Not sure how to go about this one.

A lot of us watch military movies. We get a lot of our ideas from them AND we try to push a certain amount of realism on the GI Joe team (and well, the GI Joe franchise in general which includes Cobra and all the bad guys). If we want to do pictures of our figures in the snow, we want winter troops out there. We'd want Dusty to be in winter camo and Quick Kick with a jacket on and preferably in white. If the teams are in the desert, we want them to be in a desert scheme. We don't want to see Snow Job or Frostbite running around in their usual gear!

BUT...

Reading the old comic (I have a few TPBs now that I get rid of the old singles) and watching the movie (as well as Thomas watching the original episodes), the colors of the armies don't seem that off to me for some reason. I have no problem with Dusty running around in sand colored BDUs in the snow (as per the movie). The Cobra Vipers are in blue with blue jackets as opposed to white? And then you get to the lil stuff like... Why would Bazooka be guarding Serpentor with a rocket launcher in such a close quartered space? Why does Alpine bother wearing those safety glasses and wearing the rope harness (during guard duty)?

Yet... It all seems fine. For some reason, I can see this all as working even though the real world would say, "You're at the north pole, the camo's supposed to be WHITE not black and green (yes, I'm picking on you Snake Eyes!). Like I've said before, even the original colors of the Alley Vipers (orange/blue) seem to work on some VERY strange psychological level. It won't for Outrider or Ender90210, but for me, there's something bold and cool about it.

Anyway... What's your take? YOU watched the cartoon and probably never thought TWICE about how half these people were dressed on the field in varying conditions! (AND Flint's shirt wasn't black in the cartoon???)

I've been wondering about what you said in the past weeks. The memories thread made me go back to '94/'95 where my 5 star general was Rampart. Oh yeah! He was the commanding officer of my army and was always inside the APC. The APC wasn't only the command post as he was supposed to held a NBC attack . Ar Puro - Tigre Antiradiação (Airtight in Tiger Force colors) played an important role. After a Nuclear attack he was in charge to clean the base .

My last pictures, A Bridge Too Far, are showing how my mind is changing related to figures choices. I got a orange helmet, a bright yellow and a brown Rampart at the same picture with a 6x6 great camouflage jeep. And will be trying different combinations. Da hell, they are toys, let us just enjoy them, being Hyper realist or just a desktob battle .

I was paranoid to match collors and camouflage. But in my memories, the realism hadn't so much need. Not even the bombs falling from the Tiger Force plane respected Isaac Newton's 1st law :P. We didn't heard of homing guided missels. They were all rockets fired in one direction. No flares, no chaffs, no complications, it was just a fun play at that time.

Thanks for starting it G. It was really important to me to speak it and hearing that are others, maybe, thinking the same. Let's Go !

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I DO CARE ABOUT COLOURS AND REALISM! As far as is possible with 3 3/4" plastic figures anyway. If I'm doing a desert shot, the figures have to be in desert gear, if I'm doing a snow shot, I'll only use arctic figures, and you won't see too many neon figures or freaks (VenMax? Coil Crusher?) in my pics.
The cartoons and comics were basically there to sell toys, so the characters in them had to look like the toys or Hasbro wouldn't have been happy. That's why you had characters running around in totally innappropriate gear.

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"The future's uncertain and the end is always near." - The Doors "Roadhouse Blues".

I don't care. I enjoy Cobra's colorful variety. There are some weird colored figs but that make them unique. If all of them wear the same they will be only a bunch of green shirts or army troopers.

It doesn't mean I don't enjoy realism and "right colors".

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well put. if it was going to be real, everyone would dress the same, we would have no mask, and a sergeant would be leading a bunch of privates, not other sergeants and LT's and majors.

I care about colors and environment specific uniforms. Cobra wouldnt get anywhere if they had their goons dress up in neon outfits and then told them to fight in a jungle, desert etc. It's kind of like the uniforms the British and French used to wear, bright blue, red, white, etc...Ok for a stand up fight, but bad for guerilla warfare. A lot of times, Cobra wants to be visible and let people know who is coming thru. Other times, they would want to blend in, like when guarding a secret installation or other furtive mission. Loud colors have their place, maybe at base or inside a nuclear reactor, but not in the middle of the night in the jungle.

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thinktankproduction.com

I can understand your point here Craig. Of course super neon figures will not get a long exposure in my pictures, but there are some half-neon I can live with. Colonel Courage, my custom Tracker and his red wine t-shirt for example.

But some of my figures don't get alot of attention 'cuz of the "operational theather". Rampart is one of them since I don't have a desert/sandbox or patience to build one . I'll try to change that.

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Personally, I do try to tailor my dios and shots so the colors are appropriate. But I'm trying to relax that. Look at the latest dio. Flash doesn't exactly match the beach scene nor do Stalker or RnR. But at the same time, it kind of works. But with the current form of the RRTS, look at how varied they are! Bazooka in a red football jersey. CoverGirl in all browns, Barrel Roll in blues, etc... Somehow, I'll make it work.