That moment when you remember....that thing

Ever since I purchased the MBT-70 MERC, shortly after coming to Armored Warfare, I have been racking my brains trying to figure out where I had seen it before. I knew I recognized the vehicle's shape, but putting my finger on kept escaping me....

If you are a child of the 80's, as it was to be known now, you just might remember this cartoon television show (with accompanying toy and comic line) called G.I. Joe. For quite a number of years, the show was one of the staples of this weekly event titled Saturday Morning Cartoons, where millions of children would gather around TV sets and watch the many animated adventures taking place, for hours on end.

No doubt, I was like a lot of other kids of the time, who happened to have the corresponding toys that went with the TV shows and so, by natural extension of the experience, acted out a continuation of the storyline I just watched, or was a part of making up a new one. I was the latter and so was my friend from back then named Chuck. He had a much larger associated toy and action figure collection than I did, but we played with them against each other nonetheless.

Every Saturday morning, right after G.I. Joe would end, both of us would meet up at each others houses and battle it out in plastic and imagination.

Which brings me to what I finally remembered about the MBT-70. See, my friend Chuck had something called the MOBAT, originally short for Motorized Battle Tank and bore than just a passing resemblance to the tank in Armored Warfare of today. The neat part, at the time, it was battery operated and moved under it's own power, although it wasn't remote control.

This would have been the version he had, back then. I always thought it was so cool and he knew it, subtly taunting me with it as we played. I never had one, it was way too expensive for it's time and my allowance. Sadly, there was also no way my parents were ever going to get me one, even under the Christmas tree, no matter how good a boy I was that year.

Which was fine, I made do with a lower cost alternative....

....a Cobra H.I.S.S. tank, that wasn't battery powered and had to be pushed around by hand. Odd thing always happened though, my team ( I had mostly Cobra figures and vehicles, sucker for the bad guys I suppose) seemed to be on the losing end of things, just like the show. Chuck and his assets (outnumbered me with all of his Joes and their vehicles) seemed to just steamroll me every time we played.

Perhaps I should look him up for a rematch, now that I could get this up-gunned version.