Duke Nukem/Resaurus

* Moon Assault Leader and Western Pig Cop
* Bombshell and Duke Nukem 2

### Location

The Military Pig Cop is owned by a private collector while the Holiday Duke and Octabrain where gifted to a Resaurus employee

## Product Information

### Year(s)

1999

Even though it only had two games up until that point, *Duke Nukem 3D* from 1996 became the most popular game in the series and was most likely everyone's introduction to the franchise onto that point. To celebrate the occassion, Resaurus produced a line of action figures based on the game; though not only were there some variants they never got to release, though there were plans for a another series that didn't make it onto store shelves.

## **Summary**

The first *Duke Nukem* was released in 1991 as a 2D multidirectional platform game. Published by Apogee Softword for the MS-DOS system, it consists of three episodes with ten levels each and borrows some graphics from *Turrican* and the MS-DOS version of *Mega Man*. Apogee ran into some legal trouble after the game released as it turns out, there already was a character in *Captain Planet and the Planeteers* named "Duke Nukem," though because the name wasn't registered, Apogee was able to trademark it and use it for the sequels.  *Duke Nukem II* was released in 1993 for the MS-DOS, along with the Game Boy Color six years later, which now had four episodes with eight levels each and uses VGA & EGA graphics that draw two backgrounds ("dual-parallax scrolling"). Though in 1996, *Duke Nukem 3D* would be released by 3D Realms and is arguably the most well-known instalment in the series. It made a huge transfer from 2D to 3D as Duke, who fights against an alien invasion on Earth, would be voiced for the first time by Jon St. John. Along with *Wolfenstein 3D* and *Doom*, *Duke Nukem 3D* is considered to be responsible for popularizing first-person shooters, and was released to major acclaim. Reviewers praised the interactivity of the environments, gameplay, level design, and unique risqué humor, a mix of pop-culture satire and lampooning of over-the-top Hollywood action heroes. However, it also incited controversy due to its violence, erotic elements, and portrayal of women. Originally launched as a shareware version on January 29th 1996, the full version of the game came out on April 19th and the *Plutonium PAK*, an expansion pack that upgraded the game to version 1.4 and included a fourth eleven-level episode, was released in November 1996. The Atomic Edition, a standalone version of the game that included the content from the Plutonium PAK and updated the game to version 1.5, was later released; the original version of Duke Nukem 3D has since been discontinued. An official fifth episode was released on October 11, 2016 with *20th Anniversary World Tour* published by Gearbox Software. After fifteen years in development hell, a direct sequel was released in 2011 called *Duke Nukem Forever*, though it received mixed to negative reviews.

## **The Action Figures**

After Resaurus failed to pass a pitch kit of merchandise based off the *Oddworld* series, publisher GT Interactive Software asked if they would be more interested in doing a toyline for an upcoming game of theirs called *Duke Nukem 3D*. Resaurus agreed to do so and the first figure the released was one of the Duke in his signature muscle-top shirt, released as an Internet exclusive edition that came bundled with a DN3D and *Terminal Velocity* shareware CD-ROM for just $12.99. Only 36,000 units were produced and this figure would later be released traditionally with his accessories including a Devastator weapon, 2 MP5 machine guns, and a bloody knife; along with the special yellow "Freeze Thrower" weapon that could only be scored in limited quantities as it appeared in one out of every 12 packages found in stores. Its worth noting that the promotional shot for the Duke Nukem figure had what appears to be a decapitated demon/alien head lying on the ground with a bloody neck stump, though close inspection reveals that its a green Tyrannosaurus Rex and may have been made for their *Lost World: Jurassic Park* line. On another note, a free Duke Nukem figure was offered by Target as part of a mail-in promotion. Shortly afterwards, 3D Realms revealed that more figures were on the way including two more variants of Duke: Night Strike who had a Submachine Gun and combat clothes, and S.W.A.T. who came with Web Gear, a black Commando Rope, and the "blue" Freeze Thrower; the latter would be sold as a Previews exclusive.  Representing some of the aliens that the Duke regularly faces area PigCop that came with a nightstick and gas mask, the hovering Octobrain that had a bite action jaw and OctaGoo Slime inside his bulbous cranium, and the hulking Battlelord who carried a ChainGun and battle armor. Advertised as a full-page ad for the *Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown* instruction manual, the figures were released for the 1997 holiday season and have since become highly sought-after, though are not well known for their durability as Duke's legs limped right out of the package and getting him to grip his submachine guns caused trigger breakage. PigCop's limbs were known to detach themselves while Battlelord's sheer size was no match for gravity and Octobrain's tentacles had a tendency to fall off.
The prototypes for the aliens also looked slightly different as PigCop had a closed mouth instead of an open expression and the Octobrain's "brains" had much green hues than blue ones. According to designer Steve Miller, they were made from softer plastic and had very loose joints. He was also very inexperienced with *Duke Nukem 3D* as he reportedly gained motion sickness when he first played the game. A much more initial prototype of the Octabrain figure had yellow hues around the brain. The artwork for the series was painted by Tom Biondolillo, a graduate from the Savannah College of Art and Design as a freelance commission and was specifically employed to capture the vintage aesthetics of Cold War-era sci-fi pulp magazines. One of the watercolor paintings was acquired and sold by a Florida comic art dealer named Gary Adubato in 2014. The only figure that didn't use any of his packaging artwork was basic Duke, who instead used a stock image supplied by 3D Realms; and Battlelord, which was done by ReSaurus Vice President Mike Compton; though Biondolillo produced an artwork for Battlelord and an initial version of Pig Cop that both went unused. In the latter piece was a different embroidered patch on the flak jacket as the initial plan was for the figure to come with a set of stickers to swap between different police units. The licensor rejected the idea, though a few prototypes were made of the SWAT Pig Cop and one of them can be seen in the DN:ZR manual. The original plan for Pig Cop was to have have a special secret feature button that, when pushed, would send its body parts flying and a piece of concept art was made to demonstrate this. A Military Pig Cop in green fatigues surfaced online with "MP" written on the front and "ARMY" on the back, which Ken Lilly confirms was real, though was never mass-produced.

## '*Series 3 and Cancelled Variants*

Even though the figures that were released were never really officially designated as Series 1 and 2, Resaurus got to work on producing Series 3 of the *Duke Nukem* action figures; which 3D Realms teased would be based on the "upcoming" *Duke Nukem Forever* game including an all-new bigger Duke, Dr. Proton, who was the antagonist of the original 1991 game; and Bombshell, a female character created for the original draft of DNR, yet was scrapped from the final version. Other figures included in this wave would be based of characters from *Time to Kill* and *Zero Hour* like Moon Assault Leader (aka Overlord), Western Pig Cop, and Cyborg Enforcer. They were each unveiled at New York Toy Fair 1999. For this wave, Resaurus created an all-new sculpt for Duke that had more realistic details; going far enough as to using an actual bodybuilder for reference points. Steve Miller helped with the paint applications and sculpt molding, along with sculpting Cyborg Enforcer. Resaurus had plans on milking several variations out of the new sculpt, including a "Scuba Duke" and one that had painted camouflage all over his clothes & face. The latter was an unreleased variant of the original figure that went by the name "GI Duke." As for Bombshell, Resaurus was asked by 3D Realms to take a stab at her design, despite no official character art for her being released yet. Some of the concept art that was made of her featured one version with daisy dukes and a crop top, while the other had her in a vinyl bodysuit with a whip as one of her weapons;  Resaurus's concept was a blonde woman in a white muscle-top shirt and black pants with brown leather boots & ropes and a shotgun in her hand. According to Chris Borman, 3D Realms hated the idea of variants in the *Duke Nukem* line and shot down the "Scuba" figure. This also affected Christmas-themed figures that Resaurus considered releasing including "Holiday Duke," who had a red Sana hat and gloves with festive weapons, including a knife with a candy cane-blade; and the "Red-Nosed Octabrain" who had a green Santa hat and a nose that made him look like Rudolph. They came with a "Special Limited Edition" sticker on the clamshell window that read "Tis the season for a good butt kicking!" Resaurus also experimented with several Pig Cop variants that only ever made it far enough to concept art stage include a Napleonic soldier with a cutlass, a Roman centurion with bow and arrows, a 1930's-styled gangster with Tommy gun, and even a German Nazi soldier with swastika emblems and everything. The Western Pig Cop was also included and was drawn with a horse that did not show up in the Series 3 teaser.

1999 came and went as none of the figures promised for *Duke Nukem* Series 3 were released. A big factor as to why is thanks to the mass hysteria and debate surrounding "violent entertainment" and the effects it "has" on mass gun homicides; which mainly increased in wake of the Columbine school shooting that occurred in April 1999 when the *Duke Nukem* figures were still being worked. Former Democrat Senator of Connecticut, Joe Lieberman, specifically called out the action figures that Resaurus had released for *Duke Nukem*; equating it to Joe Camel peddling cigarettes online, and wound up getting the attention of parent groups that vow to end the practice of marketing violence towards children.  The Lion & Lamb Project, in particular, came after Resaurus as its director, Daphne White, charged them with marketing the *Duke Nukem* figures in children; which in all fairness, had a label on the front of the packaging that reads "Appropriate for Ages 10 and up."  Even more damning was a confidential 1998 GT Interactive marketing plain that *The New York Times* obtained and in it, exposed their plans to market the sexually suggestive *Zero Hour* game as "appropriate for 9 year olds;" along with the Resaurus ad in the game's instruction manual stating "Available now in all good toy stores!" However, another factor as to why the *Duke Nukem* line ended so quickly was due to conflict between Resaurus and GT Interactive & 3D Realms as the toy company "owed them back royalties," despite not having this problem with the other video game licenses they did. As Chris Borman put it- "As far as what went wrong, it was a mismanagement of the company. The owners were growing it too fast and they were splitting their time between two companies and ultimately they both failed because of a lack of focus and commitment on their part.” Steve Miller added - “The owners were Christians and their beliefs did not always come through in their decision-making. The owners got greedy, a bit full of themselves, and eventually crashed the company due to poor management. It was kind of assumed since I was also a Christian that I was tight with management and so I was ostracized by the other designers quite a bit."

## **Final Verdict**

Due to both company mismanaging and the debates of gun violence, *Duke Nukem* Series 3 was cancelled at least two years before Resaurus went bankrupt. Most of the figures never made it past concept art and the ones that did, GI Duke and Cyber Enforcer, are likely in the hands of former employees or gone forever. Some of the original prototypes made for the Series 1-2 aliens were either scrapped or simply retooled into the final design we know of today. The Military Pig Cop is in the possession of a private collector and both the Holiday Duke & Octabrain gag figures were given to an employee named Brian as a gift, though its unknown if either of them still have it. For now, this case will remain open and: **PARTIALLY LOST**.

## **Gallery**

A much earlier version of the Octabrain figureEarly prototypes for the SWAT Pig Cop, the Battlelord, and OctabrainConcept sketch for an earlier version of the Pig Cop figure that would've had an "exploding" featureConcept art made for potential variants of Pig Cop action figuresAn unused painting for the packaging art of the Battlelord figure that was made by Tom BiondolilloAn earlier version of the SWAT Pig Cop's packaging artwork that was made by Biondolillo, yet went unused.A military version of the Pig Cop that was sculpted and packaged, yet never entered mass productionA better look at the Cyber Enforcer prototypeGI Duke when it was shown at the 1999 New York Toy Fair

## **External Links**

* Duke Nukem Original Action Figure Artwork on Nintendo Power
* Duke Nukem checklist on Figure Realm

## **References**

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke\_Nukem\_(video\_game)
2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke\_Nukem\_3D
3. ↑ http://www.toymania.com/news/news10\_97.shtml
4. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20010503024010/http://www.dukeworld.com/actionfigures/pigcop.html
5. ↑ https://dukenukem.fandom.com/wiki/Bombshell
6. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/19991114080251/http://www.senate.gov/member/ct/lieberman/general/r120198a.html
7. ↑ http://www.nintendoplayer.com/artwork/octabrain/octa6.jpg