Any idea? Was it that it was the only laser weapon in the line up to that point that didn't require a backpack?

Speaking of, I'm making a custom of the XLMR-3a, and I'm going out to hunt parts to expand on the base I bought at Family Dollar. It's gonna be pretty rockin'. I hope that I can get it done quick, I've had an itch to do this project forever, I just now found the right base. The great thing is, it's a machine gun with a laser sound effect! It's gonna be awesome. I sure hope I post pics very soon of it, it kills me when projects drag on for weeks.

Any other fans of the ol' XLMR-3A?

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I think you hit it precisely there -- it was a LASER rifle, and one that didn't require additional equipment, so the Joes could do it without bullets flying, which was clearly a no-no in that series. Also, giving everybody the same rifle meant that the animators didn't have to remember who was supposed to be carrying what.

I always liked the XMLR-3A. Cool design, decently plausible.

Exactly. That's also why they all wore the same outfit every episode. Its easier and faster for the animators to all draw the same thing over and over.

Now why they chose Snow Job's rifle instead of something else... well it's just a badass rifle. Need any other reason than that?

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As a kid I thought it was because of the laser thing. Now I wonder if they chose it because it isn't a real rifle. No need for legal approval to use the design and such.

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I see what pluv is saying, cause if they were going for super awesome guns for the joes to use, it would be the S.A.W.

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I understand the laser rifle concept for being a bit kid friendly, but have you noticed in the RAH series, just after Cobras MASS into the location of the sattellite, there are machine gun sound effects during the firefight, and for that one scene only (maybe a few machine gun sound effects at the final battle at Cobra temple as well)

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I thought that was just Rhino screwing up the soundtrack.

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I always assumed it wasn't so much that it was Snowjobs rifle per say but the standard issue rifle that all personal used, but then they had their specialty weapons as well.

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I don't know how well it's going to turn out, but I have a toy rifle disassembled on my dining room table waiting for PVC and parts to turn it into the standard rifle. Hope it goes well. I'll let ya know.

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The first miniseries had more than one instance of this. In fact, watch closely, during one firefight one Cobra soldier takes a bullet hit (though no blood is shown).

I think the simplification of the animation process, along with the fact that the XMLR-3A was a Hasbro-created weapon are the primary reasons it was used so extensively. As for why things went from bullets to lasers between the MASS miniseries and the Revenge Of Cobra miniseries...probably to beef up the fantasy element of the show to semi-placate all those "too much realistic violence in kids tv" critics of the time.

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The XL was actually based off a real weapon but changed, at least if I'm remembering things correctly. I always figured to that the rifle was used since Star Wars was so huge and it was a laser rifle Plus it is very square which is probably easier to animate. I'm sure complaints about bullet sounds and violence, and guns looking real, etc etc blah blah had something to do with it as well.

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