Toys with wings or wheels are guaranteed to be played with by kids (and stepped on by parents). The Crazy Taxi bunch are a perfect fit for the action figure realm – bright colorful characters in big cars.

Spread over two series, Joyride brings us Angel (series 3), Axle (series 2) and Slash (series 2). Besides their trademark cars, each is packed with a couple of the colorful characters that can be pegged into the back seats. Angel, Axle and Slash have articulated hips so they can be put into their respective cars. Their size is small – slightly taller than the classic M.U.S.C.L.E.’s – so the detail level is quite low

(Axle looks emaciated) and the paint isn’t great. The same can be said of the passengers, except they aren’t articulated.

The drivers can be hard to manipulate into the drivers seat depending on the angle of the windshield but for the most part they stay put when installed, which is a good thing considering the amount of abuse these cars will take

from small children.

Having played a bit of Crazy Taxi 3, my son was all over these cars. Obstacle courses, off-roading, jumps, races – he ran them through the typical abuse that a 3-year old can dish out. Play value is very high, however, since the figures are smaller than most they’re easier to lose. I’ll give credit to Joyride for the ability to peg the passengers in – even after a “stunt” down the stairs they somehow managed to stay put. The cars are constructed out of plastic so any nocturnal wonderings can end with a crushed car (or at least the taxi sign snapped off). Just playing with the cars, my son managed to put a crack in Slash’s windshield.
The wheels spin freely even after some time outside in the dirt.

For collectors and display fans, the Crazy Taxi collection is fairly good. As far as the cars go, they’ve been nailed, right down to the license plates. (Although everyone will have their favorites, Axle has the best car.) Because of the wheels they necessarily have to be displayed on a flat surface. I think they all would have benefited from some kind of pedestal display so they could be displayed at an angle and given them a bit more “action.” The lines and color are very good, which make each car very noticeable when on display but, once again, the figures are not very detailed.

Although these figures have good display properties, the technical aspects pale in comparison with the amount of fun you can have smashing through Lego walls.

- Omni
(March 29, 2003)