Drill Bit (Armada)

Drill Bit is a Mini-Con from the Armada portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

"IF THE ZOO BANS ME FOR HOLLERING AT THE ANIMALS I WILL FACE GOD AND WALK BACKWARDS INTO HELL"
5:46 PM · May 22, 2012

Drill Bit is only interested in one thing: busting some heads. The enforcer of the Destruction Mini-Con Team, Drill Bit honestly doesn't care about Dualor's plans of independence, he just likes having a good excuse to engage in his favorite pastime. He'd even happily work with the Decepticons if it came down to it, for that matter. So long as he gets to hit people and break stuff.

Fiction

Toy pack-in comics

Starscream and the Destruction Mini-Con Team were sent to destroy a satellite dish that could have helped detect Megatron. While they succeeded at destroying the dish, the Destruction Team were tied up by the Autobots guarding it. Armada Volume 2

Armada cartoon

Do the impossible, see the invisible! Row, row, fight the powah!

Drill Bit's Mini-Con storage panel was discovered in a long-abandoned subway tunnel by Rad and the kids, wedged inside a lump of rock. In a confrontation with the Decepticons, the panel fell into the hands of Cyclonus, who Powerlinxed with Drill Bit. Cyclonus had a brief bit of fun blasting away at the Autobots with his enhanced power, but since the Decepticons had accomplished their mission with Drill Bit's acquisition, they soon teleported away. Underground

Cyclonus later employed Drill Bit in battle, attached him to his arm as a striking weapon to use against Scavenger. Works in theory, but first you have to strike your opponent, and Scavenger made that a very difficult thing to accomplish. Trust

Drill Bit appeared in the battle footage Jetfire reviewed at base after joining the Autobots. Detection

Dreamwave Armada comic

Drill Bit and the rest of the Destruction Team appeared to be used by the Decepticons during the attack on Cyber City, and as such didn't get to evacuate Cybertron alongside most other Mini-Cons. Armada #2 Thankfully, this wasn't really the case, as Drill Bit was on the escape vessel when it crashed on Earth's moon. Led by Dualor, the Mini-Cons on the Moon constructed a fortress base where they could live in peace, then summoned the Mini-Cons on Earth to join them. Armada #9 Drill Bit spent most of the time afterwards silently following Dualor around, and he was present when the team leader stuffed Rad White into an orbital mine to keep the Autobots from attacking the moonbase. A while later, he was overseeing the defenses alongside his comrades when Leader-1 suddenly attacked them. Armada #10 Drill Bit was knocked unconscious and was helpless to resist when Megatron showed up and captured him and the others. Armada #11

The Destruction Team didn't give up so easily, though. By activating a failsafe program, they overloaded the Decepticons with power and saved themselves from being used against their will. This allowed Dualor to strike a deal with Megatron: They'd lend the Decepticons their strength in exchange for some degree of leadership. Megatron accepted and handed Drill Bit and the others to Cyclonus, whom they promptly drove insane with power anyway. Fire & Ice Megatron mused that he knew that the Mini-Cons would betray him, then retrieved them alongside the unconscious Cyclonus. Armada #13

Drill Bit and his teammates were subsequently punished via Punishment Cube. Worlds Collide, Part 1 of 4 They were not among the Decepticon-held Mini-Cons released to join the fight against Unicron. Megatron was vague on their fate, simply saying that the Decepticons were "better off without them". The End

Panini Armada comic

I don't get it, not one bit!

Back on Cybertron, Drill Bit helped Dualor devise a plan to get rid of the Decepticons by assassinating Megatron. The plan consisted of luring the Decepticon leader to Autobot Command HQ, where Drill Bit and Buzzsaw had planted magno-web charges to blow him up. Ultimately, the plan failed due to Sparkplug's unwillingness to sacrifice the Autobots. Counter-Strike!

In the modern era, Drill Bit and the other Destruction Team members ended up on the moon following their escape from Cybertron. One day, they found Cyclonus crashed on the moon's surface, and decided to pay the Decepticons back for their crimes. Power-linking with the unconscious Decepticon, the Destruction Team boosted his power and took control of his body, then used him to attack the Decepticons' moonbase. They even managed to defeat Megatron himself, but before they could finish him off, their power-links were severed by Starscream's sonic destabiliser. Drill Bit and the others escaped back to their hideout, where Starscream later contacted them and offered them a deal... Dawn of Destruction!

Toys

Armada

Don't believe in yourself. Believe in me who believes in you.

• Destruction Mini-Con Team (Mini-Con 3-pack, 2002 / 2003)

• Takara name: Destruction Micron
• Takara ID number: MM-04
• Takara release date: December 26 2002
• Known designers: Yuichiro Hira (Takara)

Released in the second wave of Armada Mini-Con three-packs, Drill Bit transforms into a treaded tunneling machine. He features a gear-wheel system that causes his drill to spin when he is rolled in vehicle mode. He can also be attached to the underside of the Armada Cyclonus mold, interacting with the Decepticon’s gear-wheel rotor system so the drill spins as Cyclonus's rotor-trigger is pulled.

The stock pictures have Drill Bit's vehicle mode slightly mistransformed; his robot mode head isn't twisted to the back.

He was nominally only available in a three-pack with his teammates Buzzsaw and Dualor.

This mold was also used to make Rock Krusher and Monocle.

• More information on Drill Bit at TFU.info

• Sandstorm & Destruction Micron (Multi-pack, 2002)

• Sonokong name: Sandstorm & Destruction
• ID number: MS-04
• Takara release date: December 26, 2002

The Destruction Microns were also included in a multi-pack in Japan with Sandstorm and his partner Mini-Con Cannon. Each toy is identical to their individual Takara releases.

This set was also released by Sonokong in Korea, with no changes from the Takara release, other than the packaging. This was also the only way to obtain Sandstorm (Cyclonus) and the "Destructions" in Korea.

Go beyond the impossible and kick reason to the curb! That's how the Destruction Team does things!

• Destruction Micron Exdimensions (Mini-Con 3-pack, 2002)

• ID number: MM-09
• Release date: December 26, 2002

A somewhat more limited-edition—but still regular retail—redeco of the Destruction Microns was released by Takara as part of the Exdimensions series. This version of the team was decoed in primarily orange with varying shades of desaturated blue.

The packaging is nearly identical to the original Takara three-pack, showing the team in their original colors in both art and photography; the team name is now in silver foil and marked with "Exdimensions" (エクスディメンションズ Ekusudimenshonzu) underneath.

This toy also doubles as the separate character Crush.

• More information on Exdimensions Crush at TFU.info

It is a good shrubbery. I like the laurels particularly.

• Crush Undergrove Edition (Promotional Micron, 2003)

• Release date: January 1, 2003

Exclusive to Ito Yokaido stores in Japan, one member of the "Undergrove Edition" Destruction Microns were given at random to customers who bought MC-01 Convoy Super Mode throughout January (until they ran out of them), though reportedly some stores gave one away with any Legends of the Microns purchase.

"Undergrove Edition" was not on the instructions packed in with the toys; the name was ultimately revealed in the "Micron Museum" portion of Takara's Legends of the Microns website on July 18th that year.

• More info on Undergrove Crush at TFU.info

• Crush White Micron (Promotional Micron, 2003)

• Release date: April 26, 2003

As part of the "Golden Week" holiday, Japanese "TF Station" affiliate stores gave out solid-white versions of the Destruction Microns at a limit of one per customer.

In some stores, these pieces were given out with the intent of being used in "paint your own" in-store events.

Mine is the drill that pierces the heavens!

• Crush Space Galaxy Edition (Micron pack-in, 2003)

• Release date: May 1, 2003

In May, JUSCO stores in Japan got in special versions of Convoy Super Mode that contained one member of the "Space Galaxy Edition" Destruction Microns per box… but the bonus Microns were blind-packed inside the boxes.

Yes, you read that correctly. Blind-packed inside the most expensive toy in the line (at the time).

As such, this version of the team is among the most expensive of the promotional Microns on the secondary market.

• Road Wrecker Mini-Con Team (Mini-Con 3-pack, 2003)

Released in the sixth wave of Armada Mini-Con three-packs, a green-and-gray redeco of the Destruction Mini-Con Team was put out under a new team name, but as the same individual characters.

This set was released under the Unicron Battles branding, hyping up the release of the giant Unicron toy.

• More info on Road Wrecker Drill Bit at TFU.info

• Predacon with Side Burn and Skid-Z (Bonus Buy pack, 2003)

The entire team, in their original colors, was included in a "Bonus Buy" set, in a small bubble added to the top of the normal Predacon box, sold for the price of Predacon alone.

It is currently unknown what retailer this set was sold through.

• Blurr with Incinerator and Bonus Mini-Con (Bonus pack, 2003)

• Sideways with Rook & Crosswise and Bonus Mini-Con (Bonus pack, 2003)

• Release date: November 28, 2003

In November of 2003, US Toys"R"Us stores had special bonus pack Super-Con (Deluxe) toys, which came with a single bonus Mini-Con attached to the card over their sticker, for less than the price as a normal Super-Con during Toys"R"Us's post-Thanksgiving-day sale. Each of the original-color Destruction Mini-Con Team members could come packaged with either Blurr or Sideways.

Energon

• Road Wrecker Mini-Con Team & Night Attack Mini-Con Team (Mini-Con 6-pack, 2004)

A re-release of the Road Wrecker Mini-Con Team was included as part of an Energon "Mini-Con 6-pack" with the Night Attack Mini-Con Team.

This pack was a shared exclusive to both Toys"R"Us and Walmart stores in the US.

Notes

• In regards to Buzzsaw and the Destruction Team's ambiguous fate in the Dreamwave Armada comic, Simon Furman has said in the letters page of "Multiplicity, Pt. 3" that it can be assumed that Megatron strapped them to a rocket and fired them into the sun.
• In the game Transformers Armada: The Energon Within, the Decepticon "Miner" units are based on Drill Bit's design.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Crush (クラッシュ Kurasshu)