I got both immediately, even though they were a little pricy, but no one is forced to buy these things. If you don't want what's in the pack, then don't buy.
As far as the technical mechanics go, both of the new abilities are good, but the dark drone for the Cactus is pretty excellent. Both it's standard shots, as well as its drone strike, does splash damage. The metal pirate drone is self-explanatory and simply has better health, but a second Deadbeard drone is long over due, so good buys (at least for me).
Also just did a head to head test with the two pirate drones and the new drone actually does quite a bit more damage.
Regular Parrot has: A) 5 health
B) Does about 8 damage per shot with the regular blaster.
Future (Armored) Parrot has: A) 20 health
B) Does about 12 damage per shot with the regular blaster (which is still automatic like the regular)
The Cactus' new drone does pretty big splash damage, but it's more of a pulsed shot compared to the regular garlic drones fully auto. However: The dark garlic drone does NOT have a cool down, which means you can fire it indefinitely.
Just tested the Cactus' two drones in terms of damage and the dark one does more with standard shots...
