As a kid I didn't use all figure accessories in the way they were designed by Hasbro. As for the vehicles it was mainly just the missiles: never cared much for the blueprints, missiles could be fired anywhere when I played with them (surface-surface, surface-air, air-surface, air-air).
With figure accessories I varied a lot more. I love how Dutch placed a time bomb on the back of a truck in the movie "Predator" so that got was a recurring thing when I played with my joes.

1984
Barbecue: being a firefighter was his SMS to me, creating fire was much more interesting IMO. So his PMS was flamethrower and I used his nozzle gun as the flamethrower.
Airtight: his "sniffer" could shoot out sleeping gas.
Torch: his torch was a flamethrower

1985
Beach Head: his bag of ammo was a bag of explosives (like Tunnel Rat had)

1986
Dr. Mindbender: his generator was a time bomb

1987
Sneak Peek: his walkie-talkie was a time bomb
Dodger: loved his weapon. It was a machine gun combined with an RPG launcher!

1988
Lightfoot: his red detector robot could also be rigged with explosives and ride to the enemy
TF Roadblock: his ammo box from the backpack was also a time bomb

1989
Backblast: he could also shoot at ground targets with his missile launcher.
Gnawgahyde: his rifle was a machine gun
H.E.A.T. Viper: his bazooka was a flamethrower as well
Night-Viper: his weapon had a under-barrel grenade launcher

1990
Bullhorn: his rifle was a machine gun
Salvo: that mine launcher was a machine gun as well (instead of a grenade launcher, which nowadays I think the card art implies....?)
Rock-Viper: his rifle was a machine gun

1991:
Low-Light: that flashlight was a time bomb on a stick

I'm very curious for your "misuses"!

Duke & Airborne's backpacks (and the ones that came in the accessory packs) were jetpacks for me.

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Topside's mortar launcher backpack was the closest thing I had to The Rocketeer's jetpack.

Blizzard's spiky snowshoes were evil ninja murder boots

And in vehicle mis-uses, the Ice Wolf Ski-pedoes were used as rocket sleds. I could get a figure to "lock" onto the top by wedging the ankles under the top fin and their hands would fit along the front railing perfectly.

Also the foot peg boards that fit in the back of the Moray were used as snowboards after my brother's Moray fell apart.

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-The 85 Eels backpack saw a lot of use as a jetpack. I assume a lot of kids did this, because I distinctly remember going over to a couple of other friends' houses as a kid and finding that they had already been doing the same thing.

-84 Ripcord's parachute pack got a workout as an all-purpose backpack/harness. I would tuck Keel-Haul's pistol into the front pouch, and some kind of smaller weapon slid behind the figure's back and into hollow part of the parachute pack. Sometimes Ripcord's mask would get plugged in to be a gas mask.

-84 Scrap Iron's remote was the remote for pretty much everything: vehicles, PAC/RATs, bombs, etc.

-86 Mindbender's cattle prod was a laser. The figure held it by that little handle thing, with the actual handle end tucked under their arm. It was murder on the figure's thumb.

-87 Techno-Viper's rifle was a welder.

i'm impressed with your memory! i think i've said before i can actually remember throwing away weapons still on the cards of figures, stickers too. i didn't care about the directions so small parts to vehicles were thrown out as well. i will say i didn't get many new joe stuff, just a few here and there. now the last joes i got as a kid were slaughters marauders figures and tiger force vehicles. i used the mouth stickers. those were all one big purchase from toys-r-us on clearance. that was 1 of 2 times i ever remember going to that store as a kid. kmart and hills were our regular department stores.

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Torpedo's backpack was also a Jet Pack

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I think I always put Fast Draw in the turret of the Persuader, for a little more quick reaction defense for the vehicle. Figured Fast Draw was always keeping his eyes on his surroundings and could see a threat and launch a missile at it faster than the Persuader weapons could lock on and engage.

Oh yeah, the tan accessory pack backpacks went on tan Clutch and tan Grunt. BIte it, Bellomo!

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This.



Also, Tim, I’m seeing a trend with “time-bomb.”

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I also used any backpack with cylinders as SCUBA tanks. Blowtorch's and Barbecue's come to mind immediately.

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I lost almost all my Star Wars weapons as a kid so Joe weapons took their place. Stormtroopers with M-16 and Luke with a ninja sword

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Dodger's gun....the "missile" had to be fired first...and then it worked like a regular machine gun....this meant I had to break off the missile and not lose it....which I course did.

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Q-tips were pugil sticks.

Cobra Commander’s pistol was a laser ray until Return of the Jedi came out and then it shot lightning bolts.

If a figure couldn’t hold his or her weapon, they weren’t qualified to use it. Outback was qualified for every weapon for both hands.

Long before Temple of Doom, any boat was also a snow sled.

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Especially every Saturday during American Gladiators.

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Like many others, I used the Eels and Torpedo backpacks as jetpacks.

I used Zartan's pistols (had a bunch of green ones from the accessory packs) as Joe sidearms as they kind of looked like the cartoon laser pistols.

I used many different backpacks (types like Duke/Airborne, Dusty, Alpine) as parachute packs so several Joes besides Ripcord could make insertions.

The tan grunt packs from the first accessory set went to the tan Clutch and Grunt.

Any sealed helmet heads/removable helmets (Airtight, Barbecue, Ace, etc.) allowed the wearer to scuba dive. If the figure's arms/legs/hands were covered as well, they could operate in space as well.

Due to lack of huge playspaces, all Joe/Cobra jets had VTOL capabilities.

The Terrordrome was also a space station which utilized a forcefield over the top to maintain the atmosphere inside.

Before all of the specialty Vipers were released, my Cobra soldiers (I had 6 or 8) utilized Accessory Pack Joe gear from Flash, Bazooka, Short Fuse and Breaker
allowing me to have Cobra laser/bazooka/mortar/comm troopers like in the early Marvel comics.

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The BF2000 Dominator was actually an amphibious landing craft for me.

My moms ironing board was a cobra airship.

My brothers old fisher price shopping cart was a massive rolling fortress for Cobra.

Outbacks backpack was a parachute...So was Jinx’s

I used Toxo-Vipers as deep sea divers to fight Deep-Six

Snow Storm was part of Star Brigade and had a different codename.

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