Power Punch

This article is about the Decepticon Micromaster. For his Japanese Autobot counterpart, see Power Punch (ROC).

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

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

Toys

Generation 1

• Battle Squad (Micromaster Combiner Squad, 1990)

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.

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

This toy was released without changes in Takara's Return of Convoy line as the Autobot Crane Cannon W Team's Power Punch.

• More information on Power Punch at TFU.info

Generations

War for Cybertron: Siege

• Direct-Hit & Power Punch (Micromaster, 2020)
  • ID number: WFC-S47
  • Japanese ID number: SG-44
  • Japanese release date: February 22, 2020

Part of wave 5 of Siege Micromasters, Power Punch is a member of the Battle Squad and transforms into the back half of the Cannon Transport vehicle along with Direct-Hit as the front end, which can be flipped upside down to be used as an over-the-shoulder weapon. As a part of the C.O.M.B.A.T. System, their weapon mode can be attached to any toy with a 5 mm post-hole. "Fire Blasts" can also be attached to various hardpoints on the toys. They're painted and molded such to stay as separate vehicles. Instructions show to attach the barrel to Power Punch, however, it is packaged already attached. Though, the barrel can be easily detached and mounted above Power Punch's head.

Power Punch comes packaged together with Direct-Hit.

War for Cybertron: Earthrise

• Direct-Hit & Power Punch (Micromaster, 2020)
  • ID number: WFC-E40

Power Punch, along with Direct-Hit, was later re-released for the successor of Siege, Earthrise. The two releases are identical outside of packaging.

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.

Foreign names

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