 Hoodie to Duke. Hoodie to Duke. Come in, Duke. Who's calling? It's numbers for official GI Joe communication only. It's me, HTC 788. Do I know you? Know me? We did a video together three years ago. Ah, ah, yes. Good to hear from you again, Timmer. No, it's... Yeah, it's Timmer. Anyway, I'm doing a fresh review of the first Duke action figure. I'm inviting you to join. I don't understand. I thought that we did this one already. I did, but that was a long time ago. My videos were pretty rough back then. I think I could do a better job now. I don't understand. I already did it. It should be perfect. Not everything's perfect on the first try. Haven't you ever made a mistake? A mistake? I don't think so. I master every activity I ever do on the first try. That's impossible. Everyone makes an error from time to time. I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken. Do you want to be in the video or not? Of course. It'll be my pleasure to help out my friends at GI Joe Berg. No, it's... Yeah, it's GI Joe Berg. Big Cover Commander 788 here. This is the show where we review every vintage GI Joe toy from 1982 to 1994. This week I am redoing a review I did years ago. When I first started this channel, I was so eager to show you my toys that I reviewed some major characters right away. I probably should have waited until I had better examples of those figures and vehicles and until I developed my style and format. That means occasionally I will redo an old video. Duke needs a redo. He's one of the most important characters in the entire line. He appears in almost every iteration of GI Joe. He deserves special attention. Something has changed since I last reviewed this figure. I was never a big fan of Duke. I always thought he was a little too perfect, a little too Hollywood, a little too much like Hawk, who was the real leader of the team. Maybe it's the fact that I've seen a lot of weird, ugly, and bizarre action figures in the last six years. But Duke has started to grow on me. I find myself liking the figure and the character more than I did before. That's why I wanted the real Duke to join us as we look at his first action figure. I'm happy to be here. I'm looking forward to hearing what's on Joe's mind. HCC 788 presents... Duke. This is Duke, GI Joe's first sergeant from 1983. The figure was first introduced in 1983 as a mail away exclusive offer. Duke was released carded in 1984. He was also available carded in 1985 and was discontinued for 1986. He was later available through the mail again from Hasbro Direct. In 1983, order forms for Duke were included with boxed vehicles. To order him, you had to turn in 7 flag points and $1. There are some variations between the mail away release and the carded release. This is the first version of Duke, but there were many versions released throughout the vintage era. Version 2 of Duke was released in 1988 as part of Tiger Force. It used almost the same mold as version 1, but with some updated parts. He had all new colors, including a new hair color. Version 3 was introduced in 1992. He was blonde again with a red and tan desert camouflage uniform. This is not a bad version. Version 4 was released in 1993 as part of Battlecore. It has a more realistic desert camouflage and a non-removable helmet. Version 5 was also released in 1993 as part of Star Brigade. That was the same year as the realistic looking Battlecore figure. This was an armor tech figure and he had a missile launcher for an arm. That's insane. Version 6 was released in 1994. It was also a Star Brigade figure, but it was not an armor tech figure. It was a normal O-ring action figure, but it was another space figure. Most figures of Duke emphasized his gritty military background until someone in the 90s decided to send him to space. I imagine Duke as always having his boots on the ground. In all forms of G.I. Joe media since the character was introduced, Duke has had a leadership role on the team. He was the ultimate leader of G.I. Joe when he appeared in the animated series. Later in the series, it was explicitly stated he was second in command behind Hawk. In the comic book series, he became the field commander. For fans of the animated series, Duke was the first leader of G.I. Joe. In the animated series, the command hierarchy started with Hawk at the top, followed by Duke, then Flint, then Beachhead. For fans of the comic book series, Hawk was the first leader of G.I. Joe and Duke showed up abruptly and was given leadership responsibilities. How you feel about Duke probably depends on whether you primarily followed the cartoon or the comic book series. Duke was designed by Ron Rudat for Hasbro. Ron was tasked with creating a heroic character. Let's take a look at Duke's accessories starting with his submachine gun. This submachine gun is referred to as the M32 submachine gun. It is in light green plastic. This is a copy of the submachine gun that was included with 1982 and 1983 Stalker. When Stalker had this submachine gun, it was called the M32 Pulverizer submachine gun. This weapon is loosely based on the Heckler & Koch MP5. There's a color variation on this accessory. Some of them had a slightly darker green and others had a more pale green. I'm not sure the difference is showing up on camera very well, but this one is a very slightly darker shade of green than the other one. This isn't the accessory that was originally intended for Duke. He was going to have a copy of the XMLR3A laser rifle that came with 1983 Snowjob. Ron Rudat even taped the Snowjob rifle to the final design drawing for reference. In the card art, Duke is holding the XMLR3A. At some point in the production process, they gave him Stalker's gun instead. Now let's look at Duke's helmet. This helmet is in light green plastic. It's very much like the standard GI Joe helmet that was issued with a lot of 1982 and 1983 figures. The helmet color should pretty closely match the color of the submachine gun. There is a color variation on this helmet. Like with the submachine gun, some were in a darker green while others were in a more pale green. There is another variation of this helmet. Early mail away figures had helmets that did not have holes on the sides. The retail release and later mail away figures had helmets that did have holes on the side. The only other figure that had this light green helmet without holes on the side was 1984 Roadblock. Next we look at Duke's binoculars. The binoculars are in black plastic. They have a strap that goes around the figure's neck. There's a bend at the top of the strap so it will rest more closely at his chest. Though not perfectly, it still sticks out a bit. The binoculars will fit in the figure's hand if you put his hand on this thin part of this bend in the binocular lens. And he can hold the binoculars to his eyes, which looks pretty cool. But because he has that stiff black strap, the strap kind of sticks out behind his head. Now let's turn to Duke's backpack. This backpack is in a light tan color. It has some nice details. It has a bed roll and an entrenching tool and some pouches. This is a copy of the backpack that was first included with 1983 Airborne and it's in almost the same color. Airborne's backpack should more closely match the plastic color on the figure and Duke's backpack should match the plastic color on that figure. The problem with color matching is that both these figures and the backpacks have a tendency to discolor over time. So the color matching may not be perfect. There is a molding difference between the Airborne and the Duke backpacks though. The Airborne backpack has crossed support ribs on the inside and the Duke backpack does not. I guess this backpack clips onto his bandolier because Duke doesn't have any other load bearing equipment. The final accessory is the flag sticker. It's an American flag sticker that fits on his right arm. It was only included with the mail away version. It was not with the carded release. This is a very difficult accessory to find. Many collectors will consider the figure to be complete without it. The figure didn't include instructions on where to place the sticker and some fans said they placed it elsewhere like on the backpack. In the artwork on the mail away form you can see part of the flag on the right arm but it's partially obscured by shadow. It's more clearly seen in the 1984 card art. I like the flag. It gives a little splash of color to the figure. It's an extra point to the flag. That's one flag point. That's a lot of accessories but only the binoculars and the flag sticker are original. The rest are borrowed from other figures. Let's take a look at Duke's articulation. He had the articulation that was standard for GI Joe figures in 1983 meaning he could turn his head from left to right. He could not look up and down. He did not have a ball joint neck. The ball joint neck was not introduced until 1985. 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 the figure 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 look at the sculpt design and color of Duke. Only two parts on this figure are original. All other parts are reused from other action figures. Looking at Duke's head, he has blonde hair. He has brown eyebrows and eyes. He has a grinning face with white painted teeth. There is a variation on this head. The earliest male-away heads had the hair sculpted with less detail. And the later figures, and possibly only the carted figures, I wasn't able to verify that, but later Duke figures had a head with more detailed hair. You can see more lines sculpted into the head for the hair. The head is otherwise the same. The head is a unique part. It was not used on any earlier action figure. The figure is sculpted with an expressive face. He has grinning. The teeth are painted white. I'm glad they added that painted detail on the version 2 Duke figure. The teeth were unpainted. I prefer a neutral expression. Playing with the figure, I would put him in situations where he would not be smiling. Hey Duke, this figure has a perma grin. Do you really smile all the time? On his chest, he has a khaki shirt. He has a green undershirt with a collar. It's a little odd that he would have two collared shirts. He has gold jump wings on the right side of his shirt. He has a green bandolier that runs from his left shoulder down to his right side. The bandolier has a buckle, a couple pouches, and a grenade. He has two unpainted pockets on the front of his shirt. That green bandolier detail does not continue to the back. It just disappears at his shoulder. This back piece is not a unique part. It was reused from 1983 Doc. And it's almost in exactly the same color. I've noticed a paint color variation for the green paint on Duke's chest. This variation is not included on Yojo.com. But I've noticed this difference on several Duke chests. The green paint on this figure is a bit darker than the green paint on the other figure. And that difference can be seen in some other Duke chests that I have. These are all the Duke chests that I have. I have the two intact figures and I have three from spare parts. And you can see the color difference in the paint. The green paint on these three is darker. And on these two, the green paint is a little bit lighter. This Duke torso was reused on several action figures. Including some versions of 1987 Starduster. And some versions of 1987 Steel Brigade. Including the exceptionally rare Steel Brigade version 2. On his arms he has long khaki sleeves that are rolled up to the forearms. He has bare hands, no watch, no gloves, anything like that. The male away figure had the flag sticker which you could place on the right arm. The card art shows it on the right arm. So that seems to be the right place to put it. These arms are reused from 1983 Dock. They changed the skin color. They removed the orange cross on Dock's arm. But the shirt color is almost exactly the same. There is a rare variant of Duke that does not use the Dock arms. It has cuffed sleeves similar to the 1983 reissues of the 1982 figures. The waist piece is unpainted. It is in light green. It has a belt with some detail. A couple pouches. There are pockets in the back. This is another reuse of a part from 1983 Dock. Just recolored. Dock at least had painted details on the belt. So this reuse of parts loses a paint application. The legs are light green, the same color as the waist piece. They are mostly pretty plain, but there are some details. There is a black pistol and an unpainted holster on the right leg. And an unpainted strap that goes around the right leg. He has brown boots and he has a knife on the left boot. The lower legs are reused from the 1983 Major Blood figure. You can see that's the same pistol on the right leg, though the paint applications are a bit different. The lower legs are reused from 1983 Gung Ho. You can see he has the same boots and the same knife on the left side. It's impressive how an iconic figure was created using only two original parts. There is a downside to this approach. The chest and back piece don't exactly match up with the bandolier disappearing on the back rather than continuing as it should. That's my biggest knock on this figure. It seems Doock was intended to be released in 1984. The pre-production design drawings of the figure have a 1984 date, but the figure was issued as a mail away in 1983. Was Doock a rush job? Is that why so many of his parts come from other figures? I will caution you if you decide to get this figure. The green plastic on the lower half of the figure tends to be fragile. I see a lot of Doock figures with broken crotches and broken heels. So be cautious with this green plastic. Let's take a look at Doock's file card. There are several variations of this file card and we will look at those. There were also some changes to the text of the file card made in pre-production before the text was finalized for the production release. The cards received in the mail in 1983 looked like this. With a white border you were supposed to cut the file card out. There was some copyright information in the white border and there was a close-up bust of Doock in the portrait. There are a couple types of card backs on these early mail away cards. Some of the mail away cards had a plain cardboard backing while others had a plain white backing. And I have a couple examples of those. I don't know which was the earlier one and which was later. I don't know when they changed it. But there are a couple examples of some different card backs on those early mailaways. The retail card was printed on the back of the card on which the figure was packaged. There's some artwork from the front of the card there. There was also a change to the portrait instead of the close-up bust portrait. The portrait is a bit farther back. So we can see more of Doock's torso. As I understand it, the later Hasbro Direct mail away cards had this retail card portrait but had a red backing. There was also a Doock action figure that was sealed with a VHS cassette of the animated series. That also had a red backing on it. But that one had the figure sealed on the back of the card. His faction of course is G.I. Cho. There's the portrait of Doock. He is the first sergeant. His codename is Duke. His filename is Conrad S. Hauser. On the pre-production prototype file card, his name was Carl Hauser. So, Duke, can I call you Carl? My name is not Carl. My name is Conrad. Does anyone ever call you Connie? My troops call me Duke. My friends call me Conrad. So, can I call you Conrad? No. The primary military specialty is airborne infantrymen. Secondary military specialty is artillery and small arms armorer. Birthplace is St. Louis, Missouri, and his grade is E8 in parentheses master sergeant. This is a discrepancy. The specialty says first sergeant, but the grade says master sergeant. Both the first sergeant and master sergeant are E8, but they are not the same. The first sergeant is generally considered to be higher in authority than a master sergeant. First sergeants are commonly called top sergeant or first shirt, and they have a hands-on role in field leadership. The version 2 file card from TigerForrest fixed this problem. It has him as a first sergeant in his stated specialty and a first sergeant in his grade. Problem solved. By 1992, the version 3 file card had him as a master sergeant again, but it had him as a master sergeant in both places. However, the text of the file card referred to him as the top kick or the first shirt. That is terminology for a first sergeant, so there's a discrepancy between the pay grade and the text of the card. In 1993, for the version 3 file card, they still have him as a master sergeant, and there's nothing on here that refers to him as a first sergeant. Even though technically it's a lateral move, a master sergeant is kind of a step down from a first sergeant. So this is sort of a demotion. I don't know why it's so hard to get this right. He is either a first sergeant or a master sergeant. Just pick one. He can't be both. The original plan was for Duke to be an officer with the rank of major. This was changed at the behest of Larry Hama, who pointed out that the team already had a field grade officer, Hawk, who was younger than Duke. It wouldn't make sense to have Duke come in as a major, so he was given an enlisted rank. This paragraph says, Current assignment acting first sergeant, G.I. Joe team. It says current assignment acting first sergeant. So maybe that's the reason for the discrepancy between the grade and the specialty. Maybe he is a master sergeant, but acting as first sergeant for the G.I. Joe team. But then, why not just make him a first sergeant? This file card portrays Duke as the best at everything. He knows all the languages. He finished top of his class at Airborne school. He didn't just graduate from special forces school. He ran four special forces schools. He's even too tough and gritty to become an officer. This bottom section has a quote from Duke himself. It says, Statement after declining commission. They tell me that an officer's job is to impel others to take the risks so that the officer survives to take the blame in the event of total catastrophe. With all due respect, sir, if that's what an officer does, I don't want any part of it. This file card details his training and experience in Vietnam. Unlike other file cards, it mentions Vietnam by name. Duke would be in his mid 30s by the time he joined the G.I. Joe team in 1983. If he enlisted at 18, his birth year would be 1949. In 2020, he would be 71 years old. The pre-production prototype file card had him enlisting in 1960 and went special forces in 1963. At that time, he worked with the Montagnard tribesmen. Montagnard is a French term referring to the people who lived in the central highlands of Vietnam. In the early 1960s, they were trained by US special forces. I'm glad they changed it. Having him enlist in 1967 makes him a much more reasonable age for his introduction to the G.I. Joe team. Looking at how Duke was used in G.I. Joe media, he was involved in the animated series from the very beginning. He first appeared in the first animated miniseries in 1983. He was the main protagonist and the leader of the team. He was voiced by Michael Bell. He was in many episodes throughout the series. He had a knack for getting captured and going into comas. In the 1987 animated movie, it was revealed that Lieutenant Falcon was his half-brother. Duke was mortally wounded by Serpentor, yet he didn't die. He went into another coma. He was supposed to die, but dialogue was added later that reversed his death. After the backlash from Optimus Prime dying in the Transformers movie, the decision to kill Duke was changed. Unfortunately, they had already completed the animation by then, so they had to do it with a bit of awkwardly placed dialogue. Duke appeared a few times in the Deke era of the animated series as well. He was a popular character throughout the vintage era. Looking at how Duke was used in the comic book series published by Marvel Comics, he first appeared in issue number 22. He and Roadblock shot down a Cobra Rattler that was attacking General Flag's funeral. After that, he started leading the team in the field. In the next issue, number 23, he led an undercover team in the Alps that captured Cobra Commander. It took Larry Hama, the writer of the comic book series, some time to warm up to Duke. He had some appearances, but on some missions other Joes took leadership roles. Larry said the character of Duke never gelled with him. Duke always seemed like an afterthought, he said, in an interview with Toy Fair magazine in 1998. Duke had some good leadership moments, such as when he led the team on the first attack on Cobra Island in issue number 42. His best first sergeant moment was probably in issue number 82, where he was running drills on new GI Joe recruits and selecting new team members. He was harsh, mean, demanding, and merciless. He was Duke. In issue number 109, he led a Joes squad into the fictional desert of Trucial Abysmia. The squad was captured and most of them were executed by a Cobra Saw Viper. The loss of the troops under his command severely affected Duke. He had some good moments in the comic book, but he was never the dominant figure that he was in the animated series. GI Joe wasn't part of the Marvel Universe, even though the comic was published by Marvel. That appealed to me. I wanted GI Joe to occupy a space where nobody is bulletproof, except for bulletproof, and nobody wears a cape on a regular basis. At least until Dr. Meinbender and Serpentor came along, 1986 was a weird year. But is it really true that GI Joe was separate from the Marvel Universe? Transformers appeared in GI Joe, and Transformers were in the Marvel Universe. Also in Amazing Spider-Man number 268, a character called Sergeant, who looks almost exactly like Duke, makes an appearance. Duke had many post-vintage appearances in cartoons, comic books, and live action. He is in nearly every incarnation of GI Joe. Looking at Duke overall, this shouldn't be a good figure. But it is. I shouldn't like this figure, but I do. Almost nothing on this figure is new. Nearly the whole thing is cobbled together from reused parts. Even the accessories are mostly borrowed from other figures. Duke has an expressive face, which is not my preference. The bandolier detail is absent on the back piece. These are all reasons I should devalue this figure. I shouldn't like the character, and in the past I didn't like the character, but I'm learning to appreciate him more. At least I like the idea of Duke. Duke was always too good to be true. He speaks all of the languages. He graduated at the top of his class in everything. In the animated series, he was presented like an old-style Hollywood hero. He would always beat the bad guy, he would always get the girl. Duke has no arc. He doesn't grow, he doesn't learn anything, because he's already perfect in every way. Even though Duke doesn't grow, I have grown to like Duke. He's still far from my favorite character, but GI Joe needs Duke. They need a guy who will be a strong disciplinarian in the field. They need someone who can do what Hawk can't do as an officer. They need someone who will push the team to do what must be done. They need the guy that the comic book promised Duke would be. He's not their friend, he's not their daddy, he's their first sergeant, and he's in charge. Ironically, GI Joe did get a sergeant like that. Sergeant Slaughter rolled in and tightened up discipline on the team, which should have been Duke's job. In the comic book, we already had Hawk as a leader. Hawk does not make Duke redundant. Duke should have been the quarterback on the field while Hawk was the coach on the sideline. Stalker makes Duke redundant. Stalker led many missions and acted as the quarterback on the field. Duke got some good moments though. Sometimes he was allowed to be the leader he always should have been. On the occasions when the character matched up with how I imagine him, I liked him. I respected him. I forgave him for that toothy grin. That was my review of Duke v. 1. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you to Duke for joining us. You're welcome. Now, you'll excuse me. This afternoon I'm trained to become an astronaut. I've received my orders to lead Star Brigade. Personally, I would have called it Space Force. But regardless, I'll be liberating the cosmos from the evil forces of Cobra and bringing democracy to the solar system. Star Brigade? Do you know who's waiting for you up there in space? Stellar Stiletto. Green version of the Cobra Pogo. Some robots. I'm not afraid of them. I'm just glad I won't be encountering any aliens. Good luck, Connie. You too, Kevin. Yo, Joe! Thank you for watching this video. If you enjoyed it, I'm making more like it. So please give this video a thumbs up on YouTube, subscribe to the YouTube channel, hit the notification bell so you don't miss any future videos, and share this video with your friends. That's what helps this channel grow. You can find me on social media, on Facebook and Twitter, and I have a website, hcc788.com. If you want to know if I've already reviewed a vintage GI Joe item, that's a good place to check. Special thanks to all my supporters on Patreon, including the names you see on the screen now. Support on Patreon helps keep this show going. So if you like the show, and you'd like to support the show in that way, please consider checking out Patreon. You can get some special rewards, including early access to reviews, and you can find out how to decode the secret messages you see in these videos. Thank you for joining me on this adventure of collecting vintage GI Joe toys. I'll see you next time, and until then, remember, only GI Joe is GI Joe.