Third in the new Adventure Team boxed sets!

The second in the new Adventure Team boxed sets, released in 2001, is the Search for the Yeti. It reprises one of the most interesting and exotic sets from the vintage era, Search for the Abominable Snowman (#7430.16). The original set had Joe wearing a white snow uniform similar to the reproduction set Search for the Lost Squadron with a sled, skis, and a small white casting of the pygmy gorilla, called the Abominable Snowman. Since the mythical beast stood less than half the height of GI Joe, I could hardly say it was terribly abominable.

However, this set fixes that flaw remarkably. Standing next to Joe, the new Yeti is slightly taller, and quite large. A menace indeed.

Featuring a Super-Articulated Joe body, and newly flocked heads including the over-used recruit and a very nice hispanic sculpt.

Joe comes dressed in orange snowpants, a blue parka with a fur-trimmed collar, snow boots with spiked crampons for walking on ice. He comes equipped with yellow snow goggles, a climbing hook, a very large digital camera, and a rifle.

The story introduces a new enemy for the Adventure Team, the Black Dragon. Little is known about them at this point, except that they have captured a Yeti and intend to sell him either alive or dead. The Adventure Team, of course, cannot let the Black Dragon organization harm such a rare beast, and goes in search of the Yeti. They rescue it, but it runs off, and they must find it to ensure it is safe from the evil Black Dragon poachers.

The Himalayas... a remote land of merciless cold, formidable mountain peaks and bottomless cravasses. It's also home to the legendary yeti, a rare and mysterious creature who lives a solitary existence and shuns human contact. Word reaches the ADVENTURE TEAM that the ruthless Black Dragon gang has captured the creature to sell it, dead or alive, to the highest bidder. The ADVENTURE TEAM must intercede! The plan: rescue the yeti and return it to the safety of the Himalayas.

The ADVENTURE TEAM discovers the hideout of the Black Dragon gang and launches an attack. The battle is fierce but in the end, the heroic ADVENTURE TEAM subdues the evil villains. During the intense confrontation, the yeti breaks free of its chains and escapes. Now the team must begin an urgent search for the creature. Will the ADVENTURE TEAM be able to find the yeti and return it to its remote Himalayan home? You must decide!

This is not the last we'll hear from that dastardly Black Dragon organization!

Artwork from the cover of the original set

Let's talk about the details:

The figure is the first Adventure Team Joe to use the new Super Articulated body, and the first to re-introduce Kung Fu Grip! Originally designed by Palitoy, licensors of of GI Joe in England, Kung Fu Grip took the world by storm in the early Adventure Team years. The new hands were soft, pliable, and could actually hold things. But Hasbro's poor execution of Palitoy's excellent concept failed in that the fingers were too thin and the plastic prone to breakage. Palitoy used an improved design, and this new version is much more similar to that one than Hasbro's first KFG hands.

However, Hasbro decided to go with gray hands for this figure, to give the impression that Joe is not out in the Himalayas with no gloves on. However, this limits the figure's civillian or non-arctic use, and AT fans would have to wait for true flesh-tone Kung Fu Grip, alas.

Like all of the new modern Adventure Team revisions (as opposed to the Timeless Collection Adventure Team Joes) Search for the Yeti Joe has a reproduction in gray plastic of the Adventure Team dogtag:

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The orange and blue winter outfit this Joe comes wearing is nice enough in its color scheme. It keeps to the primary and secondary colors of Adventure Team fame. However, it is made of a polyester satin-like material that is a bit too shiny and glossy for my liking. The AT logo is, of course, most a most welcome sight to these sore eyes. The goggles fit well and are excellent. The furred collar is nice too.

He comes equipped with what looks like a target rifle, which we will assume here in this modern day, shoots tranquilizer darts, not bullets. There is a digital camera, and a climbing hook. His blue boots and silver crampons are re-hashes from Action Man gear. I believe the camera and rifle are as well.

There is not a lot of gear here, but to make up for it, Hasbro supplied an excellent Yeti.

Based on an earlier Hasbro toy based on Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back's Wampa, the snow creature that imprisons Luke early in the first few minutes of the film, this Yeti has a differnet head sculpt, and is a stuffed bendy toy with wire armatures throughout.

This yeti is excellently constructed. I was quite skeptical when I first saw pictures of it, that they could sell it with Joe for under $30.00. The fur is well trimmed, the hands excellent, the feet good for standing, and the wire excellent for amazing posability.

To see how well it can pose, I suggest you read my photo story featuring this creature, called Lightfall.

This box is very exciting. Using a painting of the pair of figures on the back, it features a very angry and sinister Yeti, quite a bit more sinister than the one provided, but it shows the intended setting well, and provides kids a good play scenario. It also shows the gear in a fairly accurate manner.

(Click to read the back)

The box displays the standard GI Joe logo with the Adventure Team logo featured as well. The Kung Fu Grip symbol is also featured.

(Click for larger image)

This set, the second in the modern Adventure Team series, is a mixed bag. The figure is excellent, and includes three well-flocked head sculpts, though my favorite was the Hispanic. However, the outfit and gear are very weak, and came close to being excellent. However, the saving grace in this set is the excellent Yeti. Almost worth the price of admission alone.

Overall Rating