Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Alexx Shorts: RoC Accelerator Suit Ripcord (7/7/09)


Well, this is it: I've finally decided to start reposting my old "Alexx Shorts" G.I. Joe reviews.  They're the reviews that lead to what eventually became this blog!  I'll be posting them in straight copy-and-paste format, separating them with bold dotted lines so you know where they begin and end, and then I'll post some final thoughts on what I think of the figure currently. 

For those unfamiliar: I used to take random pictures here and there, but by the time the Rise of Cobra toys came out, I was getting annoying with how much people had been bashing the figures which were clearly better than the previous 25th Anniversary offerings.  I set out to show people how awesome they were, and things went from there, forming into "Alexx Shorts", named so because I thought I was going to keep to a short format with a few pictures.  I did not do that.

Next up (on the same day as Storm Shadow!) is Accelerator Suit Ripcord.  Man, I pumped these out fast back then!

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Do I need to help sell this one? I guess if you don't like armored suits like I do, then this is a total fail. However, as I have explained in numerous posts: I have been waiting for something like this for the entire run of G.I. Joe toys (at least since the early 90's, where I came in). I always loved the sci-fi aspects, and I've been using Joes as robots or what have you for as long as I can remember. One of my favorites was Barricade, because he was one of the few armored Joes that I got ahold of. I used the heck out of him (he's all wobbly now, and his helmet is missing) so this accelerator suit is the closest thing I have to a real version of what I usually used Barricade for!

Okay, so Alexx has a thing for armored suits, big deal. How is the figure? OH MAN. Perfect. All the joints are there and work perfectly; none of that crap where they give you a joint but it only goes part of the way. If you want 'em to be a ninja, then he's got the motion for it. Big heavy guy? You can position him to look like he's really hefting some weighted stuff. Everything is there to make this a fun toy, but a great figure to pose and display! Here, I usually let the pics talk:







This is obviously a fantastic figure, but seriously: Buy this and customize! The suit is perfectly generic "armored body" and just about any headswap will get you something cool:


Accelerator B.A.T.? Yes m'am!


Accelerator Guard? Look out Joes!


Amazingly better Wraith figure in one easy step? Coming right up!


Add a sword and you've got a LBC sorta-Ninja from Metal Gear (just add a mono-eye!).

There really shouldn't be a whole lot to say here. You've already seen some pics before, and here he is in action. This figure should be the hard to find one; there's so much to love! The options for customizing are endless and the idea of a robotic suit is a license to print money when it comes to kids, so get out there and buy this!

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This one stands the test of time, and I'm glad I bought so many versions of it (and a few doubles!).  I customized the crap out of these guys, and stopped short of building my own weapons for them (which I tried, but it never quite worked out).  It's funny how I mentioned Barricade in this review, 'cause the Collector's Club recently made Barricade out of this mold!

....except they replaced the accelerator arms with arms from armored Cobra Commander, which were too short and looked silly, so....oh well, I guess. 

Regardless of recent uses of the mold: It's still amazing, and I highly suggest tracking any version down for various uses.  They probably won't do another awesome armored body like this!

5 comments:

  1. ...but what does it accelerate?

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    1. The guy next to you. They're still trying to work the bugs out.

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  2. This figure only got a meh from me. Perhaps I should revisit him, see if time has been kind to him!

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    1. All depends on what you feel for armored figures, I guess. In terms of joe-scale armored guys, I haven't found anything that beats out this mold, yet. It had perfect hands for holding just about anything, articulation is great, you can pop on any head and you're pretty much golden, and it's large enough to feel armored and not just metal-painted-on-a-body.

      BUT...I'm totally biased. This mold still blows me away to this day, so I'ma sing it's praises no matter what!

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