The Thunderbirds boardgame to the rescue in a post-Pandemic world!

Tom, I can’t believe you had the die-cast Thunderbird 2 and somehow didn’t know what it was! That toy was great, except for the fact that it had a Thunderbird 4 inside of it.

Thunderbird 4 is a total waste of container space. I was always much more excited when they picked up the container with the sci-fi bulldozer or the sci-fi drill. A yellow submarine? pfft.

I’m only 32, and so wasn’t around for Thunderbirds’ heydey in the 60s, but the show was re-run constantly until the 90s, so practically every in the UK knows what it is. I loved watching the show and its near-future miniatures, and it definitely had a lasting effect. e.g. About 5 years ago I designed and made a prototype (of a prototype…) of a computer game called “Rescue Force”. It was basically Desert Strike meets Thunderbirds, and I reckon it’d be a fantastic game. Plus: no killing!

As for the tangent on local game groups: I go to one each Wednesday in Aylesbury and am quite luck that there’s a wide variety of games on offer. e.g. last week I played Agra for the second time. I remember seeing someone playing the Thunderbirds game sometime last year, as it had just arrived from Kickstarter? I dismissed it as I assumed it was a cash in on the new (and terrible) CGI cartoons and movie*, and it had those stupid looking heads. But after your review I really want to play it. Makes me wish I’d bought it when it was on sale in Novemeber.

*Edit: Actually, the movie wasn’t CGI but some horrible live action thing sporting a Busted soundtrack and directed by William Riker Jonathan Frakes.

edit2: ps yeah, the car is called FAB 1. I had a matchbox model of that.

pps: you guys ever read Ministry Of Space by Warren Ellis? That’s definitely Thunderbirds inspired.

Thanks for the Thunderbirds primer, Tom! What a strange, cool thing.

Correction:
“a rare prominent wom[a]n working behind the scenes”

This thread prompted me to change my avatar, which as we all know is pretty much the single most important thing on the internets…so thank you.

You would pick the single weirdest Thunderbird. By the way, in the modern cartoon Thunderbirds, they made Brains into a guy from India because because cultural diversity/inclusivity is more important than historical accuracy, plus it would be problematic to have a character who stutters for “comedic” effect in a modern cartoon. I don’t necessarily disagree with the decision, but it feels even weirder than Brains already was.

-Tom, TinTin 4 Ever

Brains weird!!! Well…ok…he was pretty weird but…Brains is awesome…c’mon…just look at those huge blue glasses, Brains predicted 80’s fashion, light years ahead of anyone.

Also…“Modern cartoon Thunderbirds” is just blasphemy, so nothing would surprise me.

Kudos! to Tom for pixelating some parts of that Pandemic board shown on the front page review of Thunderbirds. We’re playing Pandemic Legacy S1 right now and just encountered some cool new mechanics. Got to love your devotion to spoiler-free content.

Oh, shoot, I thought that was the basic game, but you’re right, it’s Legacy with some pixelated spoiler bits. I just got it from a Google search, so I can’t take credit for the pixelating. Lemme go see if I can find an image of just vanilla Pandemic.

-Tom

Then let me retract my Kudos! and love, but then express my admiration for your prompt response.