"Ain't no sense in looking down/Ain't no discharge on the ground!" -military marching cadence

I need some help, and "Pit" is usually too short for search engines. I picked up some of the 2006 TRU Viper Pit figures, which I love despite their flaws. The remolded legs look okay, though they just do not fit the BAT waist. Only one of my 7 can sit without dislocating his hips. And the boots I can live with (though I do miss the kneepads on a field infantry soldier). But the head won't work. All my Vipers look depressed because their headsculpt forces them to permanently look down. There's a tab in the torso at the back of the neck that doesn't help, but the main restriction seems to be the half-moon shape on the neck ball. I've heard this mysteriously appeared on an earlier incarnation of the Viper and has troubled us since.

Any advice or links to tutorials on getting these Vipers into shape? I took one with a scratched visor to experiment with, sanded the neck ball a bit, cut the torso tab, and he can at least look level. Yeah, it kills the resale value, but unless they're always on high ground, my Viper squad looks like Cobra Commander's dog just died.

What you've done there to fix the neck is the only real way I've heard to fix that problem that I know of... As for fixing the hips, I know some people would remive the legs and then use a file to grind down a little off of the crotch piece so that the T-Hook didn't press against that part so much when you move the legs. I haven't tried either yet, so I can't be much more help. I know that it is do-able though...

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A) Who the hell looks on the inside of figs to determine their resale value? That's just way too anal for action figures. Speaking of anal...

B) Yah, what Lance said. Disassemble the figs so you can slip a file right up his bunghole and file down the back part of his dong. Their hip movement restrictions have nothing to do with the o-ring, it's all about how the BAT pelvis' bunghole is narrower front-to-back than the Viper's. And since the new thighs were dupes of the original Viper's, they don't fit right because their distance from the t-bar aperture to the rear of the thigh is a hairsbreadth or two thicker than that same distance on the BAT thigh. This causes the t-bar to be pushed up forward against the dong and causes all the problems we all see. Just file down the rear of the dong about 1mm and everything should be fine.

C) You've already got the neck issue sorted, so just keep on keepin' on with that.

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LOL! Seriously, that was a great explanation and took the edge off a long day. Thanks! I'll give it a shot on my "tester" this weekend. As for resale... I'm keeping them anyway.

Just thought I'd post an update. The filing of the "dong" works amazingly well. Not noticeable and suddenly their legs fit their hips. All my '06 Vipers are standing level now. The neck ball is a trickier issue, and apparently spans all the way from 2003 (just got a couple of green Vipers, and they look bummed out too). The tab across the neckball is the culprit (the tab at the back of the neck just prevents them from looking up). But if you file it too much, they become bobble-headed. It's weird; I keep comparing to an '86 Viper and the only obvious difference in the neck joint is the front "shirt" seems shorter in the newer figures.

Another note about the new figures: the plastic is softer and even just opening them for the first time seems to have stripped the screwhole in a couple. Heated them first and everything. Anyone got a non-superglue solution for stripped screw torsos?

Fill the torso hole with green stuff/drying putty or silicone sealer and use a sharp tipped screw. Turn slowly to prevent cracking the torso. I've had to do this once or twice with cast torsos, and I find that the silicone works ok. They'll never be tough as they were, but they'll hold together for light play and display.

That or just glue it together, then boil and pop it apart if you need to later.

- R

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Oh, they exist.....believe you me.....

I agree with you though, 101%.

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Woot! Confirmation that I'm not crazy! Back when this set came out, everyone was all 'swap out the o-ring' this, 'swap out the t-bar' that, and there I was just calmly telling everyone to simply file down the dong a bit and everything would be fine. But did they listen to me? Nooooooooo... 'AV's the crazy bastid with all the weird methods, you can't trust that guy', they said.

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it's true, that's what i said.

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Hey, you leave me alone in the room with your sister and your dog, somebody's getting pregnant and somebody's getting kicked. It's not my fault you didn't pay attention to all the warning signs.

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Its not right to kick a guy's sister. I sanded down the crotch with a rotary tool. .5 seconds later the figure fit together perfectly.

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ha this is so weird i was gonna post on this cuz i was just dealing with this prob. I did what you did, kinda, cept i just got a razor and carved that hitch in the ball joint, least now thier head stays up.

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Agreed, now you're stuck with puppy support payments,

I've got several figures that are jacked up like that, I'll give it a try,

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