Alexx Shorts: RoC Accelerator Suit Duke (9/12/09)

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.



Yeah, I bought more than one of these as well:

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I'll be frank here: This one isn't impressive on its own. It comes with the standard gun, some crazy launcher that isn't as cool as some of the others (though I like the design) and unlike Ripcord's suit, this one is randomly colored completely unlike the movie suit.

Does that mean he's a pass? Depends. You see, for me, this was a must! It's also a must if you want some movie accurate suits, since (for some reason) this is the only one that has the wrist gatling gun and missile launcher. For me, though, it's that AND the color scheme. While inaccurate, it's very cool! Sadly, this still doesn't fair as well as Ripcord's suit because of this:

Ripcord's neck is black to match the suit; Duke's is flesh. Why? Just to irritate the guy who wants to build a few teams of these things? It's not turning out to be too much of a problem, but I can't think of any fictional reason to have an exposed neck on some and not on others, especially when the neck is something you're going to want to reinforce the most (along with the rest of the spine). Granted, it's just one little thing that some paint would fix, but I like to stay away from too many paint related changes.

Lets get to the good stuff, though!

This is his stuff. As you can see, the wrist items come off and can be used with any speed suit.

Another thing is the helmet:

For Ripcord's we got flat paint on the visor. With Duke's we got reflective, and a sloppier paint job. I don't know what went on with this one's design! Anyway, as for a comparison of the bodies:

Notice the white insignia changed to yellow, for Duke.

And that's about it! Few changes, they don't make much sense, but for folks like me who LOVE these suits, it's a welcome change. I can understand how this would be a total skip for folks who aren't a fan of the suit, but even if you just want a pair for Duke and Ripcord, you're gona want some for the arm weapons. One way or another, it's another clever way to get people to buy more figures! I know it's going that way for me:

So, that's my final verdict on this figure: FODDER! And good fodder, at that! However....am I not Alexx? Can I not squeeze some extra wackiness out of this?

No no no, I can try harder than that....

Now we're talkin'! Parody!  Also: what would an Accelerator Suit review be without some crazy slow-mo dodging?

Thanks folks! I'm here all week!

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I still love Accelerator Suits!  Always always ALWAYS.  One of the best molds to come out of Rise of Cobra, and I'm disappointed it hasn't been used more often.  It's a great robot body, armored body, or anything else in that area.  I still have my customized versions (two of each) and I'm probably always gona keep them, even if I chuck most of my Joe collection.  There's a dearth of armored bodies that aren't super expensive Japanese toys, so these hit the sweet spot of affordable and playable. 

Always buy Accelerator Suits! 

(...oh yeah, and as for the flesh-toned neck problem: Just scrape it off with a razor.  Once a head is on there, you can't see the scrape marks and it just looks black, like the rest of the figure).