 Introducing the new 1991 Heavy Duty. No action figure gives you this extreme power. Featuring triple machine guns, dual missile launchers, bulletproof crotch armor, two-leg drive, official GI Joe head cover. When you need to deliver extreme firepower anywhere at any time, you can rely on Heavy Duty. And now with green Dorito camouflage, limited time offer, offer not good in all states or the District of Columbia, see your local toy store for details. For Commander788 here, it's time for another vintage GI Joe toy review, and this week I am not reviewing Roadblock. I'm reviewing a guy that's a lot like Roadblock, but he isn't. He's a totally different guy. Heavy Duty was like an extreme version of Roadblock. He was released in the 90s, and in the 90s everything had to be extreme. Sports, comic books, even GI Joe was extreme. Heavy Duty was not that extreme, but he came with a weapon system that was mega extreme. Heavy Duty stands behind his extreme machine gun slash missile launcher belt buckle and unleashes extreme firepower on the enemy. With the enemy fires back, he laughs off their puny guns. He never ducks. HCC788 presents the guy who is not Roadblock, no ducks, and his anti-cobra times too, and whose name sounds like a truck commercial. Heavy Duty. This is Heavy Duty. GI chose Heavy Ordinance Trooper from 1991. This figure was introduced in 1991, and it was only sold in 1991. It was discontinued for 1992. This is the first version of Heavy Duty. There was one other version in the vintage line in 1993. They made the bizarre choice of putting him in the Star Brigade armor tech series. He had a clunky, poorly articulated body, and a gun arm. That's a terrible thing to do to a fairly grounded and realistic figure from the 1990s. The GI Joe Collectors Book, published by Hasbro in 1993, lists Heavy Duty as an anti-armor trooper, and it erroneously lists Heavy Duty as being part of Cobra. It's impossible to talk about Heavy Duty without talking about Roadblock. Roadblock, version one from 1984, was GI Joe's Heavy Machine Gunner. He was a muscled African-American character with an oversized machine gun. Heavy Duty is also a muscled African-American character with an oversized machine gun, or guns, and missile launcher. He's kind of like an exaggerated, extreme Roadblock for the 90s. I don't mind this as much as you might think. GI Joe did this often, giving us a new character that wasn't exactly a carbon copy of an older character, but borrowed a lot of elements. How often have we heard of the complaint that Duke is too much like Hawk? Stretcher from 1990 is like an updated dock from 1983. There's no reason Metalhead shouldn't be version two of Scrap Iron. In this case, Heavy Duty didn't replace Roadblock. In 1992, we got a new Roadblock figure, and it was a fantastic update. That figure was recalled because of a dangerous accessory, but was re-released the following year with new accessories. Also in 1993, we got a color variation of that figure. You could still get great Roadblock figures, so I don't mind Heavy Duty existing alongside Roadblock. Perhaps as Roadblock's backup. The 90s is well known for brightly colored figures with crazy accessories, but you could track that trend back to the 80s, where they were moving more in a colorful sci-fi direction. In 1990, though, they kind of righted the ship. Although there were some missteps that year, there were several great figures. They hadn't fully plunged into the neon 90s. In 1991, they were moving more in that direction. They had eco-warriors, which looked like they were made by Crayola. They had that inexplicable grunt figure, and Tracker was also pretty bizarre with his sneakers and sweatpants. There were still plenty of good figures that year, though. Big Ben, Low Light, Dusty, and Red Star, just to name a few. It was really from 1992 on that figures started to look like they were made of starburst candy. Heavy Duty hit the scene at the right time. We could still get military-looking figures. We could still recognize a G.I. Joe as a G.I. Joe. But it was still the 90s. Everything had to be extreme, and if they didn't make the figure extreme, they would do it with the accessories. Let's take a look at Heavy Duty's accessories. All the accessories are assembled into one giant piece. It has eight parts, if you include the missiles. All make no secret that I like the Heavy Duty figure. The accessories are harder to judge. I have a feeling some fans like the over-the-top design. Others will think this whole thing is absurd. I lean more toward thinking it's absurd, but let's take a look at it. The file card calls this a Man Portable Heavy Weapon System. It definitely is heavy, and it is a weapon system. I'm not so sure it would be Man Portable, though. Looking at the top, we have the sight. This red translucent piece that is connected to the backpack. I will not remove this for fear of breaking it. It is on there pretty solid, and that is a very thin piece of plastic. I don't want to break either the sight or the backpack. I have to admit this sight is kind of cool. This would work as a heads-up display and targeting system. The sight connects to the backpack, and the backpack is in dark green. It's a good color. The backpack has that arm that connects to the sight. It also has some molded-in details, some dials and gauges and stuff. It also has four tiny molded-on grenades and a pistol. That's an unusual detail, but it's nice. At the bottom of the backpack, there is this clip that connects to this bar on the launcher base. It is not easy to work that bar out of the clip. You have to be very careful not to break the clip or the bar. Because of the way this is designed, it's not easy to get off the figure. They just don't give you a lot of room to work with. Since I'm not taking the sight off, I've got to kind of twist the backpack over to the side before removing it. Here's one more look at the backpack and the sight without the launcher base attached, so you can see it a little bit better. It's a good color. It's a small backpack, but this is part of a larger integrated system, so the size is less important than the function. Here is the launcher base with the two missile launchers and the machine guns attached. I am not going to take these pieces apart just because it would be too much of a pain to put it back together. You can clearly identify the separate pieces, though. This is the launcher assembly. That is the bar that connects to the backpack. There are two missile launchers, and they attach by sliding onto these arms that extend from the launcher base. And then the black machine gun piece pegs on top. On the launcher base under the machine gun is this extension that I believe is supposed to be ammunition boxes, but it looks more like armor plate. There are even bullet holes in it. And there's a paint tampo in light green. It says, just try it. It also has a green arrow that's pointing down to the area that would be Heavy Duty's crotch. So I guess that's what he's wanting you to just try. There's a bullet hole right in the center. Someone has definitely tried to shoot Heavy Duty in the crotch. Up on top on these extensions on the side it has a pair of grips, and those grips are small enough you can fit them in the action figure's hand. On top of the launcher base we have the machine guns, three machine guns on one black plastic piece. There are two larger guns, one on each side, and one smaller multi-barrel mini gun in the center. That's a lot of firepower concentrated in one area. I guess you could use it for anti-aircraft? To me it looks like overkill. No, not that overkill. That brings us to the two side-mounted missile launchers. They are in dark green plastic. They attach to the sides of the launcher base. They are spring-loaded launchers. They each have their own trigger in the back, and each has a neon green missile. You knew there'd be something neon green. It is the 90s. There is a variation of these missiles. These missile tips are short. There is a variation where the missile tips are slightly longer. The missiles are identical. They are a very bright neon green, and they're keyed in such a way that the flat rail on the sides will go in the launcher in the horizontal position. Just place the missile in the launcher and push all the way back until it clicks into place, and it's ready to fire. Don't forget we have two missile launchers, so we have two shots with this thing. I want to bring out our favorite target, Dr. Mindbender, to test fire these missiles. And since we have two missiles, let's bring out two Dr. Mindbenders. The triggers are in the back of the launchers. You just press down to fire. So let's take aim and take out our first Dr. Mindbender. Let's take aim and fire. That was pretty good. Let's see if we can go two for two. There's a lot of firepower in those springs, as Dr. Mindbenders will suggest. Two out of two Dr. Mindbenders recommend this launcher. With all these accessories, Heavy Duty did not come with a figure stand, which is too bad. A lot of 90s figures did come with figure stands, and they were great. This whole assembly is impractical from a real-world perspective. Heavy Duty can only operate it while standing. He can't duck behind cover. He can't hit the ground when the bullets start flying. It doesn't have a stand or a tripod for stability. It would be impossibly heavy. It would be more than one person could carry, let alone be effective in combat. Of course, Heavy Duty should come with extreme firepower. But this is over the top. With the accessories out of the way, let's take a look at the articulation on Heavy Duty. He had the articulation that was standard for GI Joe figures well before 1991. So he could turn his head from left to right and look up and down. He could swing his arm up at the shoulder and swivel at the shoulder all the way around. He had a hinge at the elbow that allowed him to bend his arm at the elbow about 90 degrees. He had a swivel at the bicep that allowed him to swivel his arm all the way around. This was an O-ring figure, meaning he was held together with a rubber O-ring that looped around the inside. That allowed him to move at the torso a bit. He could move his legs apart about so far. He could bend his leg at the hip about 90 degrees and bend at the knee about 90 degrees. Let's take a look at the sculpt, design, and color of Heavy Duty starting with his head. And on his head, he has a backward turned cap. It is neon green. It's a very light green, I have to say, a bit too bright. The cap itself looks good. I just don't prefer the color. Since it is backward turned, it does not interfere with the sight on his weapon system, so that's good. On the back of the cap is sculpted Joe. That's really good sculpting. I really like it. Heavy Duty is African American. He has black hair. He has a black mustache. And he has the whites of his eyes painted in. That's a nice bonus paint application on the eyes. That's a nice touch. We did not get that in the 80s. In fact, we didn't even get it in most of the 90s. Some 1991 figures had that treatment, but I'm not surprised they cut it in later series. That would be an extra expense. But having the eyes painted with the whites, that just adds a bit more realism to the face. Heavy Duty does have some elements of Roadblock. He's not an exact copy. But you know, a lot of 90s updates of 80s figures had changes to their facial features. Dusty looked different, grunt looked different, low light looked very different. One big difference between Roadblock and Heavy Duty is the hair. Roadblock was always bald. But if they made the Heavy Duty figure without hair and called it Roadblock, we wouldn't necessarily have been surprised. When they gave us an updated Roadblock, they changed his face quite a bit, but he doesn't look like Heavy Duty, and it's a pretty good reinterpretation of Roadblock. On his chest, he has a khaki shirt with ripped sleeves. Nice detail on the ripped sleeves. He has an unpainted pocket on the right side. He has a black bandolier that goes over his left shoulder and connects to his belt on the right side. Similar to Duke, but unlike Duke, that detail continues to his back. That strap has a sculpted-on buckle and a couple of pineapple grenades, all in black. I think that looks pretty good. But he should have more load-bearing equipment to carry that weapon system. He should have a harness. Instead, he has one strap, so I guess the weight of that weapon system hangs on a belt loop. His arms are totally bare with the same skin color as his face, except his lower arms seem to have a slightly lighter brown color as if they used a different type of plastic for the lower arms. His arms do have extra sculpted-on muscles and veins, nice sculpting on the arms. On his left bicep, he has a couple tattoos, a couple anti-cobra tattoos, and that's nice, but are these kill marks? With all that firepower, I hope he's killed more than two cobras. On his waist piece, he has a black belt with a belt buckle that I believe says U-S, but it looks like it has an O in it, like it says U-O-S, but I think that circle is really just part of the belt buckle. It's not supposed to be an O. At least I think so. His legs are dark green with a camouflage pattern that looks like neon green Doritos. He has unpainted pockets on each thigh. He has a pair of boots. The color on these boots I think looks like a grayish brown. The boots each have straps that wrap around. That's a nice detail. He has a black knife in a brown sheath on his left boot. Most of this figure is great. It has a lot of character. The sculpting is excellent. The camouflage pattern is a little weird, but for the 90s it was good. I like the details of the ripped sleeves and the tattoos and the hat. This figure doesn't look like it goes with its accessories. You would expect a guy carrying that much weight to have a harness, not one shoulder strap and a belt. Yeah, I got myself a new belt buckle. It's pretty big. How you like it? Duh. Take a look at Fast Draw from 1987. He had a harness for his missile system, and that was smaller than Heavy Duty's weapon system. There is one thing that ties the figure with the accessories. The colors. They match very well. It's really the colors that link the figure with the accessories. Let's take a look at Heavy Duty's file card, and this is a traditional file card. They hadn't quite transitioned to the 90s style cards yet. It has its factionist GI Joe and a portrait of Heavy Duty here. The shirt color looks darker than on the figure, but it still looks good. Codename is Heavy Duty Heavy Ordinance Trooper. His final name is Lamont A. Morris. His primary military specialty is Laser Weapon Systems Operator in parentheses 11H. This 11H is a real US Army MOS, but it isn't Laser Weapon System Operator. It's a heavy anti-armor weapons crewman. Secondary military specialty, Indirect Fire Infantryman in parentheses 11C. 11C is the real US Army MOS for Indirect Fire Infantryman. It means he's part of a mortar squad. Birthplace is Chicago, Illinois. Grade is E5. The top line in this middle section says, Licensed to Operate Mobile Battle Bunker Hammer General. These are GI Joe vehicles. The Mobile Battle Bunker and the Hammer were introduced in 1990 and were off the shelves by the time this figure was available. The general was still for sale, though. The rest of this paragraph reads, A classical guitarist in his spare time, Heavy Duty sees little difference between playing Bach's two-part invention in D Minor and operating his man-portable heavy weapon system. They both require right and left-hand independence, exceptional hand-eye coordination, and the ability to concentrate simultaneously on two or more complex operations. To him, playing Bach correctly and hitting a distant fast-moving target are two sides of the same coin. It also represents his cultural refinement. Oh yes, playing Bach and shooting missiles and guns at people are exactly the same thing. In fact, one time I went to a local orchestra's performance of Bach and they were using machine guns and missile launchers instead of instruments. It didn't go too well for the audience if you know what I mean. Let's say you zap a laser-guided missile at a tank. You try to keep your laser-guided designator dot on the tank for the entire round of the missile while that tank commander is popping caps at you. If you move, the laser-dot disappears from the tank and your missile wanders away. Heavy Duty carries enough extra firepower to shut down the enemy while his missiles are running and Heavy Duty doesn't duck for anybody. Let's be real. He doesn't duck because he can't duck. Looking at how Heavy Duty was used in G.I. Joe Media, he had a few appearances in the Deke animated series. He first appeared in the episode Injustice and the Cobra Way. It was a good appearance for him. He had plenty to do. He was also in the episode Messenger from the Deep. That was a water-based mission. Why would you want your ground pounder for that one? I guess it was just his turn to be in an episode so it didn't matter that his specialty didn't fit the mission. In the comic book series published by Marvel Comics, he had minimal use. He appeared in only two issues. Number 130 and 131. In those issues, Cobra attacked G.I. Joe's base, the pit, in Utah. Heavy Duty helped defend it. And that's it. He made no other appearances. It's a little surprising since Larry Hama, the writer of the comic book series, preferred more realistic military characters. Heavy Duty was one of several military characters that were overlooked in the comics. Looking at Heavy Duty overall, I like the figure, but I don't like the accessories. That's not to say the accessories are all bad. A lot of effort went into them. It's an integrated system with a lot of pieces. And when assembled, it is very large. It's almost like a bonus vehicle. It's about the size of the wind-up action packs. It has a cool factor. But for me, the impracticality outweighs the coolness. A lot of fans will feel differently. I understand. But my preference is for more realistic weapons. The figure, on the other hand, is great. I like the sculpt. I like most of the colors. I like the details. The ripped sleeves give it a very 80s look, even though it came out in the 90s. The whole design has a lot of character. The green Doritos camouflage is maybe a little silly, but if it had used a slightly darker shade of green, it would have been perfect. The file card is a mixed bag. There are some real military references, but there are also a lot of callbacks to Roadblock. Roadblock was a chef. Heavy Duty is a musician. They just gave Heavy Duty a different artistic interest, but the idea is the same. This could easily have just been an updated version of Roadblock. But I'm glad it wasn't, because we got a new Roadblock figure later, and it was pretty good. How do all these factors shake out? I think, considering everything, Heavy Duty is a middle-tier figure. He could easily have been a top-tier figure with a few minor changes. This is an extreme figure from an extreme decade. That was my review of Heavy Duty. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please give this video a thumbs up on YouTube and subscribe to the YouTube channel and hit the notification bell and share this video with your friends. Just a reminder, I will be taking two weeks off this month. I will not have new reviews on June 23rd and June 30th. The reason I will need that extra time is I will be at Joe Fest in Augusta, Georgia, June 21st and 22nd. I will have a table there. Please come and find me. I want to meet you, and I'll have some stuff for you. You can find me on social media, on Facebook and Twitter, and I have a website, hcc788.com. Thanks, as always, to my patrons who make these videos possible. If you like these videos and you'd like to support the channel in that way, please check out my Patreon. You can get some special perks, including a secret code book, so you can decode the secret messages like the one you see on your screen right now. Since I'm taking two weeks off, I only have one more review this month. Guess I better make it a good one. I'll see you next week, and until then remember, only GI Joe is GI Joe. What a scale.