Marauder K9 Military Dog Unit Review
We got an early Christmas present today, The Marauder K9 Military Dog Units from last year’s Kickstarter arrived! Were these Doggos worth the wait? Read on to find out!
Here are two of the different styles for the Marauder K9 Military Dog Unit. The Black & Tan German Shepard was the main Kickstarter release and the Grey version was one of the many stretch goals that were unlocked.
Each Marauder K9 sports 19 points of articulation! That’s 3 more articulation points than the typical modern GI Joe figure or even a Marauder Task Force figure! Most of the joints are swivel/hinge joints. The Hips, Shoulders and mid torso joints are Ball joints. This allows for an excellent range of motion and many, many possible poses!
I really like the mid torso joint as it realistically simulates a dog’s hip movements.
One of the points of articulation is the opening jaw. This is a simple hinge, but it can add a lot of personality to the Marauder K9. I’m amazed at the level of detail here. The lower jaw closes up into the muzzle and is hidden by it a bit. Inside the mouth, you can see a ton of sculpted detail with teeth and pallet ridges. Even the muzzle has whisker divits!
Speaking of details, I was surprised to find that not only were there paw pads sculpted on the bottom of the feet, they even received their own paint application!
Each Marauder K9 comes with two different heads and two different neck pieces. Here you can see the two heads, Normal and Snarling. The neck pieces are either un-collared, or collared.
There are two different vests, a Military Vest (as seen on the Grey K9) and a mesh styled, Police Vest. These Vests have holes on them to fit either a Camera (Seen on Grey here) a Handle, or two pouches. The Military Vest only has two holes on the sides, while the Police Vest has three holes. Both Vests have two holes on the top. The Vest fit easily enough, though I have a hard time getting the connecting tab on the bottom to hold fully, but that’s been typical for me since the 25th GI Joes started doing that. I’ve found it’s easiest to take the dog’s head off to put the vest on.
Since the Marauder K9 Vests use the same holes as the Marauder Task Force figures, you can use those accessories on your dog units too!
Some of the other accessories that come with each K9 is a Dog Bone Biscuit (seen in the previous Vest picture) A Muzzle and a pair of Goggles. The Muzzle and Goggles can fit on both heads, but I would suggest taking the head off to get them on the Snarling head. I had to go through the neck to get the Goggles on and the Muzzle had to be put on straps first on the Snarling head.
The last accessories for the dogs are two different Leashes. The one on Grey has a loop that goes around the neck and plugs into itself at the black clasp. I suggest hooking the loop together, then placing it on the neck with the head removed, that was the easiest for me. The other leash has a plug that hooks into a hole on the Collared Neck Piece. This was a little of a pain to get into the hole. I had to use a small screwdriver to get it fully in the hole.
Both Leashes fit into 3 3/4″ figure’s hands well. The Marauder K9 Dogs scale pretty well with modern 1:18th figures and have a similar style to their appearance. They work well with O-Ring figures too, but they do look a little out of place. It may be the size or it may be the sculpt/articulation, but it looks a little off to me with a vintage styled O-Ring figure
I have one slight complaint about these figures. I really wish the neck joint was molded in the color of the back rather than painted. I realize this wouldn’t be possible due to cost/tooling restraints, but since the joint is only seen on the back (The neck covers it completely, no matter the pose in the front) you can see how it sticks out as soon as the paint is rubbed off (which happens almost immediately).
Neck Joint color aside, I love these Marauder K9 Dogs! Highly detailed, lots of articulation, 1:18 scale, what more do you need? If you didn’t back the Kickstarter for one (or more) of these, I highly recommend you grab some when they become widely available.
