The Lava Pod! As you can see from the writeup on the back, this is for digging in volcanos and making them active, because you can't really call yourself a megalomaniacal evil organization without digging into some volcanos and either using them as bases or just blowing them up for good measure.
We'll get to that, though. First, the part that may or may not convince you to try and pick one of these up:
The Volcano Viper! Bascially a guy in a heat suit with all the fixins. You've got the silver color, the cool gasmask helmet (sealed around the neck), and those airtanks with all the pipes! They may be something else, but I dunno how these things work. All I know is that it looks like stuff I've seen before, so it's friggin' cool! Also, if you've got a magnifying glass, you can almost read those words on the tanks...I just was killing my eyes trying, so I gave up. Something about safety...you know.
Anyway:
He comes with the same gun that the Ice Viper comes with, since he's got the same basic body as the Ice Viper (legs and torso). That means that it's wrapped up in...I don't know, electrical tape? Whatever. Not like this guy is gona be doing much shooting!
I suppose you're wonder why he won't be doing much shooting:
It's because of this deathtrap! You'll remember it from the previous deathtrap:
You'll find much of the same stuff here: push it and the drill will spin, and push the button on top and the front of the drill will inexplicably fire off, leaving the driver stranded above ground or (god help them) underground! It's still as unexciting as it was, though they did add a minor but interesting sticker this time around:
Yay! It has a sticker for the computer this time! The last one just left it blank, which was another complaint I had about the poor thing. I suppose I'm not saying that this isn't a fun vehicle...I just thought it could have been MORE fun than it is. I mean, there could have been some sort of place to stow a gun on the inside (there's space on the sides or the back) and I think they could have found SOME other action feature other than "the front shoots off." I mean, I'm not against ridiculous stuff, but why not make it ridicuous and FUN? You know, like you press a button and the front of the drill opens up to reveal some sort of spinning energy tip for going through the armor of the Pit or something. Just as ridiculous, but way cooler, I think.
Oh well, you already made your opinions about this thing. You either love it or you hate it. There's just one more MAJOR difference between the original release and this one...and I'll cover that with Techno-Vipers:
He doesn't fit. HE DOESN'T FIT IN THE VEHICLE. The way you see him in the pics is as far down as I could get 'em. No amount of shoving will get the door to close. He just doesn't fit. At all. For once, I can see why this one never made it to the stores in the mainstream. I mean...come on. SOMEBODY try it out first! Just once! Anyone! The mail room guy! Bring him in here and say "Hey, try to shove this guy in this drillcar real quick, will you?" That's all it takes!
Bah...it's not like you people were rushing out to get this one though, right? Here's the deal: you want a Volcano Viper? He is pretty cool! I wouldn't blame you if you wanted 'em and didn't mind the drillcar. At the price of 8.99, it's not terrible. Just...don't expect this to be a complete package. Find someone else to drive this thing, I guess. In the end, though: we've got the Hazard Viper, which uses the same mold with better arms and a way cooler job (depending on how you look at it). Since this guy is hard to get ahold of, I'd say skip 'em. You're not missing much that you won't get from the Hazard Viper, and the Volcano Viper is pretty much only good for background stuff in a dio anyway (not that the Hazard Viper would be performing more...but he does have a lot of cool accessories to give him things to do). So I guess the last word is:
