I was looking at the cover of Vol.9 of IDW's Marvel reprints and it has a picture of the Desert Fox on it. I'm looking at this thing and my eyes fall upon those two missiles on the roof. That's a really stupid place to put those, especially considering that the Desert Fox has neither windows nor a windshield. If they fired those things, the missile's exhaust would very likely burn anyone inside of the thing and whoever is manning the rear gun.

There's a lot of vehicles with dumb design ideas like that, too. That Havoc certainly comes to mind. This vehicle leaves the entire crew exposed and the only defense the driver has is a glass windshield. Gotta say, that's kind of dumb. Plus, how do they reload its main guns?

The Rage is another that comes to mind. Now, I loved my Cobra Rage when I was a kid, but the thing is just weird. You've got the main gunner totally exposed (again), no way to load the main gun or the minigun (again), and you've got a gunner's position on the inside of the tank which serves pretty much no purpose if you have a gun manning the main gun on the turret.

I know there's more, but am I alone in thinking that some of these things are not only totally impractical, but kind of stupidly designed?

The list is infinite my friend. Many people look at the vehicles one of three ways. Is it militarily realistic? Does it just look completely silly? Is the playability pathetic - meaning it falls apart or parts break easy.

I started a list on silly things to be chromed - and just about everything on that list are some of the GI Joe vehicles that are just plain bad - to give you an idea.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=27705&p=306254#p306254

_________________

The desert fox is a fantastic vehicle! Realistic? Not at all. But still fantastic.

_________________

My biggest beef with a lot of the Joe vehicles is that there's no place for the engine to go. How does the Condor actually produce thrust?

_________________

Magic.

_________________

Flaps its wings.

_________________

Drinks a Red Bull.

_________________

Hiss tank anyone? The driver is enclosed in glass, and elevated!

Yeah, but that means he has the high ground and thus can't be defeated!

_________________

I think the problem there is in that nearly all Joe vehicles have some faults. Take some that could be even, like the VAMP. It's possible for something like that to be, but there is no way the engine would fit in the front like Hasbro has done to it in the 2000s. I always thought it was in the back, as it would make sense with the lack of room up front. So there are ways for something to work, just not how Hasbro or any other media has deemed it too.

I look at it that many of them were just put together for the fun of it. That totally makes sense in that they are toys for kids. Take the Snow Cat here, great vehicle, but really who in the right mind only arms a front line vehicle with only missiles? Missiles are fun to play with and much more fun to use over just imagining you are shooting a gun.

Now I might be totally stepping out on a limb here, but I really don't think Joe vehicles have the problems we really think they do, as we adults have the problems . It's hard for many to look past all the non-realistic and totally unbelievable stuff and see just what it is, FUN. I totally fall into this, but we can't all live in the fantasy world, right ?

momaw nadon

_________________

Yeah I've been in the idea of saying a ton of these wouldn't fly/drive/work. But it's an imaginary world and it doesn't bother me. It's like with comics having Wolverine and claws pop out. There's no way it would work and he have wrist movement or huge bulging arms showing where the claws are stored, mush less actually retract and op out. But it's a comic so he can do what he wants.

The only thing that bugs me most is when a character is created and they decided to change him up to for the sake of doing it. But that's another thread, another story. So yeah there's a ton of vehicles that just can't possibly exist in the real world. The Sky Hawk is a vehicle I've always liked a lot, but I doubt something like that could ever fly.

_________________

I like glass canopies. You can actually see the figure inside. I wish the new HISS had one. I think it loses play and display value when you can't see inside the cockpit.

_________________

This, this, this.... x10.

I think the "design flaws" of the GIJoe vehicles is what makes them appealing. I love how some have a resemblance to a real life vehicle but they aren't actually the same vehicle. Anyone can make a scale replica Hummer. But can they make it fun? Hasbro can and did for many years.

_________________

The Cheetah was the MTI-designed prototype that became the pattern for the Lamborghini LM-001. It was similar to the FMC XR-311 in its rear-engine configuration, independent suspension, and full-time four-wheel-drive system.




The VAMP isn't even the only toy based on the Cheetah:

_________________

I know the Cheetah is what the VAMP is loosely based on, but again Hasbro placed the engine in the front where there is no room for even a 4-banger. I thought that when they offered the VAMP with opening hood was cool, but odd in that all in all there is no room for one in the front. Well to be correct, I would say there might be room for a 4- banger with that odd hood Hasbro offered that took away the Cheetah look, but when they went back to the original no way. Also it would have to be in the front wheel configuration too, as a transaxle would be the only way to get everything in the amount of space.

Even before I knew of the Cheetah, back in the day I always thought the engine to the VAMP was in the rear, as that is really the only place for it that had room. You would have thought that Hasbro would have had the same conclusion and just gave us stowage space up front.

momaw nadon

_________________