Night Thunder (BAE)
In anime
Young Neelsen (in anime) 70 years prior to his fiery accident
Silver Neelsen is a racer who has been known for frequently participating in an F-Zero Grand Prix. However, he has never won a single one.
Due to differences, some of the other pilots are not fond of Silver Neelsen, due to his nagging nature and especially when it comes to machine comparisons, as Silver is an old fashioned type of pilot.
Although he has considered doing so, he feels that he'll probably keep racing even after he turns 100. In his old age, he has gotten rather crotchety about racing and criticizes some of the new fangled devices used by the younger pilots.
If Silver Neelsen happens to win the F-Zero GX Grand Prix, he said he would open the Silver Neelsen Museum with the prize money of 1 billion space credits. He also plans to celebrate his birthday.
F-Zero: GP Legend[]
Silver Neelsen's anime counterpart, aka Ironman Neelsen, has a major appearance in Lap 14. He races against Jack Levin and Rick Wheeler in a Grand Prix, only for both the Night Thunder and Astro Robin to retire when the two vehicles crash into each other. After Rick wins the race, Jack, jealous of Rick's victory, meets Silver, who informs him that he hasn't won any races for a while. Silver invites him to meet him at the practice track tomorrow morning.
Clank researches Silver Neelsen on his computer and learns that he has entered the most amount of F-Zero races ever, believing that he should coach Jack to help him beat Rick Wheeler in the next race. The next morning, Silver sits on his machine, and he sees Jack arrive. He begins to get Jack to exercise by running on a treadmill, do pull ups on a bar with a machine tickling him, makes Jack do push ups while Silver squats on him, and even makes him shower him cold water. Later, the Astro Robin and Night Thunder do a practice race, only for the Night Thunder to win.
Silver, after the race, informs Jack that he raced because of a deal he made with a friend long ago, Anthony Ropkin. He and Anthony were the fastest racers, but Anthony always won. The day the two were supposed to race again, Silver got into an accident, preventing him from finishing the race, but the same happened with Anthony the same day.
Believing his friend to be dead, Silver decided to keep on racing, entering more races than any other pilot. On the news, he and Jack see a mysterious racer win the Grand Prix, and it's none other than Anthony, shocking Neelsen. Later, Anthony reveals to Silver that after the Night Thunder crashed, Anthony lost focus and his machine crashed too. He was put in a cold sleep, which is why he's alive and well. The two racers still have their deal. After more practicing, Silver tells Jack the next race may be his last.
The next day, Silver, Anthony, Jack and Rick all begin the race. It ends with Jack coming in first, Rick, finishing second, and Silver and Anthony both tying for third. Some fans run toward Silver and Anthony, making Jack remind Silver he was planning to retire, but Silver says he has a few years in him, much to Jack's frustration.
In later episodes, the Night Thunder makes several appearances, such as in Laps 27 and 30, but he doesn't make any physical appearance after Lap 14.
Ikran's F-Zero timeline[]
He made his first major appearance in Falcon's Followers, when the elitist stops by at a bar in Mute City, and the geezer started hollering on how much of a scam 10 million space credits is for a BET race. He then came across Falcon and pleaded profusely for him to enter the BET race, and with only seconds before it, he made an asinine disguise and labeled him as Famicom! Without even painting over the machine! He watched the tricky Casino Palace competition, as did Tinsel, Yugi, and Joey at a small diner next door. Just as they thought he wouldn't succeed, he defeated his opponents with just as much luck as the creepy clowns wishing the competitors. Neelsen received the prize money for his bet, and offered Falcon the sharings, but he dropped the sack as soon as he heard a newsbreak of Black Shadow wreaking havoc in Lightning and went on hot pursuit!
He's made another appearance as Jack Levin rammed into the Night Thunder while chasing Rick in a race, in which he won and left Jack despondent. Neelsen came to him and nagged him for losing and ramming into him. Then he challenged him to meet him at a track in his discretion and train him to be better; Jack arrived late, and Neelsen gave him a lot of crazy exercises, even a frigid shower! After awhile, he unveiled about his past, even racing against a mysterious pilot, Anthony Ropkin. They got involved in a fiery accident, and only he survived. Turned out Anthony was in cold sleep for 70 years, and if anyone should lose the next race, one of them has to retire. He soon explained that Jack's too focused on winning, instead of racing, even though Tinsel always believed that the Robin's stats needed tweaking; Dr. Stewart mentioned he refused to change them in honor of his band he left, Thunderbolt. So, in the end, Neelsen was tied with Ropkin, and Jack won first!
He hasn't been seen till the bachelor party in To Be Married and Loved as he reunited with Jack at the Rolling Rocket World in Port Town.
Trivia[]
- In an F-Zero GX interview with Neelsen, he admits that 98 is a young age.
- It is not known how long Silver Neelsen has been racing for.
- Although his anime counterpart has been racing for at least 70 years, this is not applicable due to differences between the main games and the anime-related content.