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Outpost Defender w/ Roadblock & Tripwire
As a kid I was never a huge fan of the mini playsets and outposts...I'm not sure exactly why, but it just didn't appeal to me. As a throwback here in 2009...well, they don't enthrall me completely, but at a decent price point and with some cool customizability, I can find some stuff to appreciate. The Heatseeker Missile Launcher was okay...the LAW was neater than I thought it might be...but the Outpost Defender? The Outpost Defender is freaking great. Very much worth the money and a great purchase.
Unlike the Heatseeker, which suffered a bit because of the included figures, the Outpost Defender is actually worth buying because of the figures...or at least one figure in particular. The Rise of Cobra Roadblock is excellent!
Even though I'm not a huge fan of the RoC themed Tiger Force Tripwire, he's not a terrible figure either, and there are enough bells and whistles to make this set really cool, especially for the $15 price point.
There aren't a wide array of paint applications here with just the right touches of woodgrain brown and sandbag tan, with just the right amounts of gray/silver. The details intact from the original tooling back in the day is always impressive...the patterens of grain in the wood, the pok marks and bullet holes. Very, very cool. Not only that, but you get an awesome weapons case as well, complete with the three guns that came with it back in the day.
Tripwire
It seems obvious by this figure that Tripwire was planned to get a Tiger Force release somewhere along the lines in the 25th Anniversary line, but unfortunately never made the cut. So what we get instead is a Rise of Cobra black and silver themed Tiger Force Tripwire that really doesn't do a whole heck of a lot for me.
That's the weird thing, too...looking at the LAW, too, we get a very dark colored Grand Slam that looks remarkably similar to Tripwire, so I'm not sure why we really need two separate figures that look so similar. Tripwire isn't a bad figure, all told. In fact I really love his head sculpt, but this body style has been used in so many different figures, it really doesn't have a unique personality, and the figure is somewhat boring.
From an accessory standpoint, though, Tripwire does have some neat gear. He's got the remote controlled mine sweeper that is a nice difference from his more typical antiquated device he's come with in the past. Not only that, but he comes with a very cool laptop as well. It's a much more state of the art set of accessories compared to what we've seen in the past.
In the end, though, even with these interesting accessories, the figure is fairly dull, by and large.
Roadblock
In every way that Tripwire hurts this set, Roadblock helps it. Obviously the base figure is the G.I. Joe: Resolute Roadblock, which is fantastic. Rather than the elaborate flak vest that the Resolute version (and Night Adder) comes with, instead he gets the vest from the v.1 Heavy Duty, which works amazingly well.
Roadblock here is a massive beast of a man, as he should be, and the Resolute tooling is simply amazing. Along with the great sculpt, the paint applications are very nice here, too. The black shirt, and green vest are both very nice colors, and very jungle themed. I'm not really sold on the camouflage pattern...the greens and browns look good, but those random gray/white blobs are a bit curious. Even with that strange addition, though, by and large I love the paint apps, and the tooling is just out of this world. Great stuff, and a very worthy addition to this set.
As far as gear goes, Roadblock's aren't quite as interesting as Tripwire's, but they do at least make sense. The straight forward heavy machine gun and tripod, the basic backpack and ammo belt, all give us what we expect from the character, but don't really go in any new directions.
All told, though, I was very pleasently surprised by the Outpost Defender. Unlike many of the fans out there, I wasn't all that interested in any of these sets, but slowly I started to come around a bit. Even having them in hand, the Heatseek and the LAW don't knock my socks off, but I've been nothing but impressed with the Outpost Defender, definitely worth the price for what you get.
Not only that, but some Wal-Marts have these things currently on sale for $7.50. That's an absolute no brainer. This is definitely the best of the assortment.
GRADE: