Powerhug (BW)

Powerhug is a Maximal-allied Insectron from the Beast Wars II portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

The Power of HUGS!

Powerhug (パワーハッグ Pawāhaggu) is a brusque, rough-and-tumble lug who lets his fists do the talking, but he is not a bully. In fact, he's actually a really nice guy. A dedicated martial artist who believes firmly in fair play, he treats fighting more like a refereed wrestling match. Powerhug will never hit a foe after he's knocked them down and always gives the opposition the chance to hit back, if only so he can knock them flat on their back all over again.

Powerhug is unfortunately something of a klutz, especially in his pill bug beast mode. He prefers to get around by rolling, but he never figured out how to stop and will flatten friend and foe alike completely by accident. Powerhug joins the rest of the Insectrons in their feud with the Autorollers, a group of Predacons who do use their size and strength to bully others with no regard for fair play.

Fiction

Beast Wars II cartoon

Voice actor: Takashi Matsuyama (Japanese)

Powerhug and the Insectrons were wanderers of the galaxy in search of peace. During those wanderings, they came into conflict with the Autorollers. Powerhug in particular fell afoul of Autocrusher. Danger! Scissor Boy

Eventually, he and the Insectrons settled on the planet Gaia. Fiercely territorial, they defended their lands in the South Continent when the Maximals and Predacons arrived. Starscream of the Predacons enacted a long-term scheme to manipulate the Insectrons into believing the Maximals were their true foes. Powerhug and Scissor Boy were close to their friend Drill Nuts, who worked on a warning system to detect hostility and identify their true opponents. When Starscream and BB fired upon the Maximals, they lured them into an encounter with the Insectrons. Drill Nuts's scanner detected no hostile intent from the flyers, but the aggressive Bighorn demonstrated "infinite hostility", prompting a fight between the Maximals and Insectrons.

Powerhug confronted the overly aggressive Bighorn, using his judo skills to divert the Maximal's brutal charges. During the fight, though, even the hotheaded Bighorn noticed that Powerhug never pressed the advantage when Bighorn was flat on his back—he waited honorably for his opponent to rise before continuing the fight. After Bighorn took Powerhug's measure, their fight became even more sportsmanlike, and they tied for throws 2-2 before taking a breather. This encounter with Powerhug and similar ones with his friends led the Maximals to realize the Insectrons weren't inherently their enemies. Friend or Foe? The Insect Robos

SURRENDER THE LEAVES AND YOU'LL LIVE.

Starscream's next plot lured the Insectrons to Mikazuki Island with the promise of an oil party. Powerhug arrived with Drill Nuts, Bigmos and Tonbot, and a recording from the Predacon told them to start without him. The super-refined oil quickly put the Insectrons into a drunken state, starting a brawl between them. Powerhug was particularly blitzed and started shooting off his guns. The Maximals and remaining Insectrons arrived to stop the squabbling, and the two groups joined forces against an equally plastered Galvatron, who had inadvertently gotten into the same stash of spiked oil. In the aftermath, the Maximals and Insectrons made peace. The Strongest Tag Team?

With the Maximals no longer considered a threat, the Insectrons made plans to get the Predacons off their lands. Scissor Boy decided to give the Maximals a data disc with all their knowledge on the Autorollers from past encounters, while Drill Nuts and Powerhug tested out the new and improved hostility detector. Unfortunately, Drill Nuts's invention still wasn't particularly reliable. Meanwhile, Scissor Boy and Tasmania Kid got captured by the Autorollers, who wanted the location to the Insectrons' lair. Boy and Kid intended to lead them into an ambush at the Maximal base instead. Drill Nuts and Powerhug weren't in on the plan, though, and when they saw their comrades held hostage, they started a landslide. Powerhug was confident Kid and Boy were skilled enough to avoid the rocks. That...was a mistake. The various combatants ended up at the feet of Megastorm and the Galvaburg II instead. Fortunately, the other Maximals arrived and together they and the Insectrons overcame the Predacons. Drill Nuts and Powerhug apologized for messing up the ambush plan, but Drill Nuts was content that his detector was now giving an accurate reading...there was no hostility between the Maximals and Insectrons anymore. Danger! Scissor Boy

Megastorm soon organized a mass offensive by the Predacons, prompting the Maximals and Insectrons to fight together again. Drill Nuts continued to work on perfecting his hostility detector, much to Scissor Boy's skepticism. Their arguing was interrupted by Powerhug, who continued to have trouble rolling down hills. Still, he said, it was the fastest way! Predacon General Offensive!

Powerhug joined the other Insectrons acting as recon for Lio Convoy. They reported to the Maximals when Majin Zarak arrived at Point B-2, a narrow box canyon that would put the behemoth Predacon at a strategic disadvantage. Lio Convoy in Imminent Danger!

Powerhug and the Insectrons then helped the Maximals complete a launching platform so that Lio Convoy and his crew could reach the Nemesis out in space before it could drain Gaia of its Angolmois Energy. Fly Out! Planet Gaia

2006 IDW Beast Wars continuity

Powerhug was a renowned martial arts instructor with a score to settle with the Autorollers after they destroyed his school and many of his students. To atone for this failure, he swore to use his prowess in martial arts from all over the galaxy to exact vengeance upon the Autorollers, and all those who fight alongside them. Beast Wars Sourcebook #3

Beast Wars: Uprising

Powerhug was a delivery driver worked out of the Hydrax Plateau atop the Rust Sea. He hauled cargo and tankers full of fuel back and forth from Yuss in the north to Stanix in the south and the Hydrax spaceport in the center. A good-natured bot, Powerhug had so many friends at the spaceport he was often waived through security without a full check. This led him to be targeted by Packrat of the Darksyders. At The Bronze in Fort Scyk, Packrat lured Powerhug into a card game and fleeced him for 762 CPKs. In exchange for cancelling his debt, Powerhug agreed to help Packrat slip into the spaceport and fake a breakdown to draw attention from the guards. Not All Megatrons

2005 IDW continuity

Powerhug was one of Onyx Prime's Maximals. When this bestial horde invaded Cybertron, he was one of the many warriors who wound up battling Arcee. Endless Forever

2021 Beast Wars comic

Powerhug was contained in one of the many stasis pods on the Axalon that were ejected when the ship was caught in a battle with the Darksyde and left in orbit above the planet they crashed on. Savage Landing Part 1 The pod was soon brought down to the surface due to sabotage carried out by Blackarachnia. However, due to her not being able to upload the entirety of Tarantulas' code to said pods, Pod Part 2 Powerhug kept his Maximal programming.

Upon awakening, Powerhug was captured by the Predacons and held prisoner in the Darksyde. When Skold was duped into his cell, the chipper Powerhug introduced himself and helped reinforce Skold's self-esteem. With her confidence boosted, Skold promptly decapitated Powerhug and plucked from his torso what she needed to jimmy open the cell door, leaving the decapitated Powerhug to groan in pain. Skold's No Good, Very Bad Day

Toys

Beast Wars

He hugs people for support. As in, his own physical support because his ankles are like pretzel sticks.

• Powerhug (パワーハッグ, 1998)

• ID number: C-18
• Release date: 1998 May 25
• Known designers: Takio Ejima (TakaraTomy), Masakatsu Saito (concept artist)

Part of the fifth wave of Beast Wars II products in Takara's Beast Wars toyline, Powerhug is a redeco of Beast Wars Deluxe Class Predacon Retrax, transforming into an organic pill bug (or possibly pill millipede)... albeit one far more horrifying and spiky than any known species.

In isopod mode, his pincers (which pill bugs and pill millipedes do not have) can snap shut with spring-loaded force, activated by a trigger on his head. His back end houses his spring-loaded "Hug Cutter" stinger (which pill bugs and pill millipedes also do not have) that is activated with a trigger on his rear. Pressing the two gray L-shaped latches in the middle of his back causes him to curl up into a ball to form his "Hug Hell Car" mode.

In robot mode, both spring-activated spiky attack gimmicks are available to him at the end of each arm. The spring-activated gimmick that curls up his bug mode can be used to make his arms snap together in robot mode, grasping his target in his "Hug Press" attack. Due to his body-curling gimmick, his arms have no real articulation, but can be unpegged from the shells to move horizontally at the elbow and wrist as long as the shoulders remain primed for the gimmick.

His tiny insect legs can be easily popped off from his body and lost forever due to their small size. He is also incredibly top-heavy in robot mode and has problems standing unassisted, especially thanks to his robot feet not really locking into place and being easily folded up from the sheer weight of his upper body.

A retool of this mold was planned for the Beast Wars Neo portion of the Japanese Beast Wars toyline as "Unicron's subordinate", but it was ultimately abandoned.

• More information on Powerhug at TFU.info

• Jū Sōkō no Taiketsu: Powerhug VS Autocrusher (重装甲の対決 パワーハッグVSオートクラッシャー, 1998)

• ID number: VS-18
• Release date: May 25, 1998

Powerhug was also available in the "Heavy Armor Showdown" two-pack with the Autocrusher, also released in the fifth wave of Beast Wars II toys.

Both toys are identical to their individual releases.