Alexx Shorts: RoC Snarler Cycle with Beachhead and Rollbar 1/26/10

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.


I can never take a sidecar seriously, for some reason.

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Snarler!! Best name for a motorcycle since the ninja or nickname "crotch rocket." We won't go into that one, though. I think it was poorly chosen as a nickname.

Anyway, look, value!

That's right folks, Hasbro does it again with wave 2 of the vehicles: The wave where you totally wonder why you bought anything from wave 1! Where we once got no weapons, one figure, and a small vehicle, we now get a slightly smaller vehicle, two figures, and a complete set of weapons for BOTH of them! 

Whatever. So long as we get cool stuff, I'm happy. I'm just also confused.

So, where to start? How about interesting tidbits?

Beachhead's prototype on the back of the package was supposed to have a Firefly head! Interesting! I almost would have liked that better, since I'm not even planning on using him as Beachhead. Can't do the same with Rollbar unless you got a good imagination, though...we'll go in to that later. 

There's also the strange addition of ninja clan stickers to the sticker sheet. I guess you can turn this into another ninja cycle, if you don't feel you have enough of those.  Hurray!

Onward to the accessories:

Nothin' you folks haven't seen before. Regardless, it is very cool to get a full set of accessories! This is all the stuff that Beachhead and Airborne came with originally. 'Course, this isn't Airborne, it's Rollbar...

Onward to the figures:

Here we see Beachhead in his natural habitat with guns and other Beachheads. Beachheads always like some variation on the color green, as you can see.

Jokes aside, this version is identical to the original v1 25th Beachhead, with the obvious color variations. Very cool colors, I might add! Also, the black makes him perfectly generic and great for a regular troop or whatever suits your needs.

Not so much the case here.

While a mask and generic colors can save a figure from looking like it's original counterpart, a change of colors and no change at all to an unmasked head will do nothing to make it different from the original. This is still Airborne, sadly. The head is the exact same; they didn't even try to change the hair or skin color. It's just Airborne. Granted, it's a very cool Airborne! It's just an Airborne named Rollbar. So, given that the figure is actually a very cool color scheme, you'll just have to ignore the horrible shot at making him someone else, while the one who can pass as someone else (Beachhead) gets to stay the same.

So lets move on to the SNARLER! RAOW!

Pretty slick lookin' cycle! As you can see, this is a motorcycle with a little sidecar that's packin' a missile launcher and a machinegun.

Both figures fit comfortably (though you gotta work with Beachhead a little. Other figures will fit better). I didn't think Rollbar would fit so well, but he slides right in with no problem! He even holds the little handle on the launcher. 

Now, the only thing you could consider an action feature (beyond the launcher) is that this bike comes apart.  You can detach the little sidecar from the cycle, but the sidecar doesn't really stand on it's own very well, as a sidecar usually wouldn't.

The bike stands alone quite well, though!

If you want to compare it to the Ram, you can see that it's a little smaller and more sleak. The Ram looks like it lives up to it's name when compared to the little Snarler! The Snarler, however, has more than two passengers when the sidecar is attached, and not just a giant gatling gun.

Footpegs on the back allow an extra rider to hang on for dear life to...Rollbar, I guess! All that's there is a tiny metal plate to put your feet on. Otherwise, you just gotta hold on to whatever.  Safety first!

That's about it for features on this puppy. Who needs features, though? We didn't get many cycles from JvC to VvV, and the ones we did get were kinda lacking. The 25th line just brought the Ram back, and that was appreciated, but this new one is sleek and FINALLY allows figures to sit on it in a believable way! Most figures even fit perfectly in the sidecar, too. Not only that, but you can't go wrong with the figure choices. Beachhead is a perfect greenshirt trooper, and Rollbar is a fantastic figure (being Airborne and all) so a simple headswap will fix his problem (if it's even a problem for you). So I'd put this on the list for at least two! Motorcycles that work this well are few and far between. 

With that, I'll leave you with some extras:

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AW YEAH, hunt this one down!  They never reused this mold except on a con exclusive, can you believe it?  Such a good motorcycle!  Granted, you could find a decent one in The Corps line or other similarly cheaper lines, but this one is just nice.  Looks nice, feels nice, and nearly everyone looks freakin' cool ridin' it.  Plus that sidecar! 

...well okay, sidecars always make me think of wacky shenanigans, but at least it's packin' a missile and a double machine gun with enough ammo to tear apart any fruit stand that gets in the way.  Cabbage Merchant, your livelihood is thoroughly screwed!

Seriously though, this is such a good basic motorcycle.  The figures were nice for the time, since I wanted fodder, but if you can just get the cycle by itself, I'd call that a win.