Astro Squad
- The Astro Squad is a team of Autobot Micromasters from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Top row, L to R : Phaser, Blast Master, Moonrock
Bottom row, L to R : Barrage, Heave, Missile Master
The Micromaster Combiner Astro Squad is a self-sufficient deep-space exploration and battle team, the Autobots' first line of defense. They take pride in their capacity for great speed; in fact, it is said that they can travel at the speed of light, and also that they can traverse galaxies in seconds. (We must assume either that one claim is exceedingly modest, or that the other is a massive exaggeration.) Whatever the case, their speed is not always an advantage, as they sometimes overshoot their destinations. Luckily, it's not their only ability: Their cyclonic steel coating is impenetrable to Decepticon photon blasts, plus they can use an anti-gravitational device to nullify tractor beams. Defensive maneuvers are aided by a micro-circuitry array that also assists in exploratory operations.[1]
The six squad members are:
- Barrage and Heave the radar rover
- Phaser and Blast Master the Space Shuttle
- Moonrock and Missile Master the rocket transport
Fiction
Dreamwave Generation One continuity
The strong-willed leader of the squad, Missile Master, chose the thorough and endlessly double-checking Phaser to be his second-in-command. More than Meets the Eye
Toys
Generation 1
- Astro Squad (Micromaster Combiner Squad, 1990)
- The Astro Squad was sold as a carded pack of three vehicles, themed around space exploration. Each vehicle splits into two robots. Any squad member can combine in vehicle mode with any other, or with any other Micromaster Combiner. The team shares a common color palette of red, light gray, white and light blue.
Generations
War for Cybertron: Earthrise
- Botropolis Rescue Mission (Galactic Odyssey Collection, 2021)
- Accessories: 2 barrels, blaster base
- Released as part of the Encounter 5 set of the Earthrise Galactic Odyssey Collection, the Astro Squad are a team of Micromasters consisting of two Micromaster Combiner pairs—a space shuttle and a cannon truck. The team is redecoed from Siege Direct-Hit and Power Punch, and Earthrise Fuzer and Blast Master.
- The Power Punch figure receives a notable retool—instead of a plain cannon, the figure has a black ladder carrying a white cannon, giving the combined truck mode a distinct appearance from previous mold iterations. Additionally, the back half of the cannon truck can display the white missile on the top of their shoulder, as opposed to the previous tooling where the cannon could only point up. According to the set's online description, the Micromasters are painted in Sky Lynx-inspired colors.
- Inexplicably, the individual members of the Astro Squad lack names, so the characters that these toys actually represent are dubious to guess. The pair of Micromasters combining into a rocket transport strongly resemble Moonrock and Missile Master, but due to the Earthrise toyline's practice of renaming classic Micromasters, we cannot say for certain that they are the same. The other pair are near-identical to Fuzer and Blast Master, but given their previously unseen color schemes they could be new characters.
- The Astro Squad are part of an Amazon-exclusive six-pack consisting exclusively of Autobots, bundled with the Modulators Overair and Ironworks. According to the set's stock photography, the Modulators are designed to combine into a giant space station, enabling the Micromasters to interact with the base in their combined forms.
- The original toolings of the Direct-Hit and Power Punch molds were also used to make Earthrise Roadburner and Fireguard.
Notes
Foreign names
- Italian: Squadriglia Interstellare ("Interstellar Squadron")
