BATTLE BLITZ

The Battle Blitz comes in the Spy Troops package style. It is well packaged where you can see almost everything you are getting. The only problem is that you can not see the luge, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. The package opens easy. Once you get it open, the vehicle has just a few indentions holding the vehicle in place. The only problem was the gun accessory. The handle and barrel is stuck in a way that makes it tricky to remove. I was quite amazed at this vehicle. Fans all around have been saying how bad this thing is. I had an idea thinking I would absolutely hate it once I had it in hand. I even have made comments before based on pictures out of place. Putting aside the "Spy Troops" feature, this vehicle is pretty nice. It will never be one of those vehicles that will be remembered as one of the best, and it's not a vehicle that G.I.Joe would use as a frontline offense. It does come across as a really great recon vehicle. There have been worse vehicle in the past that fans have seen as really "awesome" releases by Hasbro. There is some nice detail put into this, and given a good imagination, the Battle Blitz is great. The only real downfall to this vehicle is the luge. I mean, what exactly is this thing good for? Cobra is going to say "Hey there goes that maniac Luge Viper again"? Suicide bomber maybe? I mean even with imagination I see nothing this can be used for in the way Hasbro means it to be used. I do see that it could be used a fast infiltrating rocket sled that's meant to shoot in unnoticed. You get an all new Grunt figure with this vehicle. He has a rather generic look to him while also having a nice "Grunt" look. Generic in this case does not mean plain if you can understand that. I mean that he does not have anything that makes him stand out in a crowd. But that's Grunt. It always has been in his character. He comes with a wierd helmet but it works well for the vehicle. The only trouble is his head. He does have a look about him that makes you wonder "who does he look like?" My wife says Bill Clinton, I said he looks like the old He-Man figure. It's not bad, but it would have worked better with some slight revisions. The Battle Blitz gets 8 Cobras. I marked off for a complete point for the luge simply because it really has no uses and probably only would be a "favorite feature" to really young fans. The other point marked off is in 2 parts. Half because truthfully first hand impressions can throw you off and possibly be enough to make some not buy this. The other half is because it's too boxy. Hasbro made the effort to get the luge into it and by doing so they did kind of take away from the looks of what the battle Blitz could have been. I would have even taken off a point for Grunt's head sculpt, but really it's not all that bad and I can't really knock the vehicle over that! I do recommend getting this vehicle. Any fellow fan that has told you not to buy it, I have to say don't listen!

COBRA TREAD FIRE

The Cobra Tread Fire comes in the Spy Troops package style. It is pretty well displayed and you see exactly what you are getting. The package opens easy. The vehicle and figure is well packed, but not to the point that it's hard to remove like some of the other vehicles can be. The only part that is pretty snug is the sound attach accessory. This is both a cool vehicle and an odd vehicle. It's a really cool mini attach tank on the surface. It has a large fan blade on the back that's not exactly easy to understand what it's purpose it. I'm assuming that it is used for amphibious purposes. I would take a guess that you'd play as if the tank were able to float across water and the fan blade propelled it. The picture on the back of the package seems to insinuate this too. That is a down side in some ways to this over all presentation. Sure fun and play with kids are part of the imagination, but something that isn't clear to what was thought in a vehicles design could be translated as stupid by kids and collectors alike! Aside from that, going with the Spy Troops theme, an attack drone seperates from the main vehicle. It has a G.I.Joe logo on it to insinuate that this is something of G.I.Joe's. There's a fold down platform for a figure to stand on. It's removed by folding the fan blade up and pulling the drone out. This vehicle comes with an all new character. The Cobra Coils is a pretty nice looking character. That is with his helmet on. Without his helmet, he has some material that looks like a torn piece of a t-shirt that the character quickly stuck on his face. It would look a lot better if it were more uniform and straight. His over all outfit with the helmet on looks sort of like a high-tech race car driver. Placing his helmet on, he is a pretty cool looking figure. He does have a down side in a way. He has hands that's never before been seen on a G.I.Joe figure. The hands are molded in a slightly open pose. It's not so bad, but most kids and collectors generally like to put guns and other accessories in the hands of figures. This one will have a very hard time holding anything. I give the Cobra Tread Fire 9 Cobras. I took a point off because of the misunderstanding of what the vehicle is suppose to be used for. This is a big deal in the presentation of a toy. It can be overlooked, but then when someone is making fun of it, the only point that keeps going back to is usually something to do with not knowing what it is. You can look a lot of bashing done by a fan and generally get this impression.Other than that, I do recommend getting this one. It works well as an added piece to your Cobra collection and army. If you need to define it's use, I'd put it up there with surveillance, infiltration, and light personnel deployment.

COBRA VENOM CYCLE

The Cobra Venom Cycle comes in the Spy Troops package style. It is pretty well displayed and you do get an idea of what you are getting. The package opens easy. There are some ties holding all parts in place. It does take a few minutes to remove all of it. The Viper figure has an arm placed through the pack of the clear package, and he is a little tricky to get out. The over all look of this vehicle is nice. By it's self it looks great. The side car is removable and able to convert into a mobile gun turrent. The motorcycle can run freely without the side car too. The vehicle does have the sound attack feature which does add bulk. The problems come in when you start to place a figure on the bike. You notice how he looks like a kid trying to get on his dad's motorcycle. The motorcycle is too big. Another problem is that the sound attack weapon that comes with the vehicle, to put it in the slot where the sound slot is at, the weapon has to be upside down. As being a motorcylce too, you tend to expect the front tires to rotate. Even with a toy, you automatically tend to thing of itdoing so. The Venom cycle so does not. One other minor thing is that the motorcycle is grey with red markings and the side car is olive drab with red markings. This isn't that big a dela, but it does look like Hasbro had a change in the middle of the production run. You do get a figure with this vehicle. He is an original style Viper. To me with the new style sculpted figures, Hasbro needs to completely retire the old style sculpting for release along side the new releases. They should just save the old style sculpting for special releases or comemerative sets. I give the Cobra Venom Cycle 7 Cobras. Although it is a cool looking vehicle and probably a lot of fun for kids, it has too many problems. It's main problem is that it's too big. I'd recommend picking one up just because it's a new Cobra vehicle, but just be aware of what you are getting.

MISSILE STORM COPTER

The Missile Storm Copter comes in the Spy Troops package style. It is well packaged where you can see everything you are getting. The package opens easy. All part come out pretty easy. Wild Bill has a twist tie holding him in. There is also a clear band on his hand keeping him attached to one of the flight control sticks. You only have to attach the tail to the body and the gun accessories to their spots. This is a remade Cobra Fang III. It is now done with a new front piece that gives it a look that's more United States military. The tail section is redesigned also along with the the missile. It's not a bad attempt at giving a new vehicle while cutting some corners. It's not like Hasbro hasn't done this many times in the past and was met with a lot of approval. Python Patrol and Tiger Force as a whole are just a sample. The green used looks brighter in pictures, but in person it's actually a nice green. The olive drab camo pattern works well on this green. You get a repaint Wild Bill figure with this vehicle. He is the same sculpted figure, but his pants and jacket is an olive drab color. He has silver and black highlights as well. He comes with a matching colored helmet which is the same one that Duke from Wave 4 came with. It fits a little loose on Wild Bill's head. Over all the figure looks great. If he wasn't considered to be Wild Bill, he'd be a perfect pilot for this vehicle. Sure one's imagination can say he isn't Wild Bill, but it's stamped on the package. As a kid I pretty much went with what the package said. He does come with the same filecard also, so it's no getting around this being Wild Bill. I give the Missile Storm Copter 6 1/2 Cobras. I see a lot of fun play value for kids with this one. If a kid does look at the Fang and Missile Storm as being the same mold, they can easily imagine G.I.Joe capturing a Fang and modifying it to be their's! It works fine as an interesting piece for a collector. I wouldn't say to skip this vehicle, but it is one that I'd have to say I leave it up to each individual to decide. I do recommend it, but I wouldn't say to pass on something else for it.

MUV

The G.I.Joe MUV is well displayed in it's Spy Troops box. You can see exactly what you are getting. The box opens rather easy and there are a fair amount of ties holding all parts in place. It does take a little time to free everything, but once you do, it's nearly ready to go. All that's left is attaching the battery charging it up. This is a really nice vehicle. Pictures before the actual release came out didn't do the MUV justice. This takes a collector that's been collecting the 3 3/4" line back to when the original remote control vehicle came out. It's a nice rugged vehicle and should hold up well to play by kids. It does come with a Beach Head figure. The same exact Beach Head that comes in the regular 2 pack. There should have been an all new figure, or at the least a repaint. The vehicle is also rather pricey. I spent $40 with tax. I give the MUV 9 1/2 Cobras. It gets a half mark taken off due to it's price and having an exact duplicate Beach Head figure included. If you have the cash to spend on this one however, you should do it.

ROAD REBEL

The Road Rebel comes in the Spy Troops package style. It is pretty well displayed and you do get an idea of what you are getting. The package opens easy. There are some ties that hold eveything in place, but all of it comes out pretty easy otherwise. As soon as you see this thing you think "What a huge gun this thing has!" The large gun sitting on this thing is bigger than the vehicle it's self. There's no way a real vehicle to haul that around. Putting aside belief in what something real could do, the toy just doesn't even look right with it. Fan around the net had said this was a dumb idea from the first time we all saw it, but I did feel that it had potential. This reminds me somewhat of the old Armadillo tank of the original line. Actually the body of the tank looks pretty good. It looks like a fast little armored vehicle that could zip in, do damage, then get out fast. Tht gun just ruins that thought though. Maybe if you could find a good replacement to pu on it, this would improve it tremendously. You get yet another Big Ben figure with the Road Rebel. This isn't an update new style figure either. Hasbro did attempt to make the body different by mixing parts around. It just wasn't enough because they should have made a new style sculpted figure. I give the Road Rebel 6 1/2 Cobras. Even though the body of the vehicle does look rather cool, that gun just detracts from it. Then also getting another Big Ben to worry about what you're going to do with makes it even worse. The Road Rebel isn't a terrible vehicle as some fans will have you believe, but it isn't something that will make you dance in the toy isle because you found it. Pick it up if you see it and have the extra cash, but don't put something else off that you want more just so you could get this.

SMOKE SCREEN

The Smoke Screen comes in the Spy Troops package style. It is a boxed item and displays the vehicle well enough to see what you are getting. The box opens easy. Once you get it open, the vehicle has twist ties holding it in on each wheel and on the back bumper. There's a few other areas securing it in, but it opens pretty simple. Across the board fans were saying this looks like a Tonka toy or one of those cheap "G.I.Joe" vehicles you see with the sound buttons on the side. Many were not impressed with the looks of the Smoke Screen. Fans were already getting ready to say they dislike it. My impressions now that I have this one in hand are far from being unimpressed. I see this for the fun vehicle it was obviously meant to be. It has a cool flip open back that has a launching attack pod. It's suppose to be the Spy Troop feature, but I can see this one being played with by kids much like the HAVOC had the deploying recon sled. The sound attack weapon is well done here too. It plugs in the side and provides a gun station for a figure to stand and operate. Standing is also another neat thing. Inside where you'd expect a seat is a platform for figures to stand. They can be set up with more weapons aside from the sound attack one, or just there on look out. You could even use the space for an ammo crate or something to sit. In the back after deploying the attack pod there is a a lot of room. Several figures can be placed inside. You could even pretend that they have extra coverage with the sides flipped open. If it were a real vehicle in that situation, there'd be a lot of armor there! There's even a neat flip open hood so you can access the engine. As a vehicle, it's not slacking off either! It's a nice tough little package! All around there's a lot of fun here. There is a few problem areas. Now that the Brawler has been included with this line, you have to Hummers of 2 sizes. It's fine to say theyre custom vehicles made for specific tasks and so they wouldn't be the same size, but there will be kids that think on this. Also it would have been nice to have seen atleast one door able to open. The passenger side would probably be welded shut if it were real given the way that side is built, but I don't know if military personel would want to jump over the roof all the time to access the driver seat! I give the Smoke Screen 8 1/2 Cobras. It's made to be fun and it does accomplish that. Kids could have a lot of fun with this. The minor problems with this vehicle is mostly seen on the collector/fan standpoint. Some kids will probably wonder what's up with the doors. A few might even hold the Brawler and Smoke Screen next to each other and wonder why they look like a similar vehicle but are so much different in size. I really don't think anything will stand in the way of fun here though! Over all it's a decent vehicle. Hasbro could have done better of course, but there's really not much wrong either. I'd make the suggestion to pick this one up!

SKY SWEEPER

The Sky Sweeper comes in the Spy Troops package style. It is a boxed item and displays the vehicle well enough to see what you are getting. The box opens easy. Once you get it open, the vehicle has blister packing with twist ties on each landing gear. There's a few other areas securing it in, but it opens pretty simple. Pictures give the illusion that you will be getting a very small plane with this one. That's part true and part not true. While a real F-117 would be much larger and shaped a little different, you can't argue much on "realistic detail" here. It's not an exact duplicate of an F-117 and I don't think it was meant to be. In the G.I.Joe toyline there has been many items off scale to what you might think it should be, but in the long run it fits. You get a nice cockpit where a single pilot can fit in. He does fit loose and there could have been some extra detail and a "flight stick" for the figure to hold. It's done pretty nice though. In the back the plane opens up revealing missile launchers on each side. It's opened by sliding the tail section back. There's detail that insinuates that more ordanance is ready to go also. There's a few machine guns mounted around the body too. It's pretty unrealistic for panels to open like this vehicle does for an attack formation, but this IS a toy. Fun is what it's about. This idea does provide a fun idea. The detailing is done well too. Being a Spy Troop vehicle, it also has a deploying pod which is suppose to be a Cobra vehicle. While I don't exactly like this idea completely, it is well made. A lot of thought went into it and you can't count it out. It is an extra feature that can be fun for kids. Nothing says adults can't like it either! There's a single missile that plugs into the sound port. It looks odd with just 1 missile, but it's also odd that the missile has a handle. The neat landing gears fold away really well while "in flight". Something also that's purely unintentional is the sound of the wheels when you do pretend take offs. I was just seeing how the wheels roll since some vehicle has stiff wheels (this one doesn't). It makes a really cool roar sound WITHOUT the sound feature. It's just sort of neat! I give the Sky Sweeper 9 1/2 Cobras. Why a 1/2 off? There's room for improvement. Any fan you ask could name various extra things that would have been great to have fixed this vehile up even better. It's a great extra little plane for your G.I.Joe air force and I wouldn't even suggest anyone pass it up. I'd almost even say get more than one. You could customize a second one to be exactly how you'd like to see it. You could even paint it up in a shark theme to take advantage of it's very shark looking nose. Another cool feature that shouldn't be overlooked is that the wings slide in and out making it really a cool feature helping anyone with a USS FLAGG to display a fleet of these on the deck in a "stored" position!