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Onslaught (Transformers)
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Onslaught is the name of a fictional character in the various Transformers continuities in the Transformers robot superhero franchise. He is usually portrayed as the leader of the Combaticons who turn into missile launching vehicles and combine with his comrades into Bruticus. Transformers: Generation 1 Onslaught is a leader who prefers to formulate strategies and tactics to defeat his opponents rather than sheer brute force. However, when his plans fail, he can become a devastating force in battle, as his fury that his carefully laid out plans have been thwarted can inspire him to acts to violence. Joins with fellow Combaticons to form robot Bruticus, of which he forms the torso. Animated series Onslaught debuted in the second-season episode, "Starscream's Brigade". In the episode, Starscream is banished from Decepticon Headquarters after his latest attempt to overthrow Megatron's rule of the Decepticons. He is banished to the island of Guadalcanal where he discovers old and wrecked World War II vehicles. Starscream decides to use these to build his own army. He raids a Decepticon detention center on Cybertron and steals the personality components of five renegade Decepticons. When returning, he installs them into the vehicles, which transform into robot mode. Onslaught is placed in an old WWII troop transport truck and the body is reformatted into a modern missile truck. After a short time, the Combaticons, led by Starscream, capture Autobots Jazz and Cliffjumper, who were interviewed at the ceremony. Later, while attempting to refuel at a train station, the renegade Starscream and his recruits get encountered by Megatron and his forces, and the Combaticons capture Dirge and Ramjet, who were taken out by Brawl during the encounter. After that, Starscream, Onslaught, and the rest of the Combaticons go to the Amalgamated Water and Power Plant to recharge. The moment the Combaticons and Starscream finish recharging, Megatron and all his Decepticon forces (except the Stunticons) arrive, launching an attack. When Megatron orders the Constructicons to merge into Devastator, Onslaught and the Combaticons demonstrate their power to also merge into one giant robot: Bruticus. Bruticus then proves to be more powerful than Devastator, who is knocked out. Bruticus then grabs Megatron with his right hand, forcing him to acknowledge Starscream as the new leader of the Decepticons. Just then, the Stunticons arrive, witnessing the trouble. They combine into Menasor and defeat Bruticus. Onslaught's abilities as commander would not be seen until the next episode, "The Revenge of Bruticus". After Bruticus was defeated by Menasor, Megatron banished Starscream and the Combaticons from Earth and sent to a distant asteroid. Starscream abandons the Combaticons on the asteroid and flies off into space. Onslaught devises a plan to exact revenge on Megatron by causing Earth to crash into the Sun. Using his backpack, he alters the Space Bridge to change the orbit on Earth. However, disengaging his backpack left Bruticus' weak spot vulnerable, which Optimus Prime used to disable him. Bruticus was later reprogrammed to obey Megatron. In the later episode "Aerial Assault", Onslaught and the Combaticons were involved in a Decepticon plot to capture the Middle East oil fields. The Aerialbots arrived on the scene and the Decepticons use their new jet drones to attack them. These drones however proved to be no match for the Aerialbots, forcing the Combaticons to engage them as Bruticus. They were defeated again by Superion (the combined form of the Aerialbots). Onslaught made various appearances as a member of the Combaticons, throughout the remainder of the series, as well as in the Japanese series Transformers: The Headmasters. Books Onslaught appeared in the 1986 Ladybird Books story Decepticon Hideout by . Comics Dreamwave Productions Dreamwave Productions' 21st century re-imagining of the Generation 1 universe took its inspiration for the Combaticons from the original animated series, casting them as Decepticon prisoners who were reduced to protoform stasis because they were too dangerous to be released. Onslaught, Brawl, Blast Off and Vortex originally appeared as part of Shockwave's attack on Iacon in the first War Within series. At the same time Swindle was with Starscream, Motormaster, Runabout and Runamuck after Starscream head sent Megatron and Optimus Prime down further into the depths of Cybertron. Later, when Optimus Prime led a rebellion against Shockwave's domination of Cybertron in 2003, Starscream took the opportunity to form a power base, taking the protoform Combaticons to Earth and outfitting them with new alternate modes taken from an abandoned military base, then leading them in an attack on the Ark in order to acquire parts to make the Decepticon space cruiser, the Nemesis, spaceworthy. Confronted in battle by Brawn, Bruticus was caught in an explosion as Ratchet self-destructed the Ark, but he survived the conflagration, only to be knocked out by artillery fire from an incoming Autobot shuttle. After a battle with the evil clone, Sunstorm, Brawn opted to work out some of his stress on Bruticus's unconscious body, punching the gestalt about the head until his comrades yelled at him to stop. Bruticus would return, battling Sky Lynx for Starscream's amusement - until the Predacons appeared in their combined form of Predaking. The two gestalts battled as Starscream fled and Bruticus lost. The ultimate fate of the Combaticons in the Dreamwave universe was not revealed, due to the company's closure. Onslaught's earth mode in the Dreamwave comics was toy accurate, and did not use the animated series redesign of his body. Fun Publications Nine million years in the past on Cybertron, Onslaught is assigned as leader of the Elite Guard Combaticon unit, designed to seek out and stop the leadership of the Decepticon forces. The Elite Guard Alpha Team and Strike Team did battle against a horde of ferrovorous bugs in one of Cybertron's city-states. Magnum then ordered the Strike Team to escort the Alpha Team to Space Port Bravo for their next mission. The Strike Team then reported to Magnum and Sentinel Major, who introduced them to the new Elite Guard Special-Ops Team, also called the Combaticons. While on patrol Onslaught told Metalhawk the story of how his Elite Guard team captured Thunderwing. Metalhawk then told Onslaught about how his team captured Blue Bacchus. The teams of Elite Guardsmen then came across a Decepticon who was separated from his group. Brawl was able to get the location of a Decepticon base from the captive before he went offline. The Guard teams around the base and were able to kill Shadowcaster, the base's leader. Metalhawk's team reported to Magnum, but the Combaticons stayed to investigate, Onslaught thinking their victory was too easy. They were captured by Decepticons. He later became a Decepticon. Metalhawk and his Strike Team were searching for Decepticons when they ran into a crazy "empty" who ranted about the coming of the "brute". They received a distress signal from Sentinel Major ordering all Elite Guard units to return base. When Metalhawk's team arrived at the base Ricochet told them of a Decepticon attack. Among the attackers are the Combaticions, but when Sentinel Major orders them to surrender, they combine into Bruticus and crush Sentinel Major. When most of the members of the Autobot Elite Guard confronted Bruticus they were nearly wiped out, with Bruticus killing most of the Guard. Dion was able to blind Bruticus, forcing it to separate into the Combaticons, but the Combaticons finished off most of the remaining Guard, including Metalhawk, who was killed by Onslaught. This left only Dion alive, buried in the rubble, and Thunderclash's team, which was off planet at the time. IDW Publishing Onslaught commanded his team under the direction of Banzai-Tron in their attack on Garrus-9 penal facility, where they fought Arcee. Banzai-Tron, Gutcruncher, Axer and the Combaticons help Arcee attempt to recapture Monstructor. On Earth Onslaught and his team were captured by Skywatch on Earth, but they were recovered by Hot Rod's team. Onslaught, Vortex and Brawl later agreed to an alliance with North Korea, who would provide them with crude synthetic Energon in exchange for their services, however the Autobots intervened. After returning to the restored Cybertron, Onslaught was initially promised a high position by Starscream in exchange for protecting the Seeker during his campaign to become Cybertron's leader, but was furious when Starscream reneged. He and his fellow Combaticons sought to find Swindle, whom apparently had dirt on Starscream but had been missing. After finding Swindle brain-dead, Onslaught used the Enigma of Combination to merge the Combaticons together in the hopes of uncovering Swindle's intel, but Bruticus was brought down and Onslaught and the others were left comatose. Starscream later used Airachnid to manipulate the Combaticons' memories to make them believe they had always been working for him, with Onslaught also being manipulated into noticing Blast Off, the only one who knew the truth. Marvel Comics Onslaught made his comics debut in issue #63 of the Marvel U.K. comic, in the story "Second Generation". In this, the Creation Matrix gives Buster Witwicky a vision of the future of the Transformer race, where combining Transformers are common. When Optimus Prime joins him for one of his visions (which is also monitored by the Decepticons led by Shockwave), they see Onslaught leading the Combaticons into forming Bruticus to come to the rescue of Menasor, who is battling Defensor. This vision prompts the Decepticons to begin work on the Combaticons. Onslaught debuted in the Marvel U.S. comic in issue #24, "Afterdeath". In this issue, Megatron and the Combaticons are battling Optimus Prime and the Protectobots near a computer lab. A human named, Ethan Zachary convinced the robots to settle their dispute in a video game. They agreed on the condition that whichever side lost, their leader was destroyed in the real world. The object of the game was to destroy the leader of the enemy group. The Combaticons and Protectobots were sent to different levels of the game. In each scenario, the Combaticons would lose and the Protectobots would win. This allowed them to merge into Defensor and destroy the virtual Megatron. However, Megatron used a cheat code to reenter the game. Optimus defeated Megatron again, but this time he allowed innocent lives to perish. Feeling guilty, Optimus forfeited the game and ordered himself destroyed. Onslaught and his Combaticons were often seen battling the Protectobots, but received little other major plot or character development. One notable assignment was the attempted destruction of Galvatron while he was entombed in a volcano following his failure to tap its power; this mission was embarrassingly thwarted by the combined efforts of Blaster, the Throttlebots, and three female human allies, one of whom had once befriended Ultra Magnus who was likewise trapped within the volcano. However, Onslaught later found favour with sometime Decepticon commander Ratbat, who effectively promoted Onslaught to field commander for the assault on the Autobots on Earth's moon. He was eventually killed by Jhiaxus' troops in the Transformers: Generation 2 comic. Toys *Generation 1 Combaticon Onslaught (1986) :Onslaught came with all the combiner accessories used by the other Combaticons (feet and fists) for Bruticus. The Onslaught figure was re-released in 1990 in Europe. :This toy was redecoed into the Japanese exclusive Generation 1 figure Great Cannon and remolded slightly into the Robots in Disguise toy line as Mega-Octane. *Generation 1 Kabaya Gum Onslaught (1986) :Part of the original gum toy series by Kabaya. Two additional packs (Vortex & Brawl and Blast-Off & Swindle) are needed to complete Bruticus. Each package comes with a stick of chewing gum and an easy-to-assemble kit. The completed robot looks and transforms almost the same as the larger, original Takara version, but is painted in just olive green and gray. The toy also has a third mode, which is a howitzer. *Generation 2 Combaticon Onslaught (1994) :A remold and redeco of the Generation 1 toy. He came with an additional missile launcher and 2 missiles for it. *Universe Classic Series Ultra Onslaught (2008) :The Transformers Collectors Club released pictures of a Universe Onslaught in December 2007 with the release of the cover issue 19 of their magazine. Onslaught is a new Ultra Class mold in the Classics style. His vehicle mode is a S.W.A.T. APC and is armed with a battle shield, an arm blaster and his tradition back cannons. Initial releases of this figure had a small flaw in their electronics so that the siren sound would only release a single chirp when the button was held down, where later releases fixed this problem, and the siren sounds continuously when the button is held down. :The mold for this figure was also used for the 2009 Walmart exclusive Autobot Hardhead and the BotCon 2010 exclusive Decepticon Clench. *Universe Classic Series Legends Onslaught (2008) :A redeco of Cybertron Legends Red Alert, this toy was first displayed at the 2008 New York Toy Fair. *Universe Classic Series Ultra Onslaught (Takara Tomy) (2008) :The Japanese version of the Universe Ultra figure by Takara Tomy is sold as a "USA Edition" toy. The box packaging is exactly the same as the Hasbro version, but the figure is repainted in more Generation 1-accurate colors. *Universe Generation 1 Series Deluxe Onslaught (2009) :A redeco of Energon Barricade in the colors of Generation 1 Onslaught. This toy measures 13 centimeters long in vehicle mode, while a real Astros II MLRS measures 700 centimeters, making this a 1:54 scale toy. With the robot toy standing 14 centimeters tall, the real world robot would stand about 756 centimeters (24.8 feet) tall. *Generations Fall of Cybertron Deluxe Bruticus (2012) :An SDCC 2012 exclusive Bruticus gift set. Colored to match be more Fall of Cybertron game accurate in colors than the retail release. The Onslaught in this set was repurposed into Generation 1 Onslaught in the IDW comics. Transformers: Robots in Disguise Transformers: Energon Onslaught was the Japanese name for Energon Barricade, who transformed into a missile truck. Transformers Cinematic Universe In his appearance in the live-action film series, Onslaught is a tactician and battlefield lieutenant. This Decepticon is recognizable for his green hue and alternate form as a heavy duty tow truck. He is prone to violence when provoked, and rumored to be developing a new weapon called The Decapitator. His robot model shares designs from his twin-brother, Long Haul. Besides Onslaught, Long Haul's model serves as the basis for Canopy in The Last Knight. Sometimes, he is the leader of the Combaticons, with whom he combines to form the mighty Bruticus Maximus. Films Onslaught appeared in Transformers: The Last Knight, when Megatron was selecting a "crew" to hunt down Cade Yeager and the Autobots from the TRF's Decepticon prisoners, he choose Onslaught after the TRF refused to grant him Berserker. As he is being released, Onslaught moans about the size of his cell door. He was among the Decepticons who got caught by the rigged explosives in an abandoned town, and tried to pursue Yeager and Izzy with the other Decepticons. However, Onslaught was quickly cornered by Drift and Crosshairs, losing his right leg to Drift and being shot by Crosshairs, and then finally beheaded by Drift, who commented on his "fat head". IDW Comics Onslaught appears in the Schick Hydrobot and the Transformers promotional one-shot. Toys *Revenge of the Fallen Deluxe Onslaught (2009) :A repackage of the toy previously released as Universe Onslaught in other countries, this toy was released as a Target store exclusive in the U.S. as part of the Revenge of the Fallen toy line. This toy was in turn a redeco of the mold used for Energon Barricade and Timelines Heatwave. :This toy measures 13 centimeters long in vehicle mode, while a real Astros II MLRS measures 700 centimeters, making this a 1:54 scale toy. With the robot toy standing 14 centimeters tall, the real world robot would stand about 756 centimeters (24.8 feet) tall. Non-transforming merchandise *The Last Knight Prime 1 Studio Onslaught (201?) :A huge non-transforming but screen-accurate polystone statue that is entirely based on his robot mode seen in the film. As with all Prime 1 Studio statues, he probably features an LED gimmick on the eyes. Transformers: Prime Books Appears in the novel Transformers: Exodus, as one of the Combaticons. Games Onslaught appears in the 2010 video game Transformers: War for Cybertron as a downloadable character. He is a level boss in the Autobots version of the game for the Nintendo DS, while he is playable in the Decepticons version. Onslaught also appeared among the rest of the Combaticons in the 2012 video game Transformers: Fall of Cybertron and its semi-sequel released in 2014, albeit as a non-playable character outside of the multiplayer modes. Toys *Generations Deluxe Onslaught (2012) *Generations Fall of Cybertron Deluxe Bruticus (2012) :An SDCC 2012 exclusive Bruticus gift set. Colored to match be more Fall of Cybertron game accurate in colors than the retail release. The Onslaught in this set was repurposed into Generation 1 Onslaught in the IDW comics. See Also
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