Monday 10 May 2010

#128 and #129 of 365 MotUC Bat and Eagle Flight Packs

I'm playing catch-up for Femme week, and the plan to close out Femme week was to have these two flight packs.  Yes, I know these aren't Femme, but neither are they guys either.  Next week will be The Royals week for MotU May.




There weren't much original characters in the Millennium line.  However, the line did make that up by creating a bucket load of original vehicles and creatures.  These flight packs were among the first releases of the accessories of the then new line and were original to boot.  However, although they are listed as accessories, they are a complete toy on their own and can be played on their own without any other characters.  Hence, the reason why I'm including them as a toy instead of an accessory (Note: accessory packs usually do not count towards my one toy a day limit, but since these are in reality toys on their own instead of accessories, they are included in the limit).


The card backs are the second generation red cards, which if you've been regularly reading, would know that those are my favourite versions.  However, there are slight differences - the title cards are made from cardboard instead of the regular plastic, for example.  That does not detract from the packaging though as the cards are done is such a way as to blend in perfectly with the packaging.  The back of the card also has minor differences from the usual cardback, but the overall look remains the same.  And added bonus is that thanks to the smaller size of these packs, there are more space to display the other figures in the line on the cardback.


The Eagle Flight pack is a, duh, eagle.  It's supposedly a heroic flight pack.  That's just stereotyping I guess - why couldn't the Evil Warriors use eagles as a flight pack?  I have no idea.  Anyways, the eagle comes as three pieces, the actual flight pack and two detachable legs, which could be used as weapons.  A button on its back, when depressed, causes its wings to flap - that consitutes the action feature.


The transformation to flight pack - yes, I used the word transformation correctly - is complicated.  The body is opened to reveal the belt.  The then head is split and swung forward and manipulated into palce to form the chest guard.  I could find anywhere to attach the legs in this mode, it's supposed to be held by the character as weapons, but I thought they were such corny weapons that I didn't bother displaying them in the picture.


The Bat flight pack may seem a lot similar on first glance.  It too is a winged creature with two detachable pieces, a helmet and its tail.  Compared to the eagle, it's a lot more detailed and the paint work is also slightly more complicated.  Like the eagle, a button on its back when depressed causes the wing to flap.  This is supposed to be for the Evil warriors, but then again, I don't see why the Heroic warriors can't use it.


Clipping this flight pack onto a figure couldn't be easier.  There is no transformation - the hind legs are used to grip the shoulders and the fore legs are folded over the chest.  The helmet is removed and placed on the character's head.  The tail may be removed and used as a weapon if desired, or one may choose to leave it attached to the bat body.  A lot more simpler... and better.


Comparison time!  Well, I'd say that these flight packs are reminiscent of the Jet Sled - a vehicle on its own, yet it could be used two different ways with a character, one of which is to attach to the back of the character just like these flight packs.  The one thing that these flight packs have over the Jet Sled is that they have their own built in "attachment points", unlike the Jet Sled which requires a separate armour piece (which means if a character is already wearing armour, that armour has to be removed to attached the Jet Sled to their back).  This places the Flight packs slightly above the Jet Sled.  The Flight packs also have the flapping wing action feature, which continues to work even when attached to a character's back, and detachable weapons.  Granted, the Jet Sled has detachable missiles, but those could not be held in a character's hand.  The only thing the Jet Sled has over these flight packs is that a character can ride on the Jet Sled instead, something not possible for the Flight packs.

All in all, I have to say I like these Flight packs though, particularly the Bat version.  The Millennium line produced such good accessories that it was a pity the characters that went along with them were so flawed.  More pictures, of course are on Facebook.  And that wraps up Femme week.

3 comments:

  1. The bat version easily kicks the eagle version's ass! Another great look, though. I didn't realize that there had been so many accessories released with the line..

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  2. These two were some of the earlier releases, which I feel are the better releases of the line.

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  3. There's a lot more accessories released with the line. Some of the accessories aren't that great. But these flight packs are!

    ReplyDelete

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