Since he's a denizen
of the Speed Planet, Crumplezone's vehicle mode is highly futuristic, and
really doesn't fit any Earth vehicle. It's a kinda futuristic three-wheeled
dragster-type thing. It looks really cool, and very streamlined, as you
might expect. The transparent tires are typical of all Speed Planet vehicles,
and look pretty cool, and the nice large cockpit has a drivers' seat molded
inside. The HUGE thrusters to the rear of the vehicle are the highlight
of the vehicle mode, though, as you can easily picture Crumplezone going
insanely fast with those things propelling him. There's also several exhaust
pipes molded near the rear of the vehicle mode to help even more with his
"super fast" look. Though that's not to say that the rest of him is sparsely
detailed; he's got more then enough futuristic detailing, as well as panels
and stylized paint detailing, on him to go around. One of my favorite little
details is near the Cyber Planet Key slot in the back-- the way the details
are painted, it looks as if little angular green claws are reaching out
from the Key area-- it really helps Crumplezone to look more evil in this
mode. As for the key gimmick itself, it's pretty cool-- plug the Speed
Key into the slot on the back, and three things happen at once; first,
the two massive thrusters flip forwards to the front of the mode to become
missile launchers; the two little green tabs on top of the launchers fold
out to become mini-wings; and a cool "powering and speeding up" sound is
made. No complaints about the awesome gimmick here. There are a few minor
problems with the vehicle mode, however. For one, even though it's not
TOO obvious and doesn't mess with the streamlined look of the vehicle or
anything, Crumplezone's upper legs and arms are a tad obvious on the lower
half of the middle area of this mode. The mini-wings also don't hold down
the missile launchers completely when the key gimmick isn't activated,
so the missile launchers tend to hover a centimeter or two above where
they should rest on the rear of the vehicle mode. But these are by no means
bad enough to ruin the mode.
I really, REALLY like
the way Crumplezone's robot mode looks. He's like an orc transformer--
his proportions are really unique. His arms are really large and proportionally
long, while his legs are short, similar to a gorilla's. It's definitely
intentional, though, as Crumplezone is a "dumb strongman" character. The
cyber-muscles on the sides of his cockpit-chest also help to make him look
stronger, but what I really like is his face-- it's what makes him look
orcish. He has slanted, evil-looking eyes and an organic face, but this
huge, toothed, mechanical maw that you can move up and down. It gives Crumplezone
a TON of characterization. (The green-and-white color scheme is also pretty
original, and looks good for an orcish Decepticon-- no complaints about
his colors here.) In addition Crumplezone also has good articulation--
he can move at the neck, lower jaw, shoulders (at three places), elbows
(at two places), wrists (in one direction, due to transformation), waist,
hips (at two places), knees (at two places), and ankles. So you can get
a lot of good poses out of him. His key-activated missile launchers also
swing onto his shoulders in this mode, so they're usable here too. Again,
though, just like the vehicle mode, there are a few problems that Crumplezone
has here. First off, his lower arms desperately need some painted detailing,
they look far too plain as they are. Second, there's a hollow space underneath
his head panel, and it doesn't hook into any certain position in his robot
mode, meaning that it's hard to move his jaw up and down without also moving
his whole head and neck up and down, too. And finally, the mini-wings on
the underside of his arms are a little distracting, as they don't mesh
with the structure of the arms at all, and many people have reported them
being really floppy (though I seem to have gotten lucky, mine aren't this
way). And finally, Crumplezone's transformation is too simple for a Voyager
figure-- given his complexity, he could've easily been a deluxe without
losing anything but the electronics.
Crumplezone is a great
Decepticon, with a really unique look in both modes. He is a bit too simple
for his size, and he probably would've been better without those mini-wings
of his, but overall, he's worth adding to your collection so long as you
like futuristic alt modes.
Review by Beastbot