Being an adult Sigma 6 fan can be such a conflict. I'm a fan because the toys they are putting out are simply incredible, in my opinion. From the overall animated style, to the broad assortment of fantastic accessories, and of course the G.I. Joe element plays a strong role in my feelings as well.

And as an adult, I know the way the business works, and I know what Hasbro and their retail partners feel like they have to do to guarantee this line's success so early on in its shelf life. But as an adult, and as someone who really WANTS to support this line 110%, it's tough getting a new Commando "wave" and having two retools and nothing else to talk about. I know this is sort of a "filler" wave before we get the big one in May (with a whopping four brand new figures), but still. I love this line so far, but it's a double-edged sword because I want to see new items...see stuff to get excited about. This figure, as cool overall as Heavy Duty is, suffers somewhat for being a re-release, which is a real shame, because the new sculpted head alone is leagues better than the original, and I actually like this figure itself more than the original, but sadly most people own Heavy Duty already and do not want to add this one to their collection...and they are really missing out.

The first thing you notice about this figure is the first thing you notice about every Heavy Duty...this boy is LARGE. By far the most massive Sigma 6 figure, Heavy Duty has a huge, strong, powerful, imposing frame that immediately gives him bulk, strength, and a threatening physique. Quite obviously built of the famous Roadblock image from the old days, Heavy Duty is the new heavy weapons expert, and he's now graduated from his Plasma Heavy Machine Gun to a Flamethrower. Now, personally, I'm not real wild about the weapon change, because a flamethrower doesn't serve a whole lot of purpose to me. His huge heavy machine gun tossed ammo at increased range, and varying destruction. A flamethrower just pretty much shoots fire, and not all that far.

That being said, however, the design of the flamethrower itself is still pretty neat looking. It's based strongly on the design and function of his machine gun, with the twin handles and the rotating barrel (this time it spins the flame projectiles to simulate fire, I would imagine). It also fires the projectiles by pressing down on the second handle/shield. The elaborate cabling system connecting the Flame Blaster to his backpack is pretty cool as well.

As for the figure itself, the first thing you'll notice is that this Heavy Duty actually has a completely different head sculpt. His bandana is no longer removable, and he has no more band-aid on his nose. At first I was kind of sad that his bandana was no longer removable, but one look at this newly sculpted head made me forget all about that lost feature. The sculpting on this new head is WAY better than the sculpting on the original, and Heavy Duty as a meaner, more angular look to him. The band aid has also been removed from his nose, but the coolest little touch is that there is still a little scar there. I just thought that was pretty neat.

But, if you stand back and take a look at both versions of Heavy Duty, there are a lot of things about this new version that actually look a lot better than the original. His darker overall color scheme with the black pants and chest gear just makes this figure look a lot more striking and a lot more interesting. Underneath this extra gear, Heavy Duty looks to be essentially the same figure with the nice green Sigma Suit and large frame, but these accessories and cloth goods over the top of his standard uniform really gives him a more interesting look, plus a little thing like the green colored shoulder pads immediately gives him a slightly different, slightly more appealing design.

But of course with this reissue accessories are the main focus, and Heavy Duty's DO look pretty nice, even though I'm not a huge fan of a flamethrower accessory. The elaborate sculpting of the chest gear, facemask, and backpack really bring some character to the figure and again, his darker look is just more interesting at this point. I will cover this in much more depth in the Tech Specs section as usual.

The figure is essentially the same...with a very nicely resculpted head and some fun new gear, this is an interesting figure with some cool new design elements. However, if you already own the original Heavy Duty I'm not sure I can fully endorse this version as well. The shame is, the figure itself here is really a LOT better than the original figure...and I like the pants here more as well (though the kneepads fall off when you look at them funny and really aren't that cool). The darker red bandana, more sharply sculpted facial features, and green shoulder pads all bring a lot more life to this figure, but I love the originals' weapons a LOT more and he is kind of the more iconic look of the Sigma 6 Heavy Duty. While this figure is an upgrade to the original, I'm not sure it's a $15.00 worthy upgrade.

Essentially, I don't know if this is worth a $15.00 upgrade for the gear you get, but as a separate entity, the figure does look cool and has some terrific accessories as has become expected from the Sigma 6 line.

What ends up happening here is that you get a figure that is quite impressive on it's own merits...but because a different version of the figure came first (and a version less impressive and less fun than this one, I think) it ends up lessening the impact of this later version.