Customer Reviews

Avatar RDA Scorpion Gunship

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This otherwise excellent "toy" came up when I did an "RC aircraft" search. In my pre-xmas haste, I immediately ordered it based on a cursory look at the many good reviews and the low price. When I went to wrap it today, I saw that on the box it was very clearly marked "THIS IS NOT A FLYING TOY!" That alert should also appear clearly somewhere in the Amazon product description. A more careful study of the few negative reviews reveals that I wes not the only one misled, however unintentionally. Now, with little time left before Xmas, I have to start hunting for a real RC vehicle.

Why I am qualified to speak: I have been collecting action figures since the first Star Wars figures back in the 1970s. I have thousands of 1:18 action figures (literally THOUSANDS) and hundreds of vehicles that go with them.

I Paid $[...] for this ship (movie pre-release sale at K-mart) and feel that it was the perfect price for this item. I see that they are now $24.99 to $29.99 at various stores and that price is way over the value mark. Watch this item for sell-out, though, as it is the best AVATAR product currently on the shelves.

It appears that this vehicle is released in the same quantities as the flying creatures and other vehicles as they all had equal representation on the shelves at 8 different stores I visited.

THE GOOD:

-The olive drab color is perfect. There is a very, very subtle gold dust in the paint that is nice if the model is touched by the sun.
-The cockpit has very nice plastic "glass" and has an interior section that folds up and out to make it easier to get figures inside. The effect is imagination inspiring.
-Assembly was fun. It kind of reminded me of an elementary snap-together model kit at first. Additionally, once it is together it stays together.
-The over-all structural appearance is awesome. This is one of my all-time favorite vehicles... based on appearance alone.
-The Cockpit hinge is made to snap on and off easily to avoid breaking if torqued.
-The guns on the front wing rotate 360 degrees.
-I like the fact that this ship has no springs inside and that it doesn't shoot any funky colored missiles. (But I would have liked to have had individual missiles that separate from the wing)

THE BAD:

PARTS and ASSEMBLY (the bad):

The front "wings" where the machine guns are attached require adult strength and child fingers to easily assemble. I was afraid that if I held them at the outer edges while pushing I ran the risk of bending them and getting a crease where the plastic would be lighter than the surrounding areas. With a little work and focus I was able to get them installed while maintaining a solid grip on the larger gun and the top of the wing at its base.

Those same front wings each have 2 stubs that protrude INTO the cockpit area. So long as the cockpit is closed you won't care, but those nubs detract from an open cockpit experience.

The tail assembly and the snap-on wings are a different type of plastic than the body of the ship. Bright light passes through the softer plastic and it is much more flexible than the rest of the ship. The color is also not perfectly matched up and a close inspection makes it easy to see where one begins and the other ends. It is too early to tell but I would expect discoloration differences over time to make the parts stand apart even more.

SCALE (the bad):

-The seat inside the cockpit is too small and is almost not even there. It is molded into the rear wall of the cockpit and serves to do little more than hold the hips of a sufficiently small pilot.

-I wish all the various companies would settle on a standard 1:18 scale for their figures and then honor that scale with acute attention to detail. This ship is too small for most 1:18 action figures. If you really bend and crunch a standard GI Joe figure (with no gear) you can squeeze him inside. Neytiri just barely fits inside if you squish up her legs enough (a problem with Neytiri's scale more than the ship's) [*EDIT* meaning that Neytiri is too small and should not be able to squeeze in there... but this point is included to give an approximation of how big the ship is for people who are not up to speed on the size of other action figures]. GI Joe's Scarlett in Reactive Impact Armor (See Desert Ambush Shana "Scarlett" O'Hara) fits snugly, in a proper seated position, with her feet under the fold-up dash and her head squarely under the cockpit hinge IF you swivel her holster up onto her lap.

PAINT (the bad):

-With the exception of the white, yellow and black used for 6 TEXT areas of the ship (2 No Step and 4 missile designations) the only other color on the ship is gold on the end of some missile tubes and a hint of red that I think is supposed to be a follow light for night ops (a little red, see-through plastic "light" would have been much nicer). I'm not a big fan of weathering for paint jobs, but they could have easily increased the aesthetics by simply doing a black wash to bring out the molded line details (like the vents and plating joints).

-The rockets that are painted gold are not individually painted. Instead, they painted the entire face of the assembly gold, to include the rockets and plating behind the rockets.

ARTICULATION (the bad):

- The twin rotors on each side spin and the entire assembly pivots just as it does in the movie... with 8 clicked-position increments but it is already wearing out so it is becoming free moving, but still tight enough that it holds its position.

-The nose sensor is not articulated.

ACCESSORIES (the bad):

- Missiles do not detach and there are no accessories. (1 missile on each side does fire using springs. They are very well integrated and blend in perfectly)

CONCLUSION:

I Love this ship. If it were to scale with GI Joe and Star Wars I would have bought 6 of them. Since it is too small I'll just have to settle on two of them (for Scarlett and Cover Girl). I will apply my own black wash and add a few high quality bitz to spice it up. It was a great value at $[...]. I can see spending $[...]. It is over priced at $[...] but I bet it will sell anyway. If this is still around when clearance hits, snap it up if it gets anywhere near $15. Less than that and it is a steal.

It's modeled exactly like the one in the movie. He's obsessed with the movie and loves all the Avatar toys he got for Christmas. It's a fun toy for him and it stay put together even after dropped a few hard times.

My son was looking for remote control helicoters and this toy came up under a "RC Helicopter" search. This might be a great toy but is not RC its a model to build. He was very disapointed when he opened the box to find it was not what he thought. He is also very much into models so we kept it but READ carefully before buying. Make sure you get what you want.

I fly Radio Control models, and when I saw the Scorpion Gunship in the Avatar movie I found myself thinking, "It would be so cool to have a radio-control model of this unique aircraft." I was on Amazon one day and checked to see if a model was available to use as a 3D reference to take measurements from, and sure enough, there it was, so I purchased it. With the Free Shipping option it arrived in about 5 days, which was actually quicker than I expected. There is a little bit of assembly required on this model as it comes in about 11 pieces, and everything just snaps together. The assembly is very simple and consists of plugging in the tail section, the two rotor blades, the two main wings, the two front wings and the landing skids. One cool feature I did not even know about is the fact that two of the missles on the main wing are spring loaded and actually shoot when you press a release button! They only go about 6 feet, but it is still a cool effect.

The detail of the model is very good, and for my purposes, it is a perfect rendition of the Scorpion Gunship that now sits proudly on the corner of my desk at work. Now I just need to design a larger radio-controlled model of it that actually flys like the one in the movie!

As above, I also ordered this from a "RC helicopter" search. Only when preparing to wrap the present did we notice that this was "Not a flying toy". Why then would it show up under RC helicopter?

This should show up prominently in the ad.

I will be checking on returning this item.

This gunship helicopter thing is awesome, just ask my 3 year old and he'll be glad to describe it for five minutes straight in exacting detail. It's actually for much older kids yet is designed safely and sturdily enough to be suitable for my son.

I agree that this toy is a very well-sculpted replica of the aircraft featured in the movie. I am happy with it, but I couldn't help but apply many decals from some G.I.Joe vehicles to it...there is very little miscellaneous detail on the vehicle itself. A "No Step" stencil and some numerals on the rear airfoils are pretty much it as far as markings go. I love the way mine looks after I gave it a good variety of "aircraft decals" to flesh it out. Also, I would have liked to see a button or trigger that would have spun the blades. They rotate independently, sure, but not without a flick from your hand. But in conclusion, the gunship is a great design, and the toy is a fine recreation of it.

The RDA Scorpion is larger and more detailed than I would have assumed it would be for the price, so consider me happily surprised! They did a great job at authentically and affordably re-creating the ships from the movie Avatar. The pieces fit together nicely (unlike some other Avatar toys) and the final product is a fairly sturdy toy with a lot of movable parts and two spring-activated firing missiles. If you're a model and figure collector like me and also like to paint your models, this is an excellent base toy to prime and add your own paint and decals to - looks great with a flat Olive Drab coat, some "combat damage", jet exhaust carbon, and handmade decals from the movie. Hang with clear/fishing line from the ceiling for a more interesting presentation too. =)

My 6 year old just loves Avatar, so I had to get him a few of the toys.

This one I was worried about since one of the reviewers mentioned how difficult it had been to put the small canard with weapons in, he was worried that the pressure to get it fully inserted nearly bent the plastic. And after putting together two of the flying creatures (which were a pain), I was fully expecting to have that issue, but I did not.

All the pieces went together solidly on mine but without any insane effort like the other toys required.

it's solidly made, and the pieces fit and stay well.

Detail is surprisingly good, and for a kid, it's easy to just hold by the tail and run around with it "flying".

As noted, the pretend guns on the small canards under the cockpit swivel back and forth, but no other ones move. The rotors tilt, but since I haven't had it that long, I've had no problems as others have noted with it getting loose real quick, but since I don't foresee my 6 year old doing much tilting, I don't think I'll have the same problem.

The little spring fired missile doesn't have much range, so clearly the spring isn't that strong, not likely to hurt someone seriously even if they were shot in the eye, just irritate it.

all in all a good toy, especially for the price range. I just wish they had thrown little motors in the rotors with a battery pack inside since that would've made it outstanding...

All in all, a fantastic representation of the gunship for a kid to enjoy playing with.