Thrust (Unicron Trilogy)


 * Thrust is a Decepticon from the Armada portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.



Thrust is one of Megatron's higher-ranking Decepticon soldiers. His occasional Mini-Con partner is Inferno, plus sometimes he commands the Air Military Mini-Con Team.


 * (Note: Thrust's personality varied significantly between the comic and cartoon, see entries below for details.)

Armada

 * Voice actor: Colin Murdoch (US), ??? (Japan), Márcio Seixas (Brazil)

Thrust was a renowned tactician who joined Megatron on Earth in an attempt to improve his soldiers' relations. Thrust led the Decepticons to some short victories and summoned the giant battleship Tidal Wave to aid them, but was quickly dethroned of his rank after his failures began to stack up. Hated by all the other Decepticons due to his superior attitude, Thrust began to shrink into himself and got more desperate to prove his power.

Eventually, Thrust joined Sideways with the lure of ultimate power, and managed to steal the three Mini-Con weapons that were the keys to reactivating Unicron's body. Thrust met his demise when he demanded Unicron attack his former master, Galvatron, only to have Unicron act totally unaware of Thrust's presence. Thrust fell into a seam on Unicron's surface which began to tighten and close as Unicron moved, and was crushed to death as Galvatron walked away.

Armada
Thrust was a somewhat cowboy-like entity that served loyally the Decepticons. He was devoted to Megatron, and followed his orders faithfully. Thrust first appeared via transwarp from Cybertron, carrying rocket boosters so the Decepticons could fly to the moon and capture the Mini-Cons stationed there.

Later, Thrust was sent to northern Alaska to back up Cyclonus, who was there to retrieve a fallen Mini-Con escape pod. First Thrust took a torch-blast to the face from Dune Runner of the Adventure Mini-Con Team, who was there to save his allies. Then he was knocked around by Cyclonus, who was feeling the effects of a triple-Powerlinx with the entire Destruction Mini-Con Team, which began to burn out his circuits and drive him mad with pain. When he finally came to, between Cyclonus' breakdown, the arrival of the Autobots, and Megatron using an orbiting solar scalpel to melt the ice that buried the escape pod, Thrust decided maybe he'd better get the heck outta Dodge.

Later, Thrust followed Starscream to a building lot in San Fransisco, to investigate a weird transwarp disturbance. He got there just in time to get shot down by a herald of Unicron, who was seeking the refugee Mini-Con Over-Run.

When Megatron left to attack the Autobot base on Earth, Thrust was left behind to guard their Silver Ridge headquarters. He quickly had the crap kicked out of him by the other heralds of Unicron. Not a fatal beating, though, as he was repaired in time to journey back to Cybertron and face the planet-eater.

Energon
After the destruction of Unicron and the apparent death of Megatron, Thrust became a security officer in the new peacetime. He joined Hot Shot's unit and defended Toronto from the Terrorcon Divebomb clone-hordes when they attacked Earth. When Megatron reappeared, Thrust tried to rejoin his former leader, but Megatron completely ignored him, warping to his next destination.

Armada



 * Thrust with Inferno (Super-Con/Deluxe, 2003)
 * Japanese ID number: MD-05


 * Thrust transforms into a dark green F-35 Lightning II fighter jet. In jet mode, he has two pressure-launch missile launchers, and a space to store his Mini-Con partner Inferno in his (Inferno's) truck mode. Aside from his robot mode, he also has an "assault" robot mode, which turns his torso around 180 degrees and extends his winged backpack; attaching a Mini-Con to the Powerlinx plug on his chest and pushing it up and down causes the backpack to move as a spinning blade.


 * This mold was also used to make Universe Sunstorm.


 * Thrust and Thunder with Air Military Micron (Multi-pack, 2003)
 * Japanese ID number:


 * In Japan, Thrust was available both as an individual (well, with Inferno) and in a larger boxed set that also included the Air Military Mini-Con Team. There are no notable difference between the Japanese and US releases.


 * Powerlinx Thrust with Powerlinx Inferno (Super-Con/Deluxe brown/blue version, 2003)


 * Part of the later-series "Powerlinx" line of redecos, Powerlinx Thrust got a new color scheme that was a "reversal" of the Generation 1 "conehead" Dirge, primarily light brown with dark blue and black accents.


 * The packaging for this release, however, showed him in a color scheme more like his G1 namesake, burgundy with black (and some bone-white accents). His coloration was changed to the brown-and-blue too late to change the packaging photography.


 * The change was made due to Takara choosing a mostly red color scheme for Demolishor (Demolishor's name in Japan was Ironhide and the color scheme was based on the G1 version of said character). Originally Hasbro had different plans for their redeco of Demolishor.  But as a result, they changed their plans for Demolishor to match the animation, which was already based on Takara's products.  Hasbro then thought there would be too much red on the shelves at the time, so Powerlinx Thrust's coloration was modified, as the figure would not appear on the cartoon.  There are some similar colors used between the two versions of the toy, likely due to the quick change in scheme.


 * Powerlinx Thrust with Powerlinx Inferno (Super-Con/Deluxe maroon/white version, Japan and Europe 2003)




 * Although Hasbro at one point expressed interest in releasing a running change variant of Powerlinx Thrust that reflected the originally intended color scheme, they never went through with it, at least not on the North American market. However, Takara released red Powerlinx Thrust as a "USA Edition" in Japan, exclusively available at the Toy's Dream Project members store Toycard, in Hasbro packaging (Takara had previously also released a "USA Edition" version of Powerlinx Thrust in Hasbro's colors, this time exclusively available at Laox stores).


 * Curiously enough, Hasbro actually did produce a small run of red Powerlinx Thrust, but never released it on the North American market. Instead, the toy, in European packaging, popped up in Israel in mid-2004, later followed by sightings in Italy, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. The toy was even found in Australia, but only in import stores and again in European packaging. Furthermore, some of the European countries saw the toy being sold at instant discount prices, which suggests it was old Hasbro warehouse stock which had never seen a shelf release that was now being cleared out.

Trivia

 * Thrust's demeanor and speech in the comics are very reminiscent of Beast Wars Quickstrike, to the point of him even using the phrase "What in tarnation?" in one issue. Amusingly, Colin Murdoch voiced both characters in each respective animated series.  It is unknown if this was an intentional move on writer Simon Furman's part or simply a coincidence.
 * Like the original Thrust, the Armada incarnation is portrayed as a braggart. In fact, just before his untimely demise, the angry Galvatron tells Thrust that "You always did like the sound of your own voice."
 * Thrust is frequently called derogatory nicknames by his fellow Decepticons, including the notable 'Squidhead' coined by Megatron. While this was only used in one scene of one episode of the show, the nickname has spread.