Transformers are alien robots hailing from the planet Cybertron. They are divided into two factions: heroic Autobots and evil Decepticons. Autobots and Decepticons have been locked in an apocalyptic civil war for millennia. The line was launched in the United States in 1984 with an accompanying animated television series, it followed in Europe later that same year. Many of the Hasbro-distributed toys were actually rebranded versions of the existing Japanese ‘Microman’ and ‘Diaclone’ toylines made by Takara. The combination of vehicle and robot, and the often complicated series of movements required to change between the two modes, meant Transformers were extremely popular children’s toys during the mid-1980s.

Thrust is a Decepticon warrior, part of a group of airborne Decepticons known as the Seekers, commanded by the treacherous Starscream (see B.95-1994). Thrust was introduced suddenly, without explanation, in the thirtieth episode of the animated series. His toy was developed from the moulds for the three original 1984 Seekers (Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp), with different wings and tail. The original moulds were first used in the early 1980s for Takara’s ‘Diaclone’ toyline. In the cartoon series, Thrust and his fellow ‘second-generation’ Seekers (Dirge and Ramjet) earned the fan nickname ‘coneheads’, because their animation models were designed with nosecones pointing straight upwards, above their heads, to differentiate them from the original Decepticon jets, whose nosecones disappeared in robot form.