Toy Review: ‘G.I. Joe Classified’ Duke Demonstrates The Line’s Evolution
by Tony Thornley
G.I. Joe Classified has been an interesting toy line to follow and learn the history of. It started as a modern G.I. Joe toy line. Then Hasbro realized they went a little too modern, and took a step back in balancing the difference between modernization and classic designs, while looking backwards to “fix” the line’s earliest entries as well. Now, we’re starting to see something really unique within the line.
Duke has essentially been one of G.I. Joe’s main two protagonists since shortly after his introduction, alongside Snake Eyes. The chararacter was introduced in G.I. Joe #22, just a few issues after Joe commanding officer General Flagg was killed. The series’ field leader to that point — Hawk — was being promoted to Flagg’s CO position, and series writer Larry Hama needed a new field leader (and yes, this was also motivated by the year’s new wave of characters as well). The rest is history (including his planned then aborted death in G.I. Joe: The Movie).
Now this latest wave of Classified is interesting. Basically all of the “version 1” designs of the major Joes have been adapted. So the series is at a bit of a crossroads — for the popular retro card subline (so far an easy way to reissue popular characters in their classic designs), Hasbro is going to release the leads of G.I. Joe The Movie, but what about the rest of the line? With the current announcements, it looks like a bit of an interesting mixture — one part lesser known characters, one part totally new characters, and one part completely new designs for iconic characters.
Naturally the perfect first character to try this with is Duke.
And right off the bat, you can see the inspiration if you’re a current G.I. Joe comics fan. Yes, this appears to be basically the Energon Universe Duke design — including the short beard, and the scar. The face sculpt is a real highlight — it’s recognizably Duke, but the beard softens his jawline just enough, and the hairstyle is fairly unique. There are enough unique elements in the overall design though that it isn’t totally the work of Tom Reilly.
The tactical vest is incredibly distinct. Yes, it has the G.I. Joe logo front and center (not the best for a covert team, but then the Joes have moved away from that from time to time), but otherwise it’s full of practical gear. His fatigues recall his classic look without being too beholden to it. It looks great. The only downside to the design is that the paint for Duke’s fingers is noticeably lighter than his face, wrists and neck.
Accessories are really where this figure falls short. The machine gun has a removable clip that falls off too easily. Several pouches on the vest are removable, which means brushing against them wrong will knock them off. The antenna of his walkie even got in the way of posing more than once.
The figure did largely pose really well. The vest is the biggest problem with its posing, though his wrists do struggle a little bit too. Otherwise, it’s a good solidly posing figure. After working around the vest, I was able to get some good posing in both museum poses and action poses.
When it comes down to it, outside of the paint mismatch and the weird wrists, this figure’s issues come down to trying to do too much. It’s good, but if Hasbro had simplified a little, it would have been great.
