The last couple of years have been pretty good when it comes to getting pics of my Joes out in the snow. While I'm not a huge fan of snow, in general, I will take it for getting some fun winter operations photos. I've had occasion to really showcase the 1994 Windchill. I only wish that my Blockbuster had fared as well as Windchill did in the years since I bought them at retail. The Blockbuster's turned into a yellow mess: as you can see in the photos below. But, Windchilll remains fun as ever.
To me, the 1994 Windchill was an all new figure. I had stopped collecting by 1989 and wasn't really aware that the original Windchill figure even existed. To this day, I consider this 1994 figure to be his definitive release. Something about the green upper body spoke to me. The contrast between the dark green and bleached white pants made him compelling. And, he's remained one of my preferred arctic figures ever since.
You don't see this guy all that often. Despite large amounts of overstock figures making their way into the collecting community and Windchill remaining a very cheap acquisition to this day, no one really uses him. If you don't have a connection to him like I do, there's no real reason to dig him out. But, I still find him fun and had a good time getting him out into the snow these past couple of years.
Feel free to share figures that are your personal obscurity in the comments.
The green definitely helps him stand out among arctic troops. However, I have a hard time deciding between the original '89 version and the '94 version (they've both got their positive points). I just wish that either version had sported painted eyes (it's an especially odd choice on the '89 version, since they were already RIGHT THERE doing the black paint app on the goggles)
ReplyDeleteI first got the '94 version at retail with the Blockbuster. A little while later, I found a huge bin of the figures bagged at Tuesday Morning (a local closeout chain). I picked up 2 or 3...wish I'd grabbed a few more (they couldn't have been more than 2 or 3 bucks at the time).
I really like this version of Windmill. The green jacket really differentiates him from the 1989 version and gives him the appearance of being a vehicle driver whereas the 1989 version makes him seem like an Artic infantry trooper. Looking at your pictures the last years of the run actually had some really awesome artic figures - Iceberg, Frostbite and Snow Storm were all pretty great and underappreciated. That Frostbite might be one of my personally obscure favorite figures.
ReplyDeleteIt stinks seeing the Blockbuster yellow like that. It's such a cool and forgotten vehicle due to it's release at the demise of the ARAH line.