Sky Striker? We're finally getting a Sky Striker?

[Trigue]

I can't wait for the Skystriker to come out! I'd love to get three of them. One to leave in the box, one to open and another one to paint up like a night boomer. But I'll probably only get one and open it in the car like I was 5 again!

[Bowl is Forever]

I'm going to leave in like a half hour to go grab one of these. I've got a lead on a case within an hour's drive from me. If anyone wants one, for retail plus a little gas money, let me know. Only thing, I'm leaving in a half hour. Best offer first, but you have to be quick. Thanks!

[deadfish]

honestly has anyone looked forward to a release more than this...and at 35.00...shivers, can't wait to get my grubby paws on one...

[Bowl is Forever]

I have an extra one now if anyone wants one.

[Pit Viper]

Are these Target exclusives?

[Super Sport]

No, it's mass market.

[Grunt]

This will be the first new item I've purchased in a store since the 25th stuff. Looks awesome from the pics. Can't decide whether or not I'm going to open it or not.

[cageyJG]

Haven't opened mine yet, but I noticed on the box it has "XP-21F" vice the old "XP-14F". Also, on the back, the Skystriker is positioned on the deck of the FLAGG. It's a nice graphic, the plane and Ace are real; the deck looks like a good rendering, has non-skid and rough features and some shadowing from the toys. In the foreground on the bottom left, there are some very very realistic grey mechanical parts built into the deck that has a 25th looking foot-peg. Ta-da, let's start the rumor around the web that we're getting a 30th FLAGG. Other than that, the Navy needs to bring back F-14s and ditch the F-18s. Looking cool is what wins wars.

[Pathfinder_fan]

This better show up in Canada or there will be **** to pay.

[Psycho Joe Guy]

Other than that, the Navy needs to bring back F-14s and ditch the F-18s. Looking cool is what wins wars.

The F-18 is the Navy's 'jack of all trades, master of none' dream plane. Put simply, they can buy more F-18's than they could ever had had with a mixture of attack and fighter aircraft, no matter how inferior its capabilities. In air combat capability, even the brand-new F-18E Super Hornet is inferior to the F-14D in range, playload, speed, turn radius, time to altitude, and attack range, but the Navy can have F-18's do ground attack (sorry 'Bombcats), act as in-air refuelers (hate that for you Intruders), and electronic warefare (too bad about that Prowlers).

The F-14 was doomed even before Top Gun hid them in its homoerotic ode to short men and sunglasses. It was a budget hog from the start, had a troubled development, and never even received its design spec engine until the B/D upgrade almost 15 years into service. When the plane was excluded from digital fire control and systems integration in the late 80's, it was over for it, and the old Tomcat only soldiered on, unloved by brass as an unsexy budget item and cursed by deck crews as a leaky worn-out hydraulic fluid sprinkler system, because the Super Hornet ran long in development. When the fleet was retired in 2007, it was cannibalized and the spare parts sold to Iran (of all countries!) to maintain their aging fleet sold to them when the Shah was in power.

That plane deserved better than Tom Cruise I tell you! Head to head, in its prime, it was the US's premier fighter, but was rarely given a chance to prove it. Perhaps it is best lamented that its intended enemy pretty much copied most of the major aspects of its airframe, gave it fixed wings and called it the SU-27UB over 30 years after the Tomcat first took flight. It looked mean, but it didn't just look. It fits that GI Joe chose it as its fighter, because the Tomcat was a specialized, super capable aircraft that didn't NEED a host of support planes to carry out its mission.

I picked up two new Skystrikers today. YAYYYYYYY!!!!!!