Dave's War Planets Rant

     Planet Remora

CAPSULE

     The word which describes this toy is "overkill."  More missiles than
any other War Planet, Beast Planet included.  Better than it looked in the
packaging, but somewhat floppy, and it's the only War Planet which can't
store all its stuff inside.  Mildly recommended.  $9.99 at Kay Bee.

RANT

     Well, it was payday, and according to Previews Magazine (Vol 7, No. 9,
page 437) there's a new slew of toys coming out soon (including the
mysterious Shadow Raiders, which turn out to be moonlet playsets), so I
decided to complete my collection of the first wave with Planet Remora.
Planet Lava seems to have been moved back to the second assortment, kinda
like Cheetor was in Beast Wars.

     Planet: Looks a lot like an evil Quislet, but non-Legion-fans out there
won't get that reference.  Howabout the Weber Grill of Doom?  The top half of
the planet is covered by a two-part sliding shell, kinda like an oldstyle
baby carriage, where you can open up either half or both.  The Shadow Raider
docking plug tends to interfere with the look of the planet.  The shell lacks
a locking clamp like the opening mechanisms of the other War Planets, and
tends to flop about loosely, so it's a no-go on storing loose items in the
top.  
     The bottom half opens up with bay doors in the front, the doors linked
to open simultaneously like the Tek Planet's bay doors.  The underside
compartment isn't really anything but storage, though, as there's no place to
secure a figure in standing position.
     The top of the planet is a single huge turret when the top is down.
Seven tiny turrets ring the rotating section, four missile launchers on
vertical swivels dominate the flanks, and the large tank toy can snap into
place in the center for a fifth launcher.

     Vehicles: There's four fighter craft missiles like on the Beast Planet
(in fact, they're almost identical to the Beast Planet's fighters...they have
different colored alignment dots and longer tails), a tiny little tank that
the Hero figures can ride like a toy and a large scorpion-motif tank that can
double as an additional turret weapon.  Not much on this front.

     Launchers: Five spring-fired launchers in total, with five soft-tipped
missiles and four fighter craft to launch from them.  Serious overkill here.
Depending on the quality control on each launcher, you can get a pretty good
distance out of these launchers.

     Figures: Same visual design as the Beast Planet's, and the Hero figures
are the same mold, but the figures here are a tad more rubbery, and painted
in "ink wash" rather than glittercoat, so they look darker.  In addition, the
Drone figures are not poseable, unlike the Beast Planet's drones, although
they carry the same guns.  Four of each type are included.

     Storage: Iffy.  The fighter craft are so long that only two can fit into
the underside storage compartment, and that to the exclusion of several
missiles.  And you can't just swap fighters with the Beast Planet, because
those are just different enough to not fit into the Remora's launchers.
Ignoring the fighters, everything else fits fine, so you might just stick the
fighters in the bag you keep your Beast Planet kibble in (a bag is
recommended, since it's easy to lose pieces in the bottom of the Beast
Planet). 

     Overall: Better than I expected, and it certainly has a unique charm of
its own, but hampered by a few design flaws (which I may fix tonight with a
knife).

     Dave Van Domelen, archiving these reviews and some images of upcoming
products on http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~dvandom/WP/