Thrust

Height: 14.5cm to top of cone (robot mode).

Articulation: 13 total points: Swivel neck; universal joint shoulders; hinge elbows; ball-joint hips; hinge knees; knee swivels.

Colors: Molded maroon, dark grey, clear yellow; Painted maroon, dark grey, gold, light grey, yellow, silver.

Accessories: Missile launchers x2; VTOL turbines x2

Release Data: Released July, 2010 in the United States at a retail price of US$11.99.

Author: ExVee

(more...)


Two-thirds! If you are like me and the type to not leap upon expensive Japanese store-exclusives or lack the means to afford convention sets, then you'll be right there with me in the understanding that we have now become one installment closer to the original set of six Decepticon jets many yet long for. With number five set to come in the nearish future, the set becomes tantalizingly close to completion and yet frustratingly missing that one final piece we know must eventually happen but with no indication of when or where to look for it.



Vehicle Mode

Well, it's not like this would have worked as a real aircraft in 1985, either. As a recolor from the Henkei Thrust, it features the same new wing molds, including the one oddity. The VTOL units are separate pieces. The Botcon version had the VTOL fans as a fixed part of the flight wings, meaning that the turbines should at least appear to pass fully through the wing. In this case, they must be attached to only one side, top or bottom at your choosing. Or they can be fixed to the tail stabilizers as is suggested by both Hasbro's stock photos and TakaraTomy's for the Henkei version. Of course we understand why the Botcon wing molds could not be reused, and either way this is a Takara screw up. My preference is the have the fans on the underside of the flight wings, leaving them to face forward in robot mode, and as a result the missile launchers get mounted under the tail stabilizers in jet mode. I mean, this thing wouldn't fly under aerodynamic principles anyway, so what's that going to hurt at this point?

Compared with one of the previous instances of this general mold, Thrust is showing some signs of tolerance problems that sometimes arise with an aged, long-used tooling. Bizarrely, rather than turning up with extremely loose fittings, many of Thrust's moving parts in general are very tight. Particularly here it's very difficult to get Thrust's rear quarters to line up in the vehicle mode the way they feel like they're supposed to, usually resulting in a gap between the front half and the engine housings.

Also, the plastic of Thrust's wings (or possibly more functionally their connection to the body) feels a bit on the flimsy side, in that the wings have a whole lot more wiggle to them than I expect or am used to with other versions of the seeker mold. A lot of this can be explained as the kind of plastic they used not curing to precisely the same final size as other cases, which makes more sense than a worn-out molding somehow becoming a tighter fit in most places.


Transformation

As many of these as have come out, I don't think I need to cover much here. The stiffness of moving parts I mentioned just now is a thing to watch for. The majority of moving parts relevant for transformation are very difficult to start to move, and especially in the case of the cockpit it almost feels like it doesn't want to settle into place to allow the chest to close back around it. Even though it does eventually. Oh, and contrary to almost every other use of this body type, the tail planes don't need to be moved at any point here.


Robot Mode

Now, I said before that I leave the VTOL units in place so they face front in robot mode. But that's only if you choose to have the wings nearer Thrust's waist in robot mode more in keeping with the original toy and character designs. Of course it is possible to arrange the wings as was done for the Botcon set and be more like the other jets. But just like all the direct Starscream recolors, you'll encounter interference between the wings and arms. It happens with the waist-wings configuration too, but it seems less severe that way. What would be ideal is if the connection arm that lets the wings pivot up or down had the one square edge rounded off, since that would leave the wings free to sit a half-centimeter or so back from the space the arms are trying to use. Not that such a thing would likely be difficult to manage on one's own...

In robot mode, you're pretty much fighting a mix of overly loose or overly tight joints and moving parts, often in combination for even worse effect. In my particular example, the transformation hinge at the shoulders is weaker than the shoulder joints themselves, so frequently posing ends up with the arms trying to retreat back inside the body cavity. The hip ball joints are basically okay front to back, but are loose for sideways movement. This is of course mitigated by the wings at waist level. The pre-knee swivel is also on the loose side, whereas the knee hinge is almost immovably stiff. To the toy's benefit, though, the foot hinge is good and tight, so you can count on no matter what else the toy might do, the feet won't collapse out from under it. The neck swivel is also on the tight side, making the already awkward to grasp conehead more difficult to manipulate.


Accessories

-Wing Turbines

Already covered a lot of the deal with how these interact with the toy, so I won't repeat myself here. They're a pair of identical pieces. Interestingly they seem to be molded with the same plastic as the wings and then fully painted over. Or that's the indication I get from the attachment peg starting to turn grey where some paint has rubbed off already.

The turbine fans are movable within the housing, though the action is very stiff and it's not really possible to spin them like some other turbine pieces. Since these attach using 5mm pegs, it's possible to find other toys with standard-sized post-holes and set them up with improbable VTOL capability! Though the peg is slightly recessed to help the pieces fit more tightly to Thrust's wings, so that'll limit the options a bit too. Maybe this is a better idea on paper than in practice...

Though not especially detailed, they are molded with what looks like it could be air intakes on that should be the leading edge, so it might be conceivable that these are supposed to suck in air from ahead of the aircraft and force it out downward to achieve standing lift. I think the F-35's VTOL system is supposed to work on a similar principle. Maybe. Probably not really. I'm pretty sure this still isn't going to actually work as presented anymore than a jet with these features will actually ever fly.

Yay for alien tech!

Oh, and if you had an extra pair of these it's totally doable to attach simultaneously to the top and bottom of each wing. Sadly the gap between them would wreck the idea, but if you absolutely have to have fans top and bottom. (plus forget the arms having any space...)

-Missile launchers

Same deal as all the Starscream recolors, including missile type. In Thrust's case, they have three possible attachment points in vehicle mode: Under the flight wings like the majority of cases of this mold family; Under the horizontal stabilizers, which seems to be a much less common variation. By which I mean I haven't seen anyone but me do it so far; Finally, one that I don't think anyone is using is the top of the flight wings. Under the tail planes maintains the lines of the vehicle mode the best, I think. Although I am running into a problem where the tail wings seem to be at a different angle than the flight wings and so the missiles point a bit downward instead of forward.


Closing Remarks

Another step closer to a full assortment of affordable seekers/Skyraiders. And this Thrust I think has the most tasteful colors and deco of any of the available options so far, so that's points in its favor besides the low price. Keep in mind though that Thrust is being dropped from case assortments after the first wave, so if you want one you'd best go for it right away.

Despite fitting issues with the moving parts, there's nothing fatal to the toy, and at least for me it's an acceptable tradeoff for not having to pay small fortunes for Botcon or Japanese versions of this figure. He's not quite as high scoring as Ramjet for all those conditions, but Thrust is still Good.