So, does anyone remember Transformers Armada fondly? I do, in a way. It’s what made me aware that Transformers was still a thing back when I was a kid, and through it, I got into the fandom. I took a while to really deep dive into it as I was, unfortunately, part of the Sonic fandom back then.

Yes, it is exactly as bad as you think it is.

Anyway, it’s also where I remember why I liked the Decepticons a lot more than the Autobots. Sure, the Decepticons were always fighting each other and a good chunk of them had the combined I.Q. of a blade of grass, but they had personality. OK perhaps not the deepest personalities, but they were still a load better than the Autobots. I find it a shame we haven’t had more revisits to it in the Generations line. I would sell my sister’s soul for a new Demolishor toy (and for them to spell his sodding name right). Man, this has got me all nostalgic. How about we do a Robot Revolt Retro Review of let’s have a look back at one of my favourite toys from the line? Thrust.



Ah yes, Thrust. Cybertron’s most brilliant tactician…who I don’t think ever won a fight? But he stood out from the cons visually, with his slightly more subdued colours and a unique silhouette, topped off with a head that was more squid than cone. Still, he manages to pull it off, and I keep forgetting this guy has his roots in being Starscream recolour number six.



He does have some rather…odd design elements though. Yes, the hands are dumb as hell but I like their concept. I imagine him using them as flamethrowers or for using bursts of acceleration to blast around the battlefield in something akin to robot capoeira. Certainly, more useful than the fiction fire missile launchers in his knees that only point at his own feet and cause problems with pretty much any pose. I guess he’s got his spring-loaded missile launching Min-Con partner Inferno for fire support. I personally wouldn’t like to be backed up by someone that looks like a cross between a toucan and Colonel Klink but there you are.



God, Armada was fucking weird, wasn’t it? I mean the toys were all essentially squares with horrible articulation. They sacrificed pretty much everything for the Mini-Con gimmicks and it wasn’t always worth it. With guys like Megatron who had loads of electronic sounds and other bits, you could forgive the fact his legs didn’t move. Then you have guys like Hotshot who sacrificed everything to get a shitty missile launching gimmick. Thrust kinda falls somewhere between the two, he has plenty of useful articulation and a terrible gimmick. Behold his assault mode!



Yeah, this is a stupid gimmick. The “shield” keeps getting stuck on the none removable missiles launchers.

Why did I like this toy again?



Oh yeah that's the good shit.

Thrust becomes a stylised F-35 and I love it. It’s a very smooth jet mode from a toyline where most of the jets were bricks with tiny wings on. He even has a nice little platform for Inferno to sit on. The transformation is fairly fun too, tucking the legs away neatly and a rather unique way of hiding the head. No clearly visible robot head for this guy.



So yeah, I like this toy. It’s holds up a lot better better than most of his contemporaries. Be nice if he got a new version of this Seeker that wasn’t exclusive to Japan with a bunch of toys I didn’t want.

 

Good review! I have a love hate relationship with armada.I either love them or hate them. Megatron with Tidal wave? Awesome. The Optimus that automatically ransforms his own trailer..JUST BY TRANSFORMING?!!? Honestly that was pretty sweet and im still kinda hunting for a nice Armada Prime set.

Ive never owned this thrust, but seeing just how clean the jet mode is makes me kinda wanna touch it.

 

This figure's jet mode reminded me of a YAK-141 with F-35 intakes. Solid toy but I've never liked the shield gimmick.

 

He's like a lot of late line toys- the linewide gimmick has taken a step back, but Thrust here is one who benefits from that. All the mechanics are in the torso, so nothing is lost for the sake of the gimmick. I feel like he's basically the same as he would be without a minicon feature.

 

OH LOOK HASBRO LANDING GEAR

 

I thought Armada Thrust was pretty neat back in the day, but the toy hasn't aged so well, with those nozzle-hands 'n' all.

 

I like weird design choices that give a figure character - in this case the hands. Sure, he can't wide his own ass, but that's why you have minicons.

 

Extremely fun review. I'd love to get my hands on a mint Armada Jetfire, he was my favorite of the line. Please keep posting these!

 

While this guy was more or less a better figure by Armada standards, to me it was such a massive fail that in a line that focused around the collection of minions that converted into HAND HELD WEAPONS there were any main-line larger molds that COULDN'T HOLD THE WEAPONS. I know that engineering took a massive backwards step with this line, but working in some kind of fold out hands or even some hand like details on the part that becomes the inside of the thrusters in jet mode or AT THE VERY MINIMUM 5mm ports on their somewhere...

anyways, decent alt mode (probably one of the best by Armada standards – would be a ton better with a translucent cockpit) fairly garbage robot mode, but he does evoke a decent amount of character. This was one of those guys I bought (admittedly the toned-down brown redeco since for some bizarre reason they didn't release the nice red version in the states) during those dark Armada days because man, after CR/RiD'01 I just wanted to buy something. I mostly regretted it, like basically everything I purchased from the line....

He does have a really nice wash and ample paint apps, something you don't see today. (although the Netflix Siege figures seem to have an impressive amount of paint)

 

Yes.

I quite like this toy. The chest shield gimmick thing is just beyond stupid, but when most Armada deluxes struggled to even turn their heads, this guy's surprisingly mobile, and I just love the actual robot design. I wish the arms were more dexterous, and I wish he had some form of hands or, like you said, 5MM ports somewhere. The jet mode is not only clean but a lovely departure from the more standard aesthetics of aircraft TFs was used to.

It's like, not really a good toy, but it's a good figure? It's like you said, the gimmicks are kind of pointless, but the toy suffers less because of it. I also like that he's a "seeker" with an actual chest. It's just a cool design all around.

 

I actually own two different versions of this mold! The Powerlinx deco and the Universe Sunstorm figure, complete with all their Mini-cons. Picked them up at the Comic-con in my area on two separate years.

Thrust is actually pretty delightful to fiddle with. Sure, the shield gimmick is pretty stupid, but at the same time it's kind of representative of the completely bonkers energy that permeated Armada. The toyline just did whatever it damn well pleased with the Mini-con gimmicks, and sometimes the toyline really suffered for it (Side Swipe, Hot Shot) but sometimes the toys surprisingly stand the test of time (Tidal Wave, Jetfire, Demolishor, I would argue Starscream.) Thrust falls somewhere in the middle in that regard. He's certainly a lot more articulated than a lot of his Armada brethren and the gimmicks are by and large unobtrusive, plus he's got a nifty transformation scheme for a Jetformer that we really haven't had before or since. The downsides, of course, are the lack of any real hands and the missiles on his legs sticking out too far, impeding the Mini-con gimmick as you said. In my eyes, though, they're hardly dealbreakers.

Thrust isn't exactly mind-blowing by any standards, but he's fun. His transformation scheme is enjoyable and he's got a nice silhouette. Plus his Min-con has a spring-loaded missile gimmick and while a lot of people find those frustrating because the missiles are easy to lose, it's just a joy for me to launch those things off.

I am in the exact same boat. RID01 was my first proper introduction, but Armada was what really brought me on board.

 

This is an Armada mold I quite liked. Nice-looking jet and good articulation for the line. It’s a cool design too, I like his thruster hands and his cone head makes him resemble a military officer wearing a hat.

 

Believe it or not, though, he COULD hold the Requiem Blaster. That team has pegs on it that fit into his arm sockets so he can very much bazooka everyone around him if nothing else.

 

No way! I didn’t know that. I just remember being super perturbed that their were so many figures that seemed like they missed the boat on for the minicon integration that was the point of the line. (Like Megatron who has all those actually fairly cool gimmicks, but MOST of them didn’t really work because the bulk of the Minicons were too large to interact without it looking goofy)

 

Excellent review. I loved its red repaint.
Shame it wasn't possible to detach the launcher, just because children (8+ old children!) would have swallowed the launcher.

 

One of the worst TFs ever made. Just garbage all around.

 

Are you sure your anger is actually directed at Armada Thrust, a very successful Transformers toy for children?

 

One thing that always impressed me with this guy was the generous use of washes. Objectively I don't think this is one of the better deluxes of the line, and iirc he had trouble standing up because his hip joints were just weak so that's why he got pegs on the buttflap. You can then lock his legs into a standing position. Always liked the head and the jet hands, though the fins were in the way.

 

Am I sure my opinion about this shit toy is concerning this shit toy? Why yes I am. Are you sure your off topic post is in the right section where we post toy feedback/opinions? I'm not so sure about that.

I still regret buying this turd. I only bought it to complete my armada collection and it immediately went to the bottom of a storage box. Worst of the line IMO. I can't think of one nice thing to say about it.

 

I mean, I strongly believe Aramada, from a design and execution perspective, was one of the lowest points of the franchise, looking WITHIN the line itself, Thrust was one of the less-bad figures. he had excellent articulation compared to the rest of the line, his Minicon integration was actually decent (the platform for the truck to ride on) and his Minicon gimmick, while totally stupid, was also totally ignorable. He had a unique transformation for a jet-style transformer and a relatively realistic looking alt-mode (again, compared to the rest of the line) and a ton of paint (not all of it necessarily tastefully applied, but way more apps and colors then we usually see today). he also didn't suffer from the 'melted wax' overlay soft face sculpting that a lot of the first wave or 2 did. (that never made sense to me, I don't know if it was a look they were going for or something just went really wrong in the process)

I'd never call him good, but compared to the rest of the line, he's certainly one of the better figures IMHO. But the no hands man. the no hands. that'd be at least a 1.5 letter grade deduction even if he was the best figure in the world.