I have not been too impressed with the 25th line overall. Bad proportions, limited pose-ability, repaints, repaints, repaints, the whole “collectible” angle, have left me cold. To date I have purchased only a handful that I thought were actually cool. But all that may change with the new Resolute subline(?) !!!!!!!!

I LOVE the Resolute figs!!!! I found all 3 of them (Duke, Trooper, Commander) at Target today, and they have rekindled my passion for new Joes!! Here is my (highly subjective) opinion on why the Resolute figs leave the other 25th figs in the dust:

1. They can actually hold their weapons in a natural pose!!! (What a revolutionary concept, I know, huh Hasbro?) Yes, Duke and the Trooper’s arms bend 90 degrees, actually, even MORE than 90 degrees, so they can hold their rifles 2-handed in a nice, natural, realistic way with ease. Honestly, WHY is this so hard to do with ALL the figures?? I just got Blowtorch, and his arms barely bend, so the whole swivel wrist thing is lost on a figure like that. So he is going around “flamethrowing” one-handed. Just stupid.

2. Realistic proportions! All the figs have natural sized heads, they are not pin-headed circus freaks! Their shoulders sit naturally on their torsos, it is not like they have mutant bowling-ball shoulder syndrome so many of the initial 25th figs were cursed with. To be fair, the one proportion problem I have with the Resolute figs is their teeny-tiny feet! If that old urban myth is true, there are a lot of unhappy women in the Joeverse!

3. They look realistic and plausible, something I like in my Joes. I know that is not everyone’s cup of tea, but to me, that is what Joe used to be about when it was really cool.

4. They are original designs, not straight-up rehashes of the originals. Again, some people want carbon copies of the original figs, but I have most of the vintage Joes already, I don’t need to buy another (usually inferiorly designed) version.

If this is what we can expect for the rest of the Resolute line, I may just start collecting seriously again. I am excited and can’t wait to see more!! Finally, Joe is back! Move out troops!

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well I've only seen Resolute Duke in my own hands, and granted I'm using the figure as a base for a custom, rather than as a factory product. BUT, I will say it's the best made Joe I've had. The glaring exception is the non-functional holster, but that's easy enough to deal with I suppose.

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They still won't look as natural holding a rifle as a Viper will, and everybody complained about that figure.

How well does the trooper's hemet stay on his head? The BEST Of pack paratrooper seems to use the same head and helmet molds, and I thought I was gonna have to sacrifice something to Cthulu to get his helmet to stay on.

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I'm in agreement with a lot of the points made. So far, I've only seen Duke and Cobra Commander in-hand, so I can't really speak about the tiny feet on the trooper figure.

One thing that I like a bit less about the Resolute figures so far is that their waists seem a bit tiny when compared to some of the 25th figures. It seems more obvious when the figure is stripped of any kibble. Their legs look like they bulge out a bit from the smaller waist. I assumed that this is a bit of a compromise, to allow for the kibble to fit in better without the figure looking excessively bulky.

Overall, I really like Duke. I think its the best version of Duke we've seen in a long time. Cobra Commander is also pretty great, a different take on him that I like. He has more limited poseability due to his "dress" uniform, but I like design enough anyway.

I do think they hold their accessories well. I also don't mind Duke's molded holster. I love the working holster, too. But the molded one looks good and is able to be more compact. Its kind of a compromise to make all the kibble fit on the figure, because that often makes for a bulky look. Here, Duke's accessories can't be stowed on the figure, but his look is a lot cleaner because of it.

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The Resolute Trooper actually has a unique helmet. It stays on well at least on the one I have.

And I like the Resolute figures so far, but I have to say that both Duke and the Trooper seem to have pretty small torsos when you take the webgear off.

I wonder to what degree these changes were a result of accommodating the animated style of the characters?

They don't look like animated figures, in the way that a JLU Batman is stylistically different from the other Batman lines' figures. The heads might be a bit larger, but that's really just closer to normal human (or ARAH ) proportions. These figures fit side by side with the other new figures with no discernible differences.

I like this thread, an argument presented in a well thought out manner!

I'm not on the bandwagon just yet with Resolute; granted I'm heavily influenced by the campy Sunbow 'toon which is the total opposite of the Resolute concept. However Duke looks great, and I really enjoy the new design of the Cobra Trooper, but thanks to CC's dress he's as pose-able as any of the early 25th figures so 2 out of 3 ain't bad for the first wave.

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no. here's the argument bandy

Here's why the figures aren't better:

No holsters for pistols/knives. Ok hasbro, really? You just proved you could do this. Repeatedly. Why stop?

Cobra Commander's helmet is glued on. Mine was glued on at a bad angle. Had to get taken off, now it doesn't stay on.

The "plastic" used for the helmets feels a little on the "flimsy" side. I'm trying to come up with a comparison, and part of it is b/c it is to keep the helmets "thin" and more in scale.

This could be a "just me" issue, but the cobra trooper & commander i have are victims of paint slop. Like on CC's helmet stripe.

Probably some more i could come up with if I had them in front of me right now.

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I dont understand this either. Accessory stowage is a big deal for me, and it bummed me out to see that I cant have Duke just whip his pistol out, but instead I have to pull it out of a baggie.

Interrupts my play time, jerks.

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I've got all three and I really like all three figures.

More bend in the arms is really nice and I've also noticed the grip is a lot better so from a play or pose factor they just seem more fun.

I also like the little factors like the trooper has hair. The trooper comes with a back pack and more than one gun so it's nice we are getting a bit more gear like that. Cobra Commander's sword doesn't get in the way so it's a lot better than attempting to display the comic book pack one with the in the way sword. The pads and vests also give the figures more of that ready for things to get rough look.

Pretty cool as well that they gave Duke and the Trooper such a basic look because you could use the figure as a base figure for customizing more characters into the line without having to wait on Hasbro to do it.

I guess there is also that excitement factor of something new that seems to actually work. There is that realistic factor to sort of bring GI Joe and Cobra up to date, and yet there is enough of the old stuff there to keep it something you know. Doesn't really hurt that they don't stand out so much that you can't display them with your other 25th figures.

Billy, this is my beef too, but it isn't unique to Resolute either. Sadly, many of the 25th figs had started to go this route, like Tomax/Xamot, the molded guns on any shoulder holster issued, etc...

I agree that without any gear the waists and torsos seem small. But I don't think they are actually smaller, I think it's the proportions of the other parts are now just more in line. I took the belt off the web gear from Stalker, and it fits VERY snug around Duke's waist. I tried on the Snake Eyes Belt/shoulder bandolier, and it fit like a charm, almost tighter than on Snake Eyes.

And I will tell you that when you put on a belt like those I just mentioned, you completely don't see any hip or waist issues at all. I'll try to get some pics up of my custom soon to show what I mean.

So far, this Duke fig is more realistically shaped and molded than any of the other figs, so to me it is FAR from being an animation based figure. And I think the size of the Duke head is what is causing some of the size appearances. Put the v1 Duke head on him, and you'll see he's built better than the 25th line.

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Could it be that they're also "thicker" torsos now?

By that i mean, distance between front & back of torsos is more now than with 25th figures. Just a guess at what could help them to have harnesses that fit well.

And yes, the new guns with paint apps are sweet. Worst accessory so far: CC's pistol (or the generic pistol/knife that comes with duke or the trooper).

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I'll be buying Cobra Commander, partly because it's a nice upgrade of the original helmet design. It DOES recycle the arms of the previous CC figures.

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I am not sure I will think the new cartoon is the bees knees or anything, but I really like Resolute and the idea behind just for the fact that it is moving the line forward.
I love getting the 25th style figures on the vintage style cardbacks, and having updates to figures that were really awesome growing up. But after that nostalgia wears off, what do you have?
Resolute will hopefully give more modernized versions of classic characters, like the 2002-2005 run did (but didn't quite succeed at).

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