Since getting back into the GI Joe game in 2002, I've read a lot of things. Heard a lot of things. Learned a lot of things. I even came to terms w/ some of my beefs about GI Joe in general. Since coming here, it sometimes feels like I'm starting over. Because here, I have to figure out my Joeverse because it's reflected in my dios.

Several people don't like Duke. I never liked the guy until, ahem, Sigma6 where he was a wooden leader. That seemed more like Duke than anything Sunbow did, imo. At the same time, I didn't like Flint either!

I've come to a conclusion about why I didn't like Duke or Flint. They were authority figures. I guess I was seeing on-screen, characters I wouldn't want to be around or would want to follow. When I started skateboarding in 1986, part of the deal w/ skating is to be anti-authoritarian. Seeing Duke as the poster boy, it was like, automatic hate!

But it's more than that. Duke was the guy where the universe revolved around him. I remember in grade school, it felt the same way. The trendys were the guys who made the rules in school, y'know? In my case, they were blonde. And now, just watching Karate Kid, the main 'villian' is ultra blonde and the universe revolved around him! I know, totally weird. But there were kids that looked just like Johnny and acted like him. In grade school. In middle school. In high school. It's no wonder I had a beef against a cartoon character! lol

Just fyi.

When Falcon came along, I thought he was the bomb. Great figure, mold, sculpt and he had a shotgun! As for the treatment of him in the movie, well... Let's just say that it didn't do him any favors!

I had a similar issue with Duke. Even today Duke is my least favorite character. He seems to be harken back to that whole supreme Aryan ideal (Blonde/Blue eyed). I liked Flint at first, because he didn't seem so much like Duke, but then he started to become more establishment. Beachhead always reminded me of a deranged gym teacher - the one who would shoot you if you didn't "give 100%".

Hawk was the upper manager who seemed a little out of the loop - but still had no problem with giving orders.

Falcon never had the exposure so I never developed an opinion about him.

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Well, I didn't like Duke in the cartoons, in fact I'm not a big fan of the cartoon as a whole, and his comic book debut left me cold, but I have to say I enjoyed him in later issues when he became less of a jerk, and his role in the battle of Benzheen made him earn great respect from me.

As for the whole Aryan deal, well... the 2000 Duke has brown eyes. Even with my repainting his hair blond, he still won't look all that Aryan in my Joeverse. No worries there for me.

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RIP Minouche, 1994-2009.

I never disliked Duke. He was, after all, still just one member of a very large and diverse force, and Hawk was a blonde aryan, too.


I held a grudge against Bazooka because he looked too much like the jerk gym teacher/coaches from grade school. Always had that hairstyle and the mustache. Like they were clones. The football jersey didn't help, since in the south either guys played football in middle and high school or they didn't matter. And it's probably still that way.


Ahhh, nothing like public school to warp people forever!

I actually like Duke a lot more than Flint or General Hawk.

Duke actually had a backstory of protecting a little kid getting picked on in the MASS Device, and how those kind of moments tested his sense of honor and justice, how that fit in with his idea of America. Cheesy, sure, but Duke always fell into an ideal-type character, sort of like Captain America.

Flint was moody and could easily get jealous/possessive of Lady Jaye, granted, he did his fair share of leading, but he lacked the true heroism that Duke contained.

The sense I've always gotten from General Hawk was far removed from the team, up to his neck in paper work, off in Washington at a meeting, or trying to save his relationship with Scott. The reason for that crazy jet pack in the 90s? Middle-aged crisis.

I loved Falcon in the movie. (Falcon actually sort of reminds me of Ferris Bueller).

I've always been a Duke fan. Being a 'Superman' nutcase, I always look for a real 'good guy'. For me, that is what Duke represents. It's hard to explain, but it's a 'feeling' that I get seeing someone that, while may seem 'cheesy', is just a downright honest, pure, strong MAN.


Maybe it's a girl thing with me, but Duke is the guy that girls want to bring home to their parents........

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Non illigitamus carborundum~Vos mos non effrego mihi

Coming soon: 'JoeSpecialOps'

And since many of us look NOTHING like him, we didn't care for the guy! What ever happened to loving a brother w/ a bus pass??? lol.