Direct-Hit

Direct-Hit is a Decepticon Micromaster from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Touché-feely.

Direct-Hit is a victim of the Peter Principle. As a low-ranking grunt in the Decepticon military, he was a skillful and tenacious warrior, bringing in the kill more often than not. Since his promotion to leader of the Battle Squad, his teammates have discovered that his long-term strategies... well, the problem is that Direct-Hit doesn't have any long-term planning skills to speak of. He's a decisive, powerful warrior in short-term engagements, swiftly crushing his foes in close-quarters combat. But all of this falls apart when he's asked to actually plan a mission or campaign or what have you. At best, he can just about order his team to deal with whatever's going on around them, and then hope that it somehow works out for the best.

So incompetent is he in his new role, that news of Direct-Hit's failures have already started to circulate through the Decepticon ranks. Most Decepticons rightfully believe that the poor shmuck's been promoted far beyond his actual capabilities. His combiner partner is Power Punch.

Fiction

Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

Direct-Hit 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

Regeneration One

Direct-Hit was a member of Soundwave's group of Neo-Decepticons at Fort Scyk in Polyhex. Counterpoint

Beast Wars: Uprising

On a post-war Cybertron, Direct-Hit and Power Punch 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. When one of the intruders shot Power Punch in the back, the psychic link between the two Micromasters caused Direct-Hit to reel in pain, giving Grimlock the opportunity he needed to overpower him. Direct-Hit was killed when Grimlock punched through his armor and ripped out his innards. Micro-Aggressions

War for Cybertron Trilogy marketing material

During the war for Cybertron, Direct-Hit was a Ground Force Weapons Raider. Siege toy packaging

2019 IDW continuity

Direct-Hit 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

Toys

The Transformers

Baby blue dreamteam of Death

• 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), Direct-Hit transforms into a powder blue wheeled armoured car which is intended to be the front half of a cannon transport which he forms with his combiner partner Power Punch. He can, of course, be connected to any other Micromaster Combiner to form new weird vehicles.

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

• More information on Direct-Hit 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 Direct-Hit is physically identical to the Hasbro-release.

He was only available in a complete set with Power Punch, 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

• 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, Direct-Hit transforms into a chunkier version of his original armored car mode. This time, he has multiple ball joints for a surprising amount of robot-mode articulation.

He can connect with his pack-in partner Power Punch to form their cannon transport mode thanks to a 5 mm post on his back canopy, which can also flip up for some reason. The post also has a 3 mm peg at the end compatible with Fire Blast effect parts. 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.

The packaging artwork for both releases of this 2-pack depicts the connection point on Direct-Hit for combining with Power Punch as being pink, though on the actual figure it's black.

This figure was redecoed into Earthrise Fireguard and Moonrock.

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.

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

• The original Generation One box art of Direct-Hit has his head swapped with Power Punch.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Direct-Hit (ダイレクトヒット Dairekuto Hitto)
• French: Touché (Canada)
• Italian: Omega