Last night I went to TRU and picked up the "Attack on the Pit" set. The set includes 5 figures and a vehicle for $24.99 American. The figures are all repaints but still, considering that if you were buying 5 figs and a vehicle for full retail prices you'd pay over $55.00 American. Anyway on to the review.
First up is Duke. Duke uses the lower legs and flak jacket from the "Desert Ambush" version. The vest and pants have a new camo scheme, tan background with reddish-brown and dark green camo. The camo actually looks very, very nice, and made me wish that they had released the first figure with this scheme. Instead of the long-sleeved BDUs, Duke's wearing a dark green undershirt with sleeves rolled up at the forearms. Duke has no helmet and is carrying one of the now-ubiquitous bullpup rifles and one of the .45s with the underslung laser sight. Actually, all three of the Joe figures come equipped with the same weaponry, which I'll just get out of the way right now.
Next up is Ripcord. Ripcord's wearing the Joes' new powder-blue camo scheme on his lower legs, with a long sleeved black shirt up top. He comes equipped with Sgt. Stone's vest...while the vest was one of my favorite accessories on Sgt. Stone, on Ripcord it looks WAY too big.
The final Joe figure is the Pit Trooper. Pit Trooper is actually Zartan, repainted with a green/brown/gray paint scheme. Even the head is the same as the "disguise" head included with Zartan. The only difference is now he's wearing gloves and has short sleeves. On the humorous side, I can't help but tell you that when I took him out of the package, the "skirt" part of his uniform was turned and the molded pistol on it was positioned in a very um...awkward position. Let's just say that an accidental discharge would be a very, very bad thing. Fortunately the skirt was easily turned to its proper position.
On the Cobra side we have a straight repaint of the Neo-Viper. If you already have a Neo-Viper, this is simply another one. Even the accessories are the exact same...backpack with pegs for the two rifles to snap on to. You either love these guys and you look forward to having another one or you hate them.
The second Cobra trooper is somewhat interesting. A new character...the Neo-Viper officer. NVO appears to be Neo-Viper Commando's body with web gear and what appears to be a scarf. I really like this guy's appearance, but there is one flaw. While I'm all for working holsters, his holster is under his left arm, and interferes with the arm's movement somewhat. NVO comes with the same pistol several of the other RoC figures have come with, and the MP5-style submachine gun that came with Elite-Viper.
The final piece of the package is a repainted Mole-Pod. I did not get the first Mole-Pod, and I'm glad I didn't. In my opinion, this is the worst GI Joe vehicle EVER. Worse than the neon explosion vehicles, worse than the Rat, IMO this thing just flat sucks. It's small, it has somewhat minimal detail, and oddly enough the steering wheel is offset to the right even though it's a one person vehicle. The drill on it spins when you roll it which is kind of neat, but the drill looks dumb because it has a missile stuck in the end of it. So yeah, I really, REALLY hate this thing. One of the worst GI Joe vehicles ever.
So is this set worth the $24.99? Ehhhhhh. I kinda like Duke, Pit Trooper, and Neo-Viper Officer. I don't mind the Neo-Vipers so I kinda like getting another regular one. Ripcord I could do without. The Mole Pod, well, you already know my feelings on that one. One of my biggest complaints with this vehicle is the accessories. I hate the bullpup rifles, and I really wish the Joes came with more varied accessories. So while I was excited to get this set, I'm less than thrilled with it now that I have it. And if it is indeed $49.99 Canadian, well, you guys are getting screwed and should send every one of those sets back.
A few pics
http://s635.photobucket.com/albums/uu71/olyeller01/Figure%20Reviews/
