| Turbo Surge Phoenix Review Capsule |
| A small vehicle with a figure. The Turbo Surge Phoenix has movable wings which double as landing gear, a pulsating LED, and Akima with a pistol. Highly reccomended at clearance prices. |
Introduction
As one of the many late, great Hasbro movie tie-ins, Titan A.E. delivered a new 3 3/4 inch toy line full of pulsating lights and third-rate firing projectiles... and the same character no less than four times. The line consisted of three vehicles, two deluxe figures, and six more or less "regular" figures and ran for a few months before hitting the clearance bins.
Vehicle
This vehicle is a fine example of a decent toy. Some ships come off as cheap, others just uninteresting. This one is a nice-- if not especially striking-- vehicle like one might expect out of the Hasbro Toy Group. And I mean that in a good way.
 The mechanism for the wings is rather unique. 16bit Labs (not to be confused with Adam's kitchen) tested it out on a variety of surfaces, and it basically works like this: a plunger in the back of the vehicle in "flight mode" is pressed against the ground, the wings lower, and the Eagle has landed. So to speak. And all it takes to get the wings back into place is to pull out the plunger. Of course, we do have a warning: a few people stopped by my place and tried it out, and caught their fingers in the wings when closing them by hand. Hey, at least the gimmick works out.
The Turbo Surge Phoenix, as a toy, is basically just a one-man fighter in the traditional 3 3/4 inch scale like Star Wars or GI Joe: A Real American Hero. Even though the Titan A.E. line as a whole left me disinterested at first, this is a great little toy that's a nice, cheap diversion for anyone so inclined toward such a thing. And that's probably most of you.
Figure
Akima is probably the most distinctive looking figure I've seen packed with a vehicle in some time. Striking colors, decent sculpting, and it's a chick. I honestly can't think of a recent vehicle that was packed with a female figure. (Well, there was one in the GI Joe rerelease from Kenner, but that doesn't really count since nobody ever saw it.)
There isn't much in the way of detail, but that's what makes it a good figure-- it looks kinda like a cartoon. Except for the eyes, some white paint would have done a lot to improve the look of the face. Of course, with two-toned hair, well, it's obvious where the nickel they were spending on paint ops went.
  There were two big surprises when it comes to this figure. The first was the inclusion of a weapon, and a decent one at that. In the tradition of classic Star Wars weapons of days gone by, a single small pistol is included with the figure. The other surprise comes with the foot holes. By looking at them, it's obvious that there were holes sculpted in the feet, but upon closer observation, they were filled in just enough to make stands useless. Thankfully she stands on her own. Not particularly well, but still, as long as you don't sneeze you shouldn't experience any real problems.
Due to the pose of the figure, it requires a little bit of bending to get her to sit in the ship's cockpit. Because of this, it is not reccomended that you leave the figure inside the vehicle for long periods of time unless you want a bent-up figure.
Fin
All in all, the toy is very nice for its price point. Even at its original $14.99 price, it's still pretty good. The landing gimmick is nifty, and the design isn't half bad. The included figure is an interesting departure from the typical space suited hero packed in with most vehicles.
Our sample was found at a local Wal-Mart for $3.00, and for that price, we give it an overwhelmingly positive reccomendation. For $10 or less, it's not a bad toy, but considering how many of these are around unsold, more than that seems a bit ridiculous.
Reviewed by Adam Pawlus
Reviewed on January 19, 2001
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