Dusty (2008)
Dusty is one of those Joe mainstays who didn’t get a single card release in the 25th line, so we had to make do with his inclusion in a DVD battle pack. For me, the battle packs became increasingly difficult to find, culminating in the ridiculously hard to track down fifth pack featuring another great ’85 character, Alpine.
Much like its vintage counterpart, this is your basic utilitarian design and sculpt. It doesn’t do anything fancy, and it doesn’t have to. Including the character’s name patch on his uniform is a nice throwback to the old file card, which bore an anagram of the name of Ron Rudat, one of the original 80’s GI Joe designers. However since this is included in a pack with the Sunbow cartoon DVD, shouldn’t it be Rudat, since the cartoon Dusty bore that name on the series? While we’re talking about the Sunbow Dusty, why in the Sam Hill was a desert trooper assigned to a space station? Guess I shouldn’t complain about it, otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten my favorite Sunbow Dusty moment:
As an example of the versatility of this mold, it was used to create that army builder’s dream, the movie line’s Pit Commando. It’s one of those bodies that can have all sorts of different web gear and accessories added for different looks.
Dusty is one of those characters lucky enough to have received equal exposure in both the cartoons and comics. (Appearances in the Sunbow and DIC TV series, including his own two-parter, plus leading roles in the Marvel comic right out of the gate. Can’t be said of most characters! Clearly, the Rudat connection has made him stand out.) This is a fine update of the original figure and I was lucky enough to grab the set which included him at a fair price, unlike the one with Alpine which still remains a Holy Grail for me.
The original Dusty was one of my favorite figures way back when. It might have had something to do with his specialty being more clear than many of the rest of the Joes I had at the time. This was a great update and I have him displayed prominently within my collection of classics updated.
I think this is a great version of Dusty, too bad he’s kinda hard to find because of bad distribution…
Kinda funny how Recondo complains to him about the heat when their lost in the desert.
Recondo: “How can you stand this heat?”
Dusty “Be mello man, the heat aint so bad if you don’t move.”
Dusty ” Coyote. Well there only dangerous in packs…”
… Then Shipwreck finds them and shakes off a Coyote from his trouble bubble. It falls into a ravine…