When the Winged Fury was first spotted in pictures online, it was a little tough to tell if this was in fact a totally new vehicle, or merely a re-issue of the 3 3/4" version. Well, it didn't take long to figure out that this version of the state of the art attack chopper was indeed a totally new tool, and quite an impressive new vehicle to boot. Hasbro managed to shrink down the RHINO copter, but as it shrunk, it seemed to increase in the level of detail. Not only detail, but armament...this little helicopter is completely LOADED with offensive weaponry!

But as usual, we'll start at the beginning, with the packaging:

PACKAGING/PRESENTATION

Like the Street Razor (AKA Mission: Razor's Edge) this set went away with the open box format that showed the actual toy through an open bubble format. Instead Hasbro added even more artwork to the packaging (a smart move indeed, considering just how cool this art is) and closed off the box. This ends up giving you a very nice presentation and as we've come to expect from the 2.5" stuff, these items really jump off the pegs. Very nice, indeed.

Then, of course, you have the "Mission Manuals" included within:

The layout of the mission is well done as usual, and the schematics for the copter are very cool as well. Then we also have the instructions:

As always, the general layout and presentation of the paperwork is exceptionally well done. I love that there are stickers to put on the item, too. Great stuff.

The Toys

Once you crack that pretty box open, you end up with a flying arsenal of destructive weaponry. There are a ton of weapons here and believe me, they all have their spots on the Winged Fury helicopter (however, someone forgot to tell the sticker designer that this is no longer the RHINO Copter). Check out the guns below:

These weapons are all sorts of cool, and end up working almost flawlessly with the copter itself. Of course, this review is for the copter, so I should probably talk about that, too...

The design here is obviously based strongly off of the RHINO Copter that came with the Direct to Consumer RHINO vehicle near the end of the 3 3/4" run. Using a very angular sloped armor design, the look of the chopper ends up looking both tough and aerodynamic. Something that was kind of missed in the classic line, in my mind, was a really viable assault copter. The Dragonhawk was good enough, but not really well armored, and not stacked with weapons. The Tomahawk is a classic Joe vehicle and one of my favorites, but it also wasn't loaded with offensive gear or decent armor. Let's not even get started on the Desert Apache... Thankfully one of the first large vehicles we got once the new sculpt line started up was the Night Attack Chopper, and that stands as far and away my favorite Joe assault copter. The RHINO chopper had a lot of the same great qualities, but scaled down for quicker attacks. Now, we've got the 2.5" version, and even at the smaller size, it is absolutely loaded with detail, lots of well sculpted armored plating and a very exciting design.

Seating two and with an almost dart-like appearence, this new Winged Fury is a beauty. The overall shape and sculpting off this smaller copter makes it look just as impressive as the larger scale version, even in it's reduced size. It's got a nice amount of play features worked in as well. This chopper even has fold-out landing gear in the form of three wheels on the bottom of the aircraft as well.

First and foremost, the two mini-wings fold up and lock into the body for transportation, and the rotors fold back as well, similar to the 3 3/4" version. The rotor blades are supposed to push down into a more "locked" position as well, but this feature doesn't seem to really work at all, and they just sort of get pressed down a bit further. Also it should be noted that manually unfolding the helicopter blades can be pretty tough. They are quite stiff, I think mostly due to the automatic spinning feature. There is a small button just under the blade mechanism which spins the rotors when pressed, and this function works fairly well. On the opposite side of the copter there is a smaller, lower button which automatically pops down the mini-wings.

The point of these items folding up is for transportation, and one very cool little feature that I love is the dropcage that the Winged Fury comes with which allows it to be transported by the Dragonhawk! Don't ask me why, but this just strikes me as a very neat additional function, since the Winged Fury seems to be a pretty short range vehicle. I could definitely see the Dragonhawk screaming into COBRA territory, then deploying the chopper and ending up with a vicious two-pronged air attack to take on the COBRA forces. I dig it a lot.

Along with these play features as I mentioned before, the Fury comes absolutely loaded with weapons, top to bottom. Two missile launchers and four mounted weapons give you a bunch of different combinations and a real aggressive looking attack chopper. I love how some of the guns are scaled down versions of the same guns that came with the 3 3/4" RHINO, I think that's a very cool touch. At first I was a bit concerned about the chopper being so loaded down with weapons, and wondering how that would affect how the chopper is transported. Well, the Winged Fury can be carried along under the Dragonhawk even with the wings extended (as seen above) so that becomes less of an issue. These guns are all very nicely detailed and very aggressive looking weapons. I love the use of chainguns and pretty potent looking laser weapons. Every weapon included here is pretty much a home run...there's even the twin lasers mounted under the nose and two wing-sculpted machine guns, too.

Something unfortunate about the weapons, though...while the rocket launchers use the nice DTC junction points that will work with any other vehicle no matter the scale, all of the smaller weapons use a different peg system than the ones we've seen before. So, no, none of the smaller weapons would appear to work in the smaller ports on items like the ROCC and Night Ops Humvee. That kinda stinks, as I was hoping to use some of this gear on other vehicles.

Excellent.

The biggest thing about this vehicle is that this will likely be our only chance at ever owning a Sigma 6 Scarlett figure. The result is somewhat mixed. She's not too bad, I suppose, though I don't really like her pre-posed arms holding the crossbow and the...errr...questionably posed left hand either. I would hope, since this is the only Scarlett figure we're likely to see, that they would make a more versatile figure with some extra poseability. As it is, the paint apps are decent, the sculpt is okay and she looks all right. Nothing terrific, but okay, and she fills a hole in the ranks.

Jet Wing Duke comes with the copter, too, and from a sculpting standpoint, I think he looks pretty good, actually. The helmet is very close in sculpt to the 8" version, and I'm really impressed at how well they captured his detail at this smaller scale. Lots of little detail spots in the jetpack, and overall it's not bad. I'm not crazy about the permenantly posed left arm, and I really wish he actually came with wings to go with the Jet Wing jetpack...I'm really not sure why those were left off (except that Duke wouldn't fit in the cockpit with them on). Come to think of it, though, I'm not real sure why someone with a jet pack would need to pilot a helicopter either...

All in all, the figures are okay, but not necessarily the selling point of this item. The Chopper itself is good enough to make up for it, however.

3 3/4" Compatibility

I'm not certain just how many people will be concerned about the 3 3/4" compatibility of this item since there actually IS a 3 3/4" version of this vehicle already (though I don't think it's detailed as nicely as this one). And when you first look at a comparison shot, it would appear that the Winged Fury is vastly underscaled to even think about working with the 3 3/4" figures. But with closer comparison:

Surprisingly enough, the cockpit itself does appear to be large enough to seat a single figure. That front seat would have to be cut out somehow, but I do think with that seat removed there would be enough space in the front cockpit to wedge a 3 3/4" figure in there. Again, I'm not sure how much desire there is to do this, since we've already got a 3 3/4" RHINO chopper, but I know people will ask, so there's the rundown.

Overview

Early pictures really made this vehicle look cool, even if it wasn't really anything "new". But while Hasbro scaled the vehicle down overall, they also managed to really ramp up the detail level and the weapons allotment, and you end up with a great little vehicle that still feels exceptionally new even though it's based strongly after an already produced larger scaled vehicle.

The vast assortment of weapons, numerous ports throughout for customization, and improved detail all add up to a really fun mini chopper that is an awesome addition to your 2.5" ranks. Just like the Street Razor, the Winged Fury really shows just how much improved these smaller vehicles are compared to the first wave of releases. A very cool item. If you're not already a 2.5" fan, I'm sure this probably won't convert anyone, but for folks who dig this smaller scale already, this is a terrific item.