Clampdown (RID)
| The name or term "Clampdown" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Clampdown (disambiguation). |
- Clampdown is a Decepticon from the Robots in Disguise portion of the Aligned continuity family.
The skittering scumbag Clampdown is always looking to make a deal to save his own shell. Despite his impressive claw strength, he's a massive coward, always ready to run (sideways) for the hills, or failing that, squeal on others to the authorities in the hopes of weaseling out of punishment. He's not a warrior in any sense of the word and tends to panic when things go wrong. Unfortunately, he's been pressganged into working with Steeljaw's pack after they saved his hide from the Autobots. To make things worse, he's now forced to work alongside Thunderhoof, a fellow Alchemor escapee and a victim of Clampdown's big mouth.
Yeah, this is gonna go over real well.
Fiction
2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon
- Voice actor: Jim Cummings (English), Setsuji Satō (Japanese), Francesco Orlando (Italian), Petri Hanttu (Finnish)
On Cybertron, Clampdown reported Thunderhoof's criminal enterprises to the authorities, leading to his arrest. Clampdown later tried to blackmail a member of the High Council, which didn't go over as well. He was arrested and imprisoned on the Alchemor and eventually escaped after the ship crashed on Earth. He went into hiding in the storm drains under Crown City. One night, he accidentally encountered a pair of human street racers, but frightened them off by trashing one of their cars from the shadows.
Bumblebee's team attempted to arrest him in his sewer hideout, but the panicked crab managed to escape by tearing apart a main pipe, washing the Autobots away. As he left the sewer, he was approached by Steeljaw, who had been watching him a while and invited him to his group. Returning to Steeljaw's hideout, Clampdown failed to impress fellow refugees Underbite and Fracture... and then Thunderhoof arrived. Uh-oh. Though Steeljaw tried to cut the hostilities short, Thunderhoof was having none of that and charged after the snitch. Clampdown fled with Thunderhoof in pursuit, Steeljaw chasing them both, and Underbite and Fracture following along (possibly out of morbid curiosity).
Both the Autobots and Decepticons found Clampdown hiding in a garbage dump, leading to a massive brawl. All of the Autobots were occupied by Steeljaw's gang, leaving Clampdown free to book it... and Thunderhoof free to chase. Clampdown was finally cornered in a water-drenched sinkhole, and in the struggle with Thunderhoof, they both slipped, bashing their heads together and knocking them both offline.
The entire gang was put into stasis cuffs, but Steeljaw was able to free himself and the others. Returning to their hideout, the other Decepticons were still very dubious about accepting Clampdown into their number, but Steeljaw assured them he'd convinced Clampdown to stay and stay loyal... because otherwise, he "wouldn't rest until I'd made him eat his own claws". Sideways
Clampdown joined the rest of the gang in spying on the scrapyard, then watched as Steeljaw recruited Kickback into the gang to serve as bait. With the Autobots distracted, the Decepticons broke into the Autobot base, intending to free the other Decepticons from their stasis pods. Unfortunately, Steeljaw didn't count on their hostages Denny and Russell Clay slipping free, and ordered Thunderhoof and Clampdown to go after them. The dysfunctional pair chased the humans through the scrapyard, and were tricked into riding a half-completed roller coaster. Clampdown managed to steer both Decepticons to safety at the last moment, and managed to recapture Denny. Before the Decepticons could complete their goal, the Autobots managed to retake the base, and Clampdown received a humiliating tail-thrashing from Grimlock. When the Decepticons reconvened at their base, Clampdown hid from a furious Steeljaw. Lockout
Since Steeljaw had paid lip service to a mysterious entity, the gang worked to scavenge materials and construct a "gateway". Clampdown was tortured by the being and made to telekinetically pinch his own arm, much to Thunderhoof's amusement. Along with the other Decepticons and their Autobot hostages, he travelled to the Crown City Colossus. Clampdown managed to prevent Grimlock from destroying the archway early, allowing Steeljaw to activate the gate and summon Megatronus. Battlegrounds, Part 1 While Megatronus dueled with Optimus Prime, the Decepticons decided to run for it, only to have their escape blocked by the other Autobots. In the ensuing melee, Clampdown was tackled and brought down by Slipstream and Jetstorm. After Megatronus was defeated, Clampdown was re-captured and placed inside a stasis pod. Battlegrounds, Part 2
After Steeljaw broke into the scrapyard, he deactivated Clampdown's stasis pod, alongside several others, as part of a bid to bolster Glowstrike's forces. When Thunderhoof brought up Steeljaw's past failures at leadership, Steeljaw informed the Decepticons of his alliance with Glowstrike, and gave them coordinates to follow while he remained at the scrapyard. The escapees later reconvened at Steeljaw's coordinates, where, along with the other newcomers, Clampdown was inspected by Glowstrike, although she seemed notably unimpressed with him as an "elite warrior". Misdirection
Clampdown gathered with Steeljaw's other followers on the roof of the Island, where he listened to Thunderhoof question Steeljaw's authority, and dryly informed the old mob boss that they listened to Steeljaw because he was "the boss". Steeljaw then arrived to update his gathered brethren about his plans to overthrow Glowstike, until she and Saberhorn arrived to talk with Steeljaw alone. Portals
Later, Clampdown was fleeing from Ratchet when he unexpectedly encountered Bumblebee's entire team. After a brief reunion with their old friend, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Ratchet captured Clampdown with no resistance. Back at the scrapyard, Bumblebee ordered Drift and Sideswipe to take Clampdown out of Stasis for questioning. After being hammered with questions by Bumblebee's entire team, Clampdown's fear overtook him and he passed out, and he was soon re-imprisoned. Decepticon Island (Part 1)
IDW Robots in Disguise comic
Following the defeat of Megatronus, Clampdown was among the Decepticons who were freed by Steeljaw and set to work mining energon for their new empire. When Team Bee turned up, Clampdown joined Fracture in attempting to fight Drift, however the Vehicons they'd been fighting alongside turned on them as a result of Steeljaw's deceit. A well-placed bomb brought the mountain down on Clampdown and his fellows, who were soon restored to stasis pods. Robots in Disguise #6
Games
Robots in Disguise mobile game
Toys
Robots in Disguise (2015)
- Clampdown (Legion Class, 2016)
- Part of the fifth wave of Robots in Disguise Legion Class toys, Clampdown transforms into a wood-paneled hatchback car. In robot mode, he can rest on his claws or on the small "tail" on his backside so he can actually stay upright on those dinky little crab-legs of his.
- His Robots in Disguise mobile game scan-badge is on his robot-mode left claw, which can be a bit tricky to scan while still in-package.
Hero Mashers
- Clampdown (2015)
- Pieces: 8
- Part of the fourth wave of Transformers Hero Mashers —and the second of the Robots in Disguise-themed product— Clampdown is a non-transforming action figure with ratchet-joints, about five inches tall. He has multiple peg-holes all over that can be used to mount any Hero Mashers accessory.
- He is designed with a removable head (well, top of his head, at least), biceps, claw-arms, and legs, all of which use the same clip-peg/hole joint. This means his pieces can be swapped around in any order, as well as swapped with any other Hero Mashers figure... which includes figures from Marvel Comics, Star Wars, and Jurassic World, meaning you can make some pretty freaky combinations.
- Clampdown's normal construction differs from all the humanoids in the entire line, in that his arms use two removable parts each instead of just one, and his legs only have a single piece each instead of two. This has confused the hell out of the Hero Mashers product photography team.
- The Robots in Disguise-branded Hero Mashers did not see release in the US at first, with the first wave eventually hitting discount chains like TJ Maxx and Marshall's. However, wave 2 did not follow, leaving its only release in European markets.
Kre-O
- Bumblebee Disc Demolisher (2015)
- Set number: B0949'
- Pieces: 186
- Kreons: Bisk, Bumblebee, Clampdown
- Part of the Robots in Disguise-branded Kre-O product, Kreon Clampdown is a normal Kreon with a Hound-style helmet and claw-hands... riding a big four-legged contraption. He comes in the "Bumblebee Disc Demolisher" set, which includes a large disc-firing vehicle, a stasis cell, and Kreons of Bumblebee and fellow crustacean-bot Bisk.
- Despite his short stature in the cartoon, Kreon Clampdown's leg-assembly thing makes him the tallest of the Kreons in the line. Also, according to the instructions, his differently-colored claws are backwards from the show model orientation. Oops.
- This set originally only appeared in Canadian and Asian-market stores. By late 2015 however, it had turned up in large numbers at TJ Maxx and Marshall's discount stores in the US.
Adventure
- A redeco of the Legion Class Clampdown figure, this toy replaces the original's black plastic with purple. While this does make him overall more show-accurate, it also results in him having purple tires. And his teeth are gray for some reason.
- Clampdown was only available in Japan as part of a four-pack with Optimus Prime, Ratchet, and Drift. Man, he is screwed.
- Like the rest of the Adventure EZ Collection sets, some online retailers like Amazon Japan were still selling it 2 years later at greatly reduced prices (70% off).
Merchandise
- Clampdown (McDonald's Happpy Meal toy, 2015)
- McNumber: 8
- Part of the 2015 McDonald's Transformers/My Little Pony Happy Meal promotion, Clampdown is a non-transforming action figure. His left claw is actually a spring-loaded missile tied to his arm by a string, triggered by pressing the Decepticon symbol on his bicep. The claw itself also has a spring-loaded gimmick, clamping shut when the trigger panel between the claw-blades is struck.
- Amusingly, this version of Clampdown is not too far from proper scale with the normal Robots in Disguise Warrior-class figures.
- The bag he comes in and instruction sheet have a scan-badge that unlocks a random amount of Energon "currency" and a randomized bonus power-up item in the Robots in Disguise mobile game. This badge is the same for all of the Robots in Disguise Happy Meal bags and instructions.
- Clampdown can also be scanned into the McDonald's McPlay app, which recognizes the toy's silhouette. Doing so unlocks Clampdown's version of the "Stasis Pod Battle" game.
- Clampdown (Tiny Titans, 2015)
- Series: 4
- Number: 3/12
- Part of the fourth series of Tiny Titans, this version of Clampdown is a small soft-plastic figurine. While most of the Tiny Titans are "superdeformed" figures, Clampdown's unusual proportions mean this toy is pretty dang accurate. Sold in a blindpacked baggie, he comes with a collectible card with a unique scan-badge for the mobile game, which unlocks a random amount of Energon "currency" and a randomized bonus power-up item.
- This series did not hit normal brick-and-mortar retail in particularly large numbers.
Notes
Foreign names
- Japanese: Clampdown (クランプダウン Kuranpudaun)
- Mandarin: Dàzhìcái (China, 大制裁, "Big Punishment")
