I got my Lancer two days ago. It's been a 36" bundle of disappointments, even though I knew what was coming.
1. Appearance: While the blood is nicely applied, it does nothing for the look of the gun. All the right levers and triggers are there, but they do nothing. And despite claims to the contrary on the product's description, this is not the Lancer used in GOW2, but GOW1 (shorter barrel), which makes me wonder if it wasn't a delayed tie-in with the original game.
2. Functionality: Here is where this gun really falls on its face. For almost $150, this gun does ALMOST NOTHING. Heck, if you don't know how to wedge a piece of metal between the uppermost battery and the battery terminal (small coin, paper clip, bit of tinfoil, whatever works), it DOES do nothing. The chainsaw noise sounds like it came off of a $3 toy in the 80s, and the vibration is even less convincing. With the price tag on this joker, they could've at least included an assault rifle sound effect (they used the assault rifle trigger for the saw for some reason). Heck, for that price, they could've lit the blue lights all over the gun, as well as the sights, and made some of the levers move, even if they didn't do anything. As it is, this thing's a very big, very pretty motorized paperweight, however well the fake blood is applied.
Also, that's not weapons-grade plastic. That's thick, cheap toy plastic. Nice to see that NECA is willing to cut corners on their contracts. The plastic hindsight also is slightly cloudy and often badly scratched on the examples I've seen, another trademark of poor-quality plastic. Not that it matters, since this gun doesn't even make a 'bang-bang' noise.
The extractable magazine's ease of release varies by the gun. Due to the defectiveness of the battery compartment, I have seen several exchanges of this gun. Some of those magazines wouldn't come out without plenty of wiggling and shaking. For this price tag, that's beyond unacceptable. That's just plain ridiculous.
Even the folding handle for the chainsaw feels slipshod and loose, likely to break off with even the slightest pressure. That's even less acceptable than the magazines, since this puppy's pretty weighty in the hands. Hands off the merchandise, folks.
I hope the modding community comes up with some great stuff, just so this shoddy toy is worth something close to the price tag (love to see an assault rifle sound and some flashing LEDs, personally). If I weren't such a big fan of the game, I'd dump this thing in the mail to Amazon and demand my money back. There's something a little intoxicating about having my own Lancer, even a bad one, but it sure doesn't outweigh the cost!
