TBT – Kirk Bozigian Presents Beyond Top Secret 0020 G.I.Joe Rolling Thunder

For this edition of #throwbackthursday, we’re heading back to 2020 where Mr. Kirk Bozigian treated G.I.Joe fans and followers of his Facebook page to BEYOND TOP SECRET segment 0020, where we filled us on on the Rolling Thunder! Check it out –

BEYOND TOP SECRET 0020

This magnificent vehicle almost never made it into production. Why? Because of a heated argument over MISSILES!

When the foamcore prototype was first presented to senior management and the designer explained Rolling Thunder was armed with 2 huge MISSILES that he revealed as a surprise after all the other play features were deployed, a top level suit went NUTS! He screamed “Do you know what missiles do? They kill people!”

After 15 minutes of discussion reminding this executive we were talking about GI Joe, he demanded we remove Rolling Thunder from the room. “I never want to see this again!” We were shocked, but since he was a higher pay grade than us we obeyed orders.

6 weeks later we re-presented Rolling Thunder to the same team of executives only this time we called the twin missiles ROCKETS! Of course, we also upgraded each rocket with even more firepower. SIX CLUSTER BOMBS! What a difference a name makes!

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I’m so thankful that Kirk shares nuggets of info like this, as it’s fascinating to me to hear about how our beloved modern army action figure came to be (and in some cases, almost didn’t!). I hope the same can be said for you!