A short review of the new PTE snowmobile with special guest, Dr. McNinja. Time to roll up our sleeves and get into the review.
What you get in the package. We've seen the accessories before, except the snowshoes. I don't recall seeing them before. The dog is a recolor of the brown one from a few other sets.
The figure and the dog. And... what's this? The figure appears to be a new mold! It's a cold-weather suit, with lined cuffs and what appears to be thermals underneath. Even the cuffs on the pants are lined. I don't like the style of the PTE offerings, being too flat, but it is still nice to see some variety with them.
Close-up of the head and torso. I'm surprised by the number of paint apps he received. His head alone has four that I count. Not too shabby, but those eyes...
The snowshoes are a soft rubber, so they fit well on the figure, and even on Joes (no picture of this, though). However, they're a bit derpy looking, so I doubt they see any use in my Joe-verse, unless I maybe use them as mag-boots for a space scene or something.
The snowmobile is a very basic mold, made from the same plastic as the Doc's coat, or most other blow-molded toys.
The bottom of the snowmobile. As you can see, there are wheels inset in the skis to allow it to roll. The rear wheels are attached to an axle which snaps into place on the snowmobile. The wheels themselves spin, as the axle fits pretty snugly in place.
From above, it doesn't look too bad, except the lack of a floorboard. A little styrene and paint could make it a nifty little piece.
A side shot. Again, since the body of the snowmobile was blow-molded, there is little detail and no complex cuts. Without a figure in it, it's pretty noticeable.
With a figure in, it's not as noticeable that there is no bottom, but at certain angles, such as this one, you can see through it.
My big concern was that, with no bottom, the figure's feet and possible legs would jut out underneath. The design is such that the legs tuck up into the front enough to prevent that. Even with the snowshoes on, they don't really stick out enough to be noticeable.
An over the shoulder rear-view shows that it does look pretty decent from some angles. Granted, you mostly see the figure, but I do think it makes for a nice shot.
Of course, anyone reading this is probably most interested in it only if it can hold Joes and the answer is, yes, it can. Even though they're a bit bigger and constructed differently than the PTE figures, they fit as well as the PTE figures do.
I'll admit, this won't be for everyone. To get it to really look good is going to take some work. But in its defense, I don't think it's really any worse than the Weapons Transport or Bomb Disposal from the original line. Sure, they had a bit more detail, but they didn't come with figures and accessories. This does, so it fills a niche that Hasbro just doesn't fill anymore: the small, low-cost, playset.
Personally, I love this goofy little thing, but that's because it's a winter/arctic/snow themed thing, and I'm a sucker for that stuff every time. Had it been, say, a jet ski, I probably wouldn't care as much for it, so I'm not being impartial in my review. compared to the existing horse or camping sets, it's not that impressive. But as a new mold sold at a low cost from a smaller company, it's pretty good.