Lego Set 32 — Thunderbolt

This week I’ll have to begin by giving my sincere “thank you” to everyone who supported Redline: Siege Kickstarter campaign. Either by pledging, by sharing, or even just by giving some nice words to everyone involved. You were very important, and I cannot overstate how much I appreciate every bit of support. Sadly, it wasn’t enough to make the novella Desert Flower happen at this point. However, it is our goal to bring exciting pieces of fiction to the Redline universe one way or the other, so stay tuned for that. Now, let’s get back to BattleTech!

An old favorite of the community in general, the Thunderbolt is a prime heavy ‘Mech, and one of the earlier assault machines, before the standard designation moved that class to weights of 80 tons or more. First developed in the Capellan Confederation, it came to be widespread throughout the Inner Sphere. Armed with weapons effective in essentially every range, and heavy armor, the Thunderbolt was quite respected, and every commander wants one. The only real drawbacks are the relatively slow speed and tendency to overheat when in the thick of it.

In real life, the iconic design of the Thunderbolt can be traced back to the Ironfoot mecha from the anime show Fang of the Sun Dougram. Many early ‘Mechs came from that show, which had arguably quintessential designs, that came to influence other pieces of media. In that show, the Ironfoots were the first of a new generation of Mobile Armors meant to retain the tactical supremacy that the Federation had been slowly losing to the rebels during the course of the conflict portrayed therein. It was heavier and well-armed but still couldn’t compare to the titular Dougram. Still, once a large number of units were captured by the rebels when a whole battalion switched sides, they were able to overcome the standard Federation designs.

I always liked the asymmetrical design. I think it looks rather realistic and more business-like than most mecha coming from Japan. This style came to become imbued into BattleTech’s DNA, as many of the machines designed from start to that setting have come to display this design philosophy. This is much more obvious in the recent overhaul of the miniature line, which gave us some incredible mechanical designs. Seriously, go check them out!

This model is in the colors of the Taurian Concordat, taking almost 60 parts. Again, most of these should be easy to find, so show me your builds. I’m eager to see them!