Fuel your addiction

Here i wanted to take a look at the new Soldier Story USMC 2nd MEB in Afghanistan’s Helmand province figure. this particular one is the U-Toys exclusive, the full release is still a few months out, those who picked this one up however get to enjoy it earlier, with one or two bonuses. here’s my preliminary review, i’ve mainly played with the gear, but busy as i am i wont be done kitting up for a long time. Enjoy the review, and if you haven’t preordered, dont miss out on this awesome figure, our preorders are open.

My first impression after looking through the gear is that the quality seems to have been improved on certain parts of the release. little things have been improved. i also found the head sculpt size to look pretty good in person, despite the concerns it was oversize. the figure over all looks really good, just like the guy from Battle L.A. (the patch even has Nantz’s name on it!).

(please excuse my bad lighting set-up, i’m working on it)

The gear:

The vest and pouches are very nice, and very functional. the collar pieces can come off the neck of the vest , and the crotch protection flap is removable too. the cummerbund is adjustable, and when the flaps are open, removable. the side pockets for armor plates can be removed as well.

The pouches are keeping with SS quality, mine had no noticable QC issues. in particular, i liked the grenade pouches for the M203 rounds. these are made very well, and dont have that bulky, underscale look as most small 1/6th pouches can.

The pack is very nicely made, and my favorite piece. i was most surprised by the improvement on the quality of the buckles on it. SS seems to have made a smaller design that is far more detailed than their previous clips (compared to PJ, CCT, SDV).  for me this just made the packs overall appearance that much better

One part of this release that i liked most was the good fitment of the uniform. i missed on the previous marine, so im not sure how that one’s fit. but it seems like SS finally got these guy a size that fits them. the pants fit well, and have a bungee peice on the ankles, good for making the pants look tucked into the boots. The top fits very well, the sleeves even have a very cool wrist strap system that lets the button go through to the inside (looking very tidy).

the other plastic bits are as to be expected from SS. the M4’s acog seems to be a little on the loose side, which is disappointing, but the M4 otherwise looks good. a cool little bit was the little metal carabiner, like the one from the soar figure, has been redesigned and looks far more accurate.

dont forget that Ben mentioned on his blog that the NVG’s may be included in the full release. i think these really made the figure look much, much better.

(compared to SOAR carabiner)

Overall i think this was a great release. i would recommend it to anyone, it’s a great addition to go with the last marine, or for anyone who missed the first.

So here’s my first review, got the SS USAF Combat Controller today and thought i’d do a quick write-up. hopefully i’ll be able to get my camera back soon to get more pics than the ones here (all boxed up, sorry!). so here it is:

Packaging:
unlike SS typical wide 2-paneled boxes, this figure comes in a nice box with an outside slipcover featuring box-art with one of the promo pics, over a nice helo/jet background. under that is just the black box with metallic silver text/logos. the figure is housed inside this, in a foam encasing that houses the figure, rifle, pack, and gear (in baggies) in separate compartments. Personally, i think this is a cool and different packaging approach from SS, getting all the gear out was quick and without refuse.

Uniform:
very nice, has all the features of the TAD gear uni and looks good on the figure. as usual all pockets are working, some being kept closed with velcro. one of my favorite things about the uni are the upper-arm pockets. they each have a little lop to hold either a chemstick or pen. pretty cool detail carried over from the 1:1 TAD gear.

Pack:
I really like this pack, modeled after the Mystery Ranch 3 day assault pack, it’s pretty big. top top has zips open, but unless i’m missing something the zipped that runs vertical doesn’t open. either way, it’s a great pack, and pretty cool looking IMO. the side pockets have a stretchy rim, and the shoulder straps are completely adjustable.

Vest/Armor:
The chest-rig on this figure is a UW Gen-4 rig. I think the rig looks very good in the OD color, and all the straps, velco, and clips held perfectly tight on mine. there was no loose/non-sticky velcro here (i hate loose velcro). I personally like the set-up of this rig, and where everything goes, plus it looks very nice kitted up

the Vest is a MSA mesh concealment body-armor. admitedly, the mesh looks a little big, and porous, but on the figure, and under the rig i think it looks great.

Weapons; Rifle/Pistol/Knife
Rifle:
This is probably the coolest HK416 variant from SS. it feature the Vltor stock, and lots of nice gear. the rifle has an Elcan Spectre sight, which i think looks great. it has a honey-comb attachment for the front, and a doctor sight to put up top. unlike the mix-up with the DEVGRU figure, this HK actually has all it’s iron sights too, to go with the flip-up front sight. It has a surefire light for it, which is the same one i think (or similar at least) from the 10th SFG exclusive. the light is wired with a to pressure tab tat sits in the grip just like the one from the SOAR figure. the set also includes a PEQ and more importantly and IZLID. with all this stuff put on the rifle looks pretty cool. definitely my favorite from SS yet.

Pistol:
Another M9, put in a SERPA holster. not new from SS so ot much to add here, but it looks good.

Knife:
a Strider BT-GG. great looking knife! plus an awesome cloth sheath, not really sure what else to say, other than it looks fantastic.

Gear (misc.):
Some good gear here. He comes with two radios, a headset, and and a folded/wire antenna. as for the other stuff, I really liked the little notepad of binded paper, thought it was pretty cool, and the retention lanyard has a big metal hook like on the SOAR pilot’s. the ITW Fast-Mags were cool to have. everything else is pretty standard and listed below. included are 3 Mechanix M-pact glove-hands

set includes:
1x paper notepad (pretty cool item!)
1x wrist map
1x Multicam cap (very well made IMO)
1x black belt
1x wrist garmin gps
1x retention lanyard
1x Strobe
2x ITW fast-mag, magazine holders
1x red smoke
4x Cayalume chemsticks
1x yellow pen
1x scissors
1X Hydration tube
assorted patches

Thanks for reading, and sorry for the lack of good pics! hopefully i can snap this guy all kitted out soon.