Plasma dynamic thruster

Plasmadynamic thrusters are technological components in the Animated continuity family.

A plasmadynamic thruster is a key component of the larger space bridge technology. It opens the rift in space which allows space bridges to function. However left on its own, it isn't a particularly directed component, requiring stabilizers to prevent it from engaging repeatedly, warping itself and anything adjacent to it randomly throughout space.

Fiction

Animated cartoon

Bumblebee and Bulkhead were assigned the duty of salvaging the parts of the ruined Decepticon space bridge. Bumblebee stumbled upon the plasmadynamic thruster of the unit, and was accidentally sent on a haphazard space journey, warping through several regions of the galaxy and getting eaten by a rock monster before Bulkhead ultimately deactivated it through the use of Sari Sumdac's AllSpark Key.

This same thruster was later used to sabotage the transwarp drive of the Autobot Omega Supreme, who was at the time dominated by the mind of the bodiless Starscream. TransWarped

Later, Bulkhead and Isaac Sumdac managed to build a second plasmadynamic thruster for their own space bridge. As part of ploy to keep the professor safe from the newly sentient Dirt Boss, Bulkhead pretended to order the professor to finish building the plasmadynamic thruster immediately, but Isaac didn't understand the ruse and actually did build it. This proved advantegous when the Autobots needed to remove a tanker that was about to explode from the Fossil Fuels oil refinery, as Bulkhead configured the plasmadynamic thruster to teleport the tanker into Lake Erie. Three's a Crowd

Eventually, the plasmadynamic thruster planted on Omega Supreme was discovered and neutralized, allowing the Decepticons on board to control the ship's propulsion. This Is Why I Hate Machines