G.I.JOE DUKE VINTAGE 1983

After watching the new Joe movie and getting ideas on kit bashing Dwayne as Roadblock and Channing as duke. I remembered my old G.I.Joe 3 ¾ inch collection. Scrounging my storage looking for them I finally found this guy, 1983 version one of Duke the famous G.I.Joe team leader. Base from his file card information, Duke has a rank of E-8 or a Master Sergeant as opposed to the movie where he is a Captain. His full name is Conrad S. Hauser. He is from St. Louis, MO.  He is an Airborne infantry man with a secondary skills as an artillery man and small-arms armorer. Duke would have been an officer but he prefers to lead his men on the field. Duke declined several promotions and stayed as First Sergeant of the G.I.Joe team. This toy brings back a lot of fun childhood memories. Even though the G.I.Joe line has been released numerous times, the vintage G.I.Joe will always be my favorite. I’ll check my stash for other Joe’s, although I remember having more Cobra bad guys in my collection. Till next time Yo! Joe!

 

Duke in his old school version one costume.

This is how he looked like in the 80’s cartoon series.

 

 

Vintage 1983 Duke action figure. He has 12 points of articulation. By today’s standard 12 points of articulation is considered few, but back then the G.I.Joe toy line is one of the most articulated toy.

 

 

Cheerful looking face sculpt.

A little scratch due to rough playtime and its age.

 

 

Duke came with cool accessories. He had a backpack, binoculars, a helmet and his gun. The backpack has a peg that you attach to the hole at the back of the figure. G.I.Joe figures always came with a lot of accessories wish modern action figure have them too.

 

 

YO! Joe!

 

 

Duke with all his accessories

 

 

 

 

Duke from the old cartoon series.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

G.I.JOE RETALIATION DUKE KITBASH

After kit bashing Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson as Roadblock from G.I.Joe Retaliation movie, I finally got the chance to see the film. This inspired me to make another kit bash of a G.I.Joe character base from the movie. As the former team leader of the Joe’s, I feel that Duke deserves his very own figure. Channing Tatum played the role of Duke from the first movie Rise of Cobra and the resent G.I.Joe Retaliation. Base from the first movie, Conrad Hauser A.K.A. Duke is a former Special Forces Captain. He was later on recruited by G.I.Joe’s commander General Hawk. After the events of the first movie Duke then became the field leader of the Joe team. In an attack issued by fake President Zartan, Duke together with most of his men were KIA. Leaving his friend Roadblock and a handful of Joe’s to face the wrath of Cobra Commander.

 

My 1/6 scale representation of Captain Duke from the movie G.I.Joe Retaliation.

 

Head sculpt of Hasbro’s Duke 1/6 figure from the Rise of Cobra toy line.

 

Duke equipped with his pistol and a signal flare on the other hand.

 

 

For his extra gear I added several Mk141 mod 0 stun grenades and a flare.

 

 

M9 9mm pistol with several spare ammo.

 

 

Duke wearing body armor and several ammo pouch both for his SCAR-L and his pistol.

 

At the back is a small dump pouch for extra gear.

 

Duke’s weapon of choice the FN SCAR-L also called Mk16 mod 0. The SCAR-L uses 5.56x45mm NATO rounds and has a firing rate of 625 rounds per minute.

 

 

Duke with his assault rifle.

 

 

Duke fully geared and ready to take out Cobra.

Too bad he died in the movie.

 

 

In memory of Capt. Conrad “Duke” Hauser.

R.I.P.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DC COLLECTIBLES ARKHAM CITY SERIES 4: BATMAN

Final figure in the Arkham City wave four set. This time we get an improved version of the series 3 Batman. Back in the first wave we got a version of Batman without his mask. In the second wave of figures the detective mode Batman was issued. Then in the third wave a regular Batman was released. So what’s new with this improved Batman? Well for starters we have the torso and abdominal articulation; we also get a double hinged knee. He also came with a batarang. One drawback of the figure is the heavy cape. Over all he is the best version of Batman from series one to series four. I hope that in the fifth wave DC would focus on making other characters and skip Batman.

 

Arkham City game poster

 

 

Batman out of the box. He has around 22 points of articulation.

 

 

I like the face sculpt of the figure. A really mean looking Batman.

 

 

Well detailed hands with a Batarang.

 

 

Due to the cape Batman has a hard time standing on his own.

Wish the cape was removable.

 

 

Batman has hinge foot, swivel on the boots, double hinge knee, ball joint hip, ab crunch, torso ball joint, ball jointed head, ball joint shoulder, swivel bicep, single hinge elbow, swivel on the gloves and swivel on the arm. From wave 1 to 4, I say this is the Batman to get.

 

 

Arkham City Series 4:

 

Nightwing

Deadshot

Talia al Ghul

Batman

 

 

 

 

 

 

DC COLLECTIBLES ARKHAM CITY SERIES 4: TALIA AL GHUL

Talia Al Ghul is our third figure from Batman Arkham City Series four. Talia is the daughter of Ra’s Al Ghul. She is also once a love interest of Batman and the mother of Damian the current Robin. Talia is a skillful hand to hand fighter and is also well versed with different types of weapons. Aside from her fighting skills, Talia is also a well rounded business woman. Talia’s character was created by Dennis O’Neil and Bob Brown. She was first seen on Detective Comics No. 411 released way back 1971.

 

Talia and Ra’s Al Ghul

 

 

Talia came with a sword. The costume was nicely detailed.

 

 

The face was a bit dirty and not that well painted.

 

 

Back side of the costume is also decorated nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marion Cotillard as Talia Al Ghul in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises.

 

 

Arkham City Series 4 figures

Nightwing

Deadshot

Talia al Ghul

 

 

 

 

 

DC COLLECTIBLES ARKHAM CITY SERIES 4: DEADSHOT

Another figure from DC Collectibles Arkham City Series four, this time we have Deadshot. Deadshot is an expert marksman and is a professional assassin boasting that he never misses his target. He is also a member of the Suicide Squad. So who is Deadshot? The man behind countless assassinations goes by the name Floyd Lawton. He is proficient with almost any fire arms but prefers to use an arm mounted gun. Deadshot was created by Bob Kane together with David Vern Reed and Lew Schwartz. Deadshot is often an enemy of Batman but in recent TV series he made several attempts to eliminate Clark Kent in Smallville and was also seen in the latest DC TV series Arrow. Enough chit chat let’s check out Deadshot in his Arkham City costume.

A comic book version of Deadshot.

 

Deadshot out of the package. He has zero accessories with him. I wish he came with at least a sniper rifle or pistols.

 

  Deadshot with his iconic eye wear.

A little bit sloppy with the paint.

 

 

Nice and clear Arkham logo on his shirt.

 

 

His signature weapon, double arm mounted guns.

 

 

Very well sculpted detail in his costume. Too bad his holster was empty.

 

 

Back side of the figure.

Aside from several sculpted detail there’s nothing special here I guess.

 

 

Deadshot checking his weapon.

 

 

Deadshot: “I never miss”

 

 

Deadshot from the TV series Arrow.

Wish the figure came with that rifle.

 

 

Deadshot from the TV series Smallville.

 

 

Arkham City Series 4:

Nightwing