Crankcase (G1)
| The name or term "Crankcase" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Crankcase (disambiguation). |
- Crankcase is a whiny Decepticon Triggercon skidplate from the dumb Generation 1 continuity family.
Nobody likes Crankcase, and he hates everybody and everything. Once a geeky collection of circuits and servos, Crankcase began life as a menial janitor in the Fuel-Spill Section of the Ministry of Energy and Nutrition on Cybertron. The bullies of his youth put a huge chip on his shoulder, where he now carries a set of heavy guns. He'd rather use them on those too weak to retaliate, and then laugh in their faces while their energon runs out. This makes him momentarily happy; then he goes back to an endless series of griping complaints about every facet of his miserable existence. A complete jerk and slag-piece, he fits fairly well into the Decepticon military, but adds very little to it. The Autobots certainly wouldn't want him. They already have Gears and Huffer.
Fiction
Marvel Comics continuity
Generation 1
Crankcase was under the command of that vapor-brained Megatron millions of years ago on Cybertron, but they couldn't even beat up a bunch of pipecleaner pacifists right, and completely lost the source of all knowledge and information, the Underbase. The Flames of Boltax! Things only got worse after that. Oh sure, we don't know anything that actually happened to Crankcase for over four million years, but they definitely must've gotten worse. In the present day, he had a useless job serving the equally useless Decepticon Triumverate. What a bunch of bloated losers. Not that Megatron II coming along and blowing them away made things any better... none of the Decepticon leaders could ever accomplish anything lasting, so who Crankcase was serving didn't matter. The Fall and Rise of the Decepticon Empire.
Megatron II promised battles, but instead sent Crankcase off to find other warriors for the cause... Great, now he was a glorified recruiting agent. Soon, Megatron was replaced by another Megatron, but then the now one blew himself up too, and Crankcase had to go to that miserable mudball Earth, to retrieve one of the contestants for the Con leadership. Of course, as he suspected it'd happen, the guy didn't take it kindly to be retrieved, and instead beat Crankcase and his compatriots up, commandeered their ship, and had the bright idea to attack the Ark. Rage! You didn't have to be a pessimist to know how that one would work out... Still, battered and damaged, they retrieved Thunderwing and convinced him to retreat and fight another day. Wouldn't you know, the Decepticon Council of Elders thought this was stellar performance, and nominated him as the new Con leader. Just goes to show, you have to be a loony to be in charge. Assault on the Ark! Then his Triggercon "friends" abandoned him to go running off with some Mayhem Attack Squad. Slag-suckers—like joining a group with an even stupider name than the Wreckers is going to be some sort of edge in combat. Odds were their commander would end up going mad with power and beat the circuits out of them, anyway. Matrix Quest
Later, some pathetic "God" possessed an even more pathetic Autobot and gathered Crankcase with a bunch of other Transformers to battle Unicron. Right—a swarm of mecha-ants attacking a guy the size of a planet. That was really going to work. Anyway, some Autobot made a really long and self-important speech, picked up some nick-knack he found lying around and yada yada yada, someone was probably expecting Crankcase to clean up the mess. Not a chance. On the Edge of Extinction!
Some new guy named Bludgeon took over the Decepticons after that and used the scientific method to pick a new world to plunder. The weak little inhabitants of Klo put up no fight whatsoever, which was really pathetic. Then the Autobots showed up and got massacred, which was even more pathetic. THEN the Autobots all started coming back to life and doing annoying things like caving in Crankcase's entire skull. He knew it would come to this, he just knew it. End of the Road!
Marvel UK future timelines
In 2009, Galvatron brought Crankcase and the Triggercons along with him to destroy an Autobot resistance movement, but he did all the work himself and then told them to stay out of his fight with Rodimus Prime. What was the point of bringing Crankcase along anyway, then? Aspects of Evil!
Another Time & Place
So once Bludgeon realized he was a lousy leader, his brilliant solution was to revive a leader that was even worse: Megatron. Crankcase (having his head un-smooshed by some idiot) got dragged along to Hydrus Four, where Bludgeon had the lame idea of using Nucleon to revitalize their old commander. "Great, another leader who talks with his fists," thought Crankcase. Crankcase was so sure everything would go wrong, he wasn't even impressed when the Decepticons captured the Dinobots with the Holocaust Trigger and didn't even have to raise a weapon. Big whoop. Oh sure, Crankcase took his turn torturing their captives like all the other Decepticons, but he just knew the Dinobots would get free and ruin everything, he just knew it. So it was no surprise to Crankcase when he came across the Micromaster named Roadhandler about to free Grimlock. The Dinobot commander charged Crankcase and hit him with enough force to embed the Triggercon in the far wall. Another Time & Place
Generation 2
Some idiot un-smooshed Crankcase's head, so he remained an active member of Bludgeon's army. That was stupid. It was only a matter of time before he would get injured again, like from Generation 2 Cybertronian acid rain, so what was the point of repairing him? No one ever listens to Crankcase, though, so he went ahead and died when the Cybertronians caved in his chassis. New Dawn
It figures that Megatron was in charge again by this time. Crankcase had no luck under Megatron before, what chance did either have now? The Power and the Glory You didn't think they'd win a battle against Jhiaxus, now did you.
Classics
Crankcase's complaining must've pissed off someone important, because he was assigned waste disposal duty on Bludgeon's team. Great — like he didn't have enough to grumble about already. What's worse, he was commanded to dispose of Abominus, who Bludgeon had branded a traitor. The only thing worse than hauling garbage is hauling garbage that might suddenly wake up and eat you. At Fight's End
Regeneration One
Template:Noterg1 Crankcase signed up to Soundwave's "Neo-Decepticon" insurgency at Fort Scyk. Like that would ever end well. Counterpoint
IDW comics continuity
Crankcase was stuck on Nebulos with a bunch of other incompetent Decepticon redshirts that quickly got their skidplates handed to them by that Pretender Thunderwing. Yeah, like nobody expected that to happen. Stormbringer #3
 Spoiler warning: Plot details for Rules of Disengagement follow. |
He survived Thunderwing's attack, and after the end of the war, found himself on the planet Clemency with a handful of other Decepticon scavengers and a head wound. While there, they were contacted by the Decepticon Justice Division, looking to torture and kill one of them for crimes against the Decepticons. Confused since there were only six of them and the Division mentioned seven, they discovered a stasis-locked Grimlock. Rules of Disengagement
TransTech
In the TransTech city of Axiom Nexus, Ruckus, Needlenose and Crankcase assaulted what they thought was an energon refinery, but it turned out to be a waste fuel storage depot. Eyuw. Around Cybertron #1
Toys
Generation 1
- Crankcase (Triggercon, 1988)
- Crankcase transforms into a four-wheel-drive off-road vehicle of indeterminate model. Similar to the other Triggercons, he has flip-out weaponry, which in his case are two double-barreled laser cannons which deploy from his robot-mode backpack/shoulders using a gear mechanism. In vehicle mode, they flip out from his camper and through his windshield. The windshield HE JUST HAD WASHED, thank you very much. Some people...
- None of the Triggercons (or Triggerbots) were released in Takara's Transformers lines. Figures that he gets forgotten as usual...
Notes
- A live-action movie series homage character, Crankcase, was released as a Walmart exclusive as a late part of the live-action movie toyline. The redeco was originally intended to be this Crankcase, and part of the 2008 Universe toyline. Notably, his head can smoosh as part of his transformation.
Foreign names
- French: 4x4
- French-Canadian: Grincheux ("Grinch")
