TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:
Alternate Mode:
Box Art:
Technical Specifications:
STR
INT
SPD
END
RNK
CRG
FPR
SKL

numbat's review of: WST GTF-11 Thrust

Name: GTF-11 Thrust
Allegiance: Decepticon / Destron
Function: Warrior
"My engines' roar is my enemies' song of doom!"

He rattles the air with the roar of his jets... believes half the battle is won if the opponent is "psyched out" by his mere arrival, so he makes no attempt to be sneaky. Pompous, loud-mouthed braggart and not too brave. Sudden, powerful accelerations can topple nearby buildings. Flies at mach 2.5, can double speed in 20 seconds for up to two minutes. Carries four air-to-air missiles and two automatic missile launchers in robot Mode.

Thrust was one of my favourite Transformers as a kid, and I always wanted to get him. But, alas, I never did. Rocket along to 2005 and I discover the World’s Smallest Transformers series. An interesting line, but largely ‘hit or miss’ in terms of the figures available, but, lo-and-behold, Thrust is a ‘hit’, and, what’s more, I manage to snap him up at a nice price…

Alternate Mode:
Most people seem to prefer Skywarp to the other Decepticon jets, and I can’t say I blame them – in my old age his colour scheme has certainly wooed me, and I own the Armada homage. But, in my opinion, Thrust is the coolest of the G1 Decepticon jets. He’s not as true-to-life as the original jets (a quality he shares with the far less attractive Dirge and Ramjet), but does maintain the general body of an F15. His wings and tail plane are stylised, however, lending him a futuristic look that says ‘POWER’. Combined with his dark maroon, and, in this case, dark sparkling grey colour scheme, with red and white trim, he just looks dark, dangerous, and cool.

He is effectively identical to his full-size G1 counterpart, with a few exceptions due to his size (non-opening cock-pit, and molded wheels). He still has retractable landing gear in the nose, and still has his missile launchers, although they don’t fire or have interchangeable gun and rocket heads (a bonus, considering his size – imagine keeping track of them)!

The only downside to this mode is the fact – carried over from his G1 frame – that his robot mode hands are detached in this mode. Oh, and they’re just a little over a quarter inch long each… Still, there is no way that the hands could flip out of the arms, which are incredibly thin plastic, so there can be no complaint really.

Frankly, Thrust is cool, and at 3 1/4 “ nose-to-tail with a 2 3/4 “ wingspan, this figure could not be any better!

Robot Mode:
The transformation is identical to the G1 Decepticon jets, so, on this scale, can be a little fiddly at points. You have to use the head to push the arms through – there’s just no other way of doing it at this size! And all those detachable parts can be scary (missile launchers, hands, wings and tail fins). But the result looks fantastic…

Thrust, Dirge & Ramjet differed from the original jets in their cartoon representation, by having the nosecone of their plane mode perched on top of their heads like some weird balaclava. As I’m sure most of us know, it was next to impossible to imitate this appearance with the toys, as the nose of the plane is just too long, and the result can be quite ridiculous. For this reason, combined with the fact that the underside of WST Thrust’s nose is HOLLOW, I opt to display him with the nose down, like the original Decepticon jets.

That aside, Thrust looks stunning in robot mode, standing in at a whopping 2 1/2 “. The tiny Decepticon symbols show brilliantly on the wings, and the detail is incredible for such a tiny figure. (Although he misses the details that the stickers provided in his larger counterpart, excepting the Decepticon symbols and wing flashes.) It does have to be said, though, that the head does let the rest down a little – it’s not the nicest or most detailed going.

Articulation is as the original. The arms have a great deal of poseability (and are not loose like some of the original G1 jets), and the legs swivel round at the hip. Although this limits the number of dynamic poses possible, it still allows for some great threatening stances, which I think is great going for a tiny figure at the best of times – and given he is just a miniature version of the G1 original, you couldn’t expect any more anyway!

Transformation: 7 – Certainly not difficult, being identical to the original, but scale presents challenges…
Durability: 3 – The toy is sturdy, given it’s size (it’ll survive a fall no probs, but don’t stand on it!), but it has so many tiny detachable parts. And those hands…
Fun: 7 – I think he’s great, but a lot of that will be love of the original Decepticon jets. Still, even if you’re not their No.1 fan, this guy looks great, and is really impressive for his size at least!
Price: 10 – As far as World’s Smallest Transformers go outside of Japan, Thrust is a real steal! I got mine for £3.50 ($6.15) MISB (carefully opened due to the blind packaging of the series), but he does vary from that up to £6.00 ($10.50), but that’s nowt compared with the others (bar Bumblebee…).
Overall: 5 – I couldn’t reasonably profess this guy to be a must-own, even if he is to me. If you’re not a G1 Decepticon jets fan, odds are Thrust only holds novelty value for scale. Still, if you come across one for a nice price, he’d hardly break the bank, and is well worth considering.