Real world or fiction?

[nacho]

Knowing most of the regulars on this board like I do, I suspect the answer to this question is obvious, but...

If you were to display Wild Bill in the Dragonfly (or your 21st Cobra), do you put him in the front like on the Dragonfly box art and in the vast majority of the fiction, or do you have him fly the helo from the rear seat as the Bell AH-1 was designed?

And while I'm at it, on a similar note, what are your thoughts on the SHARC? Is it a one-man craft where the driver lays on his stomach, or is it a two-seater with an upright front-seated pilot?

I've been rewatching lots of the ARAH cartoon in the last month, and it often raises more questions than I had ever pondered as a kid. None of these things "matter", but as I plan this winter's Mega Joe vehicle projects, the mind wanders into trivial matters such as these.

 

[Videoviper]

As a kid the shark was the X wing I never had. (A space ship) I've seen 1 or 2 customs where they put a 2 seat configuration into it. But the figures without modification never really fit that way.

I always assumed (wrongfully so) that the front seat was the pilot & rear was the nav/gunner. So if I knew enough about real world versions I would have that reflect that in my set ups.

Years ago I saw that the MCC was a real russian thing. But when I looked to find details about it I could never find the real name

The small aircraft on the back of the Night Raven is real. Although it was a drone & if a real person were to fly it they would most likely die. (It didn't work well.)

 

[ThunderDan19]

Lol, I've seen a lot more ARAH lately as well since my youngest has been way into GI Joe again. I have to admit, I am rolling my eyes and cringing a lot, way more than I remembered. I do remember knowing a lot of it was hooey back as a kid, but now, it's almost painful to watch at times. I can't really rationalize hand held laser guns shooting down helicopters and destroying tanks at a thousand yards... At least the music is fun and the stories are creative and relatively original, if too often following peripheral, ethereal or non-Joe characters. Oh, and overusing the voice talent way too often.

That said, I'd say go with the box art as much as possible. Nothing says the Dragonfly had to be designed the way of the Cobra and the Apache. Who's to say a pilot in the front isn't a better option, particularly with today's better optics for the gunner to depend on? And, as for the SHARC, I think the prone pilot position is fine (similar to a suped up version of an underwater SEAL vehicle), but maybe at least make it so he/she can get their hands forward to the control sticks, unlike the useless Deep Six fig back in the day.

I think anything you have to do to compensate for the originals' deficiencies will mess with the proportions and make them look less authentic, like the cartoon often did when they put multiple seated people in the SHARCs and took numerous other liberties. I always wished they had stuck with a more realistic approach over using plot device shortcuts everywhere. While the comic is generally better, it's not by much and still massacred realism all over the place for the sake of convenience (laziness IMO).

True to the actual toys gets my vote.

 

[NSA]

Yeah most things we liked as kids is better with nostalgia goggles on.

I agree with Dan that I'd just go according to box art. I also treated the SHARC as more of a spaceship, I guess. Always seemed weird that it "Flew" but was a "Submarine". The Deep Dix figure was poop too.

 

[nacho]

Well color me surprised. I expected you guys to lean hard into the realistic approach for the Dragonfly. I saw one episode last weekend where Bill was actually in the back, and I wondered if it was an error or if the animator on that ep actually knew more than his peers.

Yeah, some of the liberties taken with the cartoon are nuts. In a few episodes, they rescue someone and have to get them home. So Ace sits in the front of the Skystriker and then two people sit side-by-side in the rear. WTF Mattel, it's not a minivan! And I love the fact that Ace always wears his helmet and full mask in the cockpit, but Gung-Ho, a shirtless marine, just flys an F-14 wearing his green cap and an AT&T operator headset.

I did not have a SHARC growing up until I bought one off a friend who was aging out. It always bugged me that you couldn't fit two upright people in it like in the cartoon, since that had been my primary exposure to the vehicle. But at the same time, I always loved the idea that it could fly AND be a submarine. Dual-purpose toys like that gave your imagination a lot of freedom during those epic battles on the bedroom floor.

 

[ThunderDan19]

I had the SHARC and it was genuinely great gimmicky fun (for a little while at least)! I never had anybody besides DS pilot the thing (that fig was worthless for anything else anyway). The divers could ride outside, even as the thing impossibly dove right into the water! I didn't really find much for it to do once I got the WHALE and Moray for bigger and much easier surface action, so I may have traded it after that. I don't recall.

 

[nacho]

With the drivers upright in the cartoon, I always thought it just looked like a little Snow Speeder. Before I obtained one, I would sometimes use my snowspeeder as an "enhanced" SHARC. I didn't have the Moray, but the WHALE and grossly outmatched water moccasin did have some epic battles.

Then again, most Joe toys paled in comparison to the WHALE. It was a boat, a tank, a base, a battle platform, a field hospital... it could do anything but fly.

 

[Videoviper]

The whale???? Even as a kid I'm like 1 bullet & pop! Its dead in the water. So since Joes were just augments to my SWs figures. It was a spaceship. (big surprise) parked right next to the hand me down Space 1999 Eagle (Loved that thing.)

Look into some production stories originally the planes were going to swoop down & cut open tanks with their wings. Scarlet blows up a Hiss tank with a friggin crossbow? 150 planes launch off the Flagg as the same time flown my every member of the military.

One story I laughed at is they were told the characters had to look like the toys so Quick Kick is running around the artic without shoes, while Duke & the main cast actually have Jackets.

I think my 1st drinking game was how many mistakes they made on Joe/Transformers.

 

[ThunderDan19]

No way, man! That kevlar lined, 1" thick, rubberized nylon skirt was impervious to anything smaller than 30mm armor piercing rounds (in my child mind at least) and torpedoes would just skim right under it's 12" ground/water clearance. The WHALE was a beast!!!

Yeah, even with the worst ideas canned, ARAH is tough to watch sometimes. I wish they'd have tailored the episodes to each of the characters' backstories/talents and put them in environments and in teams that suited their gear instead of the normal "all of Cobra is trying to take over the world with the latest scheme or gizmo and all of Joe has to stop them" episodes. What that would be for Quick Kick is beyond me though...

 

[Videoviper]

Quick Kick fought Storm Shadow....... while everyone else used modern weapons that weren't 200+ year old.
Except for good old Snake-Eyes who was off fighting Galactus (As long as Larry Hama was writing the story.)
Seriously in the cartoon I hated Snake-Eyes because it was just the powers that be wanting to use the no paint apps guy to have no voice. (Cost less to use this guy, whatdusay?)

In all seriousness, they did actually script a My Little Pony crossover for the movie, but Shipwreck couldn't be seen drinking obvious beer.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Hasbro was/is so weird...