Onslaught (G1)


 * Onslaught is a Decepticon Combaticon from the Generation 1 continuity family.



Onslaught is what you'd call the "hands-off" type. He doesn't enjoy getting his mitts dirty, but instead prefers the thrill of designing battle plans, strategies, and tactics, and then watching his Combaticon soldiers carry them out. While he typically crafts his strategies to exclude his direct involvement, Onslaught is no coward. When required, he will engage in battle with strength, cunning and earthquaking fury. This darker, more brutish side of Onslaught might lead some Decepticons into thinking he has a secret blood-lust stashed away in his circuits. But truth be told, he's really just ticked off that his plans didn't work out the way they were supposed to.

Onslaught can combine with his fellow Combaticons to form Bruticus, who is considerably dumber than Onslaught.


 * French-Canadian name: Abordage
 * Hungarian name: Cudar
 * Italian name: Destroyer
 * Spanish name: Oslat

Generation 1
Onslaught is the leader of the Combaticons, one of the Special Teams foretold by the Matrix . Onslaught and his team were first seen on Earth fighting the Protectobots inside the Multi-World computer game.

''Later on, he led his team to kill Galvatron while he was trapped in a volcano, and Onslaught was the only Combaticon not taken down by a trio of human women. He would've killed them if the Throttlebots hadn't shown up as the cavalry. In response to that humiliation'', Onslaught and the Combaticons hunted the Throttlebots down. The Throttlebots were trapped in a used car lot and the Combaticons were forced to bid for them in an auction against RAAT and the Protectobots, but Onslaught cut through this by trying to have the lot's owner assassinated. RAAT would get the Throttlebots and the Combaticons were beaten by Blaster.

Onslaught's shining moment came when he got to lead a massed Decepticon assault on the Autobots, which came close to wiping them all out.

Marvel UK future timelines
''In an alternate timeline after the attack of Unicron in 2006, Onslaught is still active in 2008 and was one of Soundwave's lieutenants when the Quintessons invaded. ''

Generation 2
Onslaught was one of the Decepticons operating aboard Warworld. At the death of Mindset, a G2 Cybertronian killed light years away, Onslaught was briefly overcome by pain, hinting of a genetic connection between these two. He was offlined along with the entire Combaticon team by Starscream shortly thereafter, and this was never delved into. It is unknown if he was killed or later repaired.

Cartoon continuity

 * Voice actor: S. Marc Jordan, Steve Bulin (English), Yutaka Shimaka (Japanese)



Onslaught was one of several Renegade Decepticons who had been imprisoned in the Decepticon Detention Center on Cybertron for plotting against Megatron. After Starscream was booted from the Decepticon base for attempting to overthrow Megatron (again), he decided to form his own army. Travelling to Cybertron via the Space Bridge, he "liberated" renegade personality components and placed them in human military vehicles left over from Earth's second World War. At first, the newly-dubbed 'Combaticons' were hardly grateful to Starscream for their freedom until the Decepticon air commander revealed he had predicted their treachery and thus did not equip them with vital energy absorbers. Onslaught and his fellow Combaticons agreed to work with Starscream to overthrow Megatron on the promise of being given the vital components. Onslaught worked in capturing two Autobots, though he got into an argument with Vortex over who was responsible for the act. Later, while recharging at a power station, Starscream's brigade was confronted by the Decepticons under Megatron's command. Anticipating that Devastator might come into play, Starscream ordered Onslaught and the other Combaticons to merge into the dim-witted Bruticus. The Combaticon combiner managed to soundly defeat Devastator, but was in turn defeated by a surprise attack by Menasor. For their treachery, Megatron banished Onslaught, his comrades and Starscream in space on a desolate asteroid.

After a falling out with Starscream, Onslaught became the mastermind of Operation Revenge and helped defeat Shockwave's forces on Cybertron. He also used his external backpack and altered the Space Bridge to send Earth into the sun. It didn't work as he was defeated by the allied Decepticons and Autobots. Then Megatron had the Combaticons, including Onslaught, reprogrammed to serve him. Poor guy, can't seem to get a break.

After that little lobotomy, the Combaticons were deployed to Earth's Middle East to assist in Megatron's scheme to steal military jets, rebuild them into cars, drive them out of the owners nations, and then rebuild them back into drone jets in friendly territory. Yeah. Onslaught and the other Combaticons attacked the Aerialbots when they snooped around, managing to force Slingshot to crash into a cave (YAY!). Later, Onslaught and the ground-based Combaticons form an anti-aircraft screen against an Aerialbot attack on the Fortress, then merged into Bruticus, but was rather quickly defeated by Superion before being blown away by the exploding oil wells.

Back in the United States, Onslaught led the Combaticons in driving down the road of a random city for no apparent reason until they were confronted by Defensor. Though the Combaticons formed Bruticus, they were blown to pieces by a single shot from the Autobot, with Swindle being the only survivor. Swindle later sold the parts of his comrades, but was forced to buy them back for Megatron's next Crazy Scheme. The Combaticons formed Bruticus to operate the orbital disruptor cannon, but was shot by the cannon itself when B.O.T. tampered with it.

By the year 2006, the Decepticons had been forced into retreat on the ruined, burned out world of Chaar. Onslaught warned first Rumble and then the Quintessons that the Decepticons would no longer be powerful enough to attack the Autobots directly, but he joined most of the other Decepticons in their attack on the Autobots anyway. .

During the battle for the Plasma Energy Chamber, Onslaught led his Combaticons in the crafting of a giant planetary rocket engine that would be used to propel Cybertron into orbit around Earth. This engine was fueled by the reprocessed body parts of defeated Autobots. Gross.

Dreamwave comics continuity
Onslaught unleashed his considerable firepower against the Autobots during the Decepticon assault against Iacon. He and his fellow Combaticons were later upgraded into Combiners. After the Crisis Intervention Accords were enacted, however, it is unknown if Onslaught joined up separately with any faction.

After the Great Shutdown and the peace that followed it, Onslaught and the Combaticons were labeled as war criminals and held in stasis in a penitentiary. That is, at least until Starscream freed them.

When Sunstorm appeared on Earth, the battered Combaticons were ordered by Starscream to combine into Bruticus and deal with the crazed zealot. It did not end well.

The repaired Combaticons were brought to Guadalcanal where they could hone their somewhat lackluster combat skills and listen to Starscream's long-winded aspirations of glory. Starscream ordered them to defeat the magnificent Autobot Sky Lynx as a means to train themselves for greater battles. Unfortunately, the Combaticons did not fare well when the crafty Autobot split into his two forms, with Onslaught nearly crushed by the Lynx's right paw as he was issuing orders. After Starscream deactivated Sky Lynx, Onslaught berated his team as buffoons for not paying attention to his battle plan.

This was the least of their troubles, however, as Predaking showed up as soon after Sky Lynx shut down. Onslaught ordered his men to keep moving and maintain formation so as to remain smaller, faster targets, then as they neared Predaking, formed Bruticus. This encounter also did not end well either....

IDW comics continuity
Onslaught led the Combaticon tactical unit on a raid of the Garrus-9 penal facility, successfully blasting his way through Autobot resistance and capturing the Pretender Monsters combiner group. He was the only one not to wee himself over the pink death that is Arcee, and he openly enjoyed killing things.

Generation 1



 * Onslaught (1986)
 * Team ID number: C5
 * Japanese ID number: D-64
 * Accessories: "Sonic stun gun" rifle, double-barreled turret, chest shield, ramp, Bruticus chest shield, Bruticus head, left & right Bruticus fists, left & right Bruticus foot stands


 * Onslaught transforms into a dark blue mobile anti-aircraft truck of made-up origin, armed with a large double-barreled cannon mounted on the flatbed of his vehicle mode. He can also assume a base/gun emplacement mode with a ramp that smaller Combaticons can use. This base mode can be connected to both the Autobot city Metroplex (a feature not mentioned in either toy's instructions, for obvious reasons) and to the Decepticon city Trypticon, a feature only documented in Trypticon's instructions.


 * In robot mode, Onslaught is armed with a long olive sonic stun-gun and is accessorized by a small chest plate. He forms the central body component of Bruticus, protected by an even larger silver chest plate and Bruticus's head. He also comes with Bruticus's hands and feet.


 * The complete set of Combaticons were re-released in the European-market "Classics" line in 1990; these releases typically has the rubsign indent removed from the molding. However, Onslaught interestingly has his indent intact, and the indent remains even in more recent reuses of the mold.


 * This mold was redecoed as Operation Combination Great Cannon, Robots in Disguise Mega-Octane, and Universe Mega-Octane.

Generation 2

 * Onslaught (1993)
 * Team ID number: C5
 * Accessories: "Sonic stun gun" rifle, double-barreled turret, missile launcher, 2 missiles, chest shield, ramp, Bruticus chest shield, Bruticus head, left & right Bruticus fists, left & right Bruticus foot stands


 * In Generation 2, Onslaught was redecoed in a rather outlandish glorious colour scheme of bright orange covered in purple camouflage, with purple replacing most of his olive and silver colours. The sticks on the back of his truck proudly state that he is indeed Onslaught. In this form, he was reputedly "one metamorphin' dude-icus."


 * His new spring-loaded missile launcher was taken from Snow Serpent from the G.I. Joe toyline. His large cannon was retooled with a peg-hole to mount this new launcher.

Universe (2008)



 * Onslaught (Legends of Cybertron, 2008)


 * Part of the very first wave of Universe Legends-class toys, Onslaught is a redeco of Legends-class Cybertron Red Alert, transforming into a SWAT-deco'd BTR-90 armored personnel carrier mounted with a top-mounted missile similar to a SCUD launcher. Because apparently SWAT teams now have missiles. Well, maybe in Chicago....


 * This mold was also used to make Classics Perceptor.




 * Onslaught (Ultra, 2008)
 * Accessories: Shield


 * The large Universe version of Onslaught transforms into a six-wheeled SWAT assault truck with top-mounted twin cannons. When the button on his rotating turret is pressed, electronic lights flash and one hears either machine gun fire or a short siren sound. Rubber treads on the vehicle's middle two tires activate a third sound effect of him causing extensive property damage on something unfortunate enough to get caught under his wheels. In robot mode, a riot shield can detach from the top of the turret and connect to Onslaught's left arm, while a button on Onslaught's right arm spring-deploys an arm-mounted weapon. The robot mode cheats somewhat, having a second tow-winch on his belt-buckle immediately below his vehicle hood, while the actual vehicle mode winch splits in two to form his shoulders. Interestingly enough, Onslaught on his own stands almost exactly as tall as the combined mode of the original Bruticus toy.


 * "MONZO 12782" is tampographed onto the front of the vehicle mode, in reference to the ever-helpful fan Monzo and his birthdate.

Trivia

 * Like the rest of the Combaticons, Onslaught had an earlier, unused character model which superficially resembles the toy, other than the head design. There are other problems, such as wheel placement, but it's possible the artist of the unused character model was working off of crappy source material.


 * When the unused character model was redrawn into the final character model, it kept the odd wheel placement, gave Onslaught his toy's head, but did some bizarre things with his transformation. Like with many of the other Combaticons' final character models, such as Swindle's, his torso is the bumper, hood, and roof of the vehicle mode flattened out.  Years later, Onslaught's Ultra class Universe toy attempted to replicate this transformation scheme.