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Scrapper6's G.I.Joe Retaliation Cobra Fangboat Review
I figured since there aren't too many reviews of this item yet I'd take a crack at it, mind you there are no pictures for this review, so I'll try to keep things sweet and concise to avoid suffering from major wall of text syndrome.
1) Retaliation Vehicle Packaging: As opposed to the past... so many years of Joe, the packaging for Retaliation Vehicles no longer shows a fully built vehicle with the driver in it. It is slightly generic looking packaging that harkens back to an older generation of Joes, I seem to recall seeing numerous Joe and Cobra vehicles in closed/completely sealed boxes back in my youth.
While the packaging is highly generic compared to some of the PoC vehicles, it is similar to the 30th Sky Fighter/Striker vehicle. Not exact though, Hasbro has done away with window box showcasing the driver.
Some have speculated that this is to hide the fact that it is lacking in articulation, ok I'll be blunt, pretty much all Joe fans have thought this. I personally think that Hasbro chose this route as part of their Environmentally Friendly packaging goal. To eliminate all non-recyclable aspects of their packaging.
It does suck that you can't check for paint problems on the figures and QC issues, not to mention it does hide the change in articulation for the vehicle drivers, however I feel that this isn't entirely bad decision on Hasbro's part.
2) Cobra Fangboat: This vehicle is a new take on the Cobra Water Moccassin, much like the Cobra Sting Raider from the 25th and RoC toylines. Unlike the Sting Raider this vehicle has been cast in traditional Cobra colors for Retaliation.
We've got a black undercarriage, dark grey upper section and assorted parts in black, red and dark Cobra blue. It is of course 'Some Assembly Required' the instructions are pretty simple and concise.
The Fangboat is a fun looking vehicle and pretty good bang for your buck, TRU was charging 17$ for it before taxes and at that price the Vehicle Alone is worth it. The length of the Fangboat is pretty impressive, fairly standard sizes for (I want to say Alpha Class Vehicles, but I believe it might be Bravo Class.)
I really dig the large missile launching gattling gun on the side, although aesthetically it doesn't match with the Sting Raider's two smaller black weapons, however the fact that this piece uses a modular design aesthetic means you can swap it out if you prefer with a spare Sting Raider black weapon to fix up the aesthetics.
It's good for the kid's adding play value though, and who can say no to more missile launchers in vehicles?
Overall I'd have to say this vehicle is an awesome new addition to your Cobra Collection, I do question why they decided to change the name to Fangboat though, unless it's actually called that in the movie it seems, strangely generic compared to the older Sting Raider name.
3) Cobra Swamp-Viper Driver: The reason why I wanted to review this thing in the first place was to share my opinions of the new direction for Retaliation Vehicle Drivers.
First of all, Articulation has been royally nerfed, the build of the figure is even different compared to any older Joes, with one exception. While most Joes involve standard articulation in the hips, shoulders, elbows, knees and neck (for the Classic Era) and adding ankle and wrist articulation upping it so far as to make it pretty much standard in the modern era to include 16 points of articulation, the Swamp-Viper is not unprecedented.
He reminds me in a way of the 90's Ninja Force and Star Brigade figures, he has five points of articulation, a ball jointed neck, swivel hips that feature a different crotch style than you're used to in your Joes and swivel shoulders.
The sculpt on this figure is truly fang-tastic (Heh, heh) His head features a half helmet design reminiscent of the Cobra Viper, and more importantly I believe he resembles a modern take on the original Swamp-Viper from the Spytroops... Era. I'm fairly certain that was the one I noticed on YoJoe.Com.
He's full of pouches, he's wearing a nifty style of kevlar-like body armor his colors really pop. Like most Modern Joes one hand holds guns better than the other due to the mold's size.
There has been a lot of negatives from the Joe community on these limited articulation drivers. However, after owning this figure for a little over a week I have to say this thing looks great, it is fun to fiddle and play with, and even without the knee or elbow articulation the figure just looks and feels great. He even has a peg-hole in his back to fit backpacks from the Modern Era.
Some people may decry me as some sort of freak or something, but I really like the driver from this set, and I think Hasbro has really nailed it. I truly feel that this is a step I can approve of, as long as they limit it to just Movie Lines. I'd hate to see this become the standard for all Joe and Cobra Vehicle Drivers outside of movie lines, still I might even adapt to it a bit considering most vehicle driver's are usually displayed inside their vehicles.
So overall what would I rate this vehicle and driver set?
Well, out of five, I'd have to say that this toy easily deserves a solid 4.5, the vehicle is a great adition to any Cobra Island Flotilla Defense Force, the Driver is fun to play with and has an excellent sculpt, and reminds me of the figures from Star Brigade and Ninja Force, which I loved back in the day, especially those armored up Destro and B.A.A.T figures I used to have. The only thing holding it back from a total 5 is really the packaging, that generic Retaliation packaging is just too bland for my tastes compared to the 30th/PoC and even RoC packaging designs.
Ugh, and I think I still got it wall of texted with this review. I hope I went into enough detail, I can always clean it up if necessary.
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