Joe/Cobra Helmets that you don't understand

In my mind, the Joe and Cobra characters have some of the greatest
designs of any 80's toyline. It's these iconic looks that remind me of
who each character is and helps to define them in my minds.

But sometimes the designs fall short, or just simply don't make a lot of
sense. Here's a list of helmets that I just don't "get" mostly because
of practical real world reasons.

Helmets:

- Annihilator: I think the problem I have with this one is that it's
too short. I don't really see how a human head can fit into this
helmet, without their chin sticking ouy underneath.

- AVAC: What a great design, but the entire helmet seems small. Maybe a
requirement to be an AVAC is that you have a small head.

- Muskrat v3: A rocket launcher mounted to the side of the helmet. Nuff said.

- Track Viper/ Nitro Viper: One of my favorite armybuilders. The front
of this helmet is great, but the back makes no sense. How does a
person's head fit into that little square area?

- Headhunter Stormtrooper: I've never been a big fan of this helmet.
The largest reason is I see no where for the wearer's chin to go, since
the helmet slopes back where the chin should be.

- Vapor: I've never been able to decide if a person's head could fit
into that helmet/mask or not. If so, they would have to have small
ears, I would think.

- HEAT Viper v1: I can see how the head would fit, but what is on the
inside of the helmet? It appears that it only has a viewport on 1 side,
so I'm assuming that there are HUD readouts on the other or something.
Still, the design is just a little too wacky for me.

- Astro Viper: Not a problem with it fitting, just a problem with it
looking like a space helmet. It looks more like something from the time
of Camelot.

I'm sure that there are others that I'm overlooking that people can add to this thread. Feel free to post them here and discuss
your own thoughts.

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Gotta agree with AVAC, Annihilator and Track Vipers. Being one of those troops is like being a size 40 in pants, and being issued a size 30 pair of pants. Ain't gonna be comfy, but squeeze yer ass in there soldier!

Toxo Viper helmets are really bad, too.

Muskrats 1994 missile launching helmet. All respect was lost for Muskrat for me. Not so much that some one built such a risque weapon, but that Muskrat was dumb enough to put it on and actually use it. Whiplash and soon-to-be-blind-in-one-eye?

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Fear effect I'd say. It is tough to say how they could fit into it...



I never understood Stalkers Tundra mask

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I always thought that Long Range's helmet was bulky and clunky with the oddest, most inexplicable spikes and bulges sticking out of it. Never understood that thing at all. Same goes for Scoop.

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Same as Muskrat, Mace had the head mounted missile launcher, too...that's a big WTF


I'll agree on the sizes of ACAC, and Track Viper..Annihilator too.

V1 heat Viper puzzels me because one half of the chin is exposed...seems to me to defeat the purpose of a helmet with a face shield.

I guess you could call it a helmet...but the hair drier like thing that comes down over the Star Brigade Duke...without some sort of bridging from the neck up that top half of the Clam shell isn't going to keep much air in for Dukie to breathe in space.

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Also, though it looks odd when you sand them off, the v1 Viper helmet with the goggles. They just don't make sense, even if you rationalize that the face plate is open. The only way for goggles like that to work is if they take them off of the helmet, taek the helmet off and them put the goggles on. But they look to be strapped onto the helmet by loops that are part of the helmet so...

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It's funny; I was just thinking about this a few weeks ago. The ones mentioned as not understanding due to size issues, I kind of get, but they never bothered me much because I wrote it off as going for aesthetics, since some of those helmets, sculpted at a realistic size, would look goofy on that small a figure.

The ones that I just simply don't get are ones like Blizzard's. Let's cover your head from the elements, but leave your chin, jaw, cheeks and nose exposed. Similarly, the space guys (Effects, Duke, etc.) who have helmets, but they don't seal to their suit, so there's a lot of exposed skin. I also didn't like when the space guys started going neo-Viking with horns, spikes, and what not on their helmets. In a dangerous environment like space, you're not going to want things on your uniform that could damage said uniform (reach above your head, snag your sleeve on a horn, whoops), when the uniform is all that keeps you alive.

When I was a kid, some didn't make sense to me that I had an "oh, _that's_ what it is" moment when I got older. Examples of these would be the HISS driver (I thought that was all one piece and couldn't figure out how it would go on or come off), Tripwire (didn't catch on that the head phones were headphones, and that his onesy covered his head under the helmet. Thought the helmet had drapes or something), and Voltar (I thought his eye piece was an eye patch, and it didn't make sense that it was on his helmet, instead of a strap like Bludd's or Zanzibar's.)

These bothered me from the moment I got them:
'88 Armadillo: goofy.
'88 Spearhead: too big.
'88 Wild Card: too big (Lord Helmet kinda).
'88 Star Viper: looks like a rocket or some Transformer.
'89 Wild Boar: what the #beep# is that thing???
'90 Laser Viper: the visor isn't matching the place where the eyes are. Also kinda Camelot-ages.
'90 Overlord: dunno, just weird.
'91 Skymate: for #beep#'s sake not pink!!!
'91 Skycreeper: am I the only one who get's reminded to Alien looking at him?
'92 Air Devil: uhm.....uhm......why does he need that extra face shield?
'93 Wild Bill: too big, almost a sombrero!

Tim 121RVC

- Hot Seat. What's the tube for? Why is it reinforced? Why is it so ugly?
- Deep Six v2. Should be possible to make a smaller helmet, even if you're diving really far down.
- The Hammerhead driver (name?). He just HAD to make a helmet that fitted his vehicle, right?
- Heavy Metal, Hardtop, Scoop, Sneak Peek, DeeJay. Dudes! Get a helmet with a mic we don't lose all the time!

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hmmm

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BIG TIME

Tim 121RVC

i'm gonna say footlooses, just didn't seem to sit right, looked goofy, on a other wise decent fig. besides his waist being too big.


but hey i guess i shouldn't talk when it comes to that.

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