Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Alexx Shorts: RoC Storm Shadow (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.

We start with Rise of Cobra's Storm Shadow, which was a departure from the normal standard-white-ninja look.
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Hey folks! I wanted to get my own reviews out there, but, since they've all been done awhile ago (on various sites), I figured I'd do little short reviews with mostly pics to show off why you should be buying these movie figures! First off:

Storm Shadow! Totally unexpected delight. All the pics and reviews seem to show him off as middle of the road. He looks cool, but the swords look chunky and the figure can't move much bellow the waist. Well, one small cut to the front of the skirt later, and I am a BIG fan of this version! Granted, I'm still looking forward to the next unmasked one, but this one really jumped at me and showed his true colors.

 
 
 
 
 
I noticed some folks just slipping the claw over his fist and having him hold it in his hand, but if you take the hand off and slip it over the arm, replace the hand, then slip it forward over the wrist, you get a much better look and a free hand to boot!
 
 
Finally, what is Storm Shadow without his sword brother?
 
 
 
 

I know what you're thinking: "I've got a bunch of Storm Shadows...why do I need another one?" Well, the answer is that this one is different.  If you don't like the look, fine, but I'm hoping the pics above will help change your mind a bit. I mean, look at that! Aren't you tired of the standard ninja outift? If so, this SS will treat you well with awesome action poses and one all important ability that he has above ALL OTHER Storm Shadows:  He can hold his swords.  Amazing, eh? The ability to hold those swords showed me that the 25th line was a collector line all along. This line really is for kids! I haven't played with a freakin' Storm Shadow in ages!

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WOW, look at that old apartment background!  I'd say I've improved if I hadn't just found junk to put behind them and then got lazy and used Castle Grayskull for all things.
 
Now, some of my excitement for this has waned, since they repainted this in thirty million ways, but it doesn't change the fact that it's a solid mold (and I bought those thirty million repaints for a reason).  You'll notice I was SUPER excited about his ability to hold the swords: That's because the 25th Storm Shadow came with swords that had teeny tiny handles!  His hands were small, of course, but it didn't help on most occasions.  His swords fell out of his hands constantly, and they reused those swords throughout the 25th line (with a slight remold that had a thicker handle, which was packed with Arctic Snake Eyes).  This was the first time since the many, many 25th figures that Storm Shadow could hold his swords, allowing me to REALLY have fun with the figure.
 
Storm Shadow was also restricted by his coat, which I felt was an oversight (especially for a line that kinda went back to the kids and less for the collectors) but one simple cut later and his legs were mostly free!  It was a nasty cut, but it works, and I'm often more for function, over form.  And function was the name of the game here!  No awkward joints, smooth movement, and fun to pose.  I'd still highly recommend some version of this mold, even today.  You probably wouldn't have a problem coming across it, either.

Now, a little note on my Alexx Shorts archive: I'll be posting this as I see fit - no real schedule.  Chances are you'll see them when I can't find time to make a full post.  So this isn't a major project where you'll only see Alexx Shorts from now on (they're finite anyway - I didn't make THAT many). 

I also want to thank those running JoeBattlelines and JoeSightings (though...I'm not sure where JoeSightings went...?) for hosting my reviews for so long, and apologize for not coming back for reposting.  I felt like it would be easiest just to use my current blog to recollect them.

I hope you all enjoy these little glimpses into the past!

11 comments:

  1. RoC may have been a poor film, but the toys deserve some love! Agent Helix, Flash and Destro were some of Joe's greatest!

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    1. It was a real turning point for Joes, at the time! Lead into Pursuit of Cobra, which was the peak, for me. From then on out it kinda felt downhill.

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    2. I've sold off 99% of my modern Joe collection, and those three figures (Helix, Destro, Flash) are some of the very few I've kept. Definitely some of the greatest.

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  2. This takes me back. ALEXX: ORIGINS!

    RiP Joebattleline forums and yeah DID happen to Joesightings?

    If I remember correctly you had at least 4 pages worth of forum topics of ALEXX SHORTS.

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    1. Yeah there's quite a bit! 91 reviews in all, from '09 to '13. It's funny looking at the time difference between them. I went NUTS in 2009; 36 reviews! 2010 had a gap somewhere, so there were only 26. Then I slowed WAY down with only 14 in 2011, and another 14 in 2012. Then there was a huge gap, I posted one thing in 2013, and then BOOM - JoeBattlelines blew up.

      It'll be interesting going through them all and seeing if I can pinpoint where the interest waned.

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    2. I think it was the Retaliation delay.

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  3. Yep I used to regularly check JBL to see if there was a new shorts review. But I never had an account there (the only forum I post on with any frequency is Allspark), so it'll be cool to go back and read these again with the ability to comment.

    I'd say my peak Joe years were between 07 and 13 as well. I definitely cooled to the general style of modern Joe, although I have kept a small, focused version of my original collection. If I were to jump back into Joe collecting, I'd definitely go full vintage. Well, er, 80s vintage, I mean. 60s Joes are cool too but not my thing.

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    1. Yeah, as I look back at my Joes, I do feel drawn to the vintage ones, even if they couldn't always hold their weapons (to the point where the thumbs broke off, sometimes). To be honest, I'm also pretty impressed with how well the Spytroops/VvV stuff is holding up! I was gona dump most of it, but many of them are solid toys. I really miss those days - they were making new characters, existing characters were getting new and interesting looks, etc. Even Snake Eyes got to have some color again, in the form of that snazzy grey-and-purple version (still one of my all-time favorites).

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  4. "You met me at a very strange time in my life..." around the time you started these I had some really bad stuff going on over here in realm de-la-Fox (things got better), I look back on some of the stuff I did and honestly go "geez, how am I still alive", but the anticipation for the next time you might drop a figure review was a constant thing that kept me going. It was always a good day when there was a new one posted. I think I still have some stray images that made me laugh from some of them in my ancient photobucket. This was a fun throwback and I appreciated seeing it again. I think on your reviews there was only ever one where I was like "actually nah I didn't like this one", but there were quite a few where I wouldn't have considered picking them up, but seeing you shine a different light on them would make me go "...ok, well, now I want it." I'm both excited and nervous about the potential of Joe finally coming back again with the Hasbro merged continuity project they have going on.

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    1. Wow man, you're gona put a tear in my eye! I'm glad my juvenile antics kept you going, back then. I'd be curious to see what pics you ended up keeping (though they'll all show back up here again eventually).

      And yeah, I'm interested to see where Hasbro is taking it. I'm not even sure I want them to bring it back like it was...I kinda want to see something new, for once! Hell, Renegades was kinda new-ish, and I loved it, but any time a semi-okay movie comes out, it ends up killing the above-average toons that are already out and WAY better than the movie. I hope Joe manages to come back in some form that is both collectable AND fun. They need to bring the "toy" back into them, I think. All the ridiculously tiny accessories in high numbers that can't actually fit on the figure got old, and was part of why I was feeling burnt out, I think.

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  5. I just looked, it was the "Confessions" ones, with Firefly, Storm Shadow, and Battle Armor Cobra Commander.

    That's one of my fear for Transformers, while it is indeed a vastly different animal than it's predecessor series, I am really enjoying RiD for what it is and have fun watching it, I worry that the next movie might kill off that series and it's fun toys too. I mean, I really loved Retaliation, the movie was a vast improvement over what came before it, but I would have loved to see Renegades continue on! I loved what they did with still keeping it classic and true to the old characters, just slightly new twists on them. It handled its self a lot better than a lot of shows for that intended age group, with consistently mature writing. The toys were an odd lot, some very minor characters ended up produced before the full cast was even (and actually never) completed! But it was by far my favorite incarnation of GI Joe in yeeeears.

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