TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:

Alternate Mode:

Box Art:

Blackjack's Review: Ransack GTS

Name: Ransack GTS
Allegiance: Decepticon
Repaint of: Cybertron Ransack
Accessories: Motorcycle Seat/Double-Barreled Gun, Speed Planet Cyber Key

In the Cybertron cartoon, Ransack was the comedic goon that would get blown away the most often, Team Rocket-style. He is basically the Waspinator of the series, cracking jokes and stuff, harassing the Autobots but easily knocked down. The arrogant loudmouth Ransack is almost always seen with his big hulking buddy Crumplezone. Both Ransack and Crumplezone were recruited forcibly by Megatron and soon formed a comedic trio with Thundercracker, the other butt-monkey of the series. Poor Ransack just couldn't catch a break. Thundercracker had his one moment of badassery when he took down Jetfire in a rage at one point, while Crumplezone had his 'new toy is powerful' syndrome when he was upgraded into Dark Crumplezone. Ransack? No such luck.

But basically Ransack plays the comedian, asking Megatron questions to advance the plot, harassing the Autobots for filling scenes, shooting the Autobots, crowd-filling, being blown away by the Autobots... Ransack, however, remained loyal and was one of the only four Decepticons (alongside Thundercracker, Crumplezone and the female Thunderblast) who remained loyal to Megatron during the final battle against the Autobots and the rest of the Decepticon 'recruits' from other planets. Because every other Decepticon have 'inner goodness' and stuff. By virtue of being a Japanese-produced show, none of the comedy goons died, though.

But Ransack is one of the first waves of characters released in the line, and as thus was repainted as Cybertron drew to close. Like his fellow Speed Planet inhabitants, Override and Brakedown, Ransack was not repainted as someone else, but as a 'GTS' version of himself.

The name Ransack has been reused countless times without any particular pattern to the guys that used it. The very first Ransack was one of the 'Deluxe Insecticons' from G1, transforming into a locust. The second Ransack was also from the G1 continuity, this time during the G2 toyline, a separate character from the first Ransack. He transforms into a WWII plane, and was part of the 'Rotor Force' subgroup. During Armada, the Minicon pickup truck from the Adventure Team was named Ransack as well. The next Ransack was a repaint toy in the original Universe line. The fifth character named Ransack would be this one. Next up would be a Minicon T-Rex from the second Universe line. The newest Ransack is a Decepticon biplane from the ROTF line.

Of this Ransack swarm, only the Cybertron one received any large amount of showtime. ROTF Ransack and the two Ransacks from G1 had appearances, but this one appeared as a regular character in an entire cartoon.

Since Cybertron was the very first Transformers cartoon that I watched (because it was readily available in the the local VCD shops, unlike G1) Ransack had an impression of me.

ROBOT MODE
Ransack is kind of short, even for a Scout. Especially his legs. While lean, Ransack's wide shoulder pads and relatively large chunk of kibble (the front bit of his motorcycle mode) hanging around his head gives him some intimidation factor. At first glance he looks like a well-armoured guy. At a closer inspection he is actually a lanky little squirt who has several pieces of thick armour arranged strategically. No wonder he has to rely on Crumplezone for help.

The main colour here is black, in contrast to the original Ransack's red colouration. His secondary colour is white, featured on his face, upper arms, stomach, thighs, parts of his crotch and the bits that hold his wheel halves to the lower leg. Gold colour his eyes, bits of the motorcycle front, and decorates his toe, shoulder and the sides of hands. The most striking colour of him is green. The kind of green found in breath mints. His chest and all his Tron-cycle wheels are cast in translucent green. A Decepticon insignia adorns his chest, while a subdued shade of blue colours bits of his chest and lower arm.

However, the result makes a pretty dull and frankly unattractive and downright ugly robot mode. If someone like Skyquake is 'Neon', then Ransack GTS is exactly the opposite. His paintjob combination is... well, it doesn't clash per se, but it's just so dull. It does make him a rather nice generic troop builder, though.

His head has a pretty nice arrogant smirk carved in, but the helmet, cast in black with the two ear-like horns halfheartedly painted green, again makes his head look squat. His legs are on high heels that works really well. His chest piece, however, flops around quite a bit since it's not attached with a tab or anything.

The back bit on Ransack motorcycle mode, the one where you don't sit on, cannot latch on anything in robot mode. Plug in the Speed Cyber Key included with him to activate the spring-loaded cannons. The double barrels of Ransack's gun is on a single piece, so there's no chance of the spring of one barrel snapping off. The end result is a long, large double-barreled cannon that fits snugly on Ransack's fist peghole. The gun makes him look sort of badass, but the gun never did protect Ransack from anything save his first appearance, where he had the 'New Toy Syndrome', which means he had about an episode's worth of invincibility. I don't think poor Crumplezone and Ransack even rated that, though — they caused trouble, but didn't even get a victory.

ALTERNATE MODE
Ransack transforms into a futuristic motorcycle. His clear green wheels makes him look as if he could have those funky Tron lines behind him when he moved. He has the decent mix of a real down-to-earth motorcycle and futuristic sleek curves. He is kind of long for a motorcycle, however. He rolls pretty well, and his wide wheels allows him to balance in vehicle mode without weak attempt at copying those stirrup things like other motorcycle molds.

Here is where the colour scheme glares. Instead of the bright red and gold, the black and white really contrasts with each other, making Ransack look like a folded robot — the shins are evident, as are the fist holes, problems that aren't noticeable in the original deco.

Legends class toys and Minicons can ride on Ransack if they have enough articulation. More modern Legends class toys can even ride Ransack Tron-cycle style, if that's your thing.

Plugging the Cyber Key into Ransack would deploy the double barreled gun again, but they point backwards. In the show, this grants Ransack a boost of speed. Presumably when his guns are undeployed they can shoot forwards. The rifle piece holds pretty tightly onto Ransack's alternate mode, if you're worried about that sort of stuff.

Marks out of ten for the following:

Transformation Design: 7/10 Refreshing to see a motorcycle whose transformation doesn't include an expy of the Energon Arcee mold. Although the wheels on his legs does look unwieldy....

Articulation: 5/10 Rather few for a Scouts class, especially compared to newer toys. About average, I guess. He isn't a brick.

Durability: 5/10 He feels kind of flimsy, although the thick plastic makes him feel sturdier than the likes of the ROTF Scouts class toys.

Aesthetics: 4/10 He is show accurate (or rather, the show is toy accurate) to a fault. But his paintjob ruined it all.

Fun: 8/10 Hell, I liked Cybertron, and I have Crumplezone. And Ransack has a big gun. Now if only he wasn't so darned green...

Price/Value: 6/10 Okay-ish? I got him as part of the second Universe's three pack thing sold at clearance price. I got the excellent Repugnus toy, and the average Scattorshot toy, so I guess one rubbish toy is worth it.

Overall: 3/10 Personally, I like Ransack. But he is a below average toy at best, even for someone in the Cybertron line. His ugly deco helps to worsen this — at least his original red paint would brighten up the otherwise lousy toy. If you really want him, go for the original.