You get alot of value in this $14.97 boxed set:
1) A large Great White shark with lever activated opening/closing jaw (dorsal fin activates action)
2) A smaller static vinyl Tiger Shark
3) An articulated (swivel neck/shoulders/hips, hinge ankles) Male Diver action figure.
4) An articulated (swivel neck/shoulders/hips, hinged ankles) Female Diver action figure.
5) An accessory tree containing sea exploration gear (full set of dive gear, underwater camera, 3 different flashlights, binoculars, life vest, knife and a claw for capturing specimens.
6) A small sea life tree containing glow-in-the-dark animals (octopus, turtle, anglerfish, viperfish, etc.).
7) A coral fan diorama element.
8 ) A nice sized Research Boat with working searchlight and room for at least 3 action figures.
Everything in the box save for the coral and the boat have been previously released in earlier boxed sets from Toys R Us' "Animal Planet" branded line, although these items were never packed together in one set before.
The plastic and vinyl used is the same quality as previous Chap Mei (the manufacturer of these and TRU's lines) products. The individual toys are fairly well built and will stand up to children's play patterns easily. The sculpts are quite detailed but as these are not designed or produced by larger more mainstream manufacturers like Hasbro, there tends to be some cost and corner cutting in relation to certain details. Chap Mei is notorious for only fully detailing the side of the toy that will face out of the box leaving empty areas or unpainted details on the side that will face the inside of the box. These are usually pretty minor and can be easily overlooked or fixed by even the most novice of customizer. The paint applications, while sparse, are neat with very little slop or bleed through between colors.
This set is a great bargain at Walmart's $14.97 price point. If this set was released by Toys R Us in their "Animal Planet" branded line it would most likely cost $29.99 due to the length of the boat necessessitating the use of the larger, horizontal rectangular box instead of the taller, square $21.99 sized box and would most likely omit the coral fan as they did with the large $39.99 Deep Sea Research Station Playset which included everything from the original European release except for the coral.
I like this set so much I am actually contemplating getting at least one more.
