Razor-Sharp

Razor-Sharp is a Decepticon Action Master partner from the toyline portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Know that my name is not Razorclaw.

Banzai-Tron's Action Master partner is Razor-Sharp, a crab whose claws can tear through nearly any metallic substance. Razor-Sharp transforms into a semi-automatic rifle that fires exploding plasma-energy projectiles, and shares a devious mindset with Banzai-Tron.

Fiction

Beast Wars: Uprising

Razor-Sharp was the decapodian mascot of the Tidal Wave, captained by Banzai-Tron. She decapitated Starhook when he suggested surrender during the closing throes of the Grand Uprising. Shortly thereafter, she presumably perished when the Tidal Wave collided with the Broadside. Derailment

Games

Transformers: Earth Wars

Toys

The Transformers

Elephantiasis of the sidearm is a real illness, you know.

• Banzai-Tron with Razor-Sharp (Action Master, 1990)

• Known designers: Masakatsu Saito (concept artist)

Part of the third assortment of individually-carded Action Masters, released in the seventh and final year of The Transformers in the US, Razor-Sharp is a robotic crab that transforms into a "semi-automatic rifle that shoots plasma energy projectiles" that any Action Master figure can hold. His gun barrel can also be extended by adding any Action Master rifle. He also has two post-holes on the back end of his "shell" that allow him to carry two more rifles.

He was only available packed in with his larger partner Banzai-Tron.

• More information on Razor-Sharp at TFU.info

Merchandise

ULTIMATES!

• Banzai-Tron (ULTIMATES!, 2022)

Part of the first wave of Transformers ULTIMATES! from Super7, packed in with Banzai-Tron, Razor-Sharp is an upscaled version of his original toy, albeit with absolutely zero articulation whatsoever. His legs and claws are separate pieces from the body, but are glued in place.

Though the toy-accurate rifle barrel sculpted and painted on the crab's underbelly cannot be moved into firing position, he can still form a weapon mode of sorts by plugging Banzai-Tron's gun onto the post on Razor-Sharp's "face", though it's a bit of a tight fit. Also, this combination is incredibly awkward for Banzai-Tron to hold, since he still has to hold it by the rifle handle, leaving a whole wide crab to rest on his shoulder. But hey, awkward weapon modes are very on-brand for Action Master partners!

Preorders for Banzai-Tron (and the rest of Wave 1) opened on January 29 2021, and closed on February 28, with the toys projected to ship in winter of that year. But due to worldwide manufacturing and shipping kerfuffles, the toys did not reach buyers until June of 2022.

Notes

Could be worse; he could have once transformed into a cassette.

• Early promotional catalogs use a redecoed Pretender Octopunch as a stand-in for Razor-Sharp, along with a slightly different color scheme on his pal Banzai-Tron. Could this be what Razor-Sharp looked like before nucleon? Sucks to be him.
• The figure can stand in a more upright "sand-crab like" posture which reveals a small robotic face; Hirofumi Ichikawa's Transformers Chronicles fan-comic depicts him this way. This transformation has not been shown as being correct in any official source, effectively making it a fan-mode... a Hirofumi Ichikawa fan-mode, mind you, but still a fan-mode.
• Razor-Sharp's color scheme is that of the "Halloween Crab" (Gecarcinus quadratus). Yes, there actually is a crab in nature with a black carapace, purple pincers, and orange legs.
• The Action Master partner robots were given the "Targetmaster" classification retroactively by Dreamwave's More than Meets the Eye profile series.
• Razor-Sharp was characterized as female in Beast Wars: Uprising, but as male in the Transformers: More than Meets the Eye profile book.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Razor-Sharp (レーザーシャープ Rēzā Shāpu)