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Swivelbot's Bots: The Cyberverse Rack'n'Ruin Review
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Swivelbot
2024-10-23 01:28:29 UTC
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Thanks GoBackaTron.

For those who may be unaware, Rack’n’Ruin are characters from the Marvel
UK Comics, Two Autobots fused together to save their lives, and members
of the Wreckers.

Rack’n’Ruin have historically been only comic book characters, but in
Transformers: Cyberverse, they appeared in Animation for the first time.
Turning in wonderful supporting roles as Autobot Bruisers.

And somehow the Cyberverse Team made a toy of them!

Cyberverse Rack’n’Ruin is the only toy I actually bought from
Cyberverse, since most of the line was generally pretty scrappy, Though
I’ve heard some good things about figures like Shockwave and Clobber.

Their proportions are shaped like how you’d expect, he doesn’t actually
match the Marvel UK Design very well, since according to Cyberverse’s
Story Editor Randolph Heard, these versions of Rack'n'Ruin were created
as conjoined twins, rather than being fused together to save their
lives. They feature guns on their arms, but these are absent from their
character model, otherwise they’re fairly show-accurate, save for some
compromises due to transformation.

Their colours are mostly shades of green, with occasional white and
blue. The inner side of their legs are very empty, but the strength of
the plastic means that it doesn’t hurt it as much, their Autobot Logos
blend into their arms, since they aren’t very saturated.

Articulation is made up of Ball Joints for the shoulders and hips, and
Mushroom Pegs for the rest of their limbs, though the heads don’t move
an inch, the ball joints do pop off pretty easily.

They come with a large cannon, which looks a lot like something from
Doom rather than from Transformers, But no Hammers. The Cannon also has
a large plow on the back of it for Vehicle mode, but the reason the
cannon is included at all is due to the figure’s gimmick, which is
actually quite fun, you simply hook the cannon into their back, and rip
it out, revealing a spring-loaded mass of clear blue plastic armour that
covers the chests and makes them look worse.

The armour does feature helmets that homage the classic Rack’n’Ruin
design, but it’s barely visible since it’s all unpainted, Definitely one
of the most inconsequential, yet fun, play features I’ve seen on a
figure.

Transformation is simple and features a lot of rotation, The torso block
separates into three components which plug into the limbs, The arms are
rotated three times into place, And the legs are rotated into the lower
torso, making for a generally alright, but slightly fiddly experience.

The Vehicle Mode is scrappy and ridiculous (In a good way) Rack’n’Ruin
never transform in the show, since making a vehicle mode for them is
really difficult.

I suppose it’s some kind of Military Armored Car, with a Mine Plow on
the front and a cannon on the left and right sides. The Mechanical
detail is alright, but since the middle front is made up of the back of
the robot mode, it doesn’t look the greatest, and it certainly doesn’t
look the greatest from the back, where their heads are plainly visible.

The Cab windows are awkwardly stopped in the middle due to the hinges
for the armour, and there are two other windows on what used to be the
legs, connected to the cannons, which raises the question of how big
this thing actually is.

It’s dumb, it’s stupid, it sucks, and it’s brilliant. The whole thing,
what with the deep greens and simple shapes make it feel like a TOY
first, rather than a model.

Cyberverse Rack’n’Ruin is a generally alright but slightly annoying
figure, but they probably don’t care, they are here to speak in rhyme
the entire time, and listen to Iron Maiden.

Would I recommend it? Probably, if the fabled Generations Rack’n’Ruin
shows up soon, then probably go for that, But this is, literally, the
only official toy of Rack’n’Ruin, so if you want one, go ahead.

Swivelbot (Watch it get revealed the day after I write this)
Zobovor
2024-10-24 21:42:11 UTC
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Post by Swivelbot
Would I recommend it? Probably, if the fabled Generations Rack’n’Ruin
shows up soon, then probably go for that, But this is, literally, the
only official toy of Rack’n’Ruin, so if you want one, go ahead.
I actually wonder who is in charge of the Cyberverse toy line, and who
decided to include that specific character. It's a really deep cut, and
not likely to be appreciated at all by the younger audience that
Cyberverse is targeting.

But, they must know on some level that collectors are buying these toys
as well. I was very interested in the Cyberverse versions of the
Dinobots for a while, because we hadn't gotten the Leader-class Studio
Series Dinobots yet and the Cyberverse versions were Good Enough For
Now. That lasted for something like a year, which is practically
nothing in toy years.

Probably not gonna go after this guy, but I did enjoy reading about him
for a bit.


Zob (when people call him Ruin N' Rack, does he correct them?)

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