Power Punch

Power Punch is a Decepticon Micromaster from the toyline portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

"FALCON PAAAAAAAANCH!"

Power Punch is the muscle of the Battle Squad, built like a tank and packing serious firepower in the form of his armor-piercing artillery cannon. Power Punch is Direct-Hit's combiner partner and best friend; on and off the battlefield, he stoically serves as the Battle Squad's second-in-command. It's a role that this disciplined warrior takes very seriously, but his loyalty to Direct-Hit has also blinded him to the simple truth: that his old friend is an abysmal tactician who's been promoted far out of his depth.

To hear Power Punch tell it, however, the root problem of the Battle Squad's poor performance is that it's everybody else's fault. When things start going wrong for the Battle Squad, Power Punch is the first to berate his teammates for not following Direct-Hit's brilliant tactics to the letter. Direct-Hit is more than happy to let Power Punch prop up his ego, and Power Punch spends most of his time making sure nobody questions their leader's competence.

Fiction

Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

Power Punch was an Autobot and a member of Cannon Team portion of the Crane Cannon W Team, a group of mighty Micromasters. With their cranes and cannons, they were able to concurrently chop up enemies and send them afar. Return of Convoy bio

Beast Wars: Uprising

On a post-war Cybertron, Power Punch and Direct-Hit were among the few Builders of Cybertron who maintained their mobility due to their more energy-efficient Micromaster bodies. The pair were posted to guard Tesarus Arena in anticipation of a Resistance attack. They encountered the Maximal terrorist Grimlock and his underlings sneaking into the arena, and attempted to bar their progress. While Direct-Hit engaged Grimlock in battle, Power Punch grappled with The Man Terror, until Snapper shot him in the back. The pain from the blast was felt by both guards through their psychic link, allowing both of them to be overpowered and slain by the intruders. Micro-Aggressions

War for Cybertron Trilogy marketing material

During the war for Cybertron, Power Punch was a Ground Force Weapons Raider. Siege toy packaging

2019 IDW continuity

Power Punch was part of a team of Decepticons who tried to melt their way into the Pyramid using Acid Storm's powers. Before they could finish the job, however, Optimus Prime broke through the wall and forced the Decepticons into retreat as he helped lead the evacuation efforts. Titans

He was later part of a large army deployed to the Sea of Rust under Sixshot's authority to capture the Enigma of Combination. Sea of Rust II

Power Punch was deployed with the Decepticon heavy artillery under Jhiaxus to herd the Autobots towards the rust worms. Radical Time

Games

Transformers: Earth Wars

Toys

The Transformers

Aim for the crotch!

• Battle Squad (Micromaster Combiner Squad, 1990)

Released in the seventh and final year of the original The Transformers toyline in the US (sixth and not-final in European markets), Power Punch transforms into a powder-blue wheeled vehicle with a huge cannon on its top. He is intended to be the rear half of a cannon transport, which he forms with his combiner partner Direct-Hit, but can, of course, be connected to any other Micromaster Combiner or Combiner Transport to form new weird vehicles.

Power Punch was only available in a six-pack with his squad mates Direct-Hit, Half-Track, Fireshot, Meltdown, and Vanquish.

• More information on Power Punch at TFU.info

• Crane Cannon W Team (Micro Trailer team, 1991)

• ID number: C-368
• Accessories: Micro Trailer #8

Takara's Return of Convoy release of Power Punch is physically identical to the Hasbro-release.

He was only available in a complete set with Direct-Hit, Stonecruncher and Excavator. The set also comes with Micro Trailer #8, which any toy in the set can "tow" or be stored within. Like all Return of Convoy characters, he was marketed as an Autobot instead of a Decepticon.

War for Cybertron: Siege

So... is he a prequel to the NES game?

• Direct-Hit & Power Punch (Micromaster, 2020)

• Hasbro ID number: WFC-S47
• TakaraTomy ID number: SG-44
• TakaraTomy release date: February 22, 2020

Part of the fifth wave of Siege Micromaster two-packs, Power Punch transforms into a chunkier version of his original cannon trailer mode. This time, he has multiple ball joints for a surprising amount of robot-mode articulation. His cannon barrel is also compatible with Fire Blast effect parts. The instructions claim his cannon needs to be attached to Power Punch, however, it is packaged already attached. The barrel can be detached and used as a separate accessory, though it's not particularly recommended as it's not meant to be, and rests pretty deep in the base.

He can connect with his pack-in partner Direct-Hit to form their cannon transport mode thanks to a 5 mm post-hole on his front end. Their combined mode also doubles as a bazooka-like cannon simply by flipping the whole thing upside-down, held by other toys by a 5 mm post on Power Punch's cannon base, with a quartet of Fire Blast effect ports up-front (plainly visible on his robot shins).

The packaging artwork depicts Power Punch as woefully mistransformed, appearing to merely be lying face-down in robot mode, rather than properly transformed to vehicle mode like his package-mate.

This figure was redecoed into Earthrise Roadburner, and retooled into Missile Master.

War for Cybertron: Earthrise

• Direct-Hit & Power Punch (Micromaster, 2020)

• ID number: WFC-E40

Direct-Hit and Power Punch received a package refresh in the subsequent line, Earthrise, as the only item in the third and final wave of Micromaster 2-packs. The two releases are virtually identical aside from the packaging (and retains the original character art error, of course).

Like all Earthrise toys, the cardboard back of the Earthrise version of the Battle Squad's package includes an exclusive cut-out collectible piece of a larger star map.

Notes

There's maybe a bit of him under Soundwave's left elbow there.

• Power Punch is the only member of the Battle Squad not to show up as one of Soundwave's Neo-Decepticons in "Counterpoint", the Free Comic Book Day issue that began Regeneration One. Given the framing of the image in question (right), this is most likely because Power Punch was standing behind Soundwave.
• The original Generation One box art of Power Punch has his head swapped with Direct-Hit.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Power Punch (パワーパンチ Pawā Panchi)
• French: Coup Dur (Canada)