Ransack (Cybertron)
| The name or term "Ransack" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Ransack (disambiguation). |
- Ransack is a Velocitronian Decepticon from the Cybertron portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.
Ransack is the brains of the Decepticon front on the Speed Planet... but that's not saying very much at all, since Crumplezone is dumb as a bag of hammers and Dirt Boss is so fixated on grinding Override into the dirt he doesn't care about anything else. In fact, Ransack is pretty dumb in his own way, but his gift for motor-mouthed, sneaky weaseling borders on genius.
He's a coward, a sneak, a luckless loser, and small-time chiseler who's had his optics opened to a far greater form of evil and power previously unimagined, yet completely lacks the intelligence to attain it. Sometimes it seems Megatron only tolerates him because his antics keep the Autobots distracted. If he has a good point to him, it's that he and Crumplezone seem to actually be friends, even though Ransack clearly takes advantage of his huge partner's bulk to lend muscle to his schemes, or as cover when said schemes almost invariably end up in the gutter.
The only time Ransack acts alone is... in his act. Yes, Ransack has tried stand-up comedy. He dreams of one day becoming a star, but his attempts have been met with little success. Not even his grab for the Velocitronian entertainment industry has caught the eye of Override, his secret crush. Of course, she finds him to be little more than an obnoxious troublemaking moron and is totally oblivious to his "affections".
Fiction
Cybertron cartoon
- Voice actor: Louis Chirillo (English), Sam Vincent (English, "Showdown"), Hiroaki Hirata (Japanese), Jhonny Torres (Latin-American Spanish)
Ransack and Crumplezone were the first Velocitronians approached by Megatron, and were quickly cowed into servitude. Landmine Under Megatron's command, they sought out clues to the planet's Cyber Planet Key, first terrorizing Brakedown and Clocker in order to beat the info out of them. Space And then convincing Dirt Boss to help them win the Planet Cup race. All throughout, they snuck around, trying to manipulate and cheat their way though, eventually abandoning Dirt Boss during the desert portion of the race. They made it to the final leg of the race, a vast, twisting track deep inside the planet, but blew all their power very early in the race and were left eating dust by Hot Shot and Override. They decided to attempt to just flat-out steal the Planet Cup, and naturally failed.
After their failure to capture the Speed Planet's Cyber Planet Key, Ransack and Crumplezone joined Megatron's forces off-planet attempting to collect the other Cyber Planet Keys. When Starscream gave Megatron a false map that was in fact a trap, Ransack was trapped out in deep space within a steel globe for a while with Megatron, Thundercracker and Mudflap.
Once freed, Ransack joined his boss on the return to Earth, fighting against both the Autobots and the Decepticons under Starscream's command. The battlefield quickly shifted to Cybertron, where Ransack narrowly avoided becoming lunch for a swarm of Scrapmetal... his pal Crumplezone was not so lucky, however. Crumplezone was revived by Megatron shortly after, and the grateful duo continued to follow Megatron, all the way to Gigantion the Giant Planet. There... they suffered humiliating defeat after humiliating defeat, pretty much. For a brief moment they had a shot at actually achieving something for Megatron by kidnapping the Mini-Con Jolt, but were outsmarted by Coby Hansen and his new Cobybot, then subsequently blasted through a few layers of Gigantion by Optimus Prime using Metroplex's colossal axe "Sparkdrinker", which was really overkill.
When Megatron-then-Galvatron finally obtained the Omega Lock and all four Cyber Planet Keys, they followed him back to Cybertron and the edge of the Unicron Singularity. There, when threatened by hundreds of Transformers from across the colony worlds, Galvatron used the powers of the Omega Lock to make his lackeys gigantic and incredibly powerful. Ransack was thrilled for about five seconds, until he realized he was still the smallest of the crew, and that even at his new size, he was no bigger than the Transformers from Gigantion, who decided to gang up on him, of course.
After Galvatron's plans to accelerate the growth of the Unicron Singularity failed, Ransack and the other now-normal-sized Decepticons left Galvatron, realizing that he had had no intention of sparing their lives from the cataclysm should he have succeeded. They re-appeared on the displaced Jungle Planet, as the citizens and Autobots were trying to prevent one of the massive planetary engines that was returning the world to its rightful place from falling over. Surprising everyone, they helped right the engine, having decided to try being good guys and being on the winning side for a change.
Ransack, Crumplezone, and Thunderblast journeyed together across each of the colony worlds, trying to find a place to fit in. Ultimately failing, on Earth they cobbled together a makeshift rocket and headed for the stars, shanghaiing Thundercracker before they left, eager to become the New Decepticon Army.
The rocket crashed on Mars, to comedic effect.
Galaxy Force manga
Cybertron toy bios
Ransack got a new paint job in order to be a spy. However, the pressure was intense someone as twitchy as him. Ransack ran his vocal processor so much that Galvatron considered removing it entirely. Ransack GTS toy bio
TransTech
Ransack was part of the Offworlder Zone Security Administration and aided his fellow police officers in arresting Megatron, Battletrap, and Stepper. Cybertron's Most Wanted
Spacewarp's Log
Ransack, Thunderblast, and Crumplezone were found by Spacewarp acting as goons for hire on Spensifax D (or A) when the pirate was trying to steal a Reciprocating Inverted Subspace Knife. Ransack decided to turn her in, though, much to Thunderblast's chagrin. After Spacewarp got away with the RISK, Thunderblast returned and patched things up with him and Crumplezone.
Games
Roll Out
During Optimus Prime's search for the Cyber Planet Key of Velocitron, the hooligans Ransack, Crumplezone, and Dirt Boss tried vainly to stand in his way. Roll Out
Toys
Cybertron
- Ransack (Scout class, 2005)
- Japanese ID number: GD-05
- Accessories: Twin-barreled blaster, Speed Planet Cyber Key
- Ransack transforms into a Velocitron style motorcycle. By inserting a Cyber Key into the cycle mode's back end, a pair of non-firing guns flip out to form thrusters. This assembly becomes his blaster-weapon in robot mode. He comes with a Velocitron-style Cyber Key; the original Hasbro version of this lacks the silver paint border of other versions, but has the Key code sc92 on the back. The stock photo at right shows his heels as black; they're red on the production toy, probably indicating a paint operation that would have been over-budget.
- This mold was also used to make the BotCon 2006 exclusive Rattrap and was used as the model for Quickslinger and pre-beast mode Tarantulas (seen in "Theft of the Golden Disk").
- Gasket Police-Type (Scout class, 2005)
- Japanese ID number: EX-08
- Accessories: Twin-barreled blaster, Speed Planet Cyber Key
- In Japan, a special police-deco version of Ransack was made available as a ToysЯUs exclusive on October 7th 2005, with the purchase of 4000 yen (approximately $35 USD) worth of Transformers product.
- Ransack GTS (Scout class, 2006)
- Accessories: Twin-barreled blaster, Speed Planet Cyber Key
- Ransack was redecoed for the "Primus Unleashed" portion of Cybertron in a "stealth" paint job in primarily black and yellow. This coloration was made available only in the Hasbro line and bears a striking resemblance to the canceled Generation 2 Laser Cycle version of Jazz. He again comes with a silver-bordered Speed Planet Key, this time with the Key code s2w5 stamped on the back.
Universe (2008)
- Warriors From Three Worlds 3-pack (Multi-pack, 2009)
- Accessories: Twin-barreled blaster, Speed Planet Cyber Key
- This pack of three Scout class figures contains Ransack GTS, Repugnus, and Scattorshot figures. These figures are identical to their original releases, except for a small size-class code tampograph. This three-pack has been sighted at Family Dollar and Walgreens stores in the United States, in Sainsburys stores in the United Kingdom, in Canadian Tire stores in (where else?) Canada for the 2009 holiday period and at Kmart in New Zealand and Australia in the latter half of 2010. In late 2010 it reappeared in the United States at Toys"R"Us stores.
Merchandise
Attacktix
- Ransack (Booster, 2006)
| ID number: | TF18 |
| Rarity: | |
| Faction: | Decepticon |
| Class: | Specialist |
| Special: | Recover -- 14/26 (54%) |
| Point Cost: | 20 |
| Base Speed: | 8 |
| Attack Type: | Prodder/Twist and Throw Fork |
- Just like his cartoon counterpart, Attacktix Ransack is good mates with his pal Crumplezone. Ransack's "Recover" special power allows him to stand up as long as you have a Crumplezone piece in-play.
- Ransack's weapon is a unique Prodder attack. You can use it as a standard prodder, triggering it to knock an opponent down. You can also position the prongs on an opponent and turn them to throw them. This attack is a compromise on what Hasbro had planned as a corkscrew attack.
Notes
- The development line-art shown on Hasbro's Cyber Key Code website showed the intended assembly of Ransack's rear wheel struts. On all releases of Ransack [Gasket], the rear wheel struts were swapped. This change raises his rear end up higher in cycle mode but slightly improves Ransack's robot mode by giving more clearance for arm articulation. Whether this change was intentional or an example of misassembly is not clear, but the Hasbro version of the mold did compensate for the change by retooling his wheel struts to prevent the rear wheel from rubbing against the back end.
- Some fans have swapped the rear wheel struts themselves, as it is only a metal pin keeping them attached to the main body of the cycle. However, this does take a bit of force, plus carries the risk of damage to the strut pieces, which use a softer type of plastic.
- The BotCon 2006 "Axalon" Rattrap redeco of the mold swapped the struts back to match the original line-art.
- Ransack's English-language vocal characterization appears to have been patterned after David Lander's portrayal of Andrew "Squiggy" Squigman in Laverne & Shirley.
- Ransack's robot mode CGI model appears in the viewscreen of the Hasbro version of the Real Gear Robots toy Spy Shot 6.
- Ransack appears on a Transformers: Cybertron wallpaper on Monkeybar TV... Yet he's with the Autobots.
Foreign names
- Japanese: Gasket (ガスケット Gasuketto)
- Hungarian: Fosztogató ("Looter")
- Korean: Gasket (가스켓 Gaseukes)
