Conrad “Duke” Hauser (2011)
Now this is one heavily armed Duke. Brandishing something that looks more akin to Heavy Duty or Salvo, the Joe team’s top sergeant is loaded for bear. Interestingly enough, if you take the gargantuan plasma cannon system off, there’s not much of an indication that it’s intended for this figure. Other than the chest armor, he’s not wearing protective gear like Fast Draw, another walking gun platform. The poor guy doesn’t even have a helmet.
For me, this is another of the more versatile and playable GI Joe figures in recent memory. The uniform is nicely designed with a little bit of a near future edge, without looking like it came out of a galaxy far, far away. Much like the Resolute multi-pack Duke, this version looks stern and determined, a far cry from the grin of the 80s.
If the jungle Duke was the Predator homage, this one appears to pay tribute to Aliens. He’s even carrying a familiar looking pulse rifle. Said rifle plugs into his rocket launcher as well, for the ultimate in weapon portability. That’s just too cool.
And he pulled it all off despite reusing POC Zartan’s legs.
He also comes across as a close approximation of Resident Evil’s Chris Redfield. This could easily be repainted as such. Add in the Cobra Shock Trooper as HUNK and you have the beginnings of a small-scale RE collection!
Oh and I forgot the Cobra zombies, another RE reference! 🙂
I don’t think he has much to worry about as far as the lack of protective gear with that launcher backpack. Looks to me like it’s Nerf or Nothin’
He looks so much like Salvo i’m suprised he wasnt rleased as Salvo. But i guess there is a quota of Dukes to be met.
That’s one cool Duke. I gotta add him to my want list now.
The plasma cannon pack is a great starting point for an updated Fast Draw.
Another case where it should’ve been a different character, or the gear should’ve gone to one. Fast Draw is the obvious one, but also, this could’ve been Mirage, who was labelled a weapon’s specialist and was part of the ALIENS inspired Mega Marines. Including a helmet might have gone someways to getting multiple purchases of this figures, too.
Nice action figure, worst weapons.
I always grin when I see the modern pop-culture homage figures. I guess they’re just different enough. ARAH influence were a little more subtle. This figure proved to be pretty good in repaints, too.