This was my snag from Smallwood, the brute that completely made my day, and would just have easily have broken it had I not had the money. This thing retails for around £70 in most places but I got it for a ludicrous £30, and brand new too. So let's just dive in, and I'll start with the first thing that came to mind when I opened the box, this set is enormous; I've had it for close to 2 weeks and have yet to find somewhere to put it. While I love its size, and I can imagine 7 year old me would be over the moon with it, it's not very light either, and assembly is required out of the box, it may be down to the circumstances of me getting it, but I had a surprisingly hard time putting mine together. Most of the build is made of a softer rubbery material, which meant a lot of forcing things to line up, this may be mine, but given the material, I wouldn't give it the benefit of the doubt, and one particular panel at the back really didn't want to cooperate with me, I eventually got it in, but it was tough. That's my warning to anyone who is getting this set, if you're a kid, let your parents do it, if you're a parent, be patient. Once together I also had a nightmare putting on the stickers, of which this island has literally dozens, but that's my problem, not the toys, someone with more patience and steadier hands could certainly do a better job than I did. Once that annoyance is out of the way however, this thing looks great, not slouching on details or colour, especially and most surprisingly in the rubber that makes up most of the island structure, and while the structures are very simple in design and detailed entirely with stickers, once all done up, they don't look bad at all. I particularly like the pool section, it's just a nice looking section, and it's the Tracy Island pool, you know what that means.
As you can see in the pictures, this set includes playability, a crap load of it, with launch stations for all 4 Thunderbird ships, none of which are actually included in the set, to keep the price down perhaps, but you still need them for this set so what's the point, I digress. In necessary fashion, Thunderbird 1 launches out of the pool, which slides open to reveal the silo inside, from which Thunderbird 1 ascends, noisy and slowly, thanks to a gear mechanism built into the section, that while not requiring batteries, is amusingly loud, it's the same story with Thunderbird 3, which comes out of the round house. The least noisy and coolest by far is Thunderbird 2, by opening the hidden hanger door with a button press, the trees are also released and fall as they should, at which point you can roll Thunderbird 2 out onto the take off ramp, it's still cool, and I still love it. This one doesn't make noise, which is good, but it is worth noting that while I described the noise the gears make with Thunderbird 1 and Thunderbird 3 as amusing, it can and will get annoying, and it's a shame that the set's most enjoyable feature from a toy perspective will be hindered by that winding, drilling noise. Especially when you consider that this thing has lights and sounds, and the sounds can be hard to hear, which is a huge disappointment. What isn't a disappointment thankfully is the lights and sounds themselves, the lights in the hanger light the place up very nicely and are integrated into the play features, while the sounds include launch countdowns and sound effects for the Thunderbirds, and various quotes and sounds in Brains' lab. The set also includes a wrist communicator which interacts with the Island, but I haven't tried it yet, so I can't comment, I can say that the lights and sounds in this thing are very cool.
The interior of the island is less detailed than the exterior, and thank the gods, has less stickers, but even then the interior still packs a nice amount of detail, on Thunderbird 1's silo in particular, with a very nice looking shape to it, decorated by a surprisingly easy to apply sticker. From left to right on the inside, we have Brains' lab, with unfortunately isn't very visible here, but it includes an adjustable robot arm, and buttons to activate some of the set's battery powered features, it's also worth noting that that's where the battery compartment is, since it took me 2 days to find it, because I'm thick. Next up is Thunderbird 3's silo, which, just like in the show, has a sliding door which, when closed, activates the Thunderbird 3 launch sequence, a panel in front of the door releases the winding mechanism that 'launches' Thunderbird 3. Thunderbird 1 has the same mechanism, but its silo is more interesting, one that activates when the platform Thunderbird 1 rests on is slid into the silo, at which point the pool above can be slid open and the mechanism released, launching Thunderbird 1. Thunderbird 2 is the simplest of the 3, with a button currently underneath Thunderbird 2 that, when pushed, opens the hanger door, and the rest is obvious. But all 3 of these mechanisms are very simple, and that helps when you want to have fun sending the Thunderbirds on a mission, and this level of playability really increases this thing's value as a toy, which is good given the RRP. All in all, this thing is a pretty cool set, I know that 7 year old me would go insane if he saw this under the tree, and as a toy, this thing is very nice, complete with lights and sounds, and functionality for all of the Thunderbirds, making for a lot of playability, but the set is let down somewhat by the awkward process of putting it together, and the loud noise the launch mechanisms make, which do detract from the fun when they drown out the launch sequences. The set looks great and has a place for the Thunderbirds should you want to display it rather than play with it. This is a great set with a hefty flaw, quite a lot like the Thunderbird 2 supersize set, but the flaw with this one doesn't make me anxious about its durability, which, while not a huge improvement, is an improvement nonetheless. I would very much recommend this set, but as usual, it's not a perfect toy, and that's something to keep in mind when buying it, particularly regarding the price.
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