Using rigidbody to push and pull Platform Controller

Hello All,

I'm new to Unity. I'm trying to create a 2D sidescroller game were the main character moves around the world using "bombs". There are two types of bombs(both rigidbodies), one will push the player in the opposite direction of the explosion (y,z) and the other will draw the player towards the bomb explosion. I've tried attaching a rigidbody onto the platform controller for only a second, allowing the rigidbody bomb to push the character, and then removing the rigidbody again. That doesn't seem to work. I've also tried looking at the direction of the bomb and pushing the character towards that direction. I can't get that to work either. I'm sure it is something simple that I am missing.

I can get some effect if I make a capsule collider with a rigidbody and simple input controls. Then the bombs seem to bounce the player around, but the control is not good and I would like to use the platform controller instead of writing a brand new control script. I've read on here that it is better to write your own interactions with inertia instead of using the build in physics, but from what I've seen inertia is for rigidbodies.

I've been stuck on this for over a week. lol.

Thanks in advance for the help!