In 2003, G.I. Joe was riding high. Hasbro was investing massive resources into the brand. Retailers were stocking Joe toys in numbers second only to Star Wars. And, consumers were buying the toys as fast as the stores could get them onto the shelves. The collecting community was strong, vibrant and interesting. The Christmas holiday of that year marked the crescendo of the repaint and JvC era. At that time, we didn't know that. But, less than 18 months after that amazing time in the hobby, the Joe line had completely crashed at retail. Hasbro cancelled marketing pushes and packaging refreshes. Toys stopped appearing on shelves as retailers had no faith in carrying volume in their stores. And, Hasbro, knowing the end was near, dialed in some products that were outright embarrassments. The 2005 Heavy Assault Set (or, HAS set) was as bad as it got.
At the 2005 G.I. Joe convention, Hasbro was getting heavy pressure from the collecting community. Everyone knew the line was in trouble. But, Hasbro didn't even acknowledge that elephant in the room. Instead, they pulled typical subterfuge that was common for them and those in their orbit during the early 2000's. Hasbro showcased the HAS set at their booth on the first day of the convention. And, they took flak for how much the set sucked. By the third day, Hasbro had pulled the HAS set from the display: claiming that what they had on hand wasn't "ready", yet and shouldn't be showcased. Just a couple of short weeks later, though, the exact set that was shown on Day 1 started showing up at Toys R Us stores all over the country. It was another bold faced lie from a cowardly team. The worst thing, though, was that Hasbro knew about the upcoming DTC experiment. Rather than generating excitement among the fan base over this innovative idea, they simply ignored the fate the line. This killed collector interest. So much so that the community shrunk in just the few weeks between the failure of the convention and the announcement of DTC. This tanked DTC's chances of success. And, about a year later, DTC was dead and the last remnants of the Joe line were liquidated to Toys R Us for pennies on the dollar.
The HAS Set was bad in a lot of ways. It used three figure molds that had all appeared in Toys R Us exclusive sets in 2004. And, in each case, barely recolored them outside of the pants. The Greenshirts were a bad figure mold. And, Greenshirt sets were still backed up at every Toys R Us store in the country when the HAS set was released. And, those Greenshirts included helmets, backpacks and an armory of weapons. The figures in the HAS weren't even different from those in the Greenshirt set. They just had crappier gear.
It didn't have to be this way, though. Originally, the HAS set was going to include Ace and Mutt. We don't know which molds would have been used. But, they still have filecards on the back of the package. You can't determine their molds or color choices, though, as the artwork used on the filecards was art Hasbro made for other releases of the characters in the JvC line. Poor Roadblock, though, doesn't have a HAS filecard: showing he was a late edition to the set. You wonder what would have happened if the HAS set had included a repainted 1992 Mutt and 1992 Ace. Even the Anti-Venom Mutt and the 1983 ACE would have been interesting choices that would have given the set more cachet.
This Duke figure, though, isn't all that great. The grey pants with dark cammo spots jus don't really work. And, when matched against the dark greenish/blue shirt, the whole figures clashes. The figure's chest, though, has potential. It's nicely painted. And, set against a different pair of legs, it might have worked. Black Major produced a similarly colored Steel Brigade figure in the mid 2020's and it turned out very nice. So, the color can work. But, the terrible 1984 Roadblock arms suck any usefulness out of the design. The arms are just too scrawny for the chest. And, the thick face paint on the figure's head makes it too large for the chest, too. So, you have this weird visual where the figure is top heavy while being puny at the same time. The whole package just doesn't work.
G.I. Joe conventions used to be well documented. Every collector who attended took photos. And, every Joe website hosted massive convention galleries. There were first hand write ups and recording of the various sessions. All of that, of course, is now gone. The forums have all disappeared. Most of the websites have gone dark. In short, much of the documentation that we have on the history of the Joe line of the early 2000's is now lost. It's an unfortunate byproduct of the internet era. And, with social media ravaging content outside of their walled gardens, there's little hope we'll ever recover that information. Again, looking at the current slate of online videos that document the Hasbro livestreams of the Classified era, we think that they are permanent artifacts of the line's history. But, our legacy is that these relics will also, at some point, be lost. It probably doesn't matter. But, for those of us who were around during those days, it's tough to confirm our memories as their original sources have all disappeared.
Duke's gear is terrible. Hasbro gave up on the HAS set and we were just given a couple of overstock, commonly used weapons with the figures. Hasbro didn't even go the extra step of loading up the pack with a bunch of superfluous weapons like they had with some other dud sets. So, Duke just gets a silver version of the 1986 Low Light Uzi and a black shotgun that was sculpted in the 2000's and released with just a ton of different figures. The gear isn't sensical for Duke and doesn't look good with him at all. Sans helmet or pack, Duke feels lightly covered and the flaws of the Duke parts become more obvious. You'll note that I try a variety of different gear combos on my figure in the photos below. This is just an attempt to find a look for this figure that works since he didn't include any accessories that improved the figure beyond his paint applications.
This is a 20 year old figure. The ARAHC figures that started Joe's return to full retail in 2000 are 25 years old. This Duke is now as old as the 1985 Flint figure was when this Duke was first released. It's difficult to wrap my head around this figure being two decades old. It seems like the Joe line was at retail not that long ago. What I do find interesting, though, is that the Joe team of the early 2000's never really understood collectors. It took them years to find a way to appease collector wants. And, even when they scored a hit, it was never followed up upon. Hasbro's current Joe team, though, are not long time collectors. And, yet, they seem to have a pretty good idea of what collectors want. The Classified Haslabs are bona-fide hits. Each new figure release seems to be met with, at worst, tepid enthusiasm. And, most releases are considered solid if not great. Maybe the designers not being collectors is what makes them good at getting items for collectors. But, it's sad to see a team lead by a "collector' fail so miserably to get collector wants fulfilled in the 2000's while a new team consistently nails every release even though they don't really have a conduit into the fandom like the Hasbro team of the early 2000's did.
It's tough to price this Duke. Dealers sell loose figures for between $20 and $30. And, they try to get $40 or more for a complete with filecard figure. But, those figures sit and sit with no interest. You'll see carded HAS sets sell in the $120 range. Which is appalling on its face. Most of the interest seems to be around Roadblock and Snake Eyes who make up over half of the carded pricing. If you can find a market priced seller, this is probably around a $10 figure. And, frankly, that's too much. This is a bad figure from a bad release that really has no purpose in your collection. He doesn't match the two good figures in the set and isn't even a useful Duke. If you want the character, buy the 2022 version. He's about the same price, has better coloring and includes amazing accessories.
