tmntman
07-10-2003, 10:15 PM
For the impatient, you can click on the link below to just see the pics. At least for as long as my Geocities bandwidth lasts.
Overall, the new lair playset is excellent. It incorporates many of the best fetures of the old sewer playset and improves on them.
Starting from the left, you have a section of subway track which contains a spring loaded panel either to launch any enemies who get too close. To mack things even better, the button to activate it is formed by part of a rail tie so it is very inconspicuous for those who don't care for action features.
The left section proper includes a balcony with a plunger firing cannon. (Why do you put a balcony underground?) There is also a makeshift lab for Donatello made from a subway car. The subway car is very cool even if it is way too small compared to the figures. And it is probably as close as any of us will get to the unproduced Traincar Movie Lair. Inside the car there is a handrail with two handholds to maintain the image of a subway car. There is a small workbench included for Donatello which has a built in action feature. The top has a jet powered skateboard sculpted on one side and misc. tools on the other. With a press of a button, gravity with a little assistance from a spring flips the table top over to hide the board. The final feature is a nonfunctional chook on the end of a short Ibeam which is used as an anchor for the zipline which I will discuss later.
The center section features a small upper section with a working elevator that goes up through the manhole in the top. Unfortunately the elevator won't go all the way up to the "street" level like the original did. Also, the manhole is too small for most of the figures to pass through easily; Hun of course won't fit at all. The lower area has two features, the weapon rack and training area. The weapon rack is mounted on a turning door/panel on the back wall so the weapons can be hidden. The weapons included are four swords, a sickle, a hand held blade, a pair of nunchukau (sp?) and a canister of ooze. Almost all of the weapons can be stored on the rack (there isn't room for one sword) and the ooze canister mounts on the wall in one of the columns. Fortunately the weapons fit very snugly in the rack so they shouldn't fall off. The center piece of the middle section is the fighting arena/dojo. Two figures can be snapped onto the platforms by one of their ankles and then moved and spun by the handles on the front. The feature seems like it should work, but I'm not inclined to try it.
The right sectionis the final portion. Once again it has two levels. The upper section has a spring loaded trap door which launchers figures out of the grate covered portal. The feature seems to work ok, especially since it is assisted by the weight of the grate section. There is also a zip line attaceh to the side wall near the upper platform that is intended to run down to the ibeam mounted on the subway car on the other side of the lair. (It could also be connected elsewhere via the hook tied on the end.) Zip line handle bars are included as well. The lower secton has the entertainment center mounted on the wall and includes a spring loaded couch to toss figures backward with a press of a button. Unfortunately scale is once again a problem as the couch is too small for more than one figure. And to make matters worse, none of the figures can actually get their legs into a natural position to sit on the couch. (The best I was able to do was to put April on the couch but with the 'v' cut crotch she looks like she's about to start an adults only webcam show.)
The final feature is the ability to fold the entire lair up into a carrying case. The feature is a great idea but falls a bit short in the execution. The sections snap together quite tightly in the lair configuration and it can be difficult to remove the dojo section in order to fold the lair up. That's right, the floor of the center section must be removed and the track section on the left folded up inorder to form the carrying case. The left and right sides can then be swung in and sapped together. The dojo section then snaps in upsidedown on the top. The feature is cool but when folded the playset lacks any real visual appeal. But the biggest problem is that the dojo section doesn't snap securely enough to the top. While in the playset configuration the sections are held together with large posts, in the carrying case configuration the top is held in place by only four small plastic tabs. I have yet to get the top on securely enough to support the weight of the playset if carried by the handle which is built into the underside og the dojo floor.
All in all, a very cool playset regardless of a few small flaws. A must buy at $50 for any TMNT fan.
http://www.geocities.com/tmntman/collection/collection1.html
Overall, the new lair playset is excellent. It incorporates many of the best fetures of the old sewer playset and improves on them.
Starting from the left, you have a section of subway track which contains a spring loaded panel either to launch any enemies who get too close. To mack things even better, the button to activate it is formed by part of a rail tie so it is very inconspicuous for those who don't care for action features.
The left section proper includes a balcony with a plunger firing cannon. (Why do you put a balcony underground?) There is also a makeshift lab for Donatello made from a subway car. The subway car is very cool even if it is way too small compared to the figures. And it is probably as close as any of us will get to the unproduced Traincar Movie Lair. Inside the car there is a handrail with two handholds to maintain the image of a subway car. There is a small workbench included for Donatello which has a built in action feature. The top has a jet powered skateboard sculpted on one side and misc. tools on the other. With a press of a button, gravity with a little assistance from a spring flips the table top over to hide the board. The final feature is a nonfunctional chook on the end of a short Ibeam which is used as an anchor for the zipline which I will discuss later.
The center section features a small upper section with a working elevator that goes up through the manhole in the top. Unfortunately the elevator won't go all the way up to the "street" level like the original did. Also, the manhole is too small for most of the figures to pass through easily; Hun of course won't fit at all. The lower area has two features, the weapon rack and training area. The weapon rack is mounted on a turning door/panel on the back wall so the weapons can be hidden. The weapons included are four swords, a sickle, a hand held blade, a pair of nunchukau (sp?) and a canister of ooze. Almost all of the weapons can be stored on the rack (there isn't room for one sword) and the ooze canister mounts on the wall in one of the columns. Fortunately the weapons fit very snugly in the rack so they shouldn't fall off. The center piece of the middle section is the fighting arena/dojo. Two figures can be snapped onto the platforms by one of their ankles and then moved and spun by the handles on the front. The feature seems like it should work, but I'm not inclined to try it.
The right sectionis the final portion. Once again it has two levels. The upper section has a spring loaded trap door which launchers figures out of the grate covered portal. The feature seems to work ok, especially since it is assisted by the weight of the grate section. There is also a zip line attaceh to the side wall near the upper platform that is intended to run down to the ibeam mounted on the subway car on the other side of the lair. (It could also be connected elsewhere via the hook tied on the end.) Zip line handle bars are included as well. The lower secton has the entertainment center mounted on the wall and includes a spring loaded couch to toss figures backward with a press of a button. Unfortunately scale is once again a problem as the couch is too small for more than one figure. And to make matters worse, none of the figures can actually get their legs into a natural position to sit on the couch. (The best I was able to do was to put April on the couch but with the 'v' cut crotch she looks like she's about to start an adults only webcam show.)
The final feature is the ability to fold the entire lair up into a carrying case. The feature is a great idea but falls a bit short in the execution. The sections snap together quite tightly in the lair configuration and it can be difficult to remove the dojo section in order to fold the lair up. That's right, the floor of the center section must be removed and the track section on the left folded up inorder to form the carrying case. The left and right sides can then be swung in and sapped together. The dojo section then snaps in upsidedown on the top. The feature is cool but when folded the playset lacks any real visual appeal. But the biggest problem is that the dojo section doesn't snap securely enough to the top. While in the playset configuration the sections are held together with large posts, in the carrying case configuration the top is held in place by only four small plastic tabs. I have yet to get the top on securely enough to support the weight of the playset if carried by the handle which is built into the underside og the dojo floor.
All in all, a very cool playset regardless of a few small flaws. A must buy at $50 for any TMNT fan.
http://www.geocities.com/tmntman/collection/collection1.html