SHARC Art
The SHARC was one of my childhood favorites, due in no small part to the fact that it was a water vehicle. Between the SHARC and Water Mocassin, I was busy playing out Joe and Cobra battles in the pool. The summer of ’84 was legendary!
Once again, the art sold the product to me. Not that the toy needed much help, considering the action features noted on the back of the box. How could you not want to buy this thing? The only downside to the product vs the painting is the fact that Deep Six couldn’t replicate his position without staring directly at the floor of his craft.
Wanted the Sharc based on the art and the comics. Once I got it, I hated it. One, it fell apart way too easily. (I might have gotten a dud back then.) Two, Deep Six was terrible so I didn’t want to use him. Finally, the cockpit was too big for any other figures to fit into it properly. So, even replacing Deep Six didn’t work since the other figures just flopped around.
That sunk the Sharc for me and it’s never recovered. To this day, I do not like the vehicle and have no interest in any version of it. But, the artwork is cool. Takes me back to the summer of ’84, remembering playing with new toys on my neighbor’s porch.
My brother had one and it fell apart or he had trouble assembling it. Either way, it was one of his most unused items.
Likewise I avoided the repaint for that reason until the Wave Crusher, which I really got for the figure. I think it was a poor choice to reissue and Cobra is better off with their Sea Ray.
”Submersible Hovering Armed Recon Craft”(1984 G.I.Joe S.H.A.R.C.).The vehicle has its place among the the other assorted vehicles, of the GIJoe team.BUT get real,A Flying Submarine???- Its molded in white, which will turn yellow in time.Deep Six is just TOO BIG, in his diving suit on land, where he is only able to function, under water fighting Cobra Eels.The Sharc has no refueling gear,and only 2 torpedoes/machine guns which to fight with. Anyone who enjoys this collectors piece, is welcomed to it.The only Air Vehicle I would consider #1 on any list of G.I.Joe/Cobra vehicles,which has not been mentioned by Mr. Rob is: The 1986 Cobra Night Raven S3P Black Jet Spy Plane.”
According to Hasbro people, they were gonna make a submarine but kid testing showed kids used it as an airplane. So flying sub.
See proto-sharks in the Mass Device miniseries as subs only.
Sharc, Havoc, Lcv, Hydrosled. I never liked vehicles where the operators had to lay on their stomachs and arch their necks way up to see where they were going…seemed terribly uncomfortable.
If I remember correctly, the HAVOC and LCV had video screens under the face of the drivers, so if they had to lay on their stomachs to drive it makes more sense…they’d drive by camera.
But then why would you need the glass canopy over them? It would make more sense to have an armored canopy…but then trying to make sense of the HAVOC is a fool’s errand…!
It is great looking art. wtih so many re-uses of the SHARC mold mainly intended for regular figures I thought maybe sometime they’d remold the cockpit to seat a regular figure sitting up, there would be room. But still has never happened.
Many of the small vehicles prototypes [slam, shac, Armordillo, etc] were made from 1:35th model kits. That’s why the figures are so cramped in them, they started out as Sherman’s and Jeeps
Thank you Hectic Garrido! Your at for most of the GI Joe packaging in the 80s is what fueled my interest. At 45, it is what brings back all the nostalgia.
Don’t forget the WHALE. 1984 had a lot of water vehicles. Yeah, the SHARC has some issues which seemed centered on their decision to make Deep Six the most unusual figure in the line this side of Golobulus. Never heard about it falling apart before. Zartan’s Chameleon skier was a cheap piece of junk from my experience.
I wonder if the Flying Sub from the 1960s sci-fi series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was the inspiration for the SHARC.
There is an sea plane jet fighter that was capable aircraft developed in the late 40s early 50s. The main reason it wasn’t mass produced was because they secured funding for upgrading the aircraft carrier fleet for new jets. It wasnt a submarine though……