Heavy Conflict
Review by Phillip Donnelly
"Heavy Conflict" is the second
two-pack of new figures from the
2016 Toys R Us-exclusive GI Joe
line. Like the " Mission Accepted"
pack, this set consists of an update
to an existing character as well as
an all-new character. Only here,
they're both Joes!  Heavy
Duty is a definite throwback to his
first figure. Green headgear, white
shirt, and green camo pants. But
instead of a baseball cap and dress
shirt with torn-off sleeves, we get a
do-rag and a t-shirt. The
Night Adder
tactical vest in black takes the place
of his original bandolier. Heavy Duty
uses the
Retaliation Ultimate Roadblock
build with a new head, and I'm of a
mixed mind on this. On the one hand,
it's a great, bulky build as befits a
Heavy Ordnance Trooper. On the other
hand, the look is just off enough from
the original figure design to make me
sad. This body has been used to great
effect for
Leatherneck and
Repeater in
the past, but I'm getting a little tired
of it. And the fact that the filecard
art depicts his original costume sort of
rubs salt in the wound. I suppose this
figure is a more tactical take on Heavy
Duty, but I found the goofiness of his
original uniform part of his charm!
 Heavy
Duty's loadout includes
Roadblock's
ma-deuce,
Resolute Roadblock's rifle, and an
M-249 rifle, also from
Roadblock. (I'm
sensing a pattern here.) Clearly Heavy Duty
does not concern himself with
understatement. A pistol and knife are also
included for the figure's holster and sheath.
REgrettably, the handles on the pistol and
knife are too small to fit in the larger
grip of Heavy Duty's hands! You can
sort of get them to balance there, but
they're not very useful once gravity isn't
working in your favor.
 And
now we move on to
Stiletto. She's the new girl
in town, the first fan-made character introduced
to the line. Borrowing liberally from
Agent
Helix with a touch of
Lady Jaye, Stiletto adds
in a new head,
Falcon's neckerchief, and a
bright color scheme to change things up. Her
chin seems a little pointy to me for some
reason. The white streak in her hair and the
scar across her right eye are some distinctive
characteristics to set her apart from the
crowd. A part of me thinks they should have
paired Stiletto in a two-pack with
Tombstone and
called it something like "Eye Trauma."
 Stiletto
comes with quite the arsenal - a Dragunov sniper
rifle, a submachine gun, two knives, and the sword
set from Renegades Storm Shadow. There's no place
to store her smaller weapons, so make peace with
losing them now. As for her position as a bodyguard
to Mercer, it does give her an interesting
backstory. I'm not entirely sure Mercer needs a
bodyguard, as he always seemed pretty sure of his
own abilities in the cartoons. I have to admit,
though, that I haven't read the GI Joe Worlds
stories from which she originated.
The "Heavy Conflict" set is definitely worth a look. We
finally get a more traditional, if imperfect, Heavy Duty
after years of asking, and a new female character is always
welcome. If you come across this on the pegs, it's worth
putting in your cart.
Database Entries:
Heavy Duty (v13)
Stiletto
More images:
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December 7, 2016
Images from the collection of: Phillip Donnelly Return to Previous Page
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