Ransack (ROTF)

Ransack is aDecepticonfrom theRevenge of the Fallenportion of themovie continuity family.

That magnificent 'con being a flying machine.

Early in the development of flight technology onCybertron,countless ages ago in the era of theDynasty of Primes,the greatSeekerRansackwas a pioneer. One of the first flying aces, blasting opponent after opponent out of the sky, his ruthlessness was feared by all!

These days, though, he's old and outdated. Some Decepticons likeDivebombremember his glory days and idolise the man, but the current Decepticon high command merely see him as a means toan endand many young Autobots are unaware who heis.But Ransack is still resourceful and he still remains active, waiting patiently for the day whenhis beloved masterwill call for him once more.

Fiction

Titan movie comics

Take that, dignity!

One ofThe Fallen's agents on Earth, Ransack hadn't heard directly from the Fallen in a long time.TurnaboutIn his time on Earth, he had discovered theTomb of the Primes,location of the lostMatrix of Leadership... but, recognising no other commander besides the Fallen, he stayed on Earth fordecadesand wouldn't give the information to anyone but his master.Back-to-BackHe also shows some knowledge ofsomeone who switched sides.Turnabout

He eventually received an order from his master viaSoundwave:murderSkidsandMudflapbefore they could warn the other Autobots of the Decepticon's upcoming plans. First bombing the interstate they were driving on, he went on to pursue them into the countryside, soon strafing them in an open field. A proudSeekerand servant of his lord, he got a bit pissed at these young whippersnappers dissing his alternate mode and was likelymorepissed off when they temporarily disabled him with dirt.

Recovering quickly, and helped by their lack of energon, he soon had them ran to ground and was about to execute them. At that moment,Bumblebeearrived and sent him running. Ransack warned that in the long run,he'dbe the winner...Dogfight!

"A helicopter? When didSnoopyget a $&*#!helicopter?! "

Later, Soundwave would try to get the location of the Tomb from the Seeker. Ransack, not trusting him, refused to give the information to someone who wasn't the Fallen. The twins, at this point pretending to have defected, hunted him down for Soundwave, and Ransack was glad for the chance to finish them off. Skids ended the fight quickly by lying they had been sent by the Fallen to bring him back in, with Mudflap adding the Fallen was incapacitated; having not heard from his master in a long time and wanting to come in from the cold, Ransack was easily conned into standing down.

Unfortunately for him, that's whenGrindorattacked, blowing his wings out and taking him prisoner!Turnabout

You haff no vays of making him talk.

Dragged to the Decepticon base on Phobos,Mars,Ransack found himself questioned by Soundwave, i.e. punched in the effing face and yelled at to talk. He still refused to speak, and instead began to insult Soundwave for being a mere cog in the Fallen's machine, unable to grasp the true plan;Starscreamquickly stepped in to stop the angry officer from killing the Seeker, noting it wouldn't go well if the Fallen found out they'd killed one of his Seekers. Ransack was just left amused by the squabbling and Starscream's threats of 'loosening' him up. He knew from their actions that the Fallen was genuinely incapacitated and that, because of this, the Decepticons thought they had freedom of action and were pursuing their own agenda. This freedom was an illusion, and they'd learn that soon enough...

Nab him, jab him, tab him, grab him: stop that StarscreamNOW!

His chance came when Skids and Mudflap attacked the Phobos base. The instant Starscream was distracted, Ransack shot him in the back and fled into space. He roared that he was going to inform the Fallen of just what the Decepticons had been up to... there'd be nowhere for them to hide after that! Soundwave and Starscream hurriedly chased after him, desperate to make sure he wouldn't be able to talk.

Since the two errant generals were still working for the Fallen and the Tomb was undiscoveredlater on,I guess theydidmake sure he didn't talk...!Back-to-Back

Revenge of the Fallennovel

WhenJetfiretransportedSam Witwicky's group through atransspacial portalto Egypt, the energy discharge caught the attention of Ransack, who followed them through his own portal. Ransack flew towards the group until his engine sputtered out and he crashed in front of Jetfire. Ransack then transformed and started to pick a fight with Jetfire, calling him a yellow-bellied traitor. Taking the "yellow" comment the wrong way,Bumblebeewanted to intervene, but Sam convinced him that the dispute was between the two of them and they shouldn't get involved.

Declaring that they were going to settle things right there and then, Ransack took a shot at Jetfire...which bounced off him, causing no damage. Jetfire abruptly ended the conflict by stomping Ransack todeath.

Jetfire later identified himself and Ransack asSeekers.Revenge of the Fallen

Toy bios

Divebomb altered his form to resemble Ransack's, in honour of the veteran. He immediatelyregrettedit.Divebomb (ROTF)

IDW movie comics

But he has a wonderful personality.

At some undetermined point while he was on Earth, Ransack fell into the clutches of the mysterious human organization known as theInitiative,who had developed a means to control Transformers. Kept on ice in the Initiative's base, Ransack was thawed out in2010and sent into action to down the helicopter carryingTheodore Gallowayand his men before they could intrude on the Initiative's attempt to harvest residualAllSparkenergy fromHoover Dam.Remotely controlled by Initiative operativeWoolf,Ransack struck while most of the Autobots were out escorting the capturedSoundwave inNew Mexico,destroyingCaptain Cox's helicopter and shooting down Galloway's.Nefarious #3He transformed into robot mode to finish the job on the ground, but was soon interrupted by Skids and Mudflap, who had been dispatched to Galloway's aid. They kept Ransack busy until aNESTunit arrived to finish the Seeker off rather definitively by blowing him out of the sky.Nefarious #4

Toys

Revenge of the Fallen

So Hasbro said to themselves, "We can make just about anything for the movie line and people'll buy it? Well, let's go for friggin' broke."

• Ransack(Scout Class, 2009)

• Japanese ID number:RD-09
• Known designers:Eric Siebenaler(Hasbro)

Battle mode.

Ransack is part of the second wave ofRevenge of the FallenScout Class figures. He transforms into a GermanAlbatros D.IIIbiplane. This means he's really awesome. He has a non-firing weapon on each arm and totally metal details around the very large Decepticoninsigniason his wings. His official battle mode may be designed to give him mechanically-aided robot-modeflightcapabilities.

The ball joints on his shoulders are especially loose, and the pegs that hold his hands in place in vehicle mode (as well as the joints in his elbows) are much stronger. As such, his arms are going to pop off about 90% of the time while converting the figure.

On hiscard art,Ransack's legs are backwards (the tailfin should be his left leg). Meanwhile, the front art mirrors the biplane image, swapping which side his weapons are on. Whoops.

Ransack's mold was also used to makeRevenge of the FallenDivebomb,and was planned to be used for the cancelledBlue Maximus.

• More information on Ransack at TFU.info

Notes

• Ransack is based on a concept design created during production ofRevenge of the Fallen,which existed in both aFord Model Tvariant^[1]and the biplane variant used for the toy. In a featurette onRevenge of the Fallen's home video release, a scale chart is visible that includes the biplane design among the film's Decepticons, with a height of 12 feet.
• Ransack'sGeneration 2counterpartalso has a propeller-driven airplanealternate mode,though it's a single-wing fighter. The name Ransack has thus been used for both WWI-era and WWII-era Transformer planes.
• Ransack is not named in the novelization, but he is described as an elderly biplane with Decepticon insignias on his wings.
• In his second and third Titan appearance, he was coloured green and black in robot mode... and then gained his toy colours in plane mode?
• While hisbiodoesn't say he's aSeeker,both the novelization and Titan Magazines have made him one. Also, in the movie, a pictureAgent Simmonsproduces of a presumed Seeker contains a biplane.

Foreign names

• Japanese:Ransack(ランサックRansakku)

References