One & Done: A.V.A.C.

COBRA TERROR DROME FIREBAT PILOT - A.V.A.C.

     The year 1986 was a big year for Cobra!  In addition to new Cobra Infantry Troopers, android troopers, new Dreadnoks and a new leader (the Cobra Emperor), they also extended their air power with the addition of two new jets - the Night Raven and the Firebat.  The latter was a small jet that was packaged with Cobra's first real base - the Terror Drome and included the Cobra Terror Drome Firebat Pilot - AVAC.

    The file card for AVAC spends a lot of time discussing the aircraft itself, explaining that it has a tight cockpit and is very bare-bones on the inside control panels.  On the flip-side, the aircraft is extremely fast and easy to control.  Cobra has no shortage of pilots wanting to become AVACs.  Oddly, neither the packaging or file card tells exactly what "AVAC" is an acronym for...?

    AVAC's uniform is very flashy compared to the muted colors of Cobra's other pilots - the stealthy Strato-Vipers.  He is decked out in a red and silver flight suit with black gloves and boots.  He has a non-removable, silver helmet with a black visor.

    His lone accessory is a soft, rubber parachute pack.  It has great detail which includes a sculpted Cobra symbol on the back.  It was similar in style to Ripcord's though maybe slightly bulkier.  He can still fit in the Firebat with the parachute on.

    The Terror Drome was cool and all, but as kids we all wanted that Firebat and pilot!  I never got them as a kid, however, they made their way into several of my battles when I borrowed it from my good buddy, Deathwish.  I remember having several big battles using the borrowed Firebat and the Tomahawk that I had just got for Christmas!!!

    AVAC is a great figure!  A bit difficult to come by unless you were lucky enough to get the Terror Drome or if you spent the time to mail-away for him a few years later.  He was well-worth the hunt though!  He has a great look, cool accessory and the file card paints a great picture of these pilots that really dig the adrenaline rush from blasting off in a Firebat.  I can't think of anyway to improve this figure!  He easily gets a rating of 5 Out of 5 Cannonballs!!!  He's that cool!

    Going back though, AVAC's name always perplexed me as a kid.  What was this an acronym for???  I thought, surely the mystery could be solved by reading the file card (which Deathwish did not have and at the store, it was packed inside the box).  So several years later (probably 1994), as a collector, I was in a toy store somewhere in Indiana and they had a box with random file cards for $1... and they had AVAC.  I was so excited!  I bought it... finally the mystery is solved right?  No, it's NOT ON  THE FILE CARD???

    It was eventually revealed, somewhere on the internet I think, that the name stands for Air Viper Advanced Class.  Which makes sense as the file card does say that they pull these pilots from the Air Viper Corps.  So, if there is still someone that doesn't know the answer to this mystery... there you go!

Behind-the-Scenes and other random mumbo jumbo:

---  When we were kids, I borrowed the AVAC and Firebat from Deathwish, yet HE never had the Terror Drome either...  So how did he get his hands on the jet and pilot, you ask???  Back in the day, he had a cousin he always talked about that always got cool stuff, yet was never attached to it.  If I understand correctly, the cousin's parent's had the $$$ to get the big ticket items... but he was never that interested.  So he would often trade the stuff off to Deathwish.  This happened many times... and I'll tell you, the Firebat and AVAC are NOT the most impressive score Deathwish ever got in one of these trades.  But that is a tale for another time...

---  I don't think the Firebat ever really got it's due in the media, and AVAC got even less!  In the comics, several times the Firebat was simply used like an escape vehicle.  That always bothered me... because from a kid's perspective, it was that highlight of the whole Terror Drome.