Sunday, June 14, 2009

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Scout-Class Ransack

I apologize for the lull in reviews; I've been flat broke recently. However, I came by a small amount of cash & saw this guy on a website, and at an MSRP of $9, it was too good to pass up.

This is the closest thing to an official "steampunk" style Transformer we're ever going to come (aside from Hearts of Steel...but that's another matter entirely.) On to the review...

Plane

Ransack's bio reads:

"Back in the distant past of Cybertron, when flight was a new technology, Ransack was first of the flying aces. He was a ruthless combatant, blasting his opponents out of the sky, and then strafing the helpless troops stuck on the ground without cover. He may be past his prime and equipped with outdated weapons now, but there was a time when Ransack was the most feared name on Cybertron."

Back

This figure's alt mode is a German Albatross D.V. I believe this was the aircraft used by "Red Baron" Manfred Von Richthofen just before he began piloting his famous Triplane.

Front

The vehicle has lots of little details. The propeller spins quite well, there's a cockpit seat, and there are some nice (non-sticky) paint apps all over the place. There are also some little weapons underneath the wings.

Weapons

The robot arms (as you can clearly see) are the only kibble on the alt mode, and to be honest, from most perspectives, you can hardly see them. The weapons (machine guns & little bombs!) disguise them a bit, too. For the small size of the figure, I can excuse this little bit of kibble, especially since everything else is done so beautifully.

Transforming Ransack is a bit fiddly, but not too bad. The arms pop off occasionally, but they're easily reattached.

Ye olde Decepticon

Ransack is easily my favorite movie-former (considering I don't much care for the movie line, that's saying something.) There's just so much character, and clearly a lot of thought went into the design.

Robot1

Getting a robot out of a flimsy little biplane is a hard thing to pull off, but somehow Hasbro has pulled it off very nicely. Like I said, there's something very Steampunk-esque about this guy. It's very skeletal, but simple & not quite as weird & "thrown-together" as other movie designs. The weapons are well placed, and the "cape" is a nice touch.

Posed1

Ransack, for his size, has very good articulation. The shoulder is on a single ball joint, and the arms pivot at the elbows. The legs are on ball joints & bend at the knees. However, the articulation on each foot is different (the right foot being more poseable than the left) and the head doesn't pivot. There are still many dynamic poses to be had with Ransack, though.

With Mask

You'll notice that the engine block forms the top part of his head. This might bother some people, but I'm fine with it. The rest of the head sculpt is very nice, very skull-like. Also, for some reason, the face & engine are removable...

Mehh!

yeah...


All in all, Ransack is a great figure. He's well-sculped, well-painted, well-balanced, well-articulated, and just an all-round well-designed Transformer. He's also very cheap, so if you want him, don't hesitate to grab him.

A 5/5 to ye olde Decepticon!







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