Let me start off by saying that I always wanted a GI Joe Base playset when I was a kid. They had that cool command center that had cannons on the front and a computer control center and vehicle bay in the back. I loved that thing. My neighbors had it. What I had was a cardboard box and a really active imagination when I played with my action figures.

Then the GI Joe USS Flagg came out and that thing was freaking huge! I wanted it, couldn’t have it, but of course, my neighbors across the street had it (the three brothers shared a lot of toys and playsets and between the three of them, they had almost every single GI Joe and Star Wars action figure). You know what I had? TWO cardboard boxes and an okay imagination.

So I’m an adult collector now and I now have the opportunity to get the Avengers Helicarrier. Should I get it? Hell yeah I should! Let’s take a look at the Avengers S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier.

Before I go on, let me specify if you can’t already see by the picture that this is the three foot helicarrier, and not the FOUR foot helicarrier that is coming to the San Diego Comic Con as a Hasbro exclusive complete with a Maria Hill (and Captain America) action figure. If I felt lucky enough to be able to get that one, I would have jumped on it. But as it is now, I had the opportunity to pick up this one and I didn’t want to pass up the chance.

Packaging

The helicarrier comes in a huge box that is about 3′ long and 2′ wide. Captain America is prominently displayed in the bottom left corner, although it is one of those cheap figures that get packed in with Hasbro vehicles these days. Pretty much a useless figure. On the front, we see that the helicarrier is 3-feet long, can be used as a vehicle AND a playset, and has 5 launching missles. We also see a picture of the Quinjet, but here is where you have to know scale and depth. They want you to think that if you purchase the Quinjet (or have purchased it already), the scale would be the same as the pic. Thankfully, I’m a little smarter than that and know that the Quinjet in relation to the helicarrier is far away making it look smaller. The Quinjet toy itself is almost half the size of this helicarrier and barely fits on the front end.

The back of the box has more of the same, but also includes a brief explanation of the helicarrier. Keep the back of the box because this thing comes with decals and this helps you figure out where to put them!

All in all, solid packaging for a hopefully solid vehicle.

Score: 9.0/10 (Good solid packaging, although a little deceiving on scale)

Accessories

How do I count accessories on a vehicle? The whole thing is an accessory! It is the ultimate accessory for the crappy figure they placed inside. The five launching missles are a great feature for kids who get this thing. The crane is kind of useless.

Score: 8.0/10 (Awesome vehicle mixed with some whack-ass elements)

Sculpt/Likeness

As far as looking like the SHIELD helicarrier in the movie, I believe it captured some elements. There are turbine fans on the side that really spin. There is a place for jets to take off from. But of course it is not to scale. If it were to scale, it would be like 20 feet long an 8 feet wide…I think Hasbro had to cut the line somewhere.

As far as it looking like the one in the comic, it is not even close. Whenever I think of the SHIELD helicarrier in the comic book, I always picture the one with the helicopter blades attached to it. Not exactly close to the one in the comic books, but still varied enough where I can happily incorporate it into the rest of my Marvel Universe collection.

Score: 8.5/10 (Just pure awesomeness!)

Articulation

There is really not any real articulation on this vehicle besides the several hatches. There are three hatches on front in case you need to “store” your weapons and there are two hatches in the gun turret/bridge that you can store your figures. The gun turret moves up and down. The crane in the back rotates. There is a launching pad in the back for your figures, but I most likely will never launch my figure. The turbines spin. and the missles fire from the missle launchers and the gun turret. Pretty good for a vehicle, but I do wish it did more, like maybe electronic sounds or something to that nature.

Score: 8.0/10

All in all, a really solid vehicle/playset offering. I’m glad that Hasbro decided that they couldn’t keep painting and repainting the same vehicles, motorcycles, and ATV’s and including them in their movie line. I have to honestly say that Hasbro has stepped up with this offering and hope they continue to do so in their movie and Marvel Universe action figure lines.

Final Score: 8.5/10

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