Chinese Duke

In the 90‘s, Hasbro produced a line of GI Joe figures for China. The assortment consisted mainly of assorted 80‘s and 90‘s items, but a few releases stood out for being rather unique. Of them, there was a Tiger Force Flint made from V1 Falcon, a unique Major Bludd figure, and the Duke that is the focus of this profile.

On the surface, Duke seems more similar to his original V1 figure than the Major Bludd and Flint I mentioned. And in truth, he is quite similar to the original, but the main difference is that he uses the part recipe from Tiger Force Duke, just in V1 colors. The result is a figure that’s a near perfect representation of V1 Duke, but with a few different details that really makes it an interesting novelty as well.

Just like Tiger Force Duke, on this figure the arms are from Hit & Run, while the waist is from the Cobra Officer. The legs, head, and torso are the same as V1 Duke’s however. Until this writing, I actually forgot about the waist being different, and the main visual difference here is the elastic sleeves he features over the original cuffed ones.

V1 Duke ended up being one of those expensive main characters I put off buying through my early collecting years. Eventually I came across one of these Chinese Dukes and my need for the American figure diminished rapidly. Essentially, this figure provides you with almost everything the original does, only with a few odd sculpt changes that work to provide you with a more interesting collectible.

For the most part, his accessories are the same as the original’s as well. You get the same green helmet and gun, backpack, and binoculars. I really like these parts and am glad this figure includes them without changing anything. Subsequent releases of this sculpt lost more and more of the original parts, so it’s really nice that everything was included here one last time.

I don’t remember the last time I saw a Chinese Duke for sale. It probably was over a year ago, but at a time these were pretty common. I think I payed less than $15 for mine, and, if I had to say what I thought the figure is worth now based on that, I’d say about $15, and no more than $20 even for a carded example. These are out there and in collections, but a lack of interest in the brand right now is really creating a false since of scarcity. You almost never see this figure for sale, but the same can be said for plenty of the American items released at retail between ‘04 and ‘06, so let that speak for where we stand.

Chinese Duke Gi joe Hasbro vintage arah cobra commander snake eyes

1985 Footloose

As it turns out, I have a pretty glowing opinion about 1985 figures. It’s a mainstream opinion, but I think a fan of this line would be hard pressed to argue against the overall quality of figures and vehicles released in this year, and by far Footloose lives up to those expectations.

Footloose is the GI Joe toy I always wanted as a kid, although as a kid I had no knowledge of this figure. Realistic (or even just reasonable) portrayals of modern and recent past military designs were of high interest to me, particularly for my GI Joe team roster. But, as a kid of the 90‘s this gave me a very limited selection of figures to enjoy from my own and my brother’s collection. When I did check out Joe offerings in the early 2000‘s, my priorities stayed much the same in this regard.

And indeed, Footloose is a fantastically realistic looking figure. He’s decked out in a camouflaged BDU that looks pretty appropriate for the time period when this figure came out. The web gear, wrist gear, and the overall uniform features a lot of detail to appreciate. I think most importantly though, is that Footloose is a charmingly mundane figure. He doesn’t have the distinguished look of Duke, Flint, or even someone like Gung-Ho, but instead fills the lines need for a figure that actually looks like a reasonable portrayal of an American soldier.

Hasbro was pretty good about not reusing heads during ARAH, but it did happen. In the case of Footloose, his head was reused in ‘86 for Claymore, and again in ‘87 for Rumbler. Both are obscure releases, but outside of the 1982 sculpts, that gives Claymore one of the more frequently reused heads right behind Knockdown.

His filecard is pretty great too:

Meyers was Valedictorian of his high school class, captain of the track team, and an Eagle Scout. He was going for his degree in Phys. Ed. on a state scholarship when he suddenly dropped out, moved to the coast and became quite weird for about three years. He was standing on the boardwalk in Venice pondering something cosmic when the utter pointlessness of his existence hit him between the eyes like a runaway freight train. “I think I’ll join the Army,” he said, and promptly did. Took basic and AIT at Fort Benning, graduated jump school and desert training unit. Qualified expert all NATO and Warsaw Pact small arms.

“Some of the Joes think that Footloose is out there, but all he’s trying to do is find himself. He’s the All-American Boy who got lost on the way to the fair and he’s simply trying to go home any which way he can. Most folks think they know who they are and where they’re going…They’re the dangerous ones!”

Not quite hilarious on the level of Tripwire, but a classic characterization none the less.

Footloose’s accessories are top-notch. He included a helmet, backpack, M16 and a M73-A1 LAWS rocket launcher. The helmet actually features painted foliage on top of it, which is a fantastic detail and an unusual feature for a vintage helmet. The fact that he includes two weapons really ups his usefulness and it’s even better that he can realistically carry both at the same time with the sculpted straps they feature.

A mint complete Footloose is easy to acquire for about $10, but they commonly will go for $15 as well. For such a nice figure from one of GI Joe’s most popular years, it somewhat surprises me that Footloose goes for so little, but I guess that would be a reflection of the character’s popularity compared to Flint, Shipwreck, Snake Eyes and the Cobra army builders from that year that have remained popular and relevant characters to the GI Joe franchise.