TRANSFORMERS: Revisiting the Characters of Generation 1 - ONSLAUGHT

 TRANSFORMERS:  Revisiting the Characters of Generation 1

"The mind is the greatest weapon." - Onslaught, 1986.

DECEPTICON

Name - ONSLAUGHT

Function - Combaticon Leader

Series Debut - 1986 / Wave 3

Sub-Group - Combaticon

BACKGROUND...

    Onslaught prides himself on his ability to craft brilliant, sinister strategies for combat.  In fact, he enjoys the planning part of a battle more than the actual warfare, itself.

    Long ago, Onslaught was the leader of a small band of "Renegade Decepticons" on Cybertron.  Out for their own gain, they caused trouble for Megatron's forces.  Once captured, Megatron ordered Shockwave to have their Personality Components removed and imprisoned while their bodies were destroyed.  Eventually, in a bid for power and needing an army, Starscream freed them and built them new bodies from abandoned, damaged World War II equipment.  Renamed the Combaticons, their new alt modes resembled Earthen military vehicles. 

    Starscream gave Onslaught the form of a semi-truck with a missile launcher on his trailer.  In this mode he could fire Photon Missiles with a range of 6500 miles.  He also has an alternate, battle station mode which utilizes the same cannon system.  As a robot, he carries a Sonic Stun gun.  Anticipating that he would have to contend with the likes of Devastator or Menasor, Starscream gave the 5 Combaticons the ability to merge into the giant robot - Bruticus!

     

    Starscream's plan to claim overall leadership of the Decepticons eventually failed and he and the Combaticons were banished to an asteroid in space.  While in exile, Onslaught devised "Operation:  Revenge" in which the Combaticons raided Cybertron and then manipulated the Space Bridge into pushing the Earth towards the sun.  Though the plan was foiled and the Combaticons were defeated, Megatron saw the value in keeping them in his employ and had them reprogrammed to follow his orders. 

MY THOUGHTS...

    Since learning that the Autobot, Prowl, was a Military Strategist, I thought the idea of planning a battle would be cool.  Obviously, that's often what we did as kids, isn't it?  Planned out the battles our figures would have.  As such, I just took an instant liking to Onslaught as the Tactician.

    After finding Brawl in Florida as the first Combaticon I had ever seen, I wanted to get all 5.  Many lawns were mowed to get the money to buy the Combaticons one by one, but I finally achieved that goal.  

    Onslaught was cool for multiple reasons, but one thing I thought was that he had a really cool face sculpt.  I thought he looked devious, and in all fairness, he's supposed to be crafting plans and strategies, so it fits!  The original also had some great articulation, so he was easy to put into cool battle poses.

    Standing in for Onslaught here is Combiner Wars Onslaught.  They really nailed the head sculpt and even managed to improve the articulation!  The truck mode isn't perfect, but it's not terrible either.  Overall, a great figure!  

Combaticons from the back of a G1 figure cardback.

    (Information on the character's lore was taken from the Sunbow Transformers cartoon series, including the Movie and the figure's original Tech-Spec.)