RoC line, Hasbro ditched the white and camo scheme of the previous two vehicles in favor of a light ice blue on the front section, and a slightly darker shade on the rear panels.
The Ice Dagger’s front section is dominated by a two-seater cockpit up top and the skis underneath. The entire section that the skis attach to on the underside can be shifted forward, which allows the skis to turn left and right for steering. Shifting them to the rear pretty much locks them in place. Why this vehicle would have this arrangement for the skis is kinda beyond me…perhaps the Ice Dagger could go a lot faster in a straight line with the skis tucked underneath? I know nothing about snowmobiles and skis, because there’s not a whole lotta market for ‘em in South Texas, so if any of you Canucks or fellow Americans from the northern states want to fill me in, feel free. Anyway, the skis can also be tilted up and down individually to cope with changes in terrain or terrain elevation.
Above the skis is the aforementioned cockpit. Grab the rear of the canopy and flip it up and forward to reveal the ID’s command center. There’re two seats here…which one is the driver and which one is the passenger is kind of up to you, as there’s really no discernment. There’s not a whole lot of detail in the cockpit, but there are a few buttons and switches, as well as some stickers for gauges. Just aft of the cockpit on the passenger side, there is a tub built in the vehicle, and a machine gun is mounted on the left half of the tub, directly in the middle of the ID. The machine gun can elevate and rotate from side to side. Two very thin rails run down the sides of the vehicle towards the rear, and both sides feature a 25th/RoC-sized footpeg at the front of them. There doesn’t appear to be too much more to the Ice Dagger, other than a seat in the top rear with a cage around it. The rear of the ID features a black flip-down door, revealing a compartment. There’s not much to the compartment, but there is a seat molded into the right side, facing towards the left. One figure could sit back there.
But wait, there IS more. Push a button on the top rear of the Ice Dagger (just above the rear hatch) and the side panels flip down and that aforementioned caged seat pops up, revealing a turret. The turret can rotate a full 360 degrees, and features a gun offset to the right, just in front of the seat’s occupant, as well as four missiles (2 per side). Buttons on the rear of the turret fire both missiles per side simultaneously. There’s also a communications antenna and a radar dish at the rear of the turret. The radar dish can rotate.
The Ice Dagger’s a pretty neat vehicle, but there are some flaws and interesting design choices. First, 25th/RoC figures don’t fit in it too well…though of course, the original design was made for O-ring figures, not 25th/RoC style. I don’t like the offset of the machine gun above the canopy…it makes it difficult for a figure to hold it, and they have to be turned to their left. Plus, that same machine gun can be turned almost a full 90 degrees to the right of the ID, but can only turn about 45 degrees to the left. Better hope all the threats are on the right! Also, the Joe manning the machine gun tub had darn well better hope the guy in the rear turret doesn’t hit the wrong button with the turret lowered, because the gun on the turret would shoot the Joe in the machine gun tub right in the back. The section behind the fold-down rear door was neat, but I wish it was large enough to hold several figures instead of just one…it seems kind of tacked on. In yet another odd design choice, with the turret raised it can only rotate 45 degrees to the right before it hits a stop. To face the turret 90 degrees to the right, you have to spin it back around counter-clockwise. This arrangement just seems flat weird to me, and it may be unique to or an error in my particular vehicle, because it seems like it would make a LOT more sense to have the stop when the turret turns directly to the rear.
The Ice Dagger does come with a driver, a new version of Frostbite. This was a give-up figure if ever there was one, as all he is is 25th Arctic Snake Eyes with an off-white parka and Para-Viper’s head, with a black balaclava. He comes with no weapon, and is pretty difficult to get in the cockpit.
I do like the Ice Dagger, but it’s not in my top pantheon of Arctic Joe vehicles. The design quirks just kind of annoy me. If you can find one on clearance or really like its design, by all means pick one up. But if you already have an Ice Sabre, give the Ice Dagger a pass.
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