Review – Terminator Salvation 3.75-inch T-R.I.P.

Manufacturer: Playmates * Year: 2009 * Ages: 4+

WARNING: As with the T-700 review (found here), this review may contain movie spoilers. Read at your own risk. I don’t think there’s anything here that will affect your enjoyment of the film, but I think you should know what you’re getting into before proceeding.

“This is the robot that started it all. With hundreds ready to come off the assembly line, the resistance finds itself on the brink of extinction. But the fight for the future has just begun.”
— from the card front

The Terminator Salvation T-R.I.P. — Resistance Infiltrator Prototype — is effectively a silver-colored version of the T-700 (reviewed here) with very minor changes to the sculpted details. (And some of the changes appear to be production variations and not intentional changes.) Everything I’ve already said about the T-700 applies to the T-R.I.P., so this review will be shorter than most.

The T-R.I.P. Action Figure

Standing roughly 4-inches tall, the T-R.I.P. is slightly taller than most 3.75-inch scale action figures, which works just fine for a terrible, robotic engine of war. As with the T-700, the figure is cast of one-color of plastic with red painted eyes and, this time, a dark wash that really brings out the sculpted details. Overall, the T-R.I.P. is every bit as cool as the T-700 and even just a little nicer because of the lighter color.

It’s pretty much the same toy, so if you want just one Terminator action figure I’m going to recommend the T-R.I.P. over the T-700. And if you’re gonna army build with these guys, you’ll want three or four of each of the two designs.

Accessories

The T-R.I.P. comes with two weapons, a pistol and something that’s billed as a “High Tech Rifle.” It’s a step up from the T-700’s “Resistance Crushing Angle Iron,” but the guy naming these accessories needs to get out more . . . or be replaced by someone more creative. Both weapon’s are smaller than the T-700’s rifle and the T-R.I.P. can hold one in each hand, though the smaller pistol doesn’t fit well in either hand.

They’re not spectacular accessories, but they are both appropriate (and better than “angle iron”).

Comparison to the 3.75-inch T-700

At first glance, the T-700 and T-R.I.P. look like exactly the same toy. It’s not until you start looking closely at them, and comparing the two side-by-side, that you can start to see the differences. The below photos should help you get a better feel for the differences between the two figures.

The above shot shows a close-up of the legs, with the T-700 on the left and the T-R.I.P. on the right. The piston on the T-700 extends out from the leg a bit more than it does on the T-R.I.P., but I think this is a slight production variation and not an intentional difference between the two figures. The sculpted details, especially the details just above the knee joint, are different enough that I’m confident these are two different designs.

Above we have the T-700 and T-R.I.P. standing back to back, clearly showing the height difference between the two action figures. It’s a minor difference that isn’t even noticed until you stand the figure up together. In fact, it wasn’t until I had finished cleaning up all of the photos for this review that I noticed the height difference. I immediately took this shot, since I thought some of you would like to get a look at this evidence that the two toys are not identical.

The two images above show the minor differences between the chests and backs of the two toys. On the back, I think the differences are another example of factory variations. The chests, though, appear to be different pieces (one of which was probably created by modifying the other).

Closing Thoughts

A great robotic villain and a cool robotic toy, the T-R.I.P. makes a solid addition to any toy collector’s 3.75-inch action figure collection. Even though it’s almost a direct copy of the T-700 action figure, the T-R.I.P. has enough differences that hardcore fans will want both. Hell, the really insane out there are going to want more than a couple of these.

I’m recommending the T-R.I.P. over the T-700, solely because the paint job works better on this figure. The fact that the T-R.I.P. doesn’t come with a completely stupid accessory is just icing.

Philip Reed may not want the 3.75-inch T-600, but he is seriously thinking about snagging the Hunter Killer. It looks cool and would give his T-700 and T-R.I.P. some serious fire support.