2002 Dusty
I’ve gotten into a problem lately where sometimes, I just want a new GI Joe. And I go to eBay to find some oddity to settle my desire. Sometimes I’ll find a cool figure I’ve continually overlooked for no good reason, and other times I find weird figures no one talks about that even I forgot existed. The later is the case with 2002 Dusty.
So this Dusty is the driver for the Night Rhino, and he’s made using parts from 1986 Dialtone and 1991 Dusty, primarily in grey. For a vehicle driver, the figure looks a little unique and the parts combo isn’t very bad. Of course, I really don’t have anything that helps me identify him as Dusty. As well, the figure is just… extraordinarily bland. He doesn’t even look like a real character, I think he passes better as some kind of troop builder.
To describe him in a single word, he’s banal. While the recipe is unique to my knowledge, Dial Tone and ’91 Dusty repaints were abound through the early 2000‘s. As well, the figure is almost entirely monochrome. There’s no color, no pigment whatsoever present here besides a single US flag on his arm. To the figure’s credit, this look does appear fairly realistic, and if that’s your shtick this could be a cool candidate for army building as mentioned before. But that’s a pretty niche appeal.
A lot of this figure’s deco and overall quality strikes me as egregious. First, his head can’t move at all, worse than a lot of the 1997 releases with the tabs on their necks. Second, the details on his face are… soft. His eyes look too large and the black paint masks aren’t very good. I also just can’t dig the paint-wipes/black wash on this figure, but that falls more into a general complaint of this time period, which he also happens to be affected by. Lastly, he has gloves that are painted flesh-tone. Such an irritating move, but made even worse when this is one of the few paint apps present in the figure’s deco.
His filecard is a hodgepodge of the 1985 and ‘91 cards, but there’s a few weird additions here I felt like commenting on. First, his name has been changed to Jeffery Paquette. Who on earth is Jeffery Paquette? If I had to hazard a guess it’s probably some Steel Brigade Collector’s Club goon who helped with the file card, or some similar amount of Hasbro deep-state Illuminati BS that they were so prone to back then. Whoever he is, I’d also like to inquire about this line from his motto “If the enemy thinks they can hide in the desert, are they wrong!”. Doesn’t that last bit sound awkward? Not “Boy are they wrong!” or something? It just sounds really weird and random for a new line of text. This isn’t recycled from any other filecard I know of… Why was it added?
I ragged on him a lot, but really this figure isn’t that bad. He’s almost comically generic, and has quality issues for sure, but he was a vehicle pack-in from a time after the eighties, so what can I say. You could virtually use him as any sort of generic GI Joe trooper, and the albeit bland colors work in most settings. As a figure that often is worth less than $5, maybe you’ll find a use for him if you come across him while searching to make a hedonic GI Joe purchase.
Cannot see this as Dusty. It’s DUST-TONE…Dial-Dust? Sundial (ironic since he’s like in night colors)? Given how little he’s used, how about Seatfiller?
Terrible figure because the head doesn’t move. Parts don’t work, the figure’s a jerk!
Any simple repaint would’ve been better, since they were cheaping out anyway (Which is is a big shame given all the molds never reused).
No, this figure really is this bad. You can’t be too hard on it. The only reason it gets a pass is because he came with the spectacular Night Rhino. (Which was, probably, the best vehicle re-release of the 2000’s.)
But, this guy is terrible in every way. And, I really like both of his source figures. But, sometimes, things just don’t work. But, this was a sign of things to come when Hasbro stopped caring since the Night Rhino was the last release of the ARAHC.