Tanks, But No Tanks: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''Skinner''': "Tanks? Oh come on, this is ''too'' inaccurate!"

'''Professor Frink''': "[[Wild Wild West|Then you're going to hate my]] [[Steampunk|steam-powered]] [[Spider Tank|super spider]], [[Oh God, with the Verbing!|with the crushing and]] [[Jerry Lewis|the stomping and the webs made of NYYYLONNN!!]]"|''[[The Simpsons]]''}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

** Even though ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'' was actually [[Backed by the Pentagon]], they still had to use retired M60 Pattons for the tank depot at SOCENT. Indeed, there is no real Abrams in the film, the Decepticon Brawl who appears to be have the Abrams as his Alternative Mode is really the same Abrams mock-up from ''[[xXx: State of the Union]]'' (built using commercial vehicle parts) with some additional visual mods tacked on.<ref>Specifically the film crew added two four -shot missile pods on the second turret, a mine plow on the front and a woodland camouflage paint scheme. </ref> This is most obvious when he goes to run over a car in the final battle and he only takes out the roof and windows without pancaking the thing like a real Abrams would.

** [[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen|The Sequel]] did have actual an Abrams used for the finale, but the trope still pops up when the Marines arrive with Army M2 Bradleys.

** This trope is even lampshaded in-universe where one of the designers is reluctant to add a turret to the Bradley because it would be mistaken for a tank by the enemy and thus be a priority target -- ''the last thing'' you want for a vehicle designed to transport troops.

* In the "real close, but not quite" we have the classic "starring Bogart" ''Sahara''. "Lulubelle" is an actual M3 tank, which is appropriate to the period (the Gazala battles), and several of the American training crews did end up getting into battle (on the "wrong" side of Africa). The problem is, it's a Lee (the US Army version), not a Grant (British version, the turret design's the give away). The Brits did get Lee'sLees by Lend-Lease later, but not during those battles.

* The movie ''[[Stripes]]'' presents us with a scene set behind the [[Iron Curtain]], in which a "Russian" tank menaces some of the heroes. It is clearly an M60 series tank with a few visual mods tacked on.

* Averted in Sam Peckinpah's ''[[Cross of Iron]]'', which used real, Yugoslav-made, T-34s in several scenes. Although the models used would be slighty anarchronistic for the 1943 the film is set in.

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

* ''[[The Dukes of Hazzard]]'' episode ''"Follow That Still''" mostly averts this trope with M113 APC being played by a real M113. and itIt does get referred to as an armored personnel carrier to the point that it borders on [[Insistent Terminology]] but it gets called a tank twice (though to be fair one of the people who calls it that is [[The Ditz|Roscoe]]) and the fact the cannon is still functional despite it being surplus purchased for a museum. In real life, any cannon on a decommissioned military vehicle would be sealed at the breech so it can't be fired again; in the show hasit just givenhas an easily -removable spike in the barrel.

* ''[[The Walking Dead]]'' features a (surprisingly clean, all things considered - shouldn't it be covered in bits of zombie?) British Chieftain standing in for an abandoned M1 Abrams. This is most obvious because of a scene where Rick climbs in the tank through the belly hatch. The CheiftainChieftain has that but the Abrams does not as it sacrificed hull integrity.

** Later, when {{Spoiler|Thethe Governor attacks the prison mid-way through Season 4,}} he is assisted by a M60 Patton which has been retired from service since the 90's90s. They handwave it by having the driver bringing it from Fort Benning; it would only be there as a museum piece which would mean it wouldn't have a functioning gun.

* Averted major-lymajorly in the miniseries ''[[Band of Brothers (TV series)|Band of Brothers]]''. The Allied tanks were genuine M4A1 Shermans and A27 Cromwells, the armored cars were genuine M8 Greyhounds, the halftracks were genuine M5s. On the German side, they used the Czech-built, German-designed halftracks and the replica Marders and Tigers from ''[[Saving Private Ryan]],'' along with very convincing replica Jadgpanthers and Sturmgeschutz IIIs built on British FV432 APC chassis.

** The ''Battlefield'' series has been guilty of this trope since the original game. ''Battlefield 1942'' has only one real heavy tankstank for the Heavy Tank class -- the infamous [[Nazis With Gnarly Weapons|Tiger I]],; the Red Army's Heavy Tank is the T-34/76 Medium Tank which is treated as having better armor and a better gun than its Medium Tank counterpart the T-34-85 (Whichwhich actually has a larger gun and turret and the same armor),; while the Allies get the M10 Wolverine Tank Destroyer (which has a bigger gun than its medium counterpart the Sherman but the same armor as it is built on the same hull),. the The ''Road To Rome'' expansion added the Armored Car class which used the M3 Grant and Carro Armato M11/39 Medium Tanks for the Allies and Italians respectively. The base game also axishas Axis factions sharing armored vehicles when any such activity was far less extensive than the Allies' Lend-Lease Agreement. The ''Secret Weapons of WWII'' expansion has the M8 Greyhound Armored Car in the Medium Tank category for the British Commandos.

** ''Battlefield: Vietnam'' put both M50 Ontos Tank Destroyer and the M551 Sheridan ARAAV as Lights Tanks. To be fair, however, the Ontos does fill the Tank Destroyer niche in-game complete with an NVA/Viet Cong counterpart listed as a Scout Car, and the Sheridan is a light tank in all but name.<ref>The Sheridan isn't called a light tank due to internal politics. First it was referred to as a reconnaissance vehicle because it looklooked better than having two tanks (the other being the failed MBT-70 program) in the ledgers given to Congress and; later, the Armored Reconnaissance Amphibious/Airborne Vehicle designation was created to avoid calling it a light tank as the current doctrine was focused on Main Battle Tanks being the only tanks.</ref>

** ''Battlefield 2: Modern Combat'' has the Middle Eastern Coalition using the 2S25 Sprut-SD Tank Destroyer as their tank. Even weirder is that the original PC version of the game had them using more apporiateappropriate T-90s. and theyThey had a model for T-72s from the above mentionedabovementioned ''Battlefield: Vietnam'' but they went for the Sprut which is only used by the [[Russians With Rusting Rockets|VDV]]. They also have the BMP-2 IFV as a light tank and the BMD-3 IFV is used in the same capacity by the [[Chinese With Chopper Support|PLA]].

** ''[[Battlefield: Bad Company]]'' erroneously has the M3A3 Bradley, BMD-3 Bakhcha, and 2T Stalker as the Light Tanks for the US Army, Russians and Middle Eastern Coalition respectively when they are all Infantry Fighting Vehicles. The Stalker deserves special mention as it and the MEC's main battle tank the Black Eagle never left the prototype stage in reality; both were canceled before the game came out but these next -generation designs are used not by the Russians who designed boththem but the Middle Eastern Coalition. [[Fridge Logic|Outside of the fact the MEC only appears in the final level, why would the Russians still use older Soviet designs and export their next generation ones?]]

** ''[[Battlefield 3]]'' is not as bad as the other entries as all the tanks are real tanks. However, this trope does still occur due to questionable placement of vehicles in the campaign. For example the Iranian Army is shown using T-90As when in reality they use modified T-72s (which also appear in the campaign), and the [[It's Raining Men|VDV]] uses BMP-2Ms instead of the actual air transportable BMD line which does get referenced in dialogue in the same mission.

* The Russian BMP line of amphibious infantry fighting vehicles often get mistaken for tanks because of the tank-like shape and the size of their turrets and main guns. Though they ''have'' replaced the PT-76 light tanks in practice.

** The S-Tank is in that spot. It is a Tank Destroyer by all other countrycountries's definitions of a tank as brought up to John F. Kennedy when he expressed interest in acquiring them.