Toy
name: Dart w/ Gun Station Assortment: N/A Price: MSRP $6.99 Availability: Target Department
Stores, September/October 2004
Several
times so far throughout the history of this new Joeline, we've gotten figure
releases that are quite obviously meant to be someone else. Dart was, without
a doubt, supposed to be a new Spirit, however, it would appear that Hasbro was
unable to acquire the trademark at the time. I actually don't mind so much,
because Dart has proven to be a pretty cool figure and a decent enough character
on his own, even though he bares many similarities to everyone's favorite Native
American Tracker.
While I picture Spirit as
a much more Covert Ops and security type, Dart makes for a good pointman and
overall soldier. Spirit might be called in on really specific missions, but
Dart works well as an overall support guy for your general squad, and uses his
gifts to his utmost ability without the apparent "spiritual" capabilities
that Spirit seems to posess. The first release took this military aspect to
the nth degree with a straight green drab khaki uniform, combat boots and fritz-style
helmet. The second release threw the colors a little more out of whack, and
here we are with the third release, which doesn't really do much to further
the Dart figure in general...some minor color changes here and there, but nothing
drastic and, really, nothing overly interesting.
Figure Mold
Dart's mold
remains as it was back in Wave 4 & 6...not to say it's a bad mold...just
the opposite. The figure itself is very cool, a nicely in proportion trooper
with large arms and legs, but maintaining the scale throughout, which is something
Hasbro has had problems with in the past.
The open vest w/ Eagle medallion
has always looked pretty neat to me, and I still love the head sculpt, which
is definitely Native American. The combination of the helmet, ponytail, and
feather in the strap all look very cool to me and give the figure a wealth of
personallity before you even really get to know him. When you can just look
at a figure and get a judgement going for what he or she is like, that's a great
basis for a toy and for a character.
The bare arms are adorned
with some nicely detailed bicep armbands, looking Native American in design,
although to be honest, I wouldn't be able to tell one way or another. One last
detail that looks very nice are his gauntlets. In the only real departute from
military roots on the figure, he has some forearm guards that are very cool
and add some nice G.I. Joe-like flair to the figure, which otherwise could simply
be another soldier. His legs are nice enough, looking relatively plain with
the exception of the cool-as-heck knife sheath on his right thigh. He comes
with a knife to fit in there nicely (although no other accessories at all, other
than the gun station), but the rest of his legs look pretty generic. One thing
that bothers me, too, is the molding of his legs, for some reason, forces him
to stand somewhat awkwardly...he's kind of pigeon-toed, I think, although it
is a minor complaint, and one I can live with.
Paint Applications/Color Choices
The Night Force
Dart still remains my favorite, from Wave 6, and this version still doesn't
really compare to that one. His vest is changed slightly to a bright tan-like
color instead of green, but his legs almost look to be pretty much the same
shade we got in Wave 4. There are very few changes that I can really see, and
it's possible they were trying to design the figure that way, but it doesn't
work real well.
Like Barrel Roll, it almost
seems as if a pseudo-desert motif is what Hasbro was after (especially considering
the deco on the gun station)...it works pretty well for Barrel Roll, as a deep,
dark brown, but for Dart it does not work nearly as well, giving him just a
sort of bland, barely different paint deco than he had the first couple of times
around.
Accessories
As mentioned
above, Dart barely comes with any beyond the elaborate gun station originally
available with Big Brawler. Like that version, this station is hit or miss,
with some neat design elements, but just not enough cool features to tie it
all together. I like the wheel-stand, and the seat/computer console combination
really works. However, the large, blocky missile launcher just seems kind of
silly to me. It didn't really work in Wave 7, and it doesn't especially look
good here. It's too bad, because the base is there for a potentially cool defensive
or offensive weapons-platform, but it just doesn't execute that well. Perhaps
like the Assault Quad was retrofitted as the pretty-cool Venom Striker, we might
eventually get a remold of this that works better than this version...I'm not
really holding my breath, though.
Besides the gun station,
all we've got is a run of the mill survival knife, which looks cool in his leg
sheath, but provides very little covering fire for when the gun station gets
fragged. I like that they actually gave him a weapon to fit into his accompanied
holster, but some sort of firearm as a last resort would have been appreciated
as well.
Final Comments
Dart just doesn't
really do it for me here. The figure has a great base, is an excellent tooling
and has the potential to be great, but this version just doesn't really fire
it up. Bland colors and a lack of decent accessories hurts this figure even
further. While Barrel Roll and Storm Shadow are both pretty cool updates and
should be figures to keep an eye out for, I don't see a real reason to add this
version of Dart to your army.
Several
times so far throughout the history of this new Joeline, we've gotten figure
releases that are quite obviously meant to be someone else. Dart was, without
a doubt, supposed to be a new Spirit, however, it would appear that Hasbro was
unable to acquire the trademark at the time. I actually don't mind so much,
because Dart has proven to be a pretty cool figure and a decent enough character
on his own, even though he bares many similarities to everyone's favorite Native
American Tracker.
