 Hello everybody, Hooded Co-Commander 788 here, and now that we're done with Cobramon, so it's time to get back to some GI Joe action figure and vehicle reviews, and I'm very excited about what's coming up this month. We're going to get back to GI Joe by looking at a small vehicle, the LCV Recon sled, and I'd like to say a special thanks and shout out to Chris Mahalek for sending me this vehicle and making this review possible. Thanks very much, Chris. I know everyone likes to look at the big vehicles, me too, but I don't want to neglect the smaller vehicles. They had a very important role to play in the GI Joe toy line, so let's go ahead and take a look at the LCV Recon sled. This is the LCV Recon sled, with LCV standing for Low Crawl Vehicle. The LCV Recon sled was first introduced in 1986, it was also sold in 1987. It was discontinued in 1988, and there was not really a 1988 vehicle that was comparable to this, so it didn't really have a replacement in 1988. Functionally, the LCV Recon sled is a motorcycle, so it fits in with other GI Joe motorcycles like the 1982 Ram motorcycle and the 1985 Silver Mirage motorcycle. The LCV Recon sled was worth two flag points, and it did not come with an action figure. However, on the box art for the Recon sled, it was driven by Bazooka. As far as the size goes, the LCV Recon sled was comparable to the 1985 GI Joe Armadillo tank, both nice small vehicles, and it's nice that GI Joe gave us these small vehicles. They did a lot of really large vehicles with tons of features that were pretty awesome, but not every kid had the funds or the space to fill their rooms with Killer Whales and USS flags, so it's nice that we got these smaller vehicles as well. Let's look at the parts and features of the Recon sled, starting at the front with these three front wheels or rollers, and this front one is raised, I guess, so it can roll over rough terrain. These are fake wheels, they're not actually functional. It really only has one wheel in the center here, so it gives the illusion of rolling along these front wheels. These front rollers do turn a bit from side to side. In the front we have a headlight made out of clear plastic. We also have this clear plastic canopy windscreen, and that's got some angles to it, which fits with the overall aesthetic of the vehicle, and on top of that we have this periscope, which looks like a mini radar, and this can come out and this is a frequently missing part. On either side we have what the box calls machine guns. Not sure what type of machine guns they're supposed to be, they're just supposed to be machine guns. They both have some texture on them, that's very interesting. They're very basic looking, very simple, they can kind of pivot up like that, I'm not sure if they're supposed to do that, but they can do it, both of them can, and those are the only forward-facing armaments on this vehicle. Under the clear canopy we have what looks like a radar screen, and that makes sense since we have a little radar on top there. We have a couple stickers for instrument panels, that looks pretty good, and some other detailing there on the inside. We also have these two holes here, and that's where you will put the action figure's hands when the action figure is riding the vehicle. This entire front assembly is adjustable, there's a little hook right there on the underneath, so if you push it just past that hook it snaps into place, and then it is in a more raised position. I'm not really sure why you would want it in this position, I'm not sure how that would in any way be an advantage, but it is adjustable and you can have that front canopy in two positions. Just pull it again to pop it out, and there it is in the lower position. In the middle we have a little bit of engine detail here, and more on the other side. We have some detailing kind of a grid work here, and this essentially is the seat for the vehicle because the driver rides it in the prone position, essentially face down. These sculpted pads on either side are for the action figure's knees, and the figure's feet will go through these holes here in the back. I will demonstrate how to put the figure on the vehicle in a moment. And then on the starboard side of the vehicle we have this whole engine that's outside, it's not covered at all. It's done in the same sort of yellow tan color as the machine guns in the front and the instrument panel, and that's very interesting, it's got the entire engine sort of on the outside of the vehicle. On the port side we have this little mini gun, and that is adjustable. It can rotate almost all the way around, and the blueprints call this a side-mounted auto-load 9mm cannon. So it's a fairly small caliber gun, which is appropriate for this vehicle I guess. I think it looks like a rear-facing weapon. You can spin it around to face front, but to me it just doesn't look right. It looks like it's going to fire right into the canopy. It looks like the bullets from it might glance off the canopy. So I really think this looks more appropriate as a rear-facing weapon. And then in the back we have these sculpted shock absorbers on both sides. That's not too bad. And then we have a rubber wheel. This rear wheel is rubber, which is awesome. That's a really nice bonus on such a small vehicle. You really wouldn't expect to see a rubber wheel on a vehicle this size. The Ram motorcycle had plastic wheels. We did get some rubber wheels on the Silver Mirage motorcycle, but this was a slightly larger vehicle. So for a small vehicle, this is really not bad. The hub of the wheel has this kind of weird circle and square design. Almost looks like a Lego design on that. Let's demonstrate how to put the figure on this vehicle. We're going to use Bazooka, since he was on the box art for this vehicle. Now the arms are going to go in these little holes. The knees are going to go here on these pads, and then the feet are going to go through these holes. So that gives you kind of an idea of how this is going to go. We'll get his arms bent so he'll go. His arms will go in there, and we're going to have to bend his knees. And let's go ahead and put the feet in first, because that looks like it'll be the most difficult part of getting this figure in. It looks like it's best to put the left foot in first, because this side gun is a little bit of an obstruction. Then you can kind of wedge the right foot in there, which really is not too easy. Then you've got his knees on the knee pads. Then you just put his hands in those little holes that are designed for his hands. And now you have Bazooka riding the LCV Recon sled. And the television commercial for the LCV Recon sled shows the figures riding the vehicle sitting up like this, which I guess is fine. The figure is fairly stable there, but there are no controls for the figure to grip. He's just sort of leaning back like that. So I don't think that really looks right for the figure to be riding the vehicle that way. This big clear canopy gives the figure a wide range of vision, but he can't really use it, because he's face down. He would have to crane his neck up to really see out this windscreen. And the old figures just didn't have that much range of movement in their heads. So he's going to have to drive by instrumentation. He's going to have to face down at the radar screen in order to drive this thing. I think that's the downside of having the driver in this position. Taking a look at the LCV Recon sled overall, it is a very small vehicle. It's one of the smallest vehicles in the line, unless you count those windup, power pack things, and I try to think of those as little as possible. The Recon sled is not based on any real world design that I'm aware of. It's kind of funky looking, but it's not excessively science fiction either. It's essentially a motorcycle that's been rearranged. And I guess there's no reason why you couldn't really make a motorcycle look like this. I mean, you could put an engine on the back and you could give it one big wheel in the back and three small wheels in the front. I guess you could do all of that. So it's not really unrealistic. I would call this a pseudo-realistic vehicle. Comparing the Recon sled to another vehicle in its size class, the Armadillo Mini Tank, the Recon sled is actually a bit smaller. And the Armadillo is one of the simplest vehicles in the GI Joe line. But the LCV Recon sled may actually be an even simpler vehicle than the Armadillo tank. I mean, the LCV Recon sled does have a bit more as far as moving parts go. It has this gun in the back and you can, you know, height adjust this front end like that. But the Mini Tank could accommodate a couple more action figures here in the back, whereas the LCV Recon sled is strictly a one-person vehicle. Unless, wait a minute, let's see. Let's just see if we can get them on here. Is it? No, that's awkward. Better stick with just one figure on this thing. Comparing the LCV Recon sled to GI Joe's other motorcycle, it stacks up fairly well to the 1982 Ram as far as size and features go. But it is lacking in that the Ram had one big gun and the Recon sled definitely lacks that big gun. Comparing the LCV Recon sled to the 1985 Silver Mirage, the Silver Mirage really outclasses the Recon sled in both size and features and armaments. But the Recon sled is a pretty sturdy vehicle, whereas the Silver Mirage could be rather fragile and flimsy. Even though this is a small vehicle and somewhat lacking in features, I do like the Recon sled. It's not a top-tier vehicle by any means. If there was a choice between the Killer Whale and the Recon sled, I don't think many collectors would say, hey, give me that LCV, I don't need the Killer Whale. But it's really not bad and it has a few things going for it. For one thing, unlike the GI Joe motorcycles, the LCV was pretty sturdily constructed. You're not going to find too many of these broken, whereas you'll find the Ram motorcycle and the Silver Mirage motorcycle broken all the time. Also, since this is a fairly inexpensive vehicle to find complete, you can army build these pretty easily. Also, since it is in more or less military colors, it doesn't look too futuristic and it can fit in with your other more realistic GI Joe vehicles. As far as its portrayal in GI Joe media, the Recon sled did pop up every once in a while in the GI Joe animated series. I don't think it appeared in the comic book, at least if it did, I can't recall, but it did show up in the cartoon. I always wanted to test the compatibility of the LCV Recon sled with another GI Joe vehicle that came out the same year, a much larger vehicle, the Tomahawk. The Tomahawk had in the back this cargo bay door that would open and close like this. It's a pretty cool feature, but it's kind of small and the opening for the door is kind of small. There are no GI Joe vehicles that will fit through there, so you can't launch a vehicle out of the back of the Tomahawk. Everything, even the smaller vehicles, are just too big. Even a vehicle as small as the GI Joe Ram motorcycle is too big to fit in there. It's too wide with the side gun on and it's too tall with the driver on. But would the LCV Recon sled work with the Tomahawk? Could you launch this thing out of the back? And the answer is, sort of. First you have to remove all of these jump seats out of the bay of the helicopter, get them all out and create as much space as possible. Then you have to take the canopy on the LCV Recon sled completely off. Once that's done, with the figure on, you can roll the Recon sled into the back of the Tomahawk and completely close the door. It works, it does fit, but to launch the Recon sled out of the back, you do have to lift the helicopter up just a bit to get enough clearance. There's no way this is an intended feature, especially since you have to take the Recon sled apart in order to make it work. And the color and design of these two vehicles really do not go together at all. But if you choose to, if you want to do it, the Recon sled can make this otherwise useless feature on the Tomahawk somewhat useful. That was my review of the 1986 LCV Recon sled, I hope you enjoyed it. And if you're thinking of getting one of these little guys, I hope you have found this video informative. If you liked it, don't forget to give it a thumbs up on YouTube and don't forget to subscribe. 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