# Tesla Cybertruck **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 23, 2019, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866 "2019-11-23T10:32:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 87
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1721 "2025-08-07T21:42:13Z")
A few will end up in car museums. At least here in the USA. Fancy some travel to a wacky hostile country full of wacky hostile natives? IMO they’re not so much ugly as odd. Ugly vehicles have no distinct style and are simply a collection of indifferent to bad features bolted together at random. The CT has a very consistent design language. I’m not hugely fond of it, but the consistency is what makes it “work” as odd rather than just f\*\*\*ed up. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1722 "2025-08-07T22:02:03Z")
No, you aren’t wrong. And while i think the car is ugly, i also recognize that it’s what 7 year old me wanted a car to look like. I used to draw cars exactly like it, only mine were rocket powered, and had flames shooting out the back. But it’s otherwise sooooo close to the same profile. It turns me off in person because it looks mean. It’s large and closed-in and has lots of sharp edges that look like death to pedestrians or cyclists it jostles. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1723 "2025-08-07T22:04:44Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Yup. There hasn’t been one like this since the Edsel. Special. How quickly we forget the Pontiac Aztec, notorious for receiving citations from the government for violating bad taste. > [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > It’s worth seeing one in person so you can point and laugh. Or give a seig heil one arm salute. If Mush does it, Incel Camino owners must like it, too. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1724 "2025-08-07T22:42:53Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > It turns me off in person because it looks mean. It’s large and closed-in and has lots of sharp edges that look like death to pedestrians or cyclists it jostles. Agree. A LOT of modern cars and especially trucks are Brutalist devices meant to appeal to bullies or bullying mentalities. The CT may be _primer inter pares_ but it has lots of company. As Obi Wan did not say of Light Sabers … > A thuggish aesthetic for a thuggish era. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1725 "2025-08-08T01:50:00Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Guys, is it wrong that I really want to see a Cybertruck? They’re not legal in my country, and I’m really curious what the whole fuss is about. Me upthread: > [@Tesla Cybertruck](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1194): > > I really, intensely wonder about the age demographic for the Cybertruck. As I mentioned in this and related threads, I kinda get the appearance. I’m two years younger than Musk, and it appeals to my 80s childhood aesthetic along with [Landmaster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landmaster) and [Ark 2](https://small-sci-fi-screen-craft.fandom.com/wiki/ARK_II_(Vehicle)) that showed up in the Saturday Sci-Fi matinees I was extremely fond of on the local stations. So many of the cars of that period were super angular, pointy and we (well, my friends and I of that age) loved them. Now, the modern “me” looks at… The Landmaster especially is what Musk seems to be going for, with the whole bulletproof, post-apocalyptic them, but he’s angry because it doesn’t have the accompanying armament: > 2 top mounted [rocket launchers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_launcher) > 4 side mounted [autocannons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocannon) > 2 front mounted retractable [bazookas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bazooka) > 2 front mounted [flamethrowers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamethrower) So save yourself a lot of grief, and rent/buy a copy of [Damnation Alley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damnation_Alley_(film)) and watch. Much cheaper, and more fun. Or, just watch any of countless videos online about the vehicle. This is very much a what you see is what you get, there’s no gestalt that makes it better/worse when you see one in person. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1726 "2025-08-08T04:00:58Z")
Has much more of a _Tron_ look to me. As I’ve said, I would never buy one, but I sorta kinda like it. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1727 "2025-08-08T04:05:09Z")
Disagree. It’s totally Battlezone, the 80’s tank arcade game with green wireframe graphics. Tron has a much more elegant aesthetic. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1728 "2025-08-08T04:10:55Z")
I see one or two around here on a regular enough basis but haven’t seen a wrapped on in a while. They probably should be wrapped because even the past year has not been kind to the steel bodies and the ones I see usually look dull and shitty. Versus shiny and shitty, I guess but have some pride in your shitty truck! ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1729 "2025-08-08T07:45:39Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > It turns me off in person because it looks mean. If you think the CT looks mean, get a load of the front end of [this one](https://youtu.be/zfC_GuHiP68) from twenty years ago. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1730 "2025-08-08T08:11:56Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > IMO they’re not so much ugly as odd. Ugly vehicles have no distinct style and are simply a collection of indifferent to bad features bolted together at random. While that’s often true, I would draw a distinction between “accidentally ugly” as in “the design idea just didn’t work” and “willfully ugly”, as in “we **wanted** it to look like this!”. The CT is willfully ugly. The subliminal message, prized by the owners, is “I am ugly, dangerous, and aggressive, and I can roll right over whatever puny vehicle you’re driving right now!”. This is more or less Elmo’s life motto. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1731 "2025-08-08T09:02:28Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > If you think the CT looks mean, get a load of the front end of [this one](https://youtu.be/zfC_GuHiP68) from twenty years ago. That looks cute, with a soft, round front end. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1732 "2025-08-08T10:36:56Z")
Given that pickup trucks are often work vehicles, it could have and should have been designed for cargo capacity and the ability to hold stuff. And lots of F150s are sold without a truck bed so that they could be customized. This thing was designed primarily as an expensive toy. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1733 "2025-08-08T11:32:34Z")
I see one every day, since the only neighbor I can see from my window has one, and believe me, it just looks more or less like he has a big gas grill in his driveway. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1734 "2025-08-08T13:42:27Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > like he has a big gas grill in his driveway. Bravo Good Sir! Well played! An idea once heard that cannot be unheard. I’ll be enjoying that replay every time I see one. > [@wolfpup](#): > > The subliminal message, prized by the owners, is “I am ugly, dangerous, and aggressive, and I can roll right over whatever puny vehicle you’re driving right now!”. This is more or less Elmo’s life motto. I agree. But … the same exact idea was behind the early Hummer line of 30+ (!) years ago and is definitely behind the Dodge Ram pickup line. And in a less aggressive format is visible in every Lexus Vader-mobile. I’ve used the term Brutalist 3 times in this thread describing the CT & other vehicles. Most recently just yesterday: > [@Tesla Cybertruck](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1724): > > Agree. A LOT of modern cars and especially trucks are Brutalist devices meant to appeal to bullies or bullying mentalities. The CT may be primer inter pares but it has lots of company. As Obi Wan did not say of Light Sabers … A thuggish aesthetic for a thuggish era. The fact the CT has been a market failure suggests that maybe, just _maybe_, that level of overt thuggishness is not quite popular enough. _Maybe_. Yet. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1735 "2025-08-08T15:22:09Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’ve used the term Brutalist 3 times in this thread describing the CT & other vehicles. Most recently just yesterday: The term “Brutalism” doesn’t come from the word “brutal”; instead, it’s from the French “brut”, meaning raw or unfinished, and is short for “beton brut”, or raw concrete. Interestingly, that means that the CT, more than other vehicles, can be called “Brutalist” not because it’s imposing, but because it looks unfinished. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1736 "2025-08-08T15:50:01Z")
Thank you, was about to mention that – the CyberTruck is more accurately described as brutalist, with the exposed material and the very elementary blocks-and-planes design with bad fit-and-finish tolerances. The recent-model pickups looking so performatively big and powerful (but winding up with a larger overall size but _ **less** _ cargo carrying space than the same category had 30 years ago) give me more of a vibe of spiritual descendants of the big-chrome land yatchs of the 50s, only thinking vertical instead of horizontal. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1737 "2025-08-08T15:52:44Z")
Agree about the architectural term. However there’s also a very strong correlation between _beton brut_ as a material, and designs incorporating harsh angular lines and things scaled at inhuman proportions. Brutalist architecture looks semi-appropriate on jails and totally bad on museums, performing arts centers, or airport terminals. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1738 "2025-08-08T16:15:08Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Brutalist architecture looks semi-appropriate on jails and totally bad on museums, performing arts centers, or airport terminals And churches. Can’t forget the churches. [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third\_Church\_of\_Christ,\_Scientist\_(Washington,\_D.C.)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Church_of_Christ,%5C_Scientist%5C_(Washington,%5C_D.C.)) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1739 "2025-08-08T16:25:56Z")
Fixed your link: > **[Third Church of Christ, Scientist (Washington, D.C.)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Church_of_Christ,_Scientist_(Washington,_D.C.))** > > Third Church of Christ, Scientist, established in 1918, is a Christian Science church in downtown Washington, D.C. From 1971 to 2014, the church was located in a controversial building at 16th and I Street NW. Considered a significant work of "Brutalist" church architecture by some critics, the building was considered unsatisfactory by members of the Church's congregation, which shrank over the years. In 2007, the church applied for a demolition permit for the building to permit the sale and red... But yeah, ugly in an inhuman and brutal way. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866/1740 "2025-08-08T16:33:50Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Guys, is it wrong that I really want to see a Cybertruck? They’re not legal in my country, and I’m really curious what the whole fuss is about. I just saw a coyote on my morning walk today. That was hella more interesting than seeing a CT. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866.md?page=86) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-cybertruck/843866.md?page=88)