Beast Machines Thrust
In the interest of completeness I picked up a used Thrust off eBay for $5 ($7 with shipping)
so I would have all three of the original Vehicon generals. Anyways, it finally came today, so
I guess I'll just get to the review, eh?
Thrust in vehicle mode is a futuristic cycle of sorts. It's cool looking at first, but it
you stare at it too long it starts to look kinda weird. However, it gets the job done. The
main gimmick in this mode is the spinning windshield 'head'. Similar to Tankor's turret head
and Jetstorm's moving cockpit, Thrust's vehicle mode can look around. There's a small wheel
under the motorcycle that makes the windshield look to the left. That's all it does, so don't
expect him to look to his right, he can't do it. Not the best gimmick. However, it's easily
disabled (since it makes rolling him somewhat of a chore) by lowering his front wheel slightly.
Transformation is tough without the instructions (which I didn't have) or a picture (didn't
have that either, not that the package would have helped, he's mistransformed on it) but once
you know how to do it, there isn't much to it (hrm, I'm a poet). However, it gives off the
feeling of being incomplete. His arms and rear wheel (which now sits in two parts over his shoulders)
don't really snap into position. I had to look at a lot of pictures of robot mode to make
sure I had it right.
Robot mode is pretty cool looking, but it has a few major flaws. For one he has the same problem
as Blast Charge (or rather, Blast Charge has the same problem as Thrust since Thrust was out first)
since his feet are wheels and the part where his ankles are is one and the same with the axis of
the wheels. This does not make standing him easy. His feet also look kind of stupid, being wheels
with yellow claws sticking out of them.
Thrust also, for some unknown reason, has a mouth. Jetstorm and Tankor don't have mouths, but
Thrust gets a big floppy one. I don't really like it, so what I like to do is either keep it
closed all the way or open it all the way and pretend it's part of his neck.
Another, ahem, odd thing about Thrust is his codpiece. It's erm, rather long and fairly
noticeable. The directions, from what I understand, tell you to fold it up, but then it looks
rather dumb and is not stable at all (not that it ever was). You can easily remove it, but there's
nowhere to store it in this mode, and his cycle mode looks rather dumb without it.
Also for those wanting more show accuracy, you can in fact make Thrust's wheeled mode by
simply not separating his front wheel. He can't stand like that however (at least, not without
the aid of something stable or the custom stand from Unicron.com), but
it helps him look more like his show counterpart, something you can't do at all for Tankor.
All in all Thrust is pretty neat, though he suffers from a few big flaws, he's a decent toy.
Of course, if you're not a fan of the show, there's a lot more Beast Machine toys out there that
are way better, but for show completists, Thrust won't disappoint. Also it's worth a note that he's
very flexible in terms of alternative modes. Just see what you can figure out. Fun stuff.
