It's the year 2000, figures got packed in nice 2-packs.
Let everyone know what figure you like best (and please explain why)!

http://www.yojoe.com/action/00/

Tim 121RVC

It's easy to forget how great the ARAHC started off after it went into a sea of drab after Wave II. But, the first two waves are full of great figures. Dusty, Law, Tomahawk, Big Ben, Sidetrack and Wild Bill are all great figures in their own right. Dial Tone is decent. But, the lack of painted mustache puts it a notch behind the others. Overall, though, I had to go with Duke. I've never really cared for any Duke figures but this one was perfect. It makes him look like the soldier he was always portrayed to be. It is easily the best released version of Duke (The Wal Mart version is better, though, when taken against everything....) and a solid figure overall. His significance was muted by the overkill of the same colors in Waves III and IV. But, this figure still stands above those subsequent releases.

However, I still maintain that Wave II with Duke/Sidetrack, Big Ben/Whiteout and Major Bludd/Rock Viper were 2001 releases. The first day these were found was December 22nd, 2000. As such, it's hard to make a case that they were intended to be 2000 releases. But, at the time, I think there were grandiose ideas of what the ARAHC would become in 2001 so it was better to lump this small wave into the Wave I's.

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I love Sidetrack, though I just use him as Ambush. This was my first exposure to the figure mold and I absolutely love the design. Such a great figure. I loved the ARAHC.

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I vote Thunderwing, for no other reason than it was really nice to see the mold reused again, instead of another Duke/CC/SS/SE

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This one was a tough call for me, but I went with Wild Bill. It seemed to me that the molds that were used for the 1992-93 Wild Bill were finally given a more agreeable color scheme with the elimination of that rather obnoxious yellow.

I actually liked Law & Order. The Black looked a lot better than the old Red & Blue. More "Cop Like"

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Well, in all honesty there are a couple that should not be included because they are new characters and not just repaints.

Sidetrack is not Ambush and White Out is not Snow Job.

Didn't the Dusty in this release have a different filename or was that the Night Rhino verson?

I voted for Duke because of the uniform. I bought every one of these 2packs I could find just so I could stock up on that torso. It is perfect for an entire group of greenshirts, a sub team, or for body armor.

I went through and basically took existing figures and swapped out the torso on all of them for the tactical vest look.

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These were actually all pretty solid figures. Big Ben was the first version of that character I ever got and loved it, but the pegwarming afterwards made my love of that figure decline. I wound up going with Law (& Order). It's a character and speciality that's always been of use in the Joe world, and it is by far the best color scheme out of any of them.

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I voted for Dusty because I like the mold. I missed them all at retail, so they're not familiar to me


Heavy Duty & Thunderwing are really 1998 figures. They were re-released without being changed

It happened several times after this, like with Night Force Flint & Beach-Head being re-released as drivers and Pathfinder v2 showing up with different vehicles in 2001 and 2004 (same figures, different years)
So if you do polls for future years, avoid cheap re-releases like these. It will make the polls shorter since there are a LOT of figures to choose from in those years

All winners to me


I picked Law and Order as that is my default Law
Steve

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I went with the Duke mold, not that I'm a Duke fan, but because I love the torso of that fig. I made a whole special ops Joe team using that mold.

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Dial-Tone! A more military look, which gives him a more "on the battlefield" look.
I do like his original colours too (to me, that's the real Dial-Tone), but that gives a more "in the HQ / on base" look.

Tim 121RVC

Add me to the list of people who took the Duke Torso and made it standard body armor. I think I have like 11-12 figures using that chest, its great when I want a more militarized and unified look.

I voted for Dusty. The paint was nice and bright, and all the colors combined really well. His figure wasn't busy with too many molded-on things, which I really like. Just an all around basic, fun figure.

So Law & Order it is!


Tim 121RVC