Name: Thrust
Series: 6" Titaniums
Allegiance: Decepticon
Function: Warrior
Alternate Mode: Cybertronian Jet
JET MODE
Height: 6.5cm Length: 15.5cm Width: 14cm
A maroon Cybertronian jet with extensive black and some silver painted highlights, Thrust has gold windows on his cockpit. This jet mode is taken from the War Within comics, which in turn were inspired by the pyramid-shaped seekers seen in the G1 Cartoon episode More Than Meets The Eye. This jet is more of flying arrowhead shape than a pyramid, with a raised area around the base of his single tailfin. Much of the fuselage is made of die-cast metal, with the small wings, tail, raised tail base and nose being composed of plastic. The nose is actually composed of soft plastic. There's a silver Decepticon logo just behind the canopy, itself in the centre of the top of the jet. The colours are taken from the cartoon version of Thrust, although they're still very close to the toy colours.
Since Thrust is composed primarily (maybe 65%) of die-cast metal, this jet mode is quite heavy for its size. The rear is hollow - so don't look at him from behind or you'll see his hands and head. Thankfully the weight distribution still works - and this isn't really an angle you'd typically look at. Also on his underside are three black plastic wheels - the front one actually folds out on a metal leg. The wheels and retractable leg actually represent all of Thrust's play value here.
The paint job here is different to the previous (four) versions of this mould. It features black around the nose and on the sides of the canopy while there's some silver around the wings. The sculpt is quite good, with small cannons at the base of his wings, various vents on the fuselage and a complex rib pattern on the rounded canopy. There are quite a lot of sculpted seams, none of which are what I'd call typical of planes - but then Thrust isn't an Earthen jet anyway.
There's not much play value here - I've already covered what little movement he does have here. The 6" Titanium line is aimed at collectors as display pieces anyway, so I'm not so worried about play value. My Thrust doesn't hold together as well as my other Titanium seekers - the portside of the fuselage pops off easier than I'd like it to. I'm not sure if this is an isolated case or mould degradation. Otherwise this jet holds together well.
A good jet mode with solid colours, a good sculpt and a colour scheme which captures the character well. While it's not quite the flying pyramid seen in the G1 cartoon, it's close enough, and represents a more realistic airframe. He's not as striking as the previous versions, but is still a good jet in his own right.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Fold up the nosewheel if you haven't already. Split the tailfin and fold the tail and its base out to the sides, revealing his head. Unclip the sides, releasing the nose, which folds underneath and reveals his groin. Clip the nose onto his back, pull the sides forward to form his legs, rotate the boots forward and flip up his feet. Swing down his shoulders, swing down the forearms from the back of his upper arms and you're done.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 16cm Width: 14.5cm
A maroon robot with a black torso, black forearms and thighs, Thrust has a silver face with red eyes and about half the gold canopy on his torso, just below the line of his shoulders (as on the original G1 toy). There are black pylons on either side of his head, which are meant to resemble the classic air intakes on the seeker bodyplan. The Decepticon logo is now well placed in the middle of his chest - silver against black. The colour map matches G1 fairly closely - the face is based on his cartoon version. I don't like the black dominating his torso - the others toys using this mould tend to have less black (Skywarp aside, obviously) on the torso and it doesn't quite suit, although it does make his colour map closer to G1 than the previous toys.
The wings sit on the outside of his upper arms, behind the now opened tailfin (on either side). These compound wings resemble the traditional seeker wings, although the attachment point is quite different. The panels which were the base of the tail - which form the front of his upper arms - don't actually attach to anything, although the transformation hinges are quite tight so they'll stay in place without any trouble.
Again there's quite a bit of die-cast metal - the front of his torso, backpack, back of his upper arms, boots and feet are all die-cast. Most of the robot mode aspects (thighs, lower arms, head) are plastic, along with the joints. His centre of gravity isn't affected by the die-cast metal, since his boots are metal, ensuring that the metal isn't a liability.
The poseability is quite good here. His head turns while the shoulders swing, and lift maybe 10° out to the sides. There are two hinges per elbow and his wrists rotate. His hips swing and lift out to the sides, the knees are hinged with rotators just above these hinges. It's worth noting that all four of these leg joints are ratcheting and are quite tight - which is a good thing considering how heavy the upper body is - Thundercracker won't collapse in a heap, doing the splits spontaneously. The feet can swing down, which is really for the transformation rather than robot mode, but it does help in posing. The heelspurs are short but effective. Unlike earlier 6" Titaniums, Thrust doesn't come with a stand - not that it really does much anwyay. His joints are all quite useful. Thrust lacks a weapon, and his hands lack holes anyway.
A nice robot mode with a different colour mapping to the other Titanium seekers. While this isn't inherently a bad thing - it's actually close to G1 - I think the mould is better suited to the more uniform colour seen on the others. This mode holds together well while the articulation is good - and useful. He's stable and visually appealing. The colours and quite a few details really sell this robot as Thrust - the layout of elements that resemble the traditional seeker look is actually quite clever, when you consider that most of them are visible in jet mode.
VARIATIONS
None that I'm aware of. He is a repaint of Thundercracker, Starscream, Sunstorm and Skywarp.
OVERALL
The fusion of die-cast metal and modern articulation is dicey on some 6" Titanium figures however this mould manages to make this fusion work, and is great display piece offering both G1 style metal elements and modern posing. While he's not perfect, this is a good mould, and one I'd recommend if you have even a passing interest in the line. Sadly by this stage the mould is old news, and while it's still a good mould, it's always hard to get excited about the fifth version of the mould. Thrust does bring something new in how much black there is - and it's placement on his torso. The War Within jet mode is really geared towards the more dedicated fans (and I'm not really a comic person), but there's enough classic seeker here that you don't have to be a comic fan to appreciate a really nice tribute figure - 7.5/10
|
