Review – S.W.A.T. Police “Tough Boys Squad” Punk Rocker Pete

While on vacation I found myself in a small discount store, Alco, somewhere in Utah. I’d never been in an Alco before so I wandered over to the toy aisle and poked around a little. There was all of the usual stuff — Transformers, G.I. Joe, Star Wars — but there was also a single toy in the S.W.A.T. Police “Tough Boys Squad” line and after a few moments I decided this thing needed to come home with me.

After all, it’s a 3.75-inch action figure and vehicle that looks insane.

Packaging

A professional job, Punk Rocker Pete comes in a window box that beautifully shows off the motorcycle, action figure, and all of his accessories. It looks like the manufacturer, Chap Mei, saved some money on packaging by using the same box for multiple toys. This particular box doesn’t even show Punk Rocker Pete on the front of the box and he isn’t identified anywhere on the front or sides of the box. It’s an understandable approach to packaging design when you’re a small company but it’s still a little annoying.

The back of the box shows other toys in the series and the graphic artists did a great job designing this box; the photos show just enough to make me want all of these. The over-the-top design and styling makes these stand out from pretty much any other low-rent 3.75-inch action figure series I’ve seen. These guys could teach The C.O.R.P.S creators a thing or two about designing a toy line that looks bizarre and is packed with some cool details. The cops shown on the back of the box are kinda neat, but it’s the villains — Pumpkinhead Scot, Swiftblade Bill, and Roaster Head who really beg to be played with. What are these guys, long lost Dreadnoks?

Punk Rocker Pete

For a cheap 3.75-inch action figure I’ve gotta say that this guy’s actually pretty good. He’s roughly the same height as a modern G.I. Joe action figure and the sculpt is pretty good. The detailing in the pants is as good as any G.I. Joe action figure, the accessories molded to the figure — especially the skull belt buckle and chains — are fantastic, and the soft vinyl holster and jacket look great. After so many junk action figures I’m amazed at how good this guy looks.

The paint’s not even bad, even if the only painted details are on the head, belt, pants, and jacket. Most of the figure is molded in the colors shown — the most offensive case of missing paint is the arm band which is flesh colored rather than painted — and unsurprisingly all of the painted details are on the front of the figure (which is all you can see when the figure is packaged).

At right you can see Punk Rocker Pete’s holster; like a lot of modern G.I. Joe action figures the holster has a removable gun; a very nice touch for what I expected to be a very low-quality toy.

This particular photo also shows the figure’s boots, which provides an excellent example of the quality of sculpting on this toy. I don’t know who did the work but he obviously cared about what he was doing and put more effort into this than I’ve seen on a lot of low-cost action figures. I think this toy is better than The C.O.R.P.S. series toys I’ve seen.

Articulation

This is one place where Punk Rocker Pete falls down. He’s only got five points of articulation — the usual head, shoulders, and hips — so he’s not even as good as a 1982-era G.I. Joe action figure. If his elbows and knees were articulated he would be a much better figure; as he is he’s good, but he’s not great.

Accessories

In addition to the pistol, Punk Rocker Pete also comes with a bag of money, a stack of gold bricks, a molotov cocktail, and a guitar/weapon that’s perfect for your Dreadnoks. All of these are okay accessories, but the guitar really deserves a little attention.

The guitar can be held like a gun and the motorcycle’s ammo strip (see below) slots into the guitar which means that not only is this rocking accessory packed with a wicked blade but it’s also some sort of machine gun. The paint on this accessory is minimal (and again, only on the side that shows when the toy is packaged), but have you even seen a wilder weapon? I wonder if the other villains in this series come with crazy instrument/weapons?

Punk Rocker Pete’s Motorcycle

As wild as Pete is, it’s this totally sick motorcycle that sold me on the toy and led me to drop $9 for the box. I’ve said Dreadnok a lot during this review — and I’m sure you G.I. Joe fans understand why — but this this belongs in every Dreadnok motorpool. As you can see from the photos this thing would fit right beside the Thunder Machine; it’s got a crazy paint job, a gorilla skull holding the headlight, and the massive cannon on the back can be fired by an action figure standing on a movable platform.

And the cycle is huge! About 9-inches long, five-inches tall, and three-inches wide this thing dominates the field when it hits the road. The cannon swivels and elevates, the ammo belt can be slid from side to side (or removed for the guitar), and the handle bars move (even if the wheel doesn’t move at all). Just holding this thing shows what an impressive chunk of plastic it is, since it has the weight to go with the size. This thing’s an awesome deal.

There is a problem with the cycle’s size, though, since it’s pretty much too big for 3.75-inch action figures. Even Punk Rocker Pete has a tough time reaching the handle bars, and he was designed for the toy! With a little patience and effort you can pose figures with the cycle, but they constantly look just a little too small for the cycle. That’s unfortunate, since the manufacturer could have made money by scaling the cycle down a little and I wouldn’t have felt at all cheated if this thing was about an inch shorter.

Closing Thoughts

Punk Rocker Pete was only $9 which is a low price to pay for an action figure and a vehicle of this size. The ideas behind him are fantastic, even if the details (like articulation and the size of the cycle) aren’t always perfect. This isn’t a toy you should search the world for but if you find it, and if you’ve got a Dreadnok collection, you may want to pick it up.

I’m happy I grabbed this but I could easily live without it. There’s nothing here that makes it a truly outstanding toy but it’s a good toy at a great price. And it shows that Hasbro could charge a lot less for their G.I. Joe action figures and vehicles.

Here’s a webpage with photos of other S.W.A.T. Police toys.

Philip Reed is going to keep his eyes open and try to find one or two more pieces in this series. They’re a great price, have some cool styling, and the figures themselves appear to be very well done.