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Comment by jader201 | Hacker News Reader

It looks like the attempt of a “futuristic” vehicle in an early 90’s low polygon video game.

Reading these responses makes me think I’m out of the loop on some joke. Seriously. I had no doubt when I came to the discussion that all the comments would be about how ugly it is.

Maybe this is one of those white/gold vs. black/blue dress things. Or the “yanni” thing.

I’m blown away by any of the comments that find the design appealing.

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>It looks like the attempt of a “futuristic” vehicle in an early 90’s low polygon video game.

In a world where every manufacturer makes cars that look basically the same as every other car in the world, I'm fucking stoked on this.

they don't, people just buy similar looking models because weird cars generally don't sell well, with some exceptions.

Ok, please find me the two most different looking trucks that I can buy (no concept models).

Chevrolet SSR vs AMG HMMWV pickup with SAM missile battery

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_SSR

(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humvee#/media/File:SAM-HMMWV.j...

OTOH, the SSR had a foot bed? Its not like it was just a great truck that looked bad, it wasn't actually a good truck.

Err, four foot bed.

Since the context is a four+ seat vehicle with cargo space but not a dedicated cargo mover, I feel justified in offering you:

Pontiac Aztek and Jeep Gladiator.

I immediately thought of the Aztek when I saw the pop-out tent photo on the CyberTruck website.

It seems to me that most of the engineering is in the 'skateboard', There's no reason they can't sell the same chassis with two different bodies. - The cybertruck for people who want that. - A more conventional body for anyone else.

I think there is some cost issue in making the car armored. With a sandwich material it would be way more feasible to put together planar cuts than to cold form them. Armor usually is pretty stiff.

maybe once the reality of the armor sinks in people will re-evaluate the esthetics of it.

I think it's sad though that people want to have an armored car that looks like a stealth fighter.

It's also strange that you can sell it in a context of 'being prepared', with the offroad capability and everything - I don't know a better example for a vehicle being dependent on an always-on infrasructure than an armored electric truck.

> I don't know a better example for a vehicle being dependent on an always-on infrasructure than an armored electric truck.

Why? It is so, so much easier to produce your own electricity than your own gasoline. A truck running on slightly impure ethanol or gasified wood would still be more independent, but there are performance issues to consider there.

After reading up a bit more I think I was too hasty with that statement. Getting a practical solar capacity is quite a lot cheaper than I imagined for many latitudes.

> I think it's sad though that people want to have an armored car that looks like a stealth fighter.

Why?

Because it's not a car that is not armored and just looks like a stealth fighter. And because it's not a car that is armored and looks like a regular car.

It seems to me people like the martial aesthetic and function(!) as a status symbol, maybe without reflecting why the martial aesthetic is what it is. To keep people in a metal shell with guns on it from being shredded.

A civil society should find these things ugly but respect their necessity, not celebrate them. And if civil society has a real need for these things, it's in a sad state.

What if it just looks cool because angular things made out of metal look cool, not because we are death fetishists or living in a dangerous society?

Also, weapons and weaponry can be aesthetically pleasing without accepting the inevitability of violence.

A civil society can also find martial design cool as hell.

And here you go. The Walrus ATV from Carrier Command.

http://www.retrogamer.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/launchi...

Reminds me to the car from the opening sequence of Another World: http://firsthour.net/screenshots/another-world/another-world...

It's almost a concentrate of the 80s born crowd childhood. Yes it's low poly, you can add 80s neon design cues:

- https://imgur.com/a/eHUNSqu

- https://imgur.com/a/xt3Cbm4

- https://imgur.com/a/kYy7mVv

- <insert delorean bare metal>

You can even see a little Mad Max oriented punk on elon buddies clothing on stage.

Note that Peugeot attempted a similar thing with the 508 electric revival recently.

It looks like a shark. There's definitely a deliberately threatening aesthetic to it. That's likely why it's so polarizing. As someone who likes medieval weapons, predators, and martial arts competitions, I definitely find it a beautiful design.

Just needs more spikes on the front ;)

> early 90’s low polygon video game.

Seeing the truck I was immediately reminded of the original Death Track game.

Low poly is the new black.

Do you find hypermasculine aesthetics (big game hunting, big guns, aggressive looking trucks) appealing though?

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