With the second season of Thunderbirds Are Go finally hitting our screens, Mint in Box is heading off to Tracy Island once more to review the Pod Assembly Set from Vivid Imaginations!

I was reluctant to review this set to start off with because I was already biased against it due to being, on the surface, a less interesting version of the Pod Mech Set by Takara Tomy, a similar set designed to work with Supersize Thunderbird 2 but having gotten to play around with it, it’s a completely different beast.

Here’s a demo of the construction aspect and sound play patterns:

So, first thing I have to mention is that this doesn’t come with an extra pod for the Supersize Thunderbird 2 but I can understand that budgetary restrictions would put a stop to that after producing brand new moulds for everything so I’m not holding it against the set.

The other is how chunky and robust this set is. It’s definitely designed for small hands and rugged play. Sadly, that also means there are a bunch of other restrictions. The treads don’t roll, the safe-for-kids stunted drill and helipod blades doesn’t rotate, the repair arm and dozer blade are static moulded pieces.

It’s designed for a very young children and that’s fine because each vehicle does feel solid once constructed. Vigorous shaking didn’t see parts fly everywhere and they can even survive a drop test.

Being a kit of assembly parts, I also had to see how it held up in the customising aspect and it does pretty well! Sure, some parts are in compatible with most of the ports but you can do a fair bit of Pod building for yourself. I imagine there’ll be a follow-up set with parts for the other Pod Vehicles.

Despite my initial hesitance, the Thunderbirds Are Go Pod Assembly Set is a very fun, very affordable set that makes the most of it’s robust, chunky plastic and bolster the creativity of any young Thunderbirds fan! You can currently get the Thunderbirds Are Go Pod Assembly Set for £19.99 RRP from most good retailers.

The original Thunderbirds series was a huge success in Japan, garnering a huge following and the vehicles have been part of the modelling culture there for decades so when Thunderbirds Are Go hit the shores of Nippon, you just knew that they’d take this new show to heart.

And they did! As well as model kits and other merchandise; Tomica, a Hot Wheels/Matchbox style line of die-cast cars produced a number of vehicles for the show and, best of all, included vehicles we hadn’t gotten here in the West! Today’s spotlight is on one such entry – Tomica Thunderbirds 08 Jet Mogura aka The Mole!

Unlike the bubble card packaging we might be used to, The Mole comes this dinky little box that gives it a unique, almost premium, feel that is wholly unique to Japan.

Out of the box and this die-cast digger doesn’t disappoint! Its hefty for it’s size and the details and paint are just astounding. The plastic for the drill and treads along the pod’s shaft aren’t as shiny as the promo photos would lead you to believe but the rubber rolling treads on the bottom more than make up for that. If there was one downside, it would be the lack of a tilting hinge or the pod being detachable but I’m sure if there are any larger versions produced then we’ll see that implemented (Looking at you, R/C Mole)

Size-wise, when compared to the Thunderbird 4 included in the 4-pack of vehicles I reviewed before, The Mole seems massive. By rights, it should be but the new series has The Mole as just on of many modular modes for the pod vehicles

It scales well with Thunderbird 2 at least and can almost fit into the pod but is just a little too big.

Overall, I really dig this little vehicle and I highly recommend the rest of the Tomica Thunderbirds line since it’s the only place you’ll be getting models for Thunerbird 5, Lady’s Penelope’s car, The Mole and even the Thunderbird Shadow. Go digging online and you’ll no doubt unearth a bargain but for now, I’ll catch you guys next time on Mint in Box!