PERSONAL COLLECTION #5: Sigma Strike Duke

Suffering from writer's block a couple of days now after being so pissed off at the Customs for greedily taking advantage of some items shipped over to me by a friend overseas, I decided to just write about another item in my action figure collection.

I wanted to post pictures of the items in question, but it would only spoil things down the road when I finally get to feature each of those items in another one of my "Personal Collection" posts.

I've never been a Duke fan -- not during the ARAH 3.75" figure days, and even up until now. And I personally think Duke's been overexposed in the Sigma 6 'verse due to the number of versions Hasbro made of him (Snake Eyes also had several versions out, but he's my favorite character so... so I'm biased! Shoot me! *lols*).

But I've always had this fascination about the Sigma Strike Duke, ever since I first saw this version in the reviews section of Sigma 6 Central early this year. During that time this was still being sold abroad and on evilBay in the range of $24 up, and I can only vaguely remember seeing this on the store shelves last year (probably glanced on it, but since they were priced way higher locally back then I might have selectively erased any traces of this in my memory). So I guess anyone can imagine my surprise when I came across this item on sale for around $15.50 about six weeks ago. Such dumb luck! It was payday and I had the dough to shell out for the two remaining items on display, but finally decided to pick up just one.

The first thing I noticed about the figure after removing it from the box, is that it is a bit heavier than one would usually expect of a Sigma 6 figure. This might be because the figure was sculpted with body armor, thicker arms and legs, to simulate a full-armored, battle-ready Duke. The downside to this is that the upper body weight seems to make the hip joints loose, or this could also be a manufacturing defect. And the arms were molded in black plastic, so the flesh parts on the elbow joint instantly chipped off when I first moved the joints.

The helmet slightly resembles the ones used in the HALO video games, hence some people calling this the HALO Duke. My only gripe with this headgear is that the visor/faceplate seems loose and easily detaches from the helmet. Otherwise, it really complements the overall look of the figure. Duke's removable shoulder armor also nicely adds to the overall bulk of the figure.

For the backpack, Sigma Strike Duke is supplied with a variable-payload mission-specific weapons system (or that's what I would like to call it) with a battery operated (3 x AA-size) backpack/jetpack which, by pressing three different buttons located at the top of the pack, produces several sound effects and also triggers either the red LED lights on the jumpjet's boosters or the green LED lights on the main weapon. The red button triggers the "power-up mode" sound of the backpack, and makes the jumpjets' LED's flash. Pressing the blue button triggers the thruster sound of the jumpjets and also makes the red LED's light up. The green button activates the sound and light effects for the weapon systems. The jumpjet's nozzles can be rotated, and there is a switch on the lower part of the backpack which has settings for "on", "off", and "demo" which was the default setting when the figure was still in the box, so one can sample some of the sound effects.

Sigma Strike Duke's backup weapon is a Switchfire pistol which comes with a holster that attaches to the right thigh of the figure. Too bad that the holster's peg mounts are smaller than the standard pegs found on Sigma 6 figures. Maybe this indicates that the holster is an integral part of the Sigma Strike weapons system, but I'm not sure about that one, though.

As for the main weapon systems, Sigma Strike Duke carries four large weapons, all of which activates a cool sound effect whenever a weapon is attached and detached:

Perhaps the least useful of these weapons is the Power Cutter Saw. I cannot see it's usefulness in battle -- perhaps in rescue and structure breach situations this may have some kind of use. Pressing the green button on the backpack activates the saw sound effect and lights up the blade.

The Flame Blaster flamethrower is something I would prefer over the Cutter Saw anytime. Green button on the backpack activates a flame sound effect and lights up the flamethrower nozzle and tank. Weapon also fires a spring-loaded flame projectile.

The Power Pulse Blaster is a better weapon than the previous two, IMO. Again, pressing the green button activates lights and sounds but also firing the spring-loaded weapon projectile will trigger a missile firing sound effect along with a whistle and then, boom! A nice touch if I may say so myself.

And finally -- the biggest of the BFG weapons systems of the Sigma Strike Duke -- the Laser Cannon. This weapon is BIG. In fact, it is so big that the figure can hardly support it's weight, especially with those loose hip joints. It can be quite tricky to pose the figure with this weapon. The barrel has a hinge which allows the weapon to be folded. Again, green button on the backpack triggers a very cool laser sound combined with a strobing green light effect.

I can say that this is an excellent figure to add to one's Sigma 6 collection, especially with the reduced prices now. But since Hasbro is paving way for the new figures (not Sigma 6, sadly, but still 8-inch figures), stock availability might be of a problem nowadays. Good thing I went to the mall that day.