For more images, click on the picture above Robot Mode: Thrust's robot mode can assume three different configurations in terms of his lower body. The Thrust we saw in the Beast Machines TV series didn't have any legs, but rather balanced on a single wheel. The Thrust toy can look like that, standing on a single wheel, but you either need to lean him against a wall or use his missile as a walking stick. The more stable configuration in terms of wheels is the tri-wheel mode. The front wheel folds forward and the split halves of the rear wheel are at the back. In this mode Thrust looks like an overgrown boy sitting on a very small tricycle, but it works in terms of balance and he can pull of all sorts of upper body poses without problems. The final configuration gives Thrust legs, something he never had in the series. The front wheel splits, giving him two rather spindly legs with the wheel-halves as feet. This is the configuration in which he's most posable and balance isn't an issue, either, but it looks a bit silly, seeing as his huge upper body sits on top of that very small set of legs. Still, I decided on the legged-mode for the big imagemap picture, seeing as it's the most versatile of his modes. Leaving the legs and wheels aside, Thrust makes for a pretty dashing robot. Both his arms and his head are very posable, he offers lots and lots of details, and the colours (while not exactly show-accurate) work as well. Weapon-wise Thrust can launch a missile from his right claw, which was his blaster in the TV series. So all in all Thrust is a decent robot, but sadly none of his three lower-body configurations manages to work one hundred percent. Alternate Mode: Thrust transforms into a futuristic two-wheel bike and looks great doing it. Again the colours are not a hundred percent show accurate, but apart from that the bike works very well. Lots of nice details, a great overall look, and I'm a big fan of bikes anyway. The bike is not really designed for a rider, there is no real seat or anything, but as it was meant to be a drone, that works out just fine. Thrust's arms become the exhaust pipes of the bike in this mode and his missile can double as an exhaust flame. So overall, a very, very nice vehicle mode. No complaints. Missing Parts: My Thrust here is missing one of his three finger claws on his right hand. Remarks: Thrust was one of Megatron's original three Vehicon generals, created because mindless drones alone weren't cutting it against the Maximals. At first it was suspected that he was created from the spark of Silverbolt, but his true origins came to light later on. He's Waspinator, the original Beast Wars whipping boy. As Thrust, though, he was competent, lethal, and the only one of Megatron's generals who stayed true to him to the very end. When Cybertron was reconfigured into a techno-organic world he ended up in the body of a very small techno-organic wasp, which did not make him happy at all. As far as Beast Machines toys go, there's always a bit of a chicken-and-egg discussion going on. Did the TV show mess up by not designing characters according to the toy designs or did the toy designers mess up by not being show-accurate enough? Whatever the case, most Beast Machines toys do not have all that much resemblance to their TV incarnations and Thrust is no different. He has some overall resemblance, but there are big differences in the details. Still, as a toy Thrust isn't bad. A kick-ass vehicle mode, a robot mode that has but one big problem (the leg-wheel-thing) and an overall nice look make him a pretty good toy overall. And in a way he's also the ancestor of the wheel-riding robots we're gonna see in "Revenge of the Fallen" this year, so a little bonus point for that one. Rating: B-
He may have some odd design choices, but this has always been one of my most desired figures. The head is awesome, and the purple and yellow just work together so well. I hope he gets a recolor someday, or possibly a reissue.
It's always good to see some Beast Machines figure reviews here. I love that particular line and show. Thrust is a toy that just oozes personality. The chrome is well-used, and the transformation allows for several variations on the basic robot. The only real flaw is the fact that the feet aren't very stable and tend to rotate around leaving the toes facing in the wrong direction.
Yeah, my biggest gripe with him is his swivelly feet doing their own thing. Also a pity that he doesn't come with a clear standso he casn be better displayed in unicycle mode. Really though I prefer the bike drone as my Thrust since it looks far more like Thrust. Same with the tank drone looking more like Tankor than the actual Tankor figure. I suppose back then Hasbro thought they couldn't get away with releasing figures so similar for different characters (if you can call drones characters) once they got the toy designs better in line with the show designs. Nowadays Hasbro would be more than happy to just stick out the same design in different size classes.
By the way, there's no real "chicken or egg" discussion to be had. More of a "divergent evolution" one. For the first few waves of toys/characters, Mainframe and the toy designers were apparently given rough ideas/sketches and were allowed to refine them as they saw fit, with little collaboration between the two teams, so the end results were similar but different.
That's the way I heard it. Mainframe and the toy designers each started with the concept artwork, and went different directions with it. It's actually pretty interesting to look at any example, such as Thrust. There are tons of shapes and details in common between toy and CGI depiction (presumably with the concept art as well), yet they are still vastly different, as if one was designed based on a written description of the other.
Thrust was my favorite Vehicon and one of my overall favorite, if not top favorite, Beast Machines toys. The only problem I ever had was the slight stability issue with the feet, but other than that Thrust is an awesome toy that I still frequently display on my desk. It would be cool if they someday made a Classics/Universe show-accurate Thrust toy, though (and Obsidian!)
