Onslaught is the leader of the Combaticons team and transforms into a missile trailer. He is capable of launching 6500-mile range photon missiles. He believes the key to a mission’s success lies in the perfection of its planning. As commander of the Combaticons he is a relentless and furious fighter and forms the main torso and head for Bruticus.

Name: Onslaught 
Line: The Transformers (G1)
Manufacturer: Hasbro/Takara
Released: 1985
Price: Then – $11.99 USD Now – $30 – $300 USD
Scale: 19 cm in height in robot mode.
Accessories: Gun and multiple parts to make Bruticus
Motto: “The mind is the greatest weapon”

My brother was the bigger fan of Onslaught than me. When growing up being a twin, we often had to decide between each other who got what, in terms of sharing certain Transformers – for example, my brother owned Onslaught and Sliverbolt and I owned Motormaster and Hotspot.

Out of the Combaticons I had Brawl and Vortex, while he had Onslaught, Swindle and Blastoff. When you have a sibling you just make it work. 

I appreciate the character of Onslaught even though I technically didn’t own him as a kid. However, that hasn’t stopped me later in life tracking down a version for myself.

My brother is still the Onslaught expert owning at least three or more versions of the original toy, it’s definitely one of his favourite characters along with Thundercracker and Hot rod.

SCULPTING

Onslaught is very nicely sculpted. There is a good amount of detail in both vehicle mode and robot mode.  He’s a very long vehicle and also a pretty tall robot too. I always liked how long the missile trailer was and that you could put other Combaticons on the back as well.

PAINT

Not a lot of paint on Onslaught and the stickers make up a lot of the interesting details on him. What paint there is on my figure is nice and tidy – no slop here. I do really like the black camo pattern on the vehicle mode it really adds something special to the deco.

ARTICULATION 

Like most Transformers from this era his articulation is just a trade off from the transformation. You can move his arms, head and technically his legs too. But he’s pretty much a brick, but a cool looking brick at least.

The transformation is very fun and straight forward, you are just folding out and folding up certain parts of him and extending other parts. Not too hard. But still pretty satisfying for what it is.

ACCESSORIES

Onslaught comes with his sonic stun gun, a ramp and all the parts to help you build Bruticus (head, chest pieces and two hands and feet) all are nicely detailed and well-made. Obviously, the parts are great because they enable you to assemble a larger robot if you have the other Combaticons.

There are also a couple of slight variations to Onslaught/Bruticus mainly being the colour of the grey plastic – it comes in sliver and a light grey. I have both variants and they are great in their own individual ways.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

There are definitely a few things to watch out for with onslaught, he’s always been a little bit fragile even when brand new. And gets even more fragile the older the plastic gets. Definitely be gentle when transforming him as the navy plastic can get brittle and easily break if too much force is applied. And don’t lose that small chest plate for Onslaught either!

PRICE

I paid for a second hand Onslaught from a reputable Transformers reseller that included the box with my purchase. So the price was a bit high after the exchange rate. However, it was in absolutely excellent condition and I’m glad I paid a little bit extra for it. Always with vintage Transformers: pay  a price you are happy with or even purchase a reissue.

OVERALL

Onslaught is not a perfect Transformer toy. But he does have his strengths and weaknesses in his design. He looks great in vehicle and robot mode and helps to form a really cool looking combiner, being Bruticus. Just watch out for possible weak arm and leg joints as you don’t want to break him. He’s definitely a fun toy to have and looks great with the other Combaticons on a display shelf.