G.I. Joe: ARAHC - Dusty

Well, welcome to the profiles for the 2000 G.I. Joe Two Packs. The way I figured I would do it is to start with my least favorite of the figures and move up to the one I liked the most. So if the first few reviews seem luke warm, that's because I'm just building to the good ones!! 

My next pick is Dusty, the so-called desert trooper. Whether or not you think he makes a decent desert trooper, this figure just plain ROCKS!! I LOVE it. In my universe, Dusty left the Joe team, retrained as an Airborne Ranger and rejoined, still with the desert trooper background, but now in more of a Special Forces capacity. That is how much I LOVE this figure...I had to rewrite a history just to make sense of it. But I am very glad they made the figure this way! First of all, the red beret. I love it. Perfect Special Forces addition. Adds some color to the Joe ranks without being too bright or out of place. The blue shirt is great as well. A nice subdued blue, great for night ops, whether in the desert, jungle, or even in an urban environment. The black shoulder straps work well, too and the silver grenades are the perfect punctuation mark. Like many of the others, he has a really cool American Flag on his sleeve, which adds a LOT to the figure. The pants are real nice as well. This is one figure where I think the paint wipes add a lot of nice detail to what may have been a somewhat bland color scheme. The green seems like it may have been a little bright, but with that dark wash over it, it adds some nice depth and color, making Dusty look like the grizzled warrior he should.

Dusty fits the same bill as a lot of these new figures do. He looks like a war vet who has been through hell, but is still fighting on. I get that impression with him, (Toma)Hawk and Dial Tone and it adds a lot of background and detail to the figures. Nice job, Hasbro!

Again, great plastic quality and an intact O-Ring! The weapons are cool, yet seem low caliber. A single pistol and backpack is a light load, but actually fits Dusty's profile very well! Besides, you can always give him a machine gun!