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Awesome Personnel Carrier: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:AliensAPC.jpg|link=Alien (
{{quote|"''One APC...alone...[[Unfriendly Fire|betrayed]] by the [[Let's Play]] series it loves, now, its only hope [[In Its Hour of Need|in its final hour of need]].''" |'''Battlefield 315''', [[Let's Play]] [[Battlefield (
Sometimes in war, neither the [[Cool Car]] nor the [[Cool Tank]] is enough. You need something that can carry [[The Squad]] into and out of battle and even fight alongside it if need be. How do you do this with a simple Armored Personnel Carrier? Easy, slap some more armor on it. Give it a [[BFG]] or three and maybe even the ability to crush other things like a tank!
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Enter the Awesome Personnel Carrier, the all-around badass vehicle not just meant to be an overpriced and underarmored taxi. In modern warfare settings, expect these to be ripped off from the BMP and M2 Bradley series of vehicles or some of their relations. In sci-fi settings, this might incorporate more elements of the Cool Tank or have an exotic unloading method.
Special mention should be given here as to terminology. The term IFV denotes Infantry Fighting Vehicle, as in a vehicle that directly engages and suppresses the enemy while the squad does its thing after exiting the vehicle. An APC, or Armored Personnel Carrier, simply shuttles the squad to and from battle. It might not actually do any fighting whatsoever. But that doesn't mean it can't be [[Rule of Cool|cool]] on its own. APC is commonly used to cover both types of vehicles despite this being incorrect, although the line between armed battle-taxi and light IFV can be quite blurred.
Naturally, compare [[Cool Tank]]. [[Israelis With Infrared Missiles|Merkavas]] cheat by being both, and the Russian Mi-24 Hind ups the stakes ''again'' by flying.
{{examples
== [[Anime]] & [[Manga]] ==
* The opening scene in one of the ''[[Appleseed]]'' movie has Deunan and her squad being attacked by two ACPs armed with [[Gatling Good|gatling guns]] that effordlessly jump through walls and reduce the battlefield to even finer rubble.
* ''[[Gundam Unicorn]]'' gives us the D50C Loto, a 12 meter high mobile suit that can transform into a tank like vehicle ''and'' carry a squad of special forces troops inside it, doesn't get more awesome than that.
== [[Film]] ==
* The Colonial Marine APC carried by the [[Drop Ship]] in ''[[Aliens]]''. It included sliding armored side doors, front minigun turret, heavy weapons turret (with reduced clearance option), no-flat tires, and a fully integrated command station that could provide the platoon leader with real-time video feeds from every grunt.
** Unfortunately, the realistic low profile of the prop was too small to film inside, so a [[Bigger
** The vehicle they built the APC out of was a tug for pulling passenger jets... which was so heavy it cracked the concrete under it when they brought it to the set.
* ''[[Soldier]]'''s Crawler APC, is just as sophisticated as the Colonial Marine APC: armored side doors, missile launchers, a dual machine gun turret, a remote-controlled mortar, tires larger than its passengers and a command interface fixed onto the driver's pod. The director [[Word of God|claims]] that the Crawler is almost as powerful as a tank. The model was built from a stripped-down tractor.
** But just like the Colonial Marine APC, it had interior size problems when it comes to people 6 feet tall. The solution: hire 5-footers.
** Oh, and just in case you're wondering, [[media:
* A number of the vehicle in the [[Star Wars]] movies would count, with the regular troops often outnumbering crew. The most famous example is the [[Humongous Mecha|AT-AT]] from ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]''. This was subverted occasionally though, in that some vehicles that were called transports in fact weren't.
* ''[[Avatar]]'' features the C-21 Dragon Assault Ship, featuring eight 50MM sentry guns, dozens of missile pods, not one but ''two'' cockpits, and enough cargo space for a squad of [[Mini
* In ''[[Doomsday]]'', Sinclair's team enter virus-infected Scotland through the rebuilt Hadrian Wall in a pair of sleek-looking APC said to be the last of their types. They look heavy but a crossbow arrow kills one of the drivers - though the action doesn't let audience wonder about armor long enough to suspend suspension of disbelief.
* In ''[[Black Hawk Down]]'', the Pakistani troops display this trope by playing [[The Cavalry]] the smart way: by charging in heavy [[APCs]] that could withstand the withering crossfire that the American Humvees couldn't.
== [[Literature]] ==
* In the novel ''The Doomfarers of Coramonde'' by the late Brian Daley, a sorcerer from a parallel sword-and-sorcery universe grabs an M113 ACAV<ref>An APC modified to be more of a machine gun carrier than a personnel carrier, with a turret for the track commander's [[Cool Guns/Machine Guns|.50 M2 Browning, and a .30 M60 on each flank]]. M113s without the ACAV modifications only had the .50, and no turret.</ref> and its crew from out of the middle of the Vietnam War...in order to [[Cool Versus Awesome|fight a dragon]]. (The sorcerer was actually trying for a [[Tank Goodness|full-scale tank]], somewhat to the irritation of the APC crew.) {{Spoiler|They kill the dragon by driving over his head, crushing it.}}
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Warhammer
** The Imperial Guard has the Chimera, which is essentially a BMP In SPACE!!
*** Not to mention the Valkyrie Gunship, which is essentially a Hind In SPACE!!
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*** With the capacity to carry eight guys in power suits originally designed for performing maintenance on active plasma generators from the inside.
** The Sisters of Battle use the Immolator, which is also built on the Rhino chassis and usually features turret-mounted flamers - essentially, a Razorback modded as a chapel. They also field the Reppressor, an even more awesome version of the basic Rhino, with expanded transport capacity, a flamethrower miniturret, and a massive bulldozer blade.
*** Like the Marines, they also have the Exorcist, which mounts a Pipe Organ/Multiple Missile Launcher.
** The Tau have the Devilfish Skimmer, which is also a gunship.
** Orks have Wartrukks and Battlewagons.
** The Eldar have the Wave Serpant grav-tank fitting into the APC role, with an [[Deflector Shields|energy shielded prow]] and a pair of heavy infantry scale weapons mounted on top, while their Falcon grav-tank fits into the IFV role, being able to carry smaller squads than the Wave Serpent but having superior weaponry for suppressing enemy armor and infantry.
** The Imperial Guard have the Stormlord Super Heavy Tank, its basic chassis is shared with that the other Imperial Guard Super Heavies (i.e. [[Bane Blade]] Shadowsword) and it can carry 40 guardsmen and has enough firepower to slaughter any infantry in sight.
** Don't forget the Eldar Storm Serpent in Epic, this thing doesn't carry infantry like a normal APC but has an in built webway gate which can pump out as many reinforcements as you need from half the galaxy away.
* ''[[Rifts]]'' has nearly as many APCs, if not more. Such as the heavily-armed Coalition Mark V, the amphibious Iwo Jima-class hovercraft, or the German Leopard III, which not only carries infantry, but can also lug around a ''small tank''' for extra firepower.
* ''[[
== [[Toys]] ==
* In ''[[Bionicle]]'', the Toa Terrain Crawler is a living example. [[What Happened to
* ''[[LEGO Alien Conquest]]'''s Earth Defense HQ set. It helps that the set is, by common consensus, exceedingly well-designed and as such is something of an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] among LEGO's 2011 lineup.
{{quote|
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Act of War]]'' features many [[Real Life]] carriers, including the Stryker and the BTR-80, all of them beautifuly modelled.
* ''[[
* The Battle Fortress, IFV, Humvee and the many other forms of it in ''[[Command
** One particularly hilarious example from Red Alert 3 is the Bullfrog, an otherwise-normal APC armed with an anti-air gun. Its only outstanding feature is its method of delivery: instead of unloading the troops, it fires them out of a cannon on its back. So we've got a scenario in which you can parachute [[
** Also from ''Red Alert 3'' is the Sudden Transport, a hovering APC that can disguise itself as an enemy vehicle to sneak its troops past enemy lines. Completely unarmed, though.
** The Allied Multigunner IFV, also from Red Alert 3, is billed as an IFV despite only carrying one
** The Nod Subterranean APC in ''Tiberian Sun'' combines this with [[Drill Tank]]. Even more awesome still for being able to carry the [[Super Soldier|Cyborg Commando]], the ultimate Nod unit in the game, right into the center of an enemy base.
** The Reckoner from ''Kane's Wrath'' is a bit of an odd-ball. It is completely unarmed and infantry can't fire from within it, until it
** Humvees in ''Generals'' could be equipped with drones for self repair and scouting. Not only that, but it could also carry up to five infantry that could all fire out of the windows, essentially making the Humvee a mobile bunker. Additionally, Overlords were so damn large that you could ''build a bunker on top of its turret''.
** Honourable mention to Red Alert 1's Phase Transport. It shows up in a single mission in the ''Aftermath'' expansion, and it can only carry one infantry unit... but on the other hand, the machine gun is replaced with high-powered ''missile launchers'', and it cloaks.
* ''[[
* ''[[Crysis (
* The BTR, BMP, M2 Bradley and Humvee in the ''[[Modern Warfare]]'' series take their [[Real Life]] counterparts and thrust them into a fictional war with each other.
* The Stryker used by Drebin and the PMC's in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4'', you also get to ride on top of Drebins during the epic chase scene in chapter 2.
* ''[[Project Reality]]'' gives us the BMP-3, which packs more firepower than most tanks in the game, is amphibious, and still has room for a full infantry squad.
* The APC the player and his squad ride around in in the second [[
* ''[[Red Faction|Red Faction: Guerrilla]]'' has drivable
* ''[[Mass Effect]]'' had the player travel around between important points on planets in the Mako which could be dropped in from high atmosphere (kind of like a [[Drop Ship]] but with less emphasis on the ship part and more on the ''drop'') and had significant armaments to justify its own battle sequences (though you could always get out and try killing them all with a pistol whipping if you felt so inclined).
** DLC from the Sequel gives us the Hammerhead, which is part APC, part hover vehicle, and part ''ground-effect aircraft'', now with a guided main weapon.
* Most ''[[Battlefield (
** Well, BMP ''is'' based on a light tank chassis, and ''does'' count as one in international treaties in [[Real Life]].
* Being a mil-sim, ''[[Operation Flashpoint]]'' is loaded with these. The BMP-1 is ubiquitous throughout most of the campaigns, either as a friend or as a foe. Particularly nasty are the BMP-2 and the Bradley, as both mount powerful autocannons that can rip apart enemy squads and light vehicles from ''kilometers'' away. In ''OFP'''s successors, ''[[ARMA:
* ''[[Dawn of War]]'' uses most of the major APCs from ''Warhammer 40000,'' upgrading them to Clown Car status in the process. The Chimera holds ''42 soldiers'' in some incarnations, though they still die like Guardsmen.
* The [http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090527030927/half-life/en/images/6/62/APC.jpg Combine APC] from ''[[Half Life|Half-Life 2]]'' looks pretty cool. Its design features [[Awesome Yet Practical|room for several fully equipped soldiers, a siren,]] [[Immune to Bullets|bulletproof armour,]] [[Lightning Bruiser|a good speed,]] and the ability to be plugged in and provide external power for other applications when it's not in use. Its armaments include a mortar-esque [[Laser Sight|laser guided]] missile launcher, forward mounted fast firing dummy missiles, and a [[More Dakka|pulse machine gun]].
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** Finally, there is an M163 around mid-game that can carry as much people as the BMP even though it's technically a [[Gatling Good|self-propelled anti-aircraft gun]]. An APC with a minigun, how cool is that?
* The Armadillo and its [[Weaponized Car|technical version]], the Junker, from ''[[Gears of War]]''. Although driving it [[Scrappy Level|isn't quite so awesome.]]
* ''[[Ground Control]]'' had an APC that could fire at ground or air targets and heal/ repair other units all while carrying a squad of soldiers in [[Power Armor]]. The sequel APC's where considerable less cool but did come with fun tools like flame-throwers and smoke screens. They also had a separate repair vehicle that could carry four soldiers.
* ''[[
* The ''Bear'' APC from ''[[Saints Row]]'' 2. It features an independent driver-controlled MG turret, six wheels, heavy armour, seating for 4 or 5 passengers, and can keep up with most four-wheeled vehicles. You can even install a [[Nitro Boost]] in it! It's the closest the game gets to [[Tank Goodness]].
* As many of the vehicles in ''[[Mercenaries]]'' and its sequel are just a case of [[AKA
* In ''[
== Webcomic ==
* ''[[
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* [[The Mighty Ducks (
* The police in ''[[
* Providence's assault vehicles in ''[[
== [[Real Life]] ==
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*** That the Bradleys were mostly assigned to cavalry scout units accounts for the high attrition; recon have been notoriously susceptible to friendly fire since the first Gulf War. Even friendly fire from those accompanying tanks.
*** It has also been noted that the Bradley is a jack of all trades but master of none, since it's a track-laying, 30 ton, gun-and missile-toting thing that makes anybody who looks at it think "TANK!", carries only half a squad of infantry, and doesn't carry enough gun to be considered a full tank. It got its own [[The Pentagon Wars|movie mocking it.]] As the disgusted engineers put it, "It's a troop carrier that can't carry troops, a recon vehicle that's too conspicuous to do reconnaissance, a psuedo-tank with less armor than a snowblower, but carries enough ammo to take out half of DC."
* The [[Semper Fi|U.S Marines]] are upgrading their own
** It also essentially transforms into a boat mode, sealing up various panels and extending the front into a prow.
*** Does it count if its been cancelled?
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** The Aussie version, the ASLAV, is even more awesome by having something most military vehicles lack, air conditioning.
*** The American version would be the Stryker, which, like all American vehicles deployed in support of OIF, has at least nominal air conditioning.
*** The Stryker got itself upgraded to an IFF Tank hybrid with the development of the M1128 MGS.
** The LAV-25 is itself a derivative of the [
* Recently, due to the battlefield saturation with IFVs and antitank weapons, a new class of APCs started to
** Israeli ''Azcharit'' and Russian ''BTR-T'' are both conversions of the venerable, but sadly outdated T-55. On a similar theme, the Israeli ''Puma'' is one of a number of conversions of the Centurion MBT used by IDF Engineers.
** The ''[[Israelis With Infrared Missiles|Merkava]]'' is often affectionately referred to as "heavy APC" as well, despite being a full-on MBT. It has the capacity to carry a squad. but only by ditching most of its main cannon's ammunition. Those big rear doors are intended for rapid reloading, not infantry.
*** As of 2008, Israel started to produce an actual APC based on the Merkava chassis called "Namer", making it a truly
* The [
* And lets not forget [
** Unfortunately these proved to be (as with all the [[WW 1]] tanks) less than successful. The main problems being that WWI tanks struggled to go faster than a brisk walking pace and conditions inside the early tanks being so bad that even if the troops managed to remain conscious they disembarked in no condition to fight. Rather more successful was the series of [[
** The German Sdkfz 251 shows the difficulty in dividing APC from IFV. The basic model had a couple of machine guns but variants had flamethrowers, triple mounted 15mm HMGs, a light PaK gun and the turret from an armoured car.
** The good old British Universal Carrier from [[WW 2]], also known as the Bren Carrier. It was, however, the most famous personal carrier, rather than the most awesome one.
*** Also ''the'' single most produced armoured vehicle in history, with over 100,000 made. Its not exactly fast, well-armoured, nor even particularly attractive, but it got the job done. It's a stellar example of [[Boring but Practical]].
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*** It's still seen as useful enough (especially in extraction, medevac and other SAR missions) that Russian AAF recently ordered a batch of a newly-built Mi-35 (an upgraded and mostly export versions of Hind) ''in addition'' to the dedicated gunships like Mi-28 and Ka-50/52. In certain situations Hind's ability to clear up its own LZ and generally look for itself is invaluable.
*** Having too much ammo to perform a pickup in contact with the enemy is a self-solving problem.
* The German Puma IFV is among the heaviest and best armored [[APCs]] out there, with a maximum weight of 43 tons, still maintaining a high power-to-weight ratio. Using four A-400M transport aircrafts, you could quickly transport three Pumas into the theatre - one of the planes would transport the additional armor (which can be flexibly mounted). The Puma's unmanned turret houses a 30
** The West German Marder was the second MICV ever developed, and predated the Puma's design. It is still in service in many places.
** Before the Puma the Marder 2 was conceived in the 1980s to replace the Marder 1 to accompany the Leopard 2 tank into battle. Unfortunately it was canceled in 1992 as it was too large, too heavy and too expensive for the post-Cold War era.
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[[Category:Vehicle Tropes]]
[[Category:Travel Cool]]
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