Ninja Combat Cruiser (2012 Retaliation)

By NFCJD

Ahhh yes, my Renegades finally have a set of wheels to cruise into battle with.  The Retaliation Ninja Combat Cruiser is the awesome PoC VAMPwith a hardtop, new rollcage, and doors added to it. And it is fantastic. I wanted it from the first time I saw a picture of the teal armored retrofit of the HMMWV-like upgrade of the classic Vehicle: Attack Multipurpose.  Found one at Target and nearly peed with excitement when I saw it.  And upon opening it up, I was surprised the color of the plastic turned out to be a much deeper teal than even Toy Fair pictures made it look (the Martha Stewart line of house paint calls it “Rainforest”).  This thing is phenomenal.  Is it realistic? Yes.  Is it tactical?  No.  But it’s 12 kinds o’ awesome.  And its driver Night Fox is a brand new character that has a ton of potential for bad assery in his rookie Joe role since all the Retaliation figures were denied filecards to expand thier character.  Even Sigma Six recruits like Inferno and Lockdown got the dignity of bio cards, though without filenames.  The NIGHT FOX figure in these pictures is my custom articulated one. His vehicle RULES!

It’s perfect in my opinion, for Slaughter’s Renegades in that it’s very military in design and battle-readiness yet not something traditional infantry of the organized military would ever use.  See I’ve been a total nerd over Taurus, Red Dog, and Mercer since I got the 3-pack of them as a lad of seven years in 1987 and I was drooling geekily ecstatic when BBTS announced their inclusion in the Marauders 7-pack… ever since the 25th line launched in 2007 I had dreamed of modern takes on the Renegades, but I never had the gall to hope it’d happen.  Oh me of little faith, huh? But Big Bad Toy Store delievered them to my door 6 months ago.  And now this “Ninja” cruiser is the ride they’ve needed.  Hot-footing it to the combat zone has gotten kind old I guess, the INTERPOL acrobat has been saying my face should be removed while a former Cobra Viper calls me spineless putty and the disgraced pigskin kicker comments on my being air pollution.  How’s he know about my gas?