Day 300

Day 300 October 27^th

M.A.X. Elite Heroes wave 2 Search and Rescue 2-pack Review

            This 2 pack is the first new set of people in the second series of M.A.X. minimates.  The search and rescue minimates are designed to be able to find people lost and hurt in hazardous terrain.

Packaging – This wave of M.A.X. is blister carded on a cardboard back much like the first wave.  The main difference is that while the first waves cards were a blueish purple colour these ones are more red/orange hued.  The back of the card gives a quick bio about what M.A.X. is all about as well as a write up about the set itself.  It also has pictures of the minimate in the various states of gear included in the set along with the ‘Gear Up!’ slogan.  As with all things exclusive to Toys ‘R’ Us there is the nice silver exclusive sticker on the front of the package.  Inside the blister the minimates and the piles of extras are in the standard clear plastic tray, secured with tape if need be.  While the tape is nicer than the little twist ties it can sometimes leave a nasty tape residue on the parts it’s holding in.

Search and Rescue 1 – The first member of the search and rescue team comes ready to get to work with the big rugged jacket chest piece in a bright blaze orange colour.  This piece is nicely detailed with all sorts of gear, pouches and a backpack; pretty much what you hope a person in his position would be outfitted with.  The arms match the coats bright orange colour with a black stripe running from shoulder to elbow and they added slip on elbow pad pieces, which completely makes sense given the line of work this minimate is in.  He includes bigger, more rugged looking boots, again perfect for this line of work and he also has a helmet that has goggles on it.  He does include a hairpiece for when the helmet is off and under the jacket he has the same black shirt tampo on the chest as the other guy does but this one does not include arms to completely remove the jacket!

Search and Rescue 2 – The second member of the search and rescue team is a bit more relaxed looking, wearing a black long sleeve sweater/shirt and a black and blaze orange vest which has ‘Search and Rescue’ printed in white across the back.  The torso block has nice grey lines on it and some definition lines, a nice looking top and I am leaning more to it being a heavier weight shirt like a sweater.  Instead of the helmet that his partner has on this guy has just a cap with goggles on it.  He also comes with a belt piece that has a knife in sheath attached to it, but the knife is a part of the belt and not removable.  Still it suits the look quite well.  The vest is of course removable and he comes with a hairpiece to swap with the hat. 

The Gear – In the M.A.X. sets this has to be a whole part unto itself since there is just so much extra gear included.  First off is the extra set of arms, and the spare jacket piece; both of which are attached to a clear torso piece.  Along with this are the boots which are attached to clear leg pieces and of course there is another helmet.  There is also a spare set of plain feet so that the first guy can take off the big boots if need be.  These guys come equipped with two green heavy duty flashlights, the perfect tool for their job.  They also have two walking sticks and a coiled rope; though I do wish there would have been one or a couple uncoiled lengths of rope similar to the web lines that Spider Man gets in the Marvel line.  These would have added some extra fun and play factors to this set.  In this set there are two mobile phones and then another device which could be a G.P.S. device or something else like that.  I think my most favourite accessory in this set though has to be the medi kit!  A great tool for these guys, it is a great size and best of all it even opens up to show that there are some compartments and such inside.  The inside is not greatly detailed but just the fact that it opens is a nice touch right there!

As a new release to the M.A.X. brand I think these Search and Rescue guys fit into the line perfectly!  There is tons of playability in the set and the gear they come with is well planned to the job they have to do.  While I wasn’t as excited for these as the other new set in this series since I have them in hand I have great ideas and plans for them in photo shoots and can’t wait to lay some of these plans out more!  While it would have been nice to have the extra set of black arms to complete the non-jacketed look of the one guy I am sure it will be an easy to fix with a parts bin search.  This set climbs its way to a well deserved 5 out of 5!