G.I. Joe Classified Series Dusty review

I’m closing in on wrapping my beloved 1985 Joe lineup in the Classified Series. Dusty now shrinks the list down to Shipwreck (already revealed), Airtight, Alpine, Bazooka classic (already revealed), Footloose and Quick Kick. I always liked Dusty.

As a wrestling fan, maybe the camo face paint appealed to me? And he’s got the distinction in starring in my all-time favorite cartoon episode, The Funhouse, as well as getting featured in the excellent and rare two-parter The Traitor.

Anytime a new 1985 Joe is announced, I’m hyped although Dusty didn’t seem to get too much love with his release from collectors who got him earlier. I’m hoping I won’t share their lack of excitement.

Let’s see if Dusty delivers or if I need to find a nice sandpit to bury him.

Packaging: I always find the artwork to be a real matter of taste since there’s no house style for the packaging. That said, I love the work done here by Imad Awan, who truly gets Dusty’s whole shtick and makes him look like the baddest, bada$$ desert trooper around.

And hey, Dusty even has a bio on the Joe website!

Dusty can track like a hungry wolf, go to ground like a spooked prairie dog and fight like a wounded bobcat. In other words, Dusty is completely at home in the desert. He is an expert tracker who can withstand temperatures extremes and survive for extended periods of time in harsh, arid climates with minimal water and little-to-no plant or animal life.

Fluent in several Central Asian languages and well-versed in the cultures of various desert communities worldwide. Dusty is comfortable with solitude, often having no personal contact with humans for weeks at a time. He is known to travel with a coyote, Sandstorm, who has formed a bond with Dusty as if he is a fellow creature of the desert.

On the skill chart code, Dusty scores top marks of 4s in environmental specialist and desert combat, a 2 in light weapons and 1 in linguist.

Likeness: A decent amount of complaints I read about Dusty was people thinking he looks like a reused Duke head sculpt. I don’t see that at all.

Both guys look like regular… (hmm) Joes, but there’s enough difference with the sculpts that I don’t feel like I’m looking at Tomax and Xamot. And I like the focus expression Dusty is rocking.

Dusty is using what I assume is just the Duke torso with new arms. I really like the look of his harness and Hasbro going for accuracy with the addition of the smaller skirt piece peeking out from the lower half of his harness belt.

The length seems to be spot-on accurate to the original Real American Hero figure. As usual, the figure sports impressive textured detail on the outfit.

Just like the original, Dusty is rocking shorter boots only with the knife sheath on the left ankle instead of the right one.

While he doesn’t have it on, Dusty is a character pretty synonymous with his helmeted appearance. The helmet doesn’t fit snugly on his head until you do the trick the gang at the Full Force YouTube channel discovered.

Place one of the two included goggles backwards to give Dusty the eyes in the back of his head appearance. Place the other goggles atop the helmet like his typical look and the helmet will now rest flusher.

MORE:

• Hasbro reveals official photos of HasLab Giant-Man
• DC Comics reviews 9/5/23 – Batman #137, Birds of Prey #1, Shazam #3
• Marvel Legends Molecule Man — BAF Puff Adder wave
• The Hard Way (2019) movie review

Paint: The one thing I’m not a huge fan of with Dusty is the application of his face paint. I loved the look of the original figure as it made him look so unique from the others especially with how the paint went over his eye. This paint is far less intrusive making it look like Dusty thought about it but didn’t want to get too crazy.

There’s been some complaints about the discrepancy with the knees and elbow joints not matching up color wise. I’ll go with the knee discoloration being that they’re kneepads as opposed to the uninterrupted continuation of the pants. Where’s my No Prize?

Hasbro nailed the colors of Dusty’s attire. It has that desert gold and camo that’s applied pretty generously throughout the attire. And unlike so many of the Joes with green camo, the brown stands out and isn’t a case where it’s barely on his outfit.

Unlike the RAH figure, the harness is brown instead of black. Black probably stood out better, but the brown blends in more with the other colors of his outfit. Dusty got incorporated into Tiger Force so you should probably expect a repaint from Target revealed any day now.

Scale: Dusty was portrayed as average height so he should be looking Flint, Snake Eyes and Alpine eye to eye. He’s a tad taller than Flint and I’m getting a little worried Hasbro is creeping the scale up on newer figures although the Joes shouldn’t all be the same height.

Articulation: Hasbro has won the game on highly articulated six-inch figures at affordable (enough) costs. Dusty is a lot of fun to pose and imagine you’re in an arid desert with no relief in sight.

Dusty has:

• head
• neck
• shoulders (butterfly)
• elbow (double-jointed)
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• mid-torso
• torso
• waist
• hips (ball-jointed)
• drop down hips
• knees (double-jointed)
• ankles

Accessories: Dusty’s RAH figure came with a FAMAS submachine gun. This figure has a nice approximation of that also includes a removable magazine and the bipod just like the original figure.

Dusty has two goggles of slightly different size. The smaller is intended to place over Dusty’s eyes while the larger is to go over the helmet. This ended up being a nice hack to properly position the helmet.

One area that’s getting a lot of complaints is the fact that Hasbro opted to make the lower portion of the helmet plastic instead of cloth like the original.

I get the complaint, but I’m not sure how Hasbro could have made that look great and I feel like there’d be just as much complaints if they didn’t execute that perfectly.

His backpack is a great replica of the RAH version complete with canteens on either side. It’s all brown and it’d be nice to see some paint apps, but it still works.

There’s a cool detail on Dusty’s harness that is painted with the water hose from the canteen, which is a very nice touch and sensible addition to the harness for the desert trooper.

Finally, Dusty has his own unique knife for his sheath.

It’s great that each Joe has a slightly different knife, and you don’t have to worry about them slipping out of the sheath or his hands.

Worth It?  Dusty reflects the new price point of $24.99, which isn’t awesome. At least the Classified Series works to include more accessories beyond a set of swappable hands to justify it.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Dusty’s helmet and shirt skirt provides some challenging issues. I would have liked a bit more camo specifically with the face paint, but this is another really nice addition to the Classified Series line.

Where to Get It?  He’s available right now on Amazon and Entertainment Earth

As an Amazon Associate and Entertainment Earth affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.