Dave's Toy Rant:

     Robocop Mission Equipped (the red one)

CAPSULE

     Very nifty at the concept level, there's a lot of cool stuff this toy's
designed to do.  But between cheap plastic and mediocre tolerances, plus
generally poor quality control, the final result is rather disappointing.
Mildly recommended.  $5.99 at Toys R Us

RANT

     When I saw these in the store, I was mildly intrigued, but the lack of
any price tags was just enough to keep me from bothering.  Then a friend
recommended I at least try the riot control version, and pointed out the
price, so I decided to go for it.
     As a piece of design work, it's a really cool toy.  The only thing I'd
really have changed at the planning stage would have been to yank the sound
chip.  It's insanely annoying and too-easily triggered because of the button
placement.  Well, and I'd add a place to attach the missile to the backpack
so he can carry all his gear.  Here's a list of the nifty features:
     : Detachable extra armor pieces, including wheeled boots.
     : Removable left arm, with a missile launcher in the socket.
     : Hip holsters which come out of his leg like in the movie, more or
less.  
     : A riot shield, pistol, carbine and electric zapper thingy.
     : 9 points of attached articulation, plus three more of "loose" 
articulation (removable pieces which can swivel about on their point of
connection).  The presence of the sound stuff keeps the waist from being
articulated.  
     : Infojack in the right forearm which stores fairly nicely.

     Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, the execution involved a LOT of
corners cut.  The removable arm tends to fall out on its own pretty easily.
The hip holsters are loose and flop around a bit, and don't snugly hold the
weapons.  Some of the glue seams have partially separated, especially at the
knees.  The boot-armor pieces are assembled sloppily, so that in my figure's
case they both look like they belong on the right foot.  Armor bits generally
fall off if you're not careful.  And there's a little uncut flash on the
figure itself.  Finally, a little color would have been nice, the figure has
only three colors plus a little patch of fleshtone on the face.  

     Dave Van Domelen, sighs as he tries to adjust one hand and the whole arm
falls off....