The G.I .Joe team has had really horrible luck lately with their mini-vehicles. Starting off with the craptastic Road Rebel, Battle Blitz, and even the Missile Storm Copter and Assault Quad the Joe side of the coin has been getting the royal shaft with their selection of small vehicles and fast attack craft. Overly clunky and clumsy, with a lack of credible weapons systems and bizarre design schemes, these new miniature vehicles are largely forgettable and undesirable. Meanwhile, COBRA’s Treadfire and to a lesser extent, the Venom Cycle have become favorites with at least some fans and in my opinion drive (and shoot) circles around their Joe counterparts.
So, I have to say I wasn’t overly thrilled when I heard about the Pit Bull 4x4(now known as the Desert Coyote), especially because it appeared to be coming with a decent version of Clutch (now known as Double Clutch… J ). I didn’t want to be stuck with another lackluster vehicle just to get a somewhat decent old school figure.
Turns out my fears were completely unfounded. The Desert Coyote is a smokin’ little attack buggy! I mean, I love this thing! It’s like a mini-LAV with a dune-buggy design, littered with roll cages and weaponry, which brings this small four wheeler to life. The small, but sleek design scheme with the larger wheels in back and smaller wheels in front gives it an air of quickness, which is vital in a small craft, and something that other Joe mini-vehicles seriously lack. The way the figure fits in is also very cool, with the front gun flipping upwards, and then folding down over the figure with a pair of handlebars for Clutch to grasp and use to drive the craft and also fire the front weapon.
But, it’s really the small details that bring this buggy to wonderful life…the molded springs, while they don’t work as actual suspension devices, they look very cool and add some depth to the mold. The little canopy over the figure’s head in the cockpit adds some extra little protection, and I just can’t get enough of all the black, protective rollcages literally blanketing this awesome little car. I can see this thing rocketing through the night, bouncing off of rocks and trees and just tearing a path through some helpless COBRA troopers, roaring too fast to catch, but with enough small arms fire to do some serious damage. This is a quick, small, but powerful little dune buggy.
The real highlight of the Desert Coyote, though, is the gatling gun mount in the back. The design looks almost taken directly from the 4X4 in the X-box game Halo, which may be why it appeals to me so much, but it works fantastically well in this environment. It’s small and sleek like the rest of the Coyote, but has some great detailing, and a cool little platform for another Joe to stand one, providing important cover fire for the driver and support troops. Swiveling and elevating with ease, this rear gun works flawlessly and provides an excellent source of weaponry, a quick-firing chain-gun that looks imposing, but not overly large for such a small, light vehicle.
All of these cool details are only amplified by the very cool paint scheme of dark green/brown camouflage complemented by the black cages and silver trimmings. This thing just has it all going on.
Combine this all with the fact that this little vehicle comes with a great figure is only an added bonus. It appears by the look of this figure that this mold really was meant to be Clutch and never should have been Recondo in the first place. The hat and little smirk are trademark Clutch, and the uniform style/detailing just seems to fit him perfectly as well. His dark green and black colors with silver chest plate also work in tandom to make this figure very cool and a nice driver for an equally neat dune buggy. Also, according to the filecard “Double Clutch” and “Clutch” are definitely the same guy, which is terrific news, indeed!
While the Desert Coyote doesn’t look like a regulation vehicle, I could see Clutch and Hi-Tech working together to build this little power-kart vehicle and that would make Clutch the perfect driver for it. I’ve seen mixed reviews for this vehicle, but in my opinion, it’s a can’t-miss purchase, and definitely the best G.I. Joe mini-vehicle out there, if not THE best mini-vehicle from either side. Do not hesitate!
The G.I .Joe team has had really horrible luck lately with their mini-vehicles. Starting off with the craptastic Road Rebel, Battle Blitz, and even the Missile Storm Copter and Assault Quad the Joe side of the coin has been getting the royal shaft with their selection of small vehicles and fast attack craft. Overly clunky and clumsy, with a lack of credible weapons systems and bizarre design schemes, these new miniature vehicles are largely forgettable and undesirable. Meanwhile, COBRA’s Treadfire and to a lesser extent, the Venom Cycle have become favorites with at least some fans and in my opinion drive (and shoot) circles around their Joe counterparts.
