Action Products :
50264
Price :
$35.99
Offer Price :
$24.49
"They have changed this toy for the worse!" 2009-11-27
By Jen B (VA)
This toy is bad quality. I am so very disappointed!
We had this set in the past and the company has changed it. On our old set, the white solid rocket boosters were able to come off, separate from the orange external fuel tank. This one does not. It is hard to play shuttle lift off, when the solid rocket boosters won't come off, because in real life the boosters come off first and fall into the ocean, to be reused, later the orange external fuel tank comes off and burns up in the atmosphere. This toy has them all permanently connected. :(
The old set had a shuttle that attached firmly to the external fuel tank, but this new version won't attach well. When placed on the gray "crawler transporter", the doors to the payload bay on the shuttle come open. It looks sort of haphazard and cheap sitting there, unlike the old version of this set.
The crawler isn't as nice or detailed and the robotic arm, in the payload bay, is now significantly thinner and more delicate. The shuttle, (die cast with plastic), is pretty much the same, except for the payload and robotic arm. It was always pretty delicate on the plastic parts. Our payload bay door and the wheels broke, and the tail fin broke off. It really needs to be played with carefully and put up, despite the fact that it seems to be marketed to youngish kids. The astronauts are the same too-out of scale and wearing suits for an eva. I'd love to see smaller ones, wearing the orange "pumpkin suit" of the shuttle astronauts.
If I'd only known Space Voyagers, (now owned by Action Products International Inc/apii), was going to make these awful changes, I would have bought several before the change. I've tried to contact the company, to give them feedback and none of the phone numbers, or email addresses on the website work.
I do want to say that I've been pleased by other Space Voyagers toys, yet I am left to wonder if they'll all go downhill too. It certainly doesn't inspire confidence.
I would not recommend this product, although there doesn't seem to be any alternative. Several brands make a similar product and they all suffer the same deficiencies. I suppose the same company in China must make them all.
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