Icebreaker's HQ: Wild card and Steamroller

4.16.2012

Wild card and Steamroller

Back in the first half of the 2000's, I had a lot of vehicles. Vehicles really captured my attention and interest over the figures. About the mid-2000's I found I wanted more vehicle drivers to man the vehicles.

It wasn't soon after that that I decided to draw down on some of my vehicles at the same time. And then the process of heavily gutting my entire forces began and you can see what is now gone here.

With my "department" project, I grouped figures into their own squads with other similar figures. I had squads made up for the jungle, desert, cold weather, and more.

Steamroller and Wild Card (along with Blocker and Dodger) were my "keeps" on my small team to represent my former "vehicle team." These two figures are representative of my "armored cav.," more or less. (the tank drivers, to an effect)

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Steamroller is a guy I got from an online store about 2008-2009. This was well after I had already traded away my 2003 Mobile Command Center. This is the first Steamroller figure I've had, too, so this character has been a blank slate for me, and really still is.

With his MOS of Heavy Equipment Operator and SMOS of Armor, I thought this muscular guy would be great to have to handle my small teams heavy equipment needs. Mainly, the Equalizer.

The character seems like that of a drifter or somewhat vagabond type of personality that is really out there with no "home-base" to speak of. What better person to have on my small nomadic team?

With a belt-buckle pistol, a knife, and a chain-wallet, as a figure, Steamroller gives me a no-nonsense attitude. Plus, he is from nearby Duluth, MN. This figure has a "local" connection that adds in that rather unimportant trivia to my small collection.

The only thing about keeping this figure over many of the others that are gone, is that he is going to be the main tanker on the team. The Equalizer is going to be his machine, for now. Of course, I have plenty of other figures still that can hop on board the Equalizer to help Steamroller out on missions that call for the tank.

I suppose, Steamroller as a figure has just as much versatility in overall use as Updraft. One is more apt to operating their part, but can easily pick up a rifle and jump in on just about any adventure.

Check out Steamroller at JoeADay.com.

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Wild Card is a guy I got about 2000 (not sure from where, though). This was before I got my Mean Dog (which is gone now).

Actually, the Wild Card I got in 2000 is gone as of not even 48 hours ago. I went to a local model train show, and well, here is one thing I saw:

Yep, that's Sci-fi, riding the rails! This particular train layout is a large scale and the guys that bring it do outdoor layouts (garden railroading, etc.). This show has been put on annually for almost a decade, and it's usually a very fun time.

I thought Sci-fi looked lonely on the handcart, so I brought my original Wild Card, as well as a rough Skidmark figure to donate to the layout. I hope to see them at the next show a year from now!

As for here at home, I bought a very nice condition Wild Card just a couple months ago. This figure doesn't have a Mean Dog to call his own now. With his MOS of Armored Vehicle Operator, I figured he could help out on the Equalizer.

Due to this figure coming out in 1988, as well as his Marvel comic appearance, I kind of paired him up with Skidmark in my mind as two armored vehicle team buddies. However, as nice as Skidmark is as a figure overall in design, the orange knocked him off my "a-team" in my decision process toward the end of it all.

As a character, Wild Card has been driving vehicles here for many years, though. He's kind of a unique one-of-a-kind character, too.

And now that I'm examining my figures, here is another 1988 figure with a very cool machete. It's not an odd looking one, like Spearhead's. And it's not light blue in color, like Muskrat's. Plus, this one has a sheath! Awesome!

Considering the Mean Dog is 6WD, I think Wild Card may take ownership of my Desert Fox 6WD. Especially since I won't have Skidmark on my team. Blocker is handling the 4WD aspect of my VAMP, and the AWE is kind of open right now.

I have plans for my Desert Fox.....

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Below is most of my old heavy vehicle assault team when I was on that slim vehicle collection size just a short time ago. Most of what is below is gone, and my force is even smaller now!