TMNT SWAT Attack Pack
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Last year we saw the release of the Toys R Us exclusive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
S.W.A.T. Battle Pack, a pair of slightly retooled and repainted vehicles with variations of Fighting Gear Leo and Don
and a small heard of Mousers. The price was steep at $50. But it seems to have been successful enough to justify a follow-up
set. That set, the S.W.A.T. Attack Pack started to appear on Toys R Us shelves in April. This set gives us a repaint of
last year's Hover Chopper, a Fighting Gear Raph variation to match the previous two S.W.A.T. figures and a Foot Tech Gunner
(a Foot Gunner figure with a Foot Tech Ninja head).
Packaging - 6/10The S.W.A.T. Attack Pack continues the use of the window boxes started with the Battle Bikes and Planet Racers Cycle. The majority of the front and top panels are occupied by the window pane. The TMNT logo along with photos of the Chopper in both modes, the product name and several small blurbs about the contents surround the edges. The sides share a single picture of Raph on the cycle and the Foot Tech Gunner. The back has a larger variation of that same photo with the features pointed out. There are also pictures of the Planet Racer Cycle, Bad Boy Moto-psycho and the Battle Nexus figures. Unfortunately the same ugly orange background is still present. But the size of the window pane on the front and top and the addition of a dark blue field at the bottom helps to offset the garish color on all but the back panel. I still don't like the background, but the changes do have me looking forward to the complete redesign that should be occurring for future products.
Sculpting - 4/10The S.W.A.T. Enforcer Cycle is identical to that of the Hover Chopper. It is a decent chopper, though bulky due to the turbine engine. The hover mode looks good despite the lack of detail on the bottom. S.W.A.T. Raph follows the same design as his two counterparts. It is Fighting Gear Raph with all the same strengths and faults. The only "new" sculpt is that of the Foot Tech Gunner. The body is the same as the Foot Gunner, but the peg in the left shoulder has been removed and the resulting hole plugged. But the head has been replaced by a Foot Tech Ninja's head. I was expecting them to use a regular Foot Soldier's head, but this works better. The slightly armored look with the face mask goes better with the armored body of the Foot Gunner. But the necks don't match up well. Too start with, there are two of them. Foot Gunner's neck is sculpted as part of the body but the Foot Tech Ninja's is sculpted as part of the head. The high collar on the Gunner's body helps to conceal the problem to some extent. But the necks don't match in width either. The Foot Gunner's neck is thicker and sticks out a bit like a turtle neck sweater. It is not a terrific figure, but it isn't bad either and it does help to add to the Foot army.
Paint/Decals - 5/10The paint work on both the figures and cycle are clean and well done, but perhaps a bit too simple. The only areas with problems are the lines between the shoulders and biceps on the Foot Tech Gunner's arms. They aren't horrible, but are sloppy. The S.W.A.T. Enforcer Cycle is well painted, but the colors were not chosen all that well. The body color is a dark green while the frame around the engine is a dark purple. Add in the black seat and there just isn't enough contrast in the colors. The rims are an excellent example of this. The dark purple color of the rims is hard to discern from the black of the tires and conceals a lot of the sculpting details.
Articulation - 5/10The Foot Tech Gunner has just ten points of articulation while Raph has the same twenty three joints as the Fighting Gear figures. They include hinged toes, hinged and rotating ankles, hinged knees, hinged and rotating hips and shoulders, rotating elbows and wrists, hinged fingers and a ball jointed neck. That should be enough articulation to make Raph very poseable. But the design limits it usefulness. The hips in particular are very limited. On a positive note, the hinged fingers seem tighter on this figure than on past ones which allows it to hold the weapons reasonably well. The Foot Tech Gunner's articulation is ten rotating joints at the hips, waist, shoulders, elbows, wrists and neck. The arms allow a decent range of motion. But the hips can do little more than compensate for the changes in the center of gravity as the other limbs are moved.
Accessories - 6/10There are quite a few accessories included with this set. S.W.A.T. Raphael has the same gear as the previous S.W.A.T. figures: FG Leo's helmet, FG Donatello's chest protector and shin and forearm guards from FG Mike. He also comes with the two larger sais from the FG Raphael figure. The Foot Tech Gunner has the large shield/projectile launcher from the regular Foot Gunner figure and it's two projectiles. And of course the cycle has the launching headlight projectile. That a pretty fair arsenal for such a small set. And the accessories that were included work quite well, Raphael in particular can actually use the loops on the sides of his belt to store his sais. They don't fit very well due to their large size. But they can fit. But the Foot Tech Gunner feels like he came up lite in terms of weapons. I wouldn't expect them to include the exact same weapons as the Foot Gunner, but they could have tossed in another gun or melee weapon like a sword.
Value - 7/10Retail price on this set is $16.99 at Toys R Us. Or you may be able to find it on clearance for $16.97 in some Toys R Us stores. (Personally I would spend much effort trying to find it for the clearance price. ;-) Considering you are getting a vehicle and two figures, that is actually a pretty good deal even without all the accessories. Separately they would run closer to $24. But there isn't quite enough to the set to really drive the score up. The fact is, chances are very good that if you have any interest in these figures, you already own them.
Happy Hunting:No hunting needed for these. They are exclusive to Toys R Us. They should be available in most U.S. TRU stores in decent quantities. If you prefer the online option, Amazon has it available. You even get the clearance price and save $.02. Don't spend it all in one place.
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