Heavy Duty (Reactive Armor)

When the movie costumes first started getting revealed, there was quite the buzz among the community...they all looked the same! Where was the uniqueness? I also share that concern, but my main focus was on the toys. Exactly how would these toys look beyond just a bunch of different heads slapped on those Reactive Armor bodies? Well, thankfully Hasbro (so far) has found ways to make them unique. Heavy Duty especially.

Simply put, Heavy Duty is a BEAST. He's a monster...this figure is, well... large. Even just picking it up, it feels heavier than the other figures, and more solid all around. He retains the overall Reactive Armor "look", but it's not just the size that separates him, it's also the varied amount of weathering. While Duke and Ripcord have minorly worn armored tunics, Heavy Duty's look more metal plated with a wash over that metal. It's a very cool look that makes the figure distinctive regardless of his size (though the size definitely helps).

Heavy Duty's head sculpt is remarkably accurate to the actor, which is somewhat of a hit or miss proposition with this line so far. Little things like the slope of his shoulders and the sculpted zipper underneath the armor just add the right bit of detail to the figure, and make a Rise of COBRA character that is awesome and imposing.

Sometimes when a figure is constructed this large, the poseability sometimes suffers, but that is definitely not the case here. Heavy Duty has the same range of motion as any of his cohorts, and despite his taller stature, he fits in flawlessly.

The first version of Heavy Duty got generally bad press, mostly due to the fact that his signature weapon, the chaingun, was an oversized clunky spring-loaded hunk of junk. Thankfully for this version Hasbro rectifies that by streamlining it, and making it a more managable, credible weapon. One bad note is that the ammo belt needs to be just a touch longer. It works fine with him standing there, but if he tries to fire the weapon with his right hand, the belt just isn't quite long enough.

It works okay with the left hand, however. Along with the chaingun and requisite backpack, he's got a great automatic grenade launcher/tactical shotgun and a nice heavy caliber pistol. The pistol also fits into his thigh holster perfectly. A very nice little assortment of weaponry for the G.I. Joe weapons specialist.

From the size to the tooling, to the applied weathering on the armor, Heavy Duty manages to be a very unique addition to the Rise of COBRA toyline in spite of being mostly the same from a design perspective. So far Hasbro has managed to nicely separate the Joe team, even with very similar aesthetics. Heavy Duty is a great addition to the cast, and a very, very nice action figure.

Buy this action figure at Big Bad Toy Store!

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