Crumplezone

Status: Released

Release Date: June 2005 (June 2005)

Wave: Cybertron Voyage Wave 1

MSRP: $19.99

Size Class: Voyager

Suggested Age: 5+

Assortment Number: 80287

Product Number: 80912

Recolors/Reuses: Cybertron Dark Crumplezone , Botcon Exclusive Optimus Primal

The first wave of Cybertron includes two Voyager-sized toys (for the casual fan, "Voyager" is this line's term for mega-sized toys)--one Autobot and one Decepticon. This one is the Decepticon, Crumplezone (known in Galaxy Force as Landbullet), who hails from the Speed Planet Speedia.

Vehicle Mode

This is the mode that sold me on this toy. Crumplezone manages to have a vehicle mode that is sleek yet bulky at the same time, with the twin missile launchers in the rear looking like powerful turbines or boosters. The only way I can think of to describe Crumplezone is that he looks like a Cybertronian cross between a trike, a dragster, and one of those rocket-powered bikes that people build to try to break speed records with. Personally, I think it's a fanstastic and unique design, although others seem to consider him ugly.

Like the other Speed Planet 'Cons released so far in the line (Dirt Boss and Ransack), Crumplezone's wheels are made out of translucent plastic- -in his case, dark blue. Apart from his canopy (also dark blue), Crumplezone is dominated by green (two shades of neon green and a nice dark metal flake green). The only other major colors are gold and a light, almost white dark gray. Apart from a small added faction symbol (in front of his key mechanism) and a small handful of missing apps (so minor as to be unnoticeable except in side-by-side pics), Crumplezone appears to be identical to Landbullet.

The other cool thing about Crumplezone is that he's almost a triple changer--just flip the wings down and he has a flight mode. He also has something of an extra mode gained when you insert his key in the slot--the missile launchers fly forward while making a strange futuristic weapon-activation sound. In fact, they flip forward so strongly that you should keep your hand in front of them--otherwise they hit the front end so hard that you could be risking paint chips or even plastic damage.

Crumplezone's transform is ingenious, not very hard but not too simple either. Detach the legs from the front wheel and pull the waist down until it fits in place (it doesn't lock), then flip the feet up. Detach the arms from the pegs on the body, then pull the lower arms out to the side and pull the shoulders down. Rotate the arms so the screws face out (so he has elbow movement) and flip the fists out until they lock in place. Pull the canopy down while pushing his head back, up, and out and while pushing the front wheel up into the canopy section; it doesn't lock, but it's so stiff it won't go anywhere. Just finish pulling the canopy down into place (the pegs will fit most of the way into holes to lock it in place) and you're done.

Robot Mode

While some have grumbled about Crumplezone's robot mode being too apelike because of the long arms, personally I like his robot mode. He looks bulky and powerful, but he's proportioned well enough that his arms don't really look out of place (especially with the launchers facing forwards).

It helps that he's really well-articulated: 18 points of usable articulation (20 if you count his hands), including the ability to rotate his lower arms at the elbows (as well as bend), the knees, the waist, and the hips. It's hard to believe that such a bulky bot is so bendy, but he is.

Color-wise, everything just carries over from vehicle mode, so no surprises there. What is surprising, and interesting, is that the lower "jaw" plate on his head is hung on pegs and can be moved up and down just a little bit. I'm not sure why he has this feature, but it's cool. You can make him look like he's talking! Whee! Sorry, got carried away for a sec. He also looks cool with his missile launchers forward; it limits his line of sight, but he's packing some serious firepower with these babies. (Do note that the noise his key gimmick makes is really, really loud. This is not something you want to fool around with at two in the morning, unless you want your neighbors to form a vigilante squad and come after you with pitchforks.)

If you don't count the kibble on his back, he stands at just over 7 inches tall, a respectable height for a mega, er, Voyager toy.

The only real complaint I have is that his lower arms bang up against his missile launchers if you're not careful, because of the wings, which are uber-floppy. I suspect that the wings were made floppy on purpose, because otherwise his launcher gimmick is so strong it would probably break them when they flip forward, but they get in the way during his transform and are kind of a nuisance. That's about it.

Last Word

Talk about your sleepers, Crumplezone doesn't seem to be a favorite with many fans, yet turns out to be a great, fun toy with a cool and unique design once you get him out of the box. Give this guy a chance; he's better by far than all but the best toys out of the last two toy lines.


Submitted by: Razerwire

Galaxy Force Landbullet

Landbullet would most likely be an acquired taste by most collectors... And on that note, I love him...

Upon releasing him from his boxed jail, you will receive a red Speedia Force Chip as well as the green machine himself, and two green missles... I was surprised at the sheer size of Landbullet... The only other three wheeler I've seen was Autolander, who is a basic... Landbullet is quite large, roughly the size of Starscream...

Vehicle Mode:

Lanbullet's vehicle mode is like a Big Wheel on steroids... If you are unfamiliar with what a Big Wheel is, it is essentially a tricycle that little kids rode back in the 80's... I remember mine was red and blue...

The three wheels are a translucent dark blue, which I love... His main colors are dark green, apple green, white, some gold accents and a blue translucent cockpit... Oh yeah, the turbines in the back are translucent dark blue too... The colors work together really well...

The Force Chip port in vehicle mode is in the rear, between the two massive turbines... About the turbines, they're pretty much like jet engine turbines... The two green missles are inserted into the middle of each turbine to complete the jet engine look... Back to the Force Chip, if you insert it, the two wings/spoilers on top of each turbine flips outwards and the two turbines swing up and over to become to forward facing cannons... Also, I would like to note that this is the only figure I have so far from Galaxy Force that comes with batteries... When you activate the Force Chip, a sound that resembles laser fire and turbines heating up can be heard... Definitely an awesome gimmick...

Transformation:

Transformation for Landbullet is rather simple... First you detach the legs from the front wheel and swing them down and to the back, then flip the feet down...

Next, detach the fists from the side of the car and swing the arms outwards... Pivot the shoulders down and straighten out the elbows and fists...

Flip the front wheel and cockpit down to form the chest... Make sure you flip the head out and tuck the front wheel into the cockpit from underneath...

Viola, you have the robot mode...

Robot Mode:

There are a few things to point out for Landbullet's robot mode... First of all, his jaw moves up and down... This guy's got a serious case of underbite, but it makes him look like a brute/bully, which I love... Secondly, he's got shorter legs in comparison to his upper body... In essence, he's short and stocky and has a body like a gorilla... A big green gorilla with a massive underbite... I really like that they purposefully made him unproportional... He's got Popeye arms (smaller upper arms, HUGE lower arms) short legs and looks like he is just waiting to pummel someone with his bare hands...

I would also like to note that there are no faction symbols anywhere on his body... But we all know what side he's on of course...

When you activate the Force Chip in robot form, the turbines swing over his back and face forward on his shoulder... Two MASSIVE guns on each side of his head... The same sound occurs when you activate it in robot form...

His points of articulation are as follows:

Head rotates: check
Shoulders rotate: check
Shoulders pivot: check
Elbows pivot: check
Elbows rotate: check
Hands rotate: negative
Hips rotate: check
Hips pivot: check
Knees pivot: check
Knees rotate: check
Feet pivot: check
Feet rotate: negative

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If there was anything I would improve on Landbullet, it would be his two spoilers... They're rather loose on mine... It could vary from toy to toy, but mine are rather loose... But I think they did that so it wouldn't interfere with the cannons swinging up and over in vehicle form... However, the looseness of the spoilers isn't that big of a problem... I wish he came with a weapon as well... The only weapons this big lug has are his shoulder cannons when the Force Chip is activated... I also wish that his tranformation process offered a bit more of a challenge for someone his size, but I guess that has it's pluses too...

So there you have it... If you like big green gorilla brutes that double as three wheeled speed demons, this is your guy... I love him for his unproportional design and his big assed cannons/turbines... Also, he's really fun to pose and play with... I highly recommend him if you plan on getting a lot of Galaxy Force stuff...

Voice Actor: Mark Acheson (Cybertron series), and Toshihiko Nakajima (Galaxy Force series)

Cartoon Overview
Crumplezone is a Velocitronian, and with his buddy Ransack forms the "Gruesome Twosome", aka the "Partners in Grime". Approached by the fearsome decepticon leader, Megatron, Crumplezone was quickly forced into servitude. Though incredibly large and massive, he plowed through the Autobots in the race for the Planet Cup, which held the Speed Planet Cyber Key, also convincing fellow Speed Planet citizen Dirt Boss to join their cause. Unfortunately, they proved not enough to succeed in their missions, becoming more of comedy relief than actual warriors. However, he loyally followed Megatron to Earth, the Jungle Planet, and to Cybertron, where he was unfortunately killed by a horde of Scrapmetals. However, this did nothing except pave the way to come back as a even greater warrior- far superior to his old form- as Dark Crumplezone!

Powers: When calling on his Cyber Key power, Crumplezone can convert his two turbine thrusters into missile launchers for his Land Bazooka attack.

Notes
Cyber Key Code: vj40
Unlocked information from http://www.transformers.com:
Crumplezone is a massive Transformer. He loves to blast things, loves to crush things and LOVES to race as fast as he can all day long and all night long. But what he really loves is hanging out and causing all sorts of trouble with his best buddy Ransack! From putting grease on Overrides wheels, to Giving Clocker an atomic Speed Planet wedgie, Crumplezone is a punk that LOVES to cause trouble wherever he goes!

Contributors: Tony_Bacala, omega ranger, XJunky, mag jr., Razerwire, holygrail 4, Smkscrn GT, TreKain, StarscreamKills

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