Transformers Cybertron Crumplezone & Ransack review

Crumplezone and Ransack are like Team Rocket mixed with Dumb and Dumber; neither of them really know how to work that competently, though they are similar to George and Lenny from Of Mice and Men where Ransack's the smarter one. Not smart enough, but still to the point he can be a schemer. That said, they still make for a decently hard-to-tackle duo if their opponent isn't from Velocitron; even Crumply can go faster than the fastest Transformer outside of his homeworld. Another thing worth mentioning for him specifically is that he shares the title of "first Transformer I ever owned" alongside Optimus Prime from the same line! As for Ransack, he is a recent purchase since I wanted to have these two in my collection. Let's see how well they hold up!

Here we have the Velocitron duo in their vehicle modes. Crumplezone turns into some kind of 3-wheeled car with a single seat in the cockpit, and clear blue wheels that compliment the white and two shades of green better than I thought. Ransack is a Tron cycle, which is typical for Hasbro to copy yet he manages to stand out for being more alien in design on top of using lots of red. I don't have any issues with either mode, since both have this futuristic look that makes me want to zip them through the floors with how sharp and fast they look. That said, Ransack's rear wheel assembly is upside down, making it lift from the rear somewhat. It doesn't affect him since it's not detrimental to the toy, but it isn't easy to fix because of the pins and size. Some can tell that the legs of Crumplezone aren't even concealed, but considering this is an alien vehicle and not an Earth one, he isn't focused on being a robot in disguise.

Crumplezone's attack mode has the Cyber Key deploy the thrusters forwards to make missile launchers. While my copy is aged somewhat, I know that the weight of the cannons makes them hard to deploy seamlessly. That and combined with the pegs they snap onto wearing down if you detach these, and they kind of droop a bit. On the flip side, the winglets give him a race car spoiler look.

As for Ransack, you can have the cannon barrels deploy for a sneak attack, and it is in this mode where you may notice the wheel assembly being upside down as I alluded to earlier. If this had been assembled right, then it wouldn't point downwards like it is right now. Oddly, his Cyber Key border lacks silver paint when that is normally kept on other toys.

The transformation for Crumplezone is pretty easy, but for a Voyager made in 2005, the chunkiness and satisfying ratchet joints he has makes up for that. It's kind of cool how the front wheel folds under the cockpit so we can have a tapered V-shaped chest. Speaking of, the robot mode is appropriately bulky and hefty for a guy like him. The huge forearms help complete that look, and they contrast the undersized legs. Normally, weird proportions will be a make or break thing for some TFs, but it works so perfectly for a dude who's a dumb bruiser. I even like that his pre-Bulkhead jaw is articulated, and while the whites, three tones of green, and bits of blue and gold may seemingly not work on some robots, it somehow compliments Crumplezone more than it would anyone else. And hey, if you think the backpack is clunky, then at least you can pretend it's a jetpack.

Transforming Ransack is sort of like any other cycle bot, from the rear becoming the legs to the arms making up the middle portion, but the front wheel rotates 90 degrees. Doesn't serve much of a purpose but it does something. As for this guy's robot mode, it's about what one would expect from a cycleformer, especially at this scale. The arms stick out more from the rest of the body due to the shoulders, while the rear wheel halves get in the way of said arms somewhat. Beyond that, he looks fine, though I'm surprised this character wasn't retooled from Legacy Arcee for a modern toy. Do keep in mind that the forearms are painted black on red plastic.

Articulation for both is similar yet different due to the budgets of each size class. Both have neck swivels, but Crumplezone has swivels for the shoulders, biceps, forearms, waist, and upper legs. He also has ratchets for outward arm movement as well as the knees, and the hips are fairly universal. As for Ransack, the shoulders are also on swivels with hinges for the rest of the arms, and while the waist rotates, it is limited. The elbows and knees are on ball joints. Their Cyber Key gimmicks work in bot mode, and now we have a double barrel gun for Ransack and shoulder cannons for Crumplezone. It should be worth mentioning that everytime you insert the key, electronic sounds play.

As far as Crumplezone's reuses are concerned, his Dark retool is 80% altered from the old toy. The new color scheme is wicked and fiery, almost fitting for a Halloween repaint better than the Universe Snow Cat figure. The colors on the head especially have a bit of a Frankenstein's monster look.

As for Optimus Primal, he reuses the old style of tooling from Crumplezone, but keep in mind that he lacks any electronics. It's a surprise that the deco from Optimus Primal fits this mold better than expected. 

Takara had a special repaint for Ransack based on a Japanese police deco, which is repurposed later as a new character for the New Legends series. Not much else to say about this but it could work for an Autobot version of Ransack.

The GTS version of Ransack makes him black with white and gold here and there, which almost makes him based on Animated Prowl before Animated was even a thing if not for the green.

Much like Optimus Primal, Rattrap received a special repaint, with both of them in the Dawn's of Future Past 5-pack also included with similarly themed versions of Cheetor, Rhinox (both of them based on figures I reviewed earlier), and Dynobot (repainted from the Armada Hoist mold I should get at some point). The rear wheel assembly is correct on him this time, and he has a Golden Disk-themed Cyber Key.

Though not an official repaint, Ransack has had a custom repaint made by Shawn D. Tessmann, who was the head of the BotCon Customization Class back then. The was canonized in one of the FunPub story lines where she was nearly caught the crossfire between Vector Prime and Ramjet. She may not be a true Hasbro-approved toy, but the fan club magazine did provide instructions on how to make your very own. Just replace all opaque red with lavender and you are all set.

Lat's close things off with a random size comparison, that including Masterpiece Bluestreak. Maybe I should have put them with some modern Cybertron figures, but oh well. Overall, Crumplezone is one of the best examples of balancing chunky fun with good articulation and engineering that the modern main line could never top. Yeah the gimmick is a bit too heavy for the strings, but it is manageable to work with. As for Ransack, he is fine but not exactly a Scout figure I would recommend 100%. You mostly get him to accompany Crumplezone.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Crumplezone)

⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Ransack)