First posted on Monday, November 17, 2008:
The Special Activities Division (SAD) is a division of the Central Intelligence Agency's former Directorate of Operations, now the National Clandestine Service, responsible for covert paramilitary operations, effected when the US Government does not wish to be overtly associated with such activities. As such, members of the unit, when on missions, normally do not carry any objects or clothing that would associate them with the United States. SAD has been changed to Special Services Office in recent years. In short - Black Ops!!
This is Soldier Story's CIA Special Activities Divison (SAD) Night Ops and there's nothing sad about it. It comes loaded with tons of stuff and they are all good!! Hey Tony, this is for you :) Enjoy!!
Basic figure out of the box wearing Black T-Shirt, Black Field Shirt, Inner Belt, Field Pants and Combat Boots (Black, of course)
Head sculpt looks like Oded Fehr, an Israeli actor who came to prominence as Ardeth Bay in the 1999 remake of "The Mummy" and its sequel "The Mummy Returns", as well as Carlos Olivera in "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" and "Resident Evil: Extinction". He also played Antoine Laconte, a gigolo in Rob Schneider's comedy "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999)" and made a cameo appearance as Antoine Laconte in "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005)".
The resemblance to Oded Fehr is there, down to his ears - LOL
Comes with Black MICH 2000 Helmet with PVS-14 Night Vision Diamond Scope Mount and PVS-14 Night Vision Scope and ESS Googles
TASC Headset and MBITR Radio
Black medic/multi-purpose pouch, fragmentation grenade, grenade pouch, combat knife and sheath, multi-tool/pliers with hard case holder
P226 RAIL Pistol with Supressor, P226 Magazines x 5, double clip pouches x 2, tactical holster platform with holster
Black MLCS triple magazine pouch, double magazine pouch and single magazine pouch, M4 Carbine (comes with Rifle Sling, Flashlight, Supressor, S&B Scope with Larue mount and power grip), M4 Magazines x 4 (so many pouches, so few magazines - sigh)
M4 assembled and mission ready!
The opening dust cover reveals the bolt carrier group pulled back by the working charging/cocking handle
Black MLCS CIRAS LAND Variant Body Armour Vest with map pouch and all the magazine pouches (M4 and P226), grenade pouch with grenade, MBITR Radio in pouch, and Hydration System Carrier with hydration tube
One of the coolest thing about this set is the black skull balaclava which is actually worn by these Black Ops operators, including US Navy SEALs. Also comes with black Mechanix gloves
Oded Fehr partially dressed with black duty/heavy load belt, repelling harness, gas mask pouch and knee pads
Close-up of his P226 pistol sidearm in holster with multi-tool stored in hard case holder
Combat knife strapped to his back for use when needed
Soldier Story CIA SAD Night Ops all decked out and ready to "rock and roll"! One of the beauties of 1/6 collecting is this sight - a completely decked out lean mean fighting machine that looks and feels as real as it gets
Close-up of PVS-14
Check out the skull balaclava - imagine that face coming at you in the dark dead of night!
Back view - all black of course
Soldier Story 1/6 12-inch CIA SAD night ops operative with goggles on
Going for the silent kill
P226 pistol with suppressor
Mission accomplished! Stand down
IMHO This is one of the nicest 1/6 piece I've come across - exceptional
31 comments:
damn solid review, my guru. Enjoyed the walk through of kitting up the figure. Your pix are getting better and better.
heh heh u too kind ;p just enjoyed putting him together and wanted to spread the poison around. need to inspire more buying and collecting to keep the industry going, in view of the financial crisis ;)
Cheers Alex, excellent work man. I located a retailer in HK that has one left, although I may give it pass to buy something else. It's 30% more expensive now.
I think the balaclava certainly made this figure an instant hit, now VeryHot has just released it as accessory. One issue though, since this is night ops with night vision, it would be more appropriate if SS equipped the M4 with an IR aimer/illuminator instead of the tactical light.
hey tony, I fell in love with the balaclava right away. it would make a great accessory. the SEALs wore brown skull balaclavas with their desert BDUs in Afghanistan and Iraq - that would be nice too!
see your point about the IR illuminator - very sharp, my man. nice thing about the suppressor is that it had to be "screwed" on (very unique two-piece - first i've seen in 1/6)
Hey Guru Alex! Yours looks sooooo much better than mine. I had a torturous time putting him together. Sure wish this review came out earlier if not it would have saved me a lot of trouble, hehe!
I had a few hiccups along the way especially the vest fitting (my lighter helped). But the sucky part was I had casualties. I snapped the goggles when trying to fit it over his mask and broke the helmet straps at the base. Is there any way I can replace these parts? Oh and another thing, did you cut off the excess straps?
Great review bro!
hi armand, thanks for the compliments :) have experience in putting these things together lah, it helps. also have to study pictures and references to get a better idea before diving in (gotta check the waters first - ha! ha!)
I think you can try glueing some of the parts together first or try glueing the broken parts after assembly. Alternatively, you may have to buy spare loose parts as replacements. I tend to tape the excess straps down or tie them up nicely or tuck them away. Dangling shoe-laces etc don't make the figure look nice and in real life, it wouldn't happen as we are taught to tuck all loose and dangling parts away to prevent any unwanted snagging on things. Hope this helps ;p and thanks for looking
I like the Balaclava for this piece. Swee!!
yeah desmond, wait until VeryHot release these masks as accessories, then buy a couple and bash them - that'll be so cool :)
Yes, looking forward to that!!
The head sculpt looks more like an attempt at Clive Owen to me.
It's a lovely figure, especially the balaclava :D
Hi Alex,
I'm new to military 1/6 scale collecting and I came across your site while trolling for help.
I'm having a bugger of a time trying to put my SAD Night Ops trooper together. The leg gear is fine, but I'd sure appreciate some pointers with the following:
1) How did you manage to get all the pouches to fit onto the vest? There don't seem to be enough tabs / velcro strips to stick everything down. The MLCS triple pouch also seems to sit higher up than the double pouch.
2) I notice that the fingers on the pair of hands he already has on are joined together. So I'm guessing that the gloves are to go onto the other pair of hands (with the individual fingers), and then I'm supposed to bend those fingers into a grip around the gun?
3) The box also comes with some sort of sticker foam and velcro strips. I normally don't bother with stickers because I'm butter fingers, but are these strips meant to secure the various pouches to the vest?
Thanks for reading this Alex. Would sure appreciate your advice on this. Keep up the good work!
Ah, scratch my comment about the vest. Shortly after my post last night I finally realised what those long tabs on the pouches are for. :)
Hi Steven, I think you already found your answers to question 1 & 2 :) On to question 3 - Sticker foam is meant for the inside of the helmet, to raise it up a little so that the helmet sits slightly higher - old WW2 helmets even have an inner liner which the steel pot goes onto.
Hope you enjoy putting your CIA SAD together and like I tell my 1/6 friends, "Welcome to the SUCK!" because 1/6 will just suck you right in and it's going to be hard to get out - ha! ha!
Ah so... lining for the helmet. Now that's attention to detail!
Yeah, I can see where all my money will be going this year... The new Hot Toys terminators look absolutely amazing.
Thanks for answering Alex. Your blog is now on my daily must read list!
thanks Steven :) Looking forward to your comments - ENJOY the hobby
Hi Alex...First, very cool site you have here....Nice to be able to preview figures this way before buying...My question is this...The barrel on the rifle for this figure is made to come apart...But when assembled, mine doesnt fit very tight...Did you run into this problem...And if so, how did you fix yours?...Thanks
hi vintagefan, thanks for the compliments :) i didn't have any problem with the barrel being loose. not sure how you can solve the problem - hope you find a solution.
Hey @lex, Great review my man! The first 1/6 I saw that hooked me recently was the Snake Eyes figure they brought out for the movie, but this review has me looking at ALL of them now....lol....My girlfriend and my wallet thank you...Anyways, I was writing to make a suggestion to vintage fan. Not trying to step on your toes here, just trying to help.
@Vintage fan, Try putting just a dab of clear silicone at the opening of the connection. Silicone cures very clear, will hold the pieces from rattling loose, but will still break apart quite easily when preasure is applied. I collected Spawn figures for a while, and had to use this method a few times. Works like a charm.
hey anon, thanks for the compliments and sorry about the "poison" - LOL
And thanks for the tip you left for vintagefan. Any suggestion that works will help. That's why I started this blog, to document my collection and help others grow theirs.
CHEERS!!
hy got 2 ask, where do u get all this awsome stuff from and for how much cos its awsome
hey jordan, these 1/6 stuff are available locally or on the internet if you know where to look. if you are really keen, i can point you to a few places but not ebay or EVILbay as many have come to call it - ha! ha!
Prices vary but expect to pay about USD60 and up for such figures.
cool
(where do i look?)
do u no were i could find the guns cos i really like G36Cs and want 2 get one
Jordan, you can try this site: http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Storerooms
I don't get things from them because I get mine locally in Singapore but I've read positive reviews from people who have used them. CHEERS!!
cool, chears for your help @lex and keep up the good revews :)
hey @lex,
I have some questions regarding the SAD Night Ops, thought mine is the version 2 variant, I hope you could still help me out with some advice for the attachments.
1) my first question happens to be the same one as Steve accept that i haven't figured out how to attach the tabs lol... I had resorted to using super glue for my previous figure (TTL-CIA Quick Response Force) and not proud of it, so I want to do it right this time.
2) how do I attach the NVS on the helmet, mine doesnt seem to fit in and I'm afraid forcing it would break the delicate plastic.
3) How do you figure where attach each belts, straps and pockets onto the figure? Is a little confusing to relying on the small pictures on the box and I ended up with alot of extra pockets and straps lol. Do you improvise the placements?
I also had problems with putting the glove onto the hands but fter reading Steve's comment, I was like "oh crap" I had no idea that the hand with open fingers could be bent lol... the right glove tore as I forced it into the other hand. I plan on getting this as a replacement hehe
http://xl-shop.com/xlshop/product_images/OTHER/TTL_HAND_GLOVE1.jpg
I appreciate any help given and thanks in advance lol
And sorry for my grammar, english isn't my strongest :P
hi dex
the tabs located at the back of the pouches go into the loops found on the vest. interlocking them will make for a better fit. the plastic tabs are quite flexible. Having a pair of tweezers on hand helps a great deal too :)
as i haven't picked up my version 2 yet, i'm not sure how the NVS attaches.usually it should attach nicely but i cannot comment since i haven't seen it, sorri
as there are no official pictures of these operators, you are free to configure the pouches the way you see fit.imagine if you were one of them, how would you want to carry your stuff for easy and fast reach?
hey don't worry about your english man. if i can understand you, that means you're speaking and writing fine, right?
Hi Alex,
This is one of the rare SS product. Any idea where can I still find it?
Cheers
Hey Dennis
This really is a very old piece and very hard to come by. I got it when it first came out and after that, even trying to get a second piece was impossible back then. The supply just didn't meet up with the demand.
Since then, there was a version 2.0 and the latest FBI CIRG. Better chance of getting the latest released figure.
Best :)
Its been my dream for 8 years.But now finally i think its gonna happen:)
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