Monday, June 30, 2025

Action Figure Review: Heavy Duty from G.I. Joe: Classified Series by Hasbro

 

   I haven't had a new G.I. Joe: Classified Series figure to review since March, so I'm really excited that I have quite a few figures in line for the coming month. Today I'm checking out Heavy Duty, a 1991 release who Hasbro really took a shine too. Heavy Duty became a prominent part of the early 2000s lines like G.I. Joe Vs. Cobra, Spy Troops, and Valor Vs. Venom, was one of the main team members of Sigma 6, and appeared in the 2009 live action film G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra. He was also revealed to be Roadblock's cousin in some of the animated productions like Renegades. I still have my vintage Heavy Duty and I loved him as a kid. My dad managed K-Mart stores for decades when I was a kid and I remember getting him at one of my dad's stores. I think I might have done something or helped at the store in some way (maybe a fundraising event where employees could bring their kids?) and was rewarded with a gift certificate or something similar or was given the option of picking from some toys preselected for us to pick from. I've had a number of other Heavy Duty figures over the years, especially from the Sigma 6 line, but this guy takes most everything great about the vintage figure and dials it up. Ready to check out Heavy Duty? Then join me after the break...




The Facts:

Height: 6 3/4ths inches

Articulation: Swivel/ hinge ankles, boot swivels, double hinged knees, swivel thighs, ball-jointed drop down hips, ball-jointed waist, balljointed mid-torso, butterfly pecs, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, double hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, balljointed neck base, and a barbell jointed head.

Accessories: 2 swappable portraits, 4 swappable hands, 2 bracelets, bandolier, bull necklace, Man Portable Heavy Weapons System, ammo box attachment, 2 ammo belts, 2 heavy machine gun attachments, 2 missile launcher attachments,  2 knives, 8 missiles, 8 firing effects, visor, and headset.  

Non-Scalper Price: $35 dollars




Comparison:

* Just for fun, here's a shot of the Classified Series Heavy Duty (left) and my vintage 1991 G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Heavy Duty. The design and colors are very accurate (the Classified Series Heavy Duty's green is a bit less neon) though there's more detail now. Instead of two large missiles, the launchers now sport four smaller missiles each. 


The Positives:

* Heavy Duty fits right in with a very military colored costume. He's sporting ripped off sleeves, sure, but Everything else looks like pieces of actual military gear. He's a big dude (he's actually Roadblock's cousin) and he stands taller than most other figures in the line. Hey, you'd have to be pretty substantial to carry the weapons system he totes around. Heavy Duty definitely looks like he's geared up for fighting. He makes me think of when you see pictures of actual soldiers out in the field, especially Vietnam era troops, who have essentially customized their uniform to their liking. Heavy Duty (real name Lamont A. Morris) isn't dressed to stand in line for an inspection; he's dressed to tote around a Man-Portable Heavy Weapons System in the field. 





* The original Heavy Duty was something of a product of his time with a backwards neon ballcap. Well, these days the 90s are back, so He's sporting a neon green ballcap again (though less bright). He's a cool looking guy with a goatee, ear piercings, and a focused look. Heavy Duty is actually a classic guitarist who is incredibly proficient and has excellent hand-eye coordination. That helps him both musically and when operating his complex Man-Portable Heavy Weapons System; he's somewhat of a one-man band of destruction.




* Heavy Duty is wearing a bandolier with a couple grenades hanging from it, just like the vintage toy had. He's also sporting a JoePro device, though it oddly doesn't have the blue paint app on the screen. He's also sporting a cool gold bull's head necklace. Why's that? Because Morris' hometown is Chicago, Illinois, so he's clearly a fan of the Chicago Bulls. Represent! That's really a neat little nod to the vintage file card. Both the necklace and the bandolier are removable pieces.






* The vintage Heavy Duty had "JOE" on his hat but this one has a 1990s inspired font that says "Shred Head" in neon letters. Oh, and the "S" in shred? It's the Cool S. Gnarly. 









* Heavy Duty has some more grenades on his belt (they're nonremovable) and a bracelet on each wrist. These bracelets are different and they're also removable when you pop off his hands. The left bracelet looks like a standard wristband with a clip, maybe one of those paracord bracelets? The right bracelet has a screen that says "73 BPM" so perhaps it's a metronome of sorts? Or monitoring his heartrate? 








* The camouflage pattern on Heavy Duty's pants is pretty complex with some regular green and a few neon green patterns mixed in. It looks really good and still manages to stand out just a bit while still looking subdued. It's an excellent and unique print.









* Heavy Duty has a swappable portrait so you can display Sgt. Morris without his ballcap. He's sporting a flat top with some lines shaved in the sides. He also looks a bit more relaxed here, too. Maybe give him a 1/12th scale guitar and let him strum some tunes on the classical guitar. 






* Heavy Duty is definitely built to handle some heavy duty action. He's a big guy and he feels incredibly sturdy. These are some of the highest quality figures on the market, particularly when you consider that they're mostly mass market releases, and the range of motion is excellent. Heavy Duty can take almost any poses you need him to and looks great whether using his smaller knives or his massive weapons pack. He also has a balljointed mid-torso, not something all of the Classified Series figures have yet.





* He's not called Heavy Duty because of these two knives, but having some extra knives never hurts. They're cool blades with some nice detail on the handle.













* He has two sheathes to keep them in: One on his belt and one on his ankle. Neither holster is removable but they are separate pieces and keep his blades securely in place.





* The vintage Heavy Duty had a red visor that attached to his backpack and served as some sort of an aiming or image intensification device it snapped off on mine as a kid). This figure has a similar item, but it's much smaller. It's an eyepiece that wraps around the back of his hat and covers his eye. There's even a little reticle like image on the front.









* A headset is also included, perhaps for Heavy Duty to listen to music or perhaps receive communications while in the field. Heck, these also might be ear protection since I'm sure his weapons system is loud as heck.







* Heavy Duty's Man-Portable Heavy Weapons System is pretty large. It's not quite as large as something like the Cobra Flight Pod or the RAM Cycle, but it's definitely a deluxe accessory. Multiple pieces, some metal axles, and lots of removable missiles? There's definitely a lot going on here. It's also all stuff that does seem like a person could conceivably fire them from a standing position. Yes, the whole thing would be heavy, but the weapons do all look like they're items that a single person could use, at least one at a time.




* The back of the system looks like it's composed of a huge backpack for storing ammo for the miniguns and a computer system for programming and fine-tuning the systems. The words "Man-Portable Heavy Weapons System" are even printed on the back, making this look like an official piece of equipment rather than just something cobbled together.







* On each side of the system are shoulder-mounted miniguns. These look really cool and they each have a removable grey ammo belt that feeds into them from the backpack. Each minigun is mounted on a balljoint on an arm that swivels. 








* Here's the front of the weapons system. There's a large chunk of armor on it that looks like it's already taken a few hits as it's all scratched up with some noticeable dents, too. The vintage file card stated that "Heavy Duty doesn't duck for ANYBODY!" and the vintage figure had "Just Try It!" printed on the front of the weapons system. We don't have that here, but we do have some nice paint detail and a view of two ammo boxes mounted on the bottom for the two larger machine guns at waist level.





* I love these handles. They rotate and give the figure a solid place to grip the weapons system, presumably allowing him to control everything at once.





* The two machine guns are removable but they're not weapons you'd really use on their own. They do have holes in the barrels for firing effects (not included).









* The two quad-rocket launchers can also be removed (and held by the figure, if you want) but are mounted on balljoints. They're impressive missile launchers and are modified M202 FLASH launchers. The side even has printed on it "M202 Quad Burst" along with "Invention NO. 2 IN D Minor." That's a Johann Sebastian Bach piece referenced on Heavy Duty's vintage file card and apparently he's using it as inspiration in naming his rocket launchers.






* Eight missiles are included, all bright green, and capable of fitting in the barrels. It's not always a tight fit, but if you're just standing the launchers up evenly or angled up, you'll be OK. These are the same as the smaller missiles from Metal-Head, a figure who makes a nice adversary for Heavy Duty. 




* Eight launch effects are also included. They plug very securely into each chamber and the missile plugs onto the end. Mix them up for different firing combinations.









* A huge weapons system like this looks cool, but it's worthless if the figure can't carry it. Guess what? Heavy Duty can. He looks fantastic wielding this massive set of weapons, too. It plugs securely into his back, rests on his shoulders, and it folds around him. Have him gripping the handles and he looks ready to stand tall against Cobra.







* Four swappable hands are included with Heavy Duty: Two for holding weapons and the handles of the Man-Portable Heavy Weapons System and two fists for your average Cobra punching.







The Negatives:


* One of the miniguns has an arm that feels a bit off. The swiveling arm is a bit loose and needs to be pushed back in to keep allow the arm to stay stiff so the minigun can pose in upwards firing poses.



* The missiles can rest inside of Heavy Duty's M202 launchers but they tend to fall out. Most of them, anyway. I'm not sure why they didn't make the chambers a little more snug and secure. 








   Heavy Duty is an incredible deluxe figure. It's easy to look at him and think he's not packing that much gear, but it's simply not true. He's got swappable heads, hands, eye and head gear, and so many weapons built onto his articulated weapons system. He's a really good figure in his own but that Man-Portable Heavy Weapons System sends him over the edge. He's really a great deluxe figure and I've really enjoyed posing him and playing around with him. Since he's based on a 1991 release I'm sure they'll be a bunch of people who claim that they've never heard of him, but Heavy Duty has had well over a dozen figures across multiple G.I. Joe lines, so he's a truly worthy addition to the Classified Series. He's also Epic as heck!


This the first figure of Heavy Duty I've reviewed. For more G.I. Joe: Classified Series reviews check out the following:








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11 comments:

  1. 555July 1, 2025 at 9:18 AM

    This one looks plain weird, like he's cosplaying Jake Rockwell from The Centurions, and didn't know how to do the bottom half of the costume. A decent exoskeleton here would have really elevated it to premium status, and given the man the respect he's due. I mean, Raptor gets upgraded from crappy D&D soft goods cloak to full flight harness. Even a shipping trolley, so he can maintain his center of gravity

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    1. Barbecue17July 1, 2025 at 8:14 PM

      Man, I love Centurions, so that's a compliment! I really could see what a fully reimagined heavy duty would look like, though I do think with Hasbro still did a good job of making the vintage weapons system feel a bit more realistic. The ammo would be one of the heaviest parts! The m202 Flash's way about 27 pounds each loaded. I imagine the two main machine guns are 7.62 caliber weapons, so not as heavy as .50 caliber weapons and ammo, but not anything tiny.

      Still, I think Heavy Duty is probably a crazy guy. He probably just walks out and starts delivering some serious cover fire and absolutely leveling whatever is in sight. Heck, put him in the turret spot of something like the Valaverse Vanguard and he'd be more mobile.

      Raptor and Crystal Ball did get nice upgrades, though. I'm glad Tripwire did, too. It is interesting to see what characters get a modern upgrade and reimaging of sorts and what characters get more vintage accurate figure. I usually do favor characters with somewhat of an upgrade, I think.

      Delete
    2. 555July 4, 2025 at 6:44 AM

      In the absence of some modern Centurions figures, this would have been a perfect way to satisfy the craving. I don't know if you have any of the Joytoy Primarch series, but that's a good scale and quality for a revamped Centurions.

      Delete
    3. Barbecue17July 8, 2025 at 10:08 PM

      I've always felt like G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 was heavily inspired by Centurions. Both lines I love in a similar scale and style.

      Delete
  2. GIJigsawJuly 1, 2025 at 6:41 PM

    Dang. When did this guy get released. Very cool.

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    Replies
    1. Barbecue17July 1, 2025 at 8:14 PM

      Pretty recently. I've only had him for a week or so.

      Delete
  3. Big ToneJuly 2, 2025 at 7:28 AM

    I could see him and Metal Head going at it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. John HoodJuly 2, 2025 at 10:59 AM

    The figure reminds me of a Colonial Marine from Aliens! That's some serious anti-xenomorph hardware! Now I wish Hasbro would release a retro collection of Alien action figures from Kenner...

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    1. Barbecue17July 8, 2025 at 9:59 PM

      That would be cool. NECA did some of them but not enough. I really hoped they would release more Marines and even a Dutch figure in their Kenner 4.5 inch line but it just kind of fizzled out.

      Remember the Pursuit of Cobra Duke that seemed inspired by the Colonial Marines? His rifle definitely was like a pulse rifle.

      Delete
  5. Joe PantsJuly 4, 2025 at 12:29 PM

    Oh, gotta pick this one up for sure, I was on the fence from the promo shots, but your review helped me decide. Also getting Michael Jai White vibes from the head sculpt, which is always a plus.

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    Replies
    1. Barbecue17July 8, 2025 at 10:01 PM

      Oh! That's great. He does kind of look like Michael Jai White. Makes me wish McFarlane would release some Spawn: The Movie figures redone for modern collectors. I still have mine and loved them as a kid.

      Delete

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