Poor Image: Weapons Understudies

This is a trope that attracts a lot of military/weapons nerds, but not everyone on this site is one. I, a non-expert, have no idea what's going on, how these are "Weapons Understudies", what they really are or what they're supposed to look like.

I don't get this image. Pull

Pull. What we need is a pair of images, of a weapon and its "understudy", preferably with a caption identifying which is which and what the differences are.

Agreed, that sounds like a bright idea.

Maybe someone who knows more about weapons and tanks than me could compare an actual T-34 Tiger Tank with the "Hollywood Tiger" models from Warlord Games?

Okay, I found some possibilities from the movie White Tiger. I was going to try and replicate the suggestion , but amazingly there are alternate posters with the correct model and the understudy used!

6.1


6.2


6.3


6.4

Edited by Earnest on Jun 17th 2023 at 11:54:11 AM

The 'star' in 6.3 is the exact same picture as the 'understudy' in 6.1. These are useless without some sort of caption explaining the difference.

Edited by JoeG on Jun 19th 2023 at 7:13:23 AM

I'm not sure I understand the observation. The concept of 6.1 and 6.2 are different from 6.3 and 6.4.

6.1 and 6.2 are both actual cover art, one using movie accurate and the other using an actual T-34. 6.3 and 6.4 on the other hand show that the tank in the poster isn't the correct model.

I can easily change the caption in the black text for something more indicate. If you have a better idea for arrangements, or want to add highlights of specific tank features, here's poster T-34◊, poster IS-2◊, IS-2 in a tank museum◊, and IS-2 (tank girl, to go with a ''literal'' understudy) so you can play with them.

There were also these really nice model tank kits of the IS-2◊ and T-34 I was tempted to use as the reference image for comparison, just to add variety.

The point is I don't understand why one is the star and the other the understudy. That's why a caption would be helpful, to point out the differences and why they matter.

Because in theater, stars traditionally have understudies. It pulls double duty since the T-34 White Tiger is nominally also the movie's star but isn't actually on some of the posters.

Votes bump, two in green.

I still don't get what the tank on the White Tiger poster is intended to be. If it's representing a T-34, the comparison pic should be a real T-34. If it's an IS-2, the difference isn't that obvious.

It is an IS-2, and it's not the difference but the similarities. The treads, turret and lights are about the same.

To my limited imagination there's two ways to show the trope:

• Show weapon A is actually weapon B by showing a picture of B to demonstrate similarities
• Show weapon A is not actually weapon A by showing a picture of an actual A to demonstrate differences

I went with the first option, though I had briefly considered combining them but didn't like how tall a 1x3 would be. But yes, you're right, there are more ways to show this, and by all means, please feel free to put up other options. Unless my understanding is off, we should still be able to add options to the crowner.

Edited by Earnest on Jun 27th 2023 at 11:00:20 AM

I didn't realise that was the intent either because of the "star/understudy" labels. If it's the understudy in both cases, it would be better to label it "supposed T-34"/"actual IS-2" or something like that.

I see, I'll make a pair with those captions after work.

Ok, here's the revised caption, and comparison to the actual T-34 for reference. I changed the font and color to make it more military-themed and poppy.

16.1 IS-2


16.2 IS-2

16.3 T-34


16.4 T-34

Another votes bump, since there were late additions.

Last bump; two in the green right now.

There's a ton of potential tank puns, but I'm feeling a bit out of sorts.

Edited by Earnest on Jul 3rd 2023 at 2:54:11 PM

No consensus on a caption, closing.