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 mits 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

Marvel Comics continuity
Events from Marvel UK are in italics.

Onslaught is the leader of the Combaticons, one of the Special Teams foretold by the Matrix. It is assumed he was constructed on Earth, but this is contradicted by Generation 2 which hinted that Onslaught is the creator of the Cybertronian Mindset. Whichever the case may be, Onslaught and his team were first seen on Earth in the Afterdeath! story, where Onslaught fought and lost to 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 for 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.

He was not seen again until the Generation 2 comic, implying he had been killed in the Underbase conflict and later resurrected. At the death of Mindset, a Cybertronian light years away, Onslaught was briefly overcome by pain, hinting he had spawned Mindset and had some past involvement with what became the Cybertronian Empire. However, he was offlined along with the entire Combaticon team by Starscream and this was never delved into. It is unknown if he was killed or later repaired.

In the post-movie alternate timeline, he is still active in 2008 and was one of Soundwave's lieutenants when the Quintessons invaded.

Animated 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 worked 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 were 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.

Dreamwave continuity
Onslaught unleashed his considerable firepower against the Autobots during the Decepticon assault against Iacon. He managed to escape from the disaster instigated by Starscream only to be imprisioned millions of years later by Shockwave along with his fellow Combaticons. 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 the Guadalcanal where they could hone their somewhat lackluster combat skills and listen to Starscream's long-winded aspirations of glory. Starscream orders them to defeat the magnificent Autobot Sky Lynx as a means to train themselves for greater battles. Unfortunately, the Combaticons do not fare well when the crafty Autobot splits into his two forms, with Onslaught nearly crushed by the Lynx's right paw as he was issuing orders. After Starscream deactivates Sky Lynx, Onslaught berated his team as buffons 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 as smaller, faster targets, then as they neared Predaking, formed Bruticus. This encounter also did not end well either....

Generation 1

 * Onslaught (1986)
 * Team ID number: C5
 * Japanese ID number: D-64




 * Onslaught transforms into a dark blue mobile anti-aircraft truck of made-up origin, armed with a large double-barrelled 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 laser rifle 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' head. He also comes with Bruticus' 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




 * In Generation 2, Onslaught was redecoed in a rather outlandish glorious colour scheme of bright orange covered in purple camoflage, 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 meta-morphin' dude-icus."


 * His new spring-loaded missile launcher was taken from Snow Serpent from the G.I. Joe toyline.

Universe

 * Onslaught (Legends of Cybertron, 2008)
 * Onslaught is a redeco of Legends class Cybertron Red Alert. This mold was also used to make Classics Perceptor.


 * Onslaught (Ultra, 2008)
 * The Universe version of Onslaught transforms into a SWAT assault truck. "MONZO 12782" is tampoed onto the front of him for some reason.