Alexx Shorts: PoC Spirit - Toys R Us Exclusive (9/6/10)

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.


Some people just won't go near it

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Thought I was gona start in on wave 2, didn't ya? Next review!

Anyway, here's one of two Toys R Us exclusives: Spirit, the obvious homage to Billy from Predator. I gotta say: it's great that they decided to do this homage! This'll count as the first figure of Spirit that is awesome, to me. I never had his first figure, and I honestly didn't pay attention to any other figures of his. The DTC offerings were kinda cool, but he still suffered from the teeny tiny torso and wasn't as play worthy as many of the other figures around that time. Then they brought out the 25th Spirit...ugh. I didn't realize he was in his 70's! Couldn't they have tried to make the face look a little young?

That's in the past, however. This is now! And now is freakin' NUTZ:

First off: the face that doesn't like you. Look at that angry face! He doesn't like you or anyone you're associated with. He especially hates your face. I kinda wish that face on the card translated directly to the figure, but...come on, we certainly got something very cool anyway:

AHH! You're just waiting for that face to slowly rise from the side of the bed, aren't you?  Airborne's filecard says he has the "far-seeing look" but I think Spirit finally perfected that and stole Airborne's trophy. Spirit not only has the "far-seeing look", he's got the "batshit crazy-eyed look of death." I swear this Spirit is the one who taught Bench Press in the ways of murder.

Let’s move on, shall we? Spirit is freakin' cool looking:

He's also got some great little details on the arms:

Overall, he's sporting parts from other figures (as per the rules for exclusives): PoC Duke legs, arms and torso from PoC Zartan (I believe), and the good 'ol vest from the Pit Trooper. Even his accessories are from all over:

He's got the axe from many RoC releases, the machete....from something, I'm assuming (something I don't have or something that isn't out yet), the snake from the Crimson Neo Viper, bow and arrows from (I'm assuming) the upcoming Shadow Tracker - AND - the giant and almost completely unwieldy assault rifle/shotgun combo from Spytroops. A great bunch of accessories, sans the gun. I mean, it's not terrible, but pick any recent RoC or PoC weapon and he'll hold it better than he holds that monster. 

Also, the cool part about the arrow backpack is that you can kinda shove everything in there to look like they can all be held on his person!

He's sturdy enough to stand him up that way, but everything will shake off him if you mess with him too much. Of course, I dunno what to do with the snakes...and I'm not sure why he has them, other than for a jungle atmosphere. I have to imagine that they are there to enhance the "crazy" that Spirit exudes:

Finally, in terms of accessories: you gotta love that bow. It looks really cool, even when he's just standing there, holding it.  He can sorta hold the arrow realistically (though it takes some patience):

Also, the arrowhead is molded in just the right size to fit in backpack holes!

So my favorite stuff about this guy is the look and the accessories. He does sadly sport some pretty large hands, so he won't be holding everything perfectly, but it's a very small gripe that barely gets in the way. He still holds many other guns very well, and of course he looks fantastic with the bow. Heck, it's hard to find a pose that doesn't work for him. The face is just perfect! I mean, he looks insane, but I still love it.

I named the file for this review "Batshit Crazy Spirit", and I mean it. Granted, that's mostly my sense of humor talking; "crazy" isn't the only way to look at this figure. It's a very cool look, and very determined. I haven't really thought of taking Spirit seriously in any of his figures before this one (well okay, the Sigma 6 figure was awesome). This Spirit is ready to go - ready to track, ready to hunt, and ready to freak the ever loving hell out of Cobra and possibly rip them to shreds. I really love this figure and, I suppose, the only thing I could see as a drawback, is if you just don't like this look for him. I'd understand, since this is a very drastic change for Spirit, but for me, it's very much a change for the better. This'll be my Spirit from now on.

There really aren't a whole lot of reasons to skip this one.

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What else is there to say about this one?  You either have it, or you got one of the other ones they've released since then.  In fact, I believe there may be one in Toys R Us stores now; packaged with Storm Shadow.  It's not the exact same, but the head is there, and that's the important part.  I mean, why would they ever change Spirit from this look?  It's perfect!

I still hold this one a little higher than the other two, but you can make your own decision.  You can't go wrong with this mold.