Review – Pursuit of Cobra Wolf Hound
& Vintage 1985 Snow Cat
Ah yes, it’s amazing how events work themselves out sometimes. Earlier this week, I finally got my repro stickers for my original ’85 Snow Cat. I happily stickered it up while looking longingly at the online pics of the Pursuit of Cobra Wolf Hound. Then lo and behold, today I had to drop off one of my employees at his house because his truck broke down. He lives very near Toys R Us, so I stopped in to have a look. They didn’t have a whole lot of Joe stuff…but they DID have four Wolf Hounds sitting on the shelf!
I quickly grabbed it up, checked out, and came home with visions of this review dancing in my head. Due to the overwhelming similarities between the two vehicles, this will be a two-for-one review of both the original Snow Cat and the brand-new Pursuit of Cobra Wolf Hound. The Wolf Hound is the fourth version of the Snow Cat. 1988 saw the release of the tiger-striped Tiger Cat, part of the Tiger Force line of repaints. The mold was reused again in 2003 in the Spy Troops line, this time with a camo color scheme and “Sound Attack” features. Anyway, ever since getting an original Tiger Cat back in the day, the Snow Cat and its variants have been some of my favorite vehicles…so here goes my review.
The Snow Cat (and thus, its variants including the Wolf Hound) is an Arctic assault vehicle. It’s a half-track, with regular wheels up front for steering and tank tracks at the rear. This arrangement gives the Snow Cat superior traction over all sorts of nasty terrain with better speed and maneuverability than a completely tracked vehicle. Excluding the Tiger Cat, all of the Snow Cat variants are white on top with a dark underbody. The Snow Cat has seating for two Joes up front under its tinted canopy. The cockpit is very well detailed, with various buttons, switches, and levers molded into its center console. To maintain visibility in white out conditions, the canopy has a large, single-bladed windshield wiper. There is also what appears to be a light bar above and behind the canopy, as well as headlights up front for those endless Arctic nights. One more neat feature is the large removable panel
For armament, there are two large torpedoes, one on each side, that are mounted on skis. There is also a turret mounted in the middle of the rear of the vehicle. The turret is topped with a box that holds four medium-sized missiles. The turret can rotate 360 degrees, and can elevate until the missiles are pointed almost straight up. With the skipedoes removed, the Snow Cat can haul a decent amount of troops, too. There’s room for four Joes on the running boards with the skipedoes removed. There are also steps on either side in between the front tire and the rear tread, which can hold two Joes. There are two more steps on the rear of the vehicle, on either side of the trailer hitch. So total counting the driver and passenger up front, and with the skipedoes removed, the Snow Cat can haul a whopping 10 Joes!
While I love the Snow Cat, it is of course not perfect. The most glaring military fault is that the Snow Cat has no backup weapon once the skipedoes and missiles are fired. The lack of so much as a machine gun anywhere also means that the Snow Cat would either have to rely on other vehicles in its force, or on its mounted infantry to protect it from infantry assault. As a toy, the most glaring fault with the Snow Cat lies in its turret. The clips that snap the missile box onto its turret are pretty easy to break off. Fortunately, the missile box will usually still stay on the turret tightly enough to display well, even if the clips break on both sides (I know this from experience from my Tiger Cat).
Now, onto what separates the Wolf Hound from the Snow Cat. I have to make mention of the artwork on the Wolf Hound’s box first though. It’s WONDERFUL! This is the best Joe artwork on packaging since the iconic artwork of the A Real American Hero line, and that’s saying something. It’s wonderful looking and realistic all at the same time, with excellent attention to detail (stickers on the vehicle in their proper places on the artwork etc). Also, I celebrate the return of the original style “GI Joe” on both the artwork and the vehicle itself…to me, it beats the crap out of the Rise of Cobra eagle head anyday!
As for the actual vehicle, the lower section of the Wolf Hound’s body is a dark gray instead of the Snow Cat’s black. The other aesthetic differences are the slightly more subdued orange on the skipedoes and missiles, the darker tint on the canopy and lights, a sort of camo “wash” effect on the main body, and white coloring on the tracks’ bogey wheels. The Wolf Hound comes with a ton of stickers too. Some of them are obvious homages and duplications of the Snow Cat’s stickers, while some of them add detail…including some very welcome (by me anyway) stickers added to the cockpit. The other changes are that the skipedoes sit just a tad higher on the Wolf Hound than they do on the Snow Cat, and of course the missile box. The missile box on the Wolf Hound is an actual complete box, instead of the half-box on the original Snow Cat. The new missile box is spring loaded, and pushing a slider across the top rear of the box will fire the missiles in succession. The springs in the box have some power too, as the Wolf Hound’s missiles will easily fly 2.5 to 3 feet. The major physical complaint with the Snow Cat is fixed too, as the Wolf Hound’s missile box snaps onto its turret with much thicker, more durable claws…though I can still see them getting broken if the toy is handled too roughly.
Comparing the Wolf Hound to the Snow Cat, I like all the Wolf Hound’s extra stickers, especially the ones in the cockpit. I also like most of the new aesthetic touches, like the darker tint on the canopy and lights and the white coloring on the bogey wheels. The new missile box is of course an improvement, as well.
As for my dislikes, my biggest complaint is with the camo “wash” effect. I don’t know if it’s just on my Wolf Hound or not, but on my vehicle the effect is applied very unevenly. The left rear corner of my WH got a heavy dose of the wash effect, while the rest of the vehicle is almost bare. Uh, I’d really like a much more even application, Hasbro. My other big complaint is with a few of the stickers…why oh why if this vehicle is the “Wolf Hound” does it still have the big blue “Snow Cat” sticker on the side? Sure, the words “Snow Cat” aren’t there anymore, but a vehicle named after a canine should not have an obviously feline head emblazoned on its side. Also, while I celebrate the return of the old-style “GI Joe” logo, I still miss the red, white, and blue emblazoned logo…even if the PoC style logo is much more military looking, as well as better at camouflage. My final complaint is that one of my stickers was missing off the factory sheet…fortunately it was one of the unimportant, easily disguised stickers…but it still annoyed me greatly.
I should also mention that the Wolf Hound does come with a figure, named White Out. White Out is just as boring of a figure as his namesake office correction liquid. White Out is a repaint and headswap of the 25th Anniversary Snow Job figure. He’s not a bad looking figure, but we’ve gotten this mold quite a few times now and I’m pretty tired of it. (I will say that he would make a nice Moose Jaw, Canucklehead fans). Even worse, he comes with zero accessories. C’mon Hasbro, we went through this with the first wave of RoC vehicles, and I thought you had learned your lesson by now!!!! I’m not even asking for 25th Snow Job’s backpack, skis, and ski poles…I just want a measly gun! Considering that this vehicle is a mildly modified classic mold with a many-times reissued figure, I don’t think a gun is too much to ask…especially when I see how much freaking gear the PoC single-card figs come with!
If you have and love the original Snow Cat and are pleased with it, or if it’s not your fave vehicle, you might want to give the Wolf Hound a pass. It’s a neat vehicle, but neither it nor the figure included are different enough to warrant a purchase if you have a Snow Cat. But if you don’t have a Snow Cat, you really like the Snow Cat, or if you just want to expand your Arctic Joe forces, give the Wolf Hound a look.
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Topic: Review - Pursuit of Cobra Wolf Hound & '85 Snow Cat! (Read 7722 times)