First Sergeant

Code Name:

Duke

Desimone Guide: #25

Tomart's Guide: #GI5141 (mail-in), #GI5271 (carded)

Carded Figure

Carded Figure (variant arms)

Bagged Figure

Mint-on-Bubble Figure (JC Penney's/Sears version)

Duke's Filecard (mail-in version)

Duke's Filecard (carded version)

Biography from the G.I.Joe Comics Homepage

Figure Description:

Duke was first available as a mail-in exclusive in the second series (1983).

In 1984, Duke was available carded as part of the third series. He was also sold in 1985, and was discontinued in 1986. At some point afterwords, Duke was also available mail-order through Hasbro Direct.

Versions of Duke:

• Version One (1983)
• Version Two (1988)
• Version Three (1992)
• Version Four (1993)
• Version Five (1993)
• Version Six (1994)
• Version Seven (1997)
• Version Eight (2000)
• Version Nine (2002)
• Version Ten (2002)
• Version Eleven (2002)
• Version Twelve (2003)
• Version Thirteen (2004)
• Version Fourteen (2004)
• Version Fifteen (2004)
• Version Sixteen (2004)
• Version Seventeen (2004)
• Version Eighteen (2004)
• Version Nineteen (2005)
• Version Twenty (2005)
• Version Twenty-One (2005)
• Version Twenty-Two (2005)
• Version Twenty-Three (2007)
• Version Twenty-Four (2008)
• Version Twenty-Five (2008)
• Version Twenty-Six (2008)

Accessories:

Duke came with a light green helmet (with or without holes - see Variations below), a light green submachine gun, black binoculars, and a tan backpack.

The early mail-in version of Duke included a tiny sticker of an American flag. However, few collectors consider these stickers accessories and most collectors will consider Duke complete even if the sticker is missing.

Click the link to see the figure with all its weapons - All Geared Up!

Variations:

Duke came with two different kinds of helmet. The earliest mail-in versions of Duke came with a helmet without holes in it. The carded release of Duke and later mail-in versions of Duke came with a helmet with holes.

The original mail-in version of the filecard has a close-up of Duke's face, while the carded filecard has medium shot from his waist up.

The earliest version of the mail-in filecard was on thick cardboard stock, with a dull brown backing. The later mail-in versions came on thin, glossy stock with red backing.

At some point, Hasbro lost the mold for Duke's arms. The majority of the Duke figures sold in the United States had a rolled sleeve (pictured above left). However, after the mold was broken, the arms were replaced with the cuffed sleeve (pictured above right). The majority of these cuffed sleeve Duke variants were only available carded in Japan. However, some of these variants were also released in limited quantities in 1985 in the U.S.

If you find a Duke with arms that include elastic sleeves, you have an Chinese variant of Duke.[SEE INTERNATIONAL VERSIONS BELOW]

This version of Duke was exclusive to Sears and/or JC Penney's in 1984/1985. The figure's pakaging bubble is sealed to a glossy-red mail-order style file card.

Body Construction:

Duke shares the same waist, arms and back as Doc. Duke shares the same lower legs (boots) as Gung-Ho, while he shares the same upper legs (thighs) as Major Bludd. Duke's legs were also used to create Tollbooth. The only original parts used to create Duke were his head and chest.

The variant of Duke with the cuffed sleeves used the same arm mold as several 1982 figures, including Stalker and Grunt.

Duke's chest was recolored and used with versions of Steel Brigade and Starduster.

Duke's head, torso, and legs were recolored and used to make Tiger Force Duke (v2). Duke's legs were later recolored and used to create Alley Viper (v4) (1997), Alley Viper (v5) (2002), Alley Viper (v6) (2002), Alley Viper (v7) (2003), and Alley Viper (v9) (2004).

Note that the figure's head only turns left and right - it does not allow the head to look up and down. The heads only turned left and right until the the swivel ball head that was introduced in 1985 (Series Four).

International Variants:

In Japan, most of the Japanese Dukes sold there were available with the cuffed sleeves (the forearms originally seen with 1982 figures like Stalker and Grunt).

In China, a Chinese Duke was released with different arms. If Duke has Hit&Run's elastic sleeves, check if the date stamp reads "1988". If this is the case, this is the Chinese Duke.