Saturday, May 15, 2010

Soldier Story CIA SAD Night Ops Ver 2.0 REVIEW 2

continued from previous post...

The Special Activities Division (SAD) is a division of the United States Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) National Clandestine Service (NCS) responsible for covert operations, black operations and other "special activities." These include covert political action and paramilitary special operations. [source: wiki]

Since the CIA SAD is covert and black ops, no one is going to confirm or deny if this Soldier Story 1/6 scale 12-inch CIA SAD Night Ops Ver 2.0 operator / military figure has the proper or correct getup (outfit) but who really cares ;) this figure just looks too damn COOL


Here's the Soldier Story CIA SAD Night Ops Ver 2.0 operator with full gear and kit except the black hooded jacket, extra helmet light, the eight yellow cyalume light sticks or glow sticks, extra belt and hydration drinking tube.

The Soldier Story CIA SAD Night Ops Version 2.0 operator comes dressed in black from head to toe with black helmet, shirt, armor vest, assault vest, pants and laced-up combat boots.






Close-up of the Soldier Story 1/6 scale MICH (Modular Integrated Communications Helmet) TC-2002 Combat Helmet with NVG mount and NVG (Night Vision Goggles), tactical goggles, SORDIN headset and skull bandanna, all beautifully executed and easy to fit on the head



Tactical Tailor Tac-Vest 1E. The three rifle magazine pouches on each vest (in this case, located on the right) are designed with versatility in mind and each pouch can accommodate two 30 round M16 magazines, one 20 round .308 magazine, one G36 magazine or just about any other similar sized magazine. Each vest is built out of heavy-duty breathable nylon mesh.

The left pouches accommodate the pistol magazines and has a front mounted holster with an adjustable thumb break for his M9 pistol

Radio pouch for the radio attached to his belt, along with two Flexi-Cuffs (Double) BLACK

Each vest has a reinforced drag handle along with an internal hydration pack sleeve. The back of each vest has an additional hydration pack pocket (which can also be used to carry bolt cutters, or a jacket) and two multi-purpose pouches. Additional pouches are carried on his belt as well.

He also has a medical pouch, drop-down holster for his other M9 pistol (yup, he comes with not one but two M9s) with additional pistol magazine pouches for his spare magazines

The black gloves he has are pretty bada$$ too


And then there's the shotgun panel for his shotgun shells as well as a multi-purpose pouch on the drop-leg platform

Another view of the extra utility pouches carried on his belt. This guy is loaded to the hilt and ready to bring down some tangos with all that he has.


Another look at the really nice 1/6 scale Heckler & Koch (H&K) G36C Assault rifle with folding stock, removable magazine, Integrated RIS with RIS Forward Grip, silencer, EOTech Sights, tactical light attached on a bungee sling


The verdict is OUT: Soldier Story has done it again! This Soldier Story CIA SAD Night Ops Version 2.0 is as good as the FIRST (reviewed HERE) and will make a good companion :)

Double Trouble - Soldier Story CIA SAD Night Ops Version 1 and 2.0 together HERE

17 comments:

desmond said...

Although a skeleton graphic balacava is not new in the market but it still looks pretty cool. The graphics printed on the fabric gloves are nice too :)

James Lau said...

is the glove easy to put on ?

alex teo said...

yo desmond, these skull bandanna are pretty new though. gloves are pretty cool ;)

hi james, some patience is required but the end result is worth it CHEERS

Unknown said...

The gloves are the most stressfull thing ever James

alex teo said...

Hi Moustafa, as I mentioned also to James, you have to agree that the look with the gloves on is certainly well worth the investment of time spent :D

Anonymous said...

This figure is great. My question though is the gloves graphics I have are not white. They are more of a Sand color. Has anyone else seem this?
Thanks.

Digital Desperado said...

Hey Alex! Nice collection you have!! I just got my CIA SAD 2.0 after waiting for it for 4 months!! It´s quite hard to assemble, but can you give me some tips on how to put yhe gloves on the figure hands?? And what´s the use for the 5 sticker foam pads that came along with the cuffs in a small plastic bag?? Can you please help a fellow collector?? Thanks and congratulations on a gerat collection and an excellent blog!!

alex teo said...

hey anon, in some forums i've seen them in sand color too

hi Digital Desperado, thanks for the kind words :) for the gloves, you need tweezers and a credit card to slowly push the gloves in between the fingers so that they fit snugly. PLUS a lot of PATIENCE!! the 5 sticker foam pads are meant for the insides of the helmet - the round one fits in the center.

Anonymous said...

Hi, i'm getting my SAD ops 2.0 soon, any tips on assembly apart from the gloves? Nice collection by the way. thanks!

Eugas said...

Hi alex I'm getting my CIA SAD 2.0 this sunday and in need some assembly tips could you help?
Love your collection by the way. Thanks

alex teo said...

Hi Eugas, I'll try my best to help if I can ;p One of the best ways is to look at all the various pictures and figure out what goes where OR you can even customize your own loadout as I'm pretty sure the agents in the field would do the same (especially if one is left-handed as opposed to being right-handed)

Thanks for the compliments on my collection & all the best with your CIA SAD figure :)

Digital Desperado said...

Hi, Alex, sorry for asking about the gloves again, but can they fit in both sets of hands, or just in the spare hands with bendable fingers? Thanks!

alex teo said...

Hi Digital Desperado, the gloves fit on the bendable fingers as the open palm bendable fingers make it easier to wear the gloves. I've heard of people who try to put the gloves on the molded hands but that will really pose a great challenge. Easier to do it with the bendable fingers but bear in mind, you really have to sit down for this task ;P CHEERS

Eugas said...

Hi again Alex, just got my SAD 2.0 and your tips were really helpful. I'm a new collector and this is my first military figure, I cant quite figure out how to attach the pouches and the helmet strap can you help?
By the way what are the plastic strips that come with the helmet stickers?

Thanks a lot! :)

alex teo said...

hey Eugas, I was hoping the pictures would help as it's very hard for me to explain how to put the pouches on without showing a video.

Check out this other post as it shows how the pouches are placed on the figure. Hope this helps. Just remember that you need to get it on the figure and make it stay on - the final look is what you are going for. Sometimes a little well hidden double-sided tape can help keep things secured down.

http://toyhaven.blogspot.com/2010/01/soldier-story-cia-sad-night-ops-ver-20.html

As for the helmet, try to visualize how you would have to put it on your own head and translate it back to the figure. The triangle looking things on the sides go around the ears and they should connect under the chin. A pair of tweezers might help ease the task at hand.

The TWO plastic strips you mentioned i think are the flexi-cuffs which you can see from the pictures next to the radio pouch. They are used like handcuffs but are faster and easier to secure. CHEERS

00Devin said...

Hi sir, I like your blog, and I really like your collection. I want a set of my own but I'm gonna try to keep it down to one (till I can afford more), and I think I'm gonna go with the CIA soldiers story night ops, ver 2.0.

I was wondering if these are still manufactured, and where might I find one? I was thinking about checking hobby shops. Also what kind of articulation does the figure have?
Thank you :D

alex teo said...

Hey Devin, great figure to start a collection :) good choice. This figure has the full range of articulation that all 1:6 figures have. This version 2.0 might still be available through 1/6 hobby shops. You should buy from reputable shops that don't deal in fakes; here's a
list for you

http://www.gijoeelite.com/f_home.asp

http://stores.ebay.com/POINT-BLANK-TOYS__W0QQ_scZ1QQ_sopZ10

http://www.monkeydepot.com/

http://www.toyanxiety.com/index.aspx

http://www.j-p-hobbies.com/default.asp

http://www.justicefighters.com/servlet/StoreFront

http://www.redplanettoys.com/index.html

You can also try e-bay
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_trkparms=65%253A12%257C66%253A2%257C39%253A1%257C72%253A4979&rt=nc&_nkw=CIA%20SAD&_ipg=&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14.l1513&_pgn=1

all the best ;p