Rack'n'Ruin (Cyberverse)

Rack'n'Ruin is an Autobot from the Cyberverse continuity family.

"Oh what I'd do, if I didn't have you..."
(Ruin is on the left; Rack is on the right)

Loud, enthusiastic, self-congratulatory, and more than a bit dim, it's a good thing that the two Cybertronians known as Rack and Ruin are pretty much the same in both personality and temperament, because these two conjoined Autobots make up the composite warrior known as Rack'n'Ruin. Together, these two 'bots make up the muscle of the Autobot force, eager warriors always ready to flatten Decepticons with their hammers and save the day—and although teamwork is their strong suit, it's probably a better idea to leave the actual battle plan to someone else, because concepts like "subtlety" or "tactical thinking" are skills that are definitely not in their wheelhouse.

As a member of Optimus Prime's crew aboard the Ark, the pair mostly perform menial odd jobs like lifting crates, stacking boxes, and... well, that's about it. Fortunately, the pair accept this job with the same kind of gung-ho bravado they'll express on their deadliest missions.

Fiction

Cyberverse cartoon

Voice actor: Jeremy Levy (English), Satoshi Tsuruoka (Japanese), Luca Bottale (Italian), Jean-Marc Amé (French), Kevin Kraus (German), Miguel de León (Latin-American Spanish)

"Mayday...Maayyydaayyy...This is the Queen Zenobia..."

When it was determined that Optimus had made a mistake in launching the Allspark, the Ark was launched to retrieve it, Rack'n'Ruin amongst its crew. As the ship sailed through the void however, its energon stores dipped, forcing the crew into stasis pods. Teletraan-1 eventually tracked the Allspark to Earth only for the Ark to suffer a hull breach and crash-land in Mount St. Hilary. Eruption

Some 66 million years later, Shockwave trapped Bumblebee in a false memory to try and extract the Ark's location from his brain. Within the illusion, Rack'n'Ruin was present at Optimus' announcement where the Allspark was found and cheered on with the rest of the crew. They later encountered Bumblebee in a corridor aboard the Ark and told him that there had been explosions in two of the engine rooms, not knowing that Bumblebee was the responsible party. Sabotage

Look, all the big name Autobots! Optimus Prime! Bumblebee! Prowl! Wheeljack! Arcee! Grimlock! Windblade! Chromia! Rack'N'Ruin!

Not long afterward, the real Rack'n'Ruin, along with the rest of the crew, was reawakened by Bumblebee and Teletraan-X in time to see the Decepticon fleet invade Earth. Eruption Later, during a battle on the Moon, they knocked some Seekers about, only to get blown away by a few projectiles sent by Soundwave. Sea of Tranquility

Bumblebee asked Rack'n'Ruin if they had seen a creature during their recent battle, to which both denied doing so. They managed to stack a large group of crates and continued to admire their work until a hyperactive Grimlock smashed straight through it. The Visitor Rack'n'Ruin were able to rebuild their stack until they knocked it down courtesy of Cheetor. Spotted

Rack'n'Ruin mocked Starscream when he tried an Allspark-fueled attack, unaware that the Allspark was removed from his frame. Escape From Earth Unwittingly, Rack'n'Ruin gave Starscream a window for havoc, when an Allspark badge they dropped slipped into his cell, leading them to go berserk due to an overload. Prime later restored their party moods. Party Down Rack'n'Ruin were later frozen as they celebrated a complete stack... Only for it to be demolished once more by Arcee and Grimlock. Perfect Storm

Rack'n'Ruin later celebrated as the Autobots returned to Cybertron. The Crossroads As the Ark entered Cybertron's atmosphere, Rack'n'Ruin eagerly awaited to return home. Battle For Cybertron I However, along with the rest of the crew, they bailed out of the ship when Optimus suspected a Decepticon trap. They took part in the fight with the amassed Decepticon forces, during which they fought Clobber with a pair of hammers. Battle For Cybertron II

After the Great War was won in the Autobots' favor, Rack'n'Ruin were among the Transformers imprisoned by the Quintessons in the Loop, which made they relive the same five minutes of a parade over and over. During their presence in the Loop, Rack'n'Ruin sold red and blue foam fingers. The Loop The Sleeper Rack'n'Ruin were eventually freed from the simulation alongside the other Autobots thanks to the Cybertronian resistance, who got them to transform when they unleashed Air Hammers into the Loop. The Scientist

Rack’n’Ruin participated in a training simulation with Sky-Byte, Jetfire and Skywarp. Cooperation was fleeting at first, but over time the two factions began to work together. They later participated in the battle at the Quintesson tower. The Alliance

Rack’n’Ruin stood among the defenders of Iaconus, as the alliance prepared to hold back the Quintesson forces. Rack’n’Ruin charged into battle as the Quintessons attacked. The alliance was momentarily victorious, and the Judge and the Quintesson ship was destroyed, but the assembled forces had little time to celebrate, as the new Judge arose and declared their universe guilty. The Judge

Following Starscream's defeat, Rack’n’Ruin worked with Optimus on the rebuilding effort, lifting a heavy structural component into place. Enemy Line

Rack’n’Ruin finished stacking a bunch of crates, congratulating each other on their prowess. The crates unfortunately were toppled when Ratchet launched the shuttle that Rack’n’Ruin were in, on a mission to rescue Jetfire. They enthusiastically joined Ratchet’s mission, much to the medic’s chagrin. They found Jetfire, who was missing his head, to Rack’n’Ruin’s collective terror. Jetfire’s head returned, and Ratchet sent Rack’n’Ruin to fetch his subatomic stabilizer, the purple one. Unable to agree on the color, the pair each chose one device to bring to Ratchet. As they were returning to the medic, Astrotrain and Dead End captured Jetfire and Ratchet, leaving Rack’n’Ruin to rescue the rescue mission. As the pair approached the secret Decepticon facility where Jetfire and Ratchet were being held, they were approached by Shadow Striker and Soundwave. Rather than attack Rack’n’Ruin, the Decepticons encouraged them to continue their mission. Reaching the secret facility, Rack’n’Ruin attacked Astrotrain, to little result beyond annoying the Triple Changer. However, Astrotrain threw them into the control panel for the multiverse ray, inadvertently preventing Ratchet from meeting a grisly fate in unspace. Rack’n’Ruin continued to attack Astrotrain, and the malfunctioning unspace ray freed Ratchet. Rack’n’Ruin provided Ratchet with the dimensional stabilizer he requested, and was tossed to the side by Astrotrain. When Ratchet stabilized and freed Jetfire, Rack’n’Ruin led their escape from the facility, piloting the shuttle away and celebrating their successful mission. Rack 'n' Ruin 'n' Ratchet

Rack’n’Ruin were part of the strategy meeting where Optimus froze, experiencing a vision within the Matrix. Dweller In The Depths

Rack’n’Ruin were in the Autobot command center when Megatron raised the dimensional shielding. Silent Strike

Following Windblade’s recovery, Rack’n’Ruin were among the Autobots who cheerfully welcomed her back. The Other One

At the signing of the peace treaty between the Autobots and Decepticons, Rack’n’Ruin distributed red and purple foam fingers. They were presumably frozen in time with the rest of Cybertron by Trypticon's Mercenaries, and restored with the rest of Cybertron by Wheeljack. The Immobilizers

When the Decepticon supersoldiers arrived and began to fight each other, Wheeljack supplied the Autobots, including Rack’n’Ruin, with gadgets intended to stop the fighting. The gadgets were effective, but the supersoldiers merely teleported away and continued their conflict. Later, when Cybertron was overrun by Tarn and the supersoldiers, Rack’n’Ruin joined Hot Rod and the other Autobot forces underground to form a plan to take back the planet. The Autobots teleported to the Cube arena, and Rack’n’Ruin charged into battle. Following the battle, Rack’n’Ruin looked on in shock at Soundwave’s sacrifice. The Perfect Decepticon

Alternate universes

In an alternate universe, it was Rack'n'Ruin who commanded the Ark when it found itself in unspace. During a conference with multiples of Optimus Prime in command of several other Arks, Rack'n'Ruin confirmed that their Wheeljack concurred with the other Wheeljacks that using the combined power of all their Allsparks would be enough to create and power a Space Bridge to let them all escape. The plan worked, and the Rack'n'Ruin Ark presumably continued on their way to their Cybertron. The Crossroads

Toys

Cyberverse

Literally the only physical toy of this character in existence right now... So you know you'll have to buy them!

• Rack'n'Ruin (Ultra Class, 2020)
  • Accessories: Cannon

Released as part of the reinvented Ultra Class lineup, Cyberverse Ultra Class Rack'N'Ruin is a Voyager-sized mold that transforms from a two-headed robot into a giant armored car. Like their Ultra Class brethren, Rack'N'Ruin feature a flip-out armor gimmick, and like Clobber, they feature more articulation than is typical for their size class, featuring compound hinge joints and mushroom pegs in the elbows and knees with ball-joints in the hips and shoulders. The mine plow on the front of their vehicle mode becomes a clawed blaster in robot mode. The facemasks of their armor are sculpted in homage to the v-shaped visor faces of their G1 counterpart.

Along with a few Cyberverse figures, Rack'n'Ruin was meant to be released for the Japanese markets by TakaraTomy, under the name "TCV-40 Weapon Trigger Rack'n'Ruin" with a May 2020 release date. Unfortunately, unlike the Deluxe Class figures, the toy's release was canceled due to either poor sales or the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, or both.

Notes

• Unlike prior incarnations of the character—who were formerly two independent Autobots artificially modified into their present state—story editor Randolph Heard has clarified that this version of Rack'n'Ruin was simply sparked as conjoined twins. According to him, Shockwave's creation of a two-headed Seeker was inspired by Rack'n'Ruin.^[1] As such, he looks a fair bit different from these past versions; rather than being two bodies with their own sets of legs and one arm joined at the shoulder, this version of Rack'n'Ruin has a more humanoid body, with two arms and two legs, though there is some lip service paid to the original, with them having two identical upper torsos on top of their singular hip. In addition, the two have humanoid faces, rather than the dome-like heads with visors of the original, with Ruin having a monocle-like right optic. This is inspired by the pair's original, non-conjoined Decepticon bodies seen in IDW Publishing's Spotlight: Orion Pax, where the two also had humanoid faces underneath their classic dome-heads, with Ruin having a monocle-like eye (though there, it was on his left optic rather than his right, having been exposed due to facial damage).
• Incorporating Rack'n'Ruin into the series was Randolph's idea. Mae Catt refers to the twins using plural pronouns, though the twins themselves refer to each other using male pronouns.^[2]
• The Mercenary Doublecrosser uses the same character model as Rack'n'Ruin, whose similarity is noticed by the Mercenary.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Rack'n'Ruin (ラックンルーイン Rakkunrūin), Rack (ラック Rakku), Ruin (ルーイン Rūin)
• Mandarin: Tiāncándìquē (天残地缺 The Crippled Master)

References