- The Rolling Thunder is a G.I. Joe vehicle from the A Real American Hero series.
Vehicle Profile[]
Released in 1988, the Rolling Thunder vehicle was literally a "battleship on wheels" featuring extra-heavy plated chassis armor and a generous amount of firepower. For starters, Rolling Thunder doubled as a hidden ICBM deployment vehicle which masqueraded as solid propellant rocker thrusters containing 6 cluster bombs each. This feature folded into the chassis of the vehicle, concealed by the arsenal of weaponry that made 'Thunder' a fearsome vehicle on the battlefield.
Weaponry included a turret mounted 90mm cannon, chin-mounted "Hot Point" laser cannon, and forward facing .50 caliber twin machine guns. To defend from all sides Rolling Thunder also featured four fully swiveling chair-mounted armor piercing dual laser cannon stations and a detachable radar controlled missile defense system including 6 rockets. The vehicle also included a variety of surface-to-air and armor piercing sidewinder rockets for forward and aft defense.
Rolling Thunder was driven by Philo Makepeace, code name Armadillo, who served as a big rig driver prior to being recruited by the Joe team. The vehicle could accommodate a 9-12 man crew and was powered by a Supercharged 250 BHP In-Line Four Engine system. It also included a six wheel drive, one-man scout carrier equipped with a dual .50 caliber cannon system.
Features[]
From Blueprints:
- DEPLOYABLE SIX-WHEELED ATSV (ALL TERRAIN SCOUT VEHICLE)
- "PUNCH IT" SYNCHRONIZED DUAL BARREL .50 CALIBER MACHINE GUNS
- REAR-MOUNTED SUPEERCHARGED 250 BHP IN-LINE FOUR ENGINE
- SIX ROLL-OUT "FIREFLY" FREE-FALL CLUSTER BOMBS
- "DOUBLE TEAM" SOLID PROPELLANT QUAD THRUSTER ROCKETS
- "HOT POINT" CHIN-MOUNTED HORIZONTALLY PIVOTING LOW LEVEL LASER CANNON
- EIGHT "ROLL OVER" LAND MINE-PROOF EXTRA HEAVY DUTY TIRES/WHEELS
- FIVE MAN DRIVER/NAVIGATION AND FIRE CONTROL COCKPIT
- DUAL BARREL .50 CALIBER MACHINE GUN WITH DEFLECTOR SCREEN
- FULLY ROTATIONAL FORWARD MOUNTED SINGLE SEAT LASER CANNON
- "SUPER SIDEWINDER" SURFACE-TO-SURFACE TANK DESTROYER MISSILE
- "TURNTABLE" MAGNETIC ARRAY RADAR/MULTI-MISSILE AIR DEFENSE
- LARGE "ROLLING FLAT TOP" BATTLE PLATFORM
- ATSV FLIP-OUT DISCHARGE RAMP
- OPTICALLY AIMED "RIGHT ON" SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILES
- ATSV SERVICE/STORAGE COMPARTMENT
- TURRET MOUNTED SHORT-BARREL 90 MM "SHORT THROW" CANNON
- ARMOR-PIERCING PIN-POINT LASER CANNON
- MULTI-SENSOR COMMUNICATIONS/DATA-BASE ANTENNAS
Fiction[]
Comics Continuity[]
Rolling Thunder was featured with the Phantom X-19 in GI Joe Marvel comics issue number 80.
Animated Continuity[]
Toys[]
Toy editions[]
The Rolling Thunder was first released boxed in U.S. toy stores from 1988 to 1990, and included the driver, Armadillo.
Re-Uses/Re-Makes[]
External Links[]
Footnotes[]
Where are the schematics for this?!
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