Ruination (Transformers)

Ruination is the name of three fictional characters from the Transformers series. The original Ruination is the combined form of the Decepticon Commandos in the Robot in Disguise story. The second Ruination is a single Decepticon in the live action movie franchise. The third Ruination is the combined form of five Autobot Wreckers.

Transformers: Robots in Disguise

Ruination is the combined form of the Decepticon Commandos. He is based off Generation 1 Bruticus.

This team comprised the rest of the Autobot mission sent to reactivate Fortress Maximus. Together, they possess the ability to combine into one mighty robot, Ruination, with each of the four smaller members able to form any limb, rather than assuming the fixed configuration of the animated and comic book incarnations G1 predecessor. Movor and Ro-Tor can form arms to give Ruination flight powers, while Armorhide and Rollbar give extra physical power in the role. Ruination's weapons are a combination of all the team's individual guns, and can level a city with their power. The Commandos are a redeco of the original 1986 Combaticons figures.

Members

• Mega-Octane

Mega-Octane (Dolrailer) is the cool, calculating leader of the Combiners. He is cruel and unfair, and uses his four subordinates as if they were his own limbs - he expects them to carry out his orders without question, and he has no tolerance with delays or mistakes. He is somewhat envious of Scourge, who snatched leadership of the Commandos directly from him. In missile trailer mode, Mega-Octane can launch missiles with a range of 65 miles (105 km). In robot mode, he carries a laser rifle. He can also transform into a combat station and perform maintenance on his teammates. He forms the torso and head of Ruination.

Voiced by Bob Papenbrook and by Holly Kaneko

• Armorhide

Armorhide (Dangar) specializes in desert warfare, and his body camouflage can fool most Autobots' photoreceptors. Unfortunately, his loud boasting and eagerness to scrap Autobots often reveal his position. Armorhide is not too bright, he is described as a "Half-track mind" by fellow Commandos. In tank mode, Armorhide can reach speeds of 45 mph (72 km/h) and has a range of 600 miles (970 km). His turret-mounted gun shoots a shell up to a distance of 3.5 miles (5.6 km) with powerful force. Armorhide combines with his fellow Combiners to form the giant robot Ruination.

Voiced by Richard Epcar and by Takayuki Kondo

• Movor

Movor (Shuttler) transforms into a combat space-shuttle, and is capable of achieving planetary orbit under his own power. He carries detection equipment so he can search for Autobots from orbit, and is equipped with a powerful, long-range x-ray laser that allows him to attack them from that distance. He is somewhat pompous about his abilities, something which irritates his teammates. Movor has excellent heat-resistance. He combines with his fellow Combiners to form the giant robot Ruination.

Voiced by Robert Axelrod and by Hidenori Konda in

• Rollbar

Rollbar (Greejeeper) specializes in hand-to-hand combat. He is a skilled practiser of Crystallocution - the Cybertronic martial art of defeating an opponent by attacking his metal fracture points. He's also very interested in Earthen martial arts. Although described as "All-terrain terror", Rollbar prefers Arctic environments, and likes fighting on rainy days. He combines with his fellow Combiners to form the giant robot Ruination. Rollbar has a sarcastic sense of humour, which often shines through both amongst his team and when facing Autobots.

Voiced By Michael Lindsay and by Riki Kitazawa

• Ro-Tor

Ro-Tor (Hepter) is responsible for reconnaissance. He is not particularly fast in helicopter mode, but he has a tight turning radius and fantastic manoeuvrability. In addition he's almost soundless in flight, which allows him to sneak up on hapless Autobots and attack them from above. Ro-Tor likes to practice acrobatic flying in his free time. Ro-Tor combines with his fellow Combiners to form the giant robot Ruination.

Voiced by Neil Kaplan and by Masao Harada

• Ruination

They combine to form Ruination (Valdigus). A powerful foe, Ruination often followed Scourge's plans. Valdigus's info card also stated that he gains his energy from Coffee-milk.

Voiced by Bob Papenbrook and by Holly Kaneko

Animated series

These five Transformers actually began life as Autobots, sent to Earth along with a sixth to lead them in a mission to reactivate the legendary Autobot battle station known as Fortress Maximus. However, their craft malfunctioned and crashed, and the six Autobots were entombed in protoform state, joining Fortress Maximus in slumber until their ship was unearthed by Megatron and his Predacons. Absconding with the Autobot protoforms right under Optimus Prime's nose, Megatron took them to a nearby military base, intending to scan alternate modes for them. Mega-Octane was the first to be reactivated, infused with a portion of Megatron's own spark energy to create the first of a new breed of Transformer that Megatron dubbed the "Decepticons." The other four members of the team followed, and eventually the sixth, Scourge, who took leadership of the team from Mega-Octane with a show of force.

Simply referred to as the Decepticons, they soon demonstrated their skills by blowing up dams across the country, debuting their combining abilities against Rail Racer and later attempting to harness the energies of a volcano on Montrose Island. As part of a string of failed attempts to locate the Autobots' hidden base, Movor was launched into orbit to track Side Burn from space, and the Decepticons then pretended to have reverted to their original Autobot selves in an effort to make the Autobots take them in. Later, Decepticon corruption of the Autobots' global spacebridge led Ruination into conflict with Landfill.

It soon became apparent that Scourge sought to overthrow Megatron's leadership, and the discovery of Fortress Maximus, buried beneath the Earth's surface accelerated the process as exposure to his energies, and those of the O-Parts - the keys to Maximus's resurrection - awoke memories of Scourge's original mission. His new Decepticon programming turned it on its head, however, as he now wished to command Maximus's power for his own, and soon had the other Decepticons thinking the same way, conspiring with Mega-Octane to get Cerebros, the power key of Fortress Maximus, under his control. As a series of chases to acquire control of Maximus began, Scourge eventually revealed his treachery by trying to have the giant attack Galvatron (Megatron, in a new form), only for the plan to fail. In retribution, Galvatron again brainwashed the Decepticons, turning them back into his loyal servants, who followed him so completely that they were even willing to take his orders after he attempted to kill them as a belated punishment. With Galvatron's defeat, the Decepticons and Predacons (bar Sky-Byte) were all taken back to Cybertron for imprisonment.

Dreamwave Productions

Scourge, Armorhide, and Rollbar made an appearance in Dreamwave comics Summer Special issue before the company went under. There was a contest in the issue as to whether RiD or Beast Wars would be the next Dreamwave comic series. Beast Wars won.

Voice actor plays

Ruination would make one further appearance in the BotCon 2004 Voice actor play. Here, he was one of the Decepticons under the command of Reptilion, alongside Sunstorm and Perceptor. He battled Silverbolt, Rattrap and Waspinator in order to secure two groups of dimensionally displaced Autobots from the RiD universe. However, the three groups of Autobots, together with a time-lost Autobot shuttle from the Great War, were able to defeat the Decepticons.

Toys

• Car Robots Valdigus (2000)

Instead of classic Decepticon symbols seen in other Transformers series, the Commandos wore black Autobot symbols from Transformers: Generation 2, only upside down. The Japanese toy release had show-accurate symbols.^[1]

• Robots in Disguise Ruination (2001)

The toys released in the U.S. had traditional Decepticon symbols. In on, the American release of Armorhide features his Desert Storm era camouflage pattern recolored over a bluish-gray base. While this may be intended to be an urban assault camouflage, fans seeking toys identical to the Japanese version (and the cartoon series) were disappointed.^[2]

With Ruination's official height being given as 15 meters (49.2 feet) tall, and the toy measuring 25 centimeters tall, the toy would have a scale of about 1/60. This would mean Mega-Octane would stand 11.4 meters (37.4 feet) tall, while the other Commandos would stand about 4.8 meters (15.7 feet) tall, although this contradicts the series itself, where the five Commandos are shown standing at more or less the same height.

• Robots in Disguise Ruination redeco (2003)

An "Arctic" redeco version of the Decepticons, bearing the same names, was released as a giftset exclusive to Wal-Mart in 2003. Oddly this version featured a slight remold making the nosecone of Movor more rounded.^[3][4]

• Universe Ruination (2004)

A "tiger striped" desert camo repaint of Ruination - presumably intended as an alternate universe or future version of the characters - was released as part of Transformers: Universe in 2004. This version of Ruination appeared in the 2004 Botcon voice actor play. This version of the toy also featured a rounded nosecone on Movor.

A mistake on the back of the box for the Universe Ruination gift set had Armorhide and Rollbar's pictures swapped.^[5]

Transformers

Ruination is a Decepticon who turns into an Osprey helicopter, an alternate mode shared by Incinerator and Springer.

Books

Ruination appears among the Decepticons in the book Transformers: The Veiled Threat by Alan Dean Foster. Longarm joins Knock Out on a mission to Peru to find Decepticons that have been detected in the deep jungles. On a steep mountain pass, the party is attacked by Decepticons Ruination and Blademaster. Despite inexperienced and risky behavior by Knock Out, both Decepticons are severely damaged and driven off.

IDW Publishing

Ruination went to work for Starscream, guarding his base in a junkyard on the outskirts of Mexico City. After blasting his way past Ruination and Deadlift, Shockwave tells Starscream that Megatron requires his services. Shockwave then sends Starscream to recover the drone called Brains.^[6]

Transformers: Prime

Ruination is the combined form of five members of the Wreckers.

Toys

• Impactor (Deluxe, 2013)
• Topspin (Deluxe, 2013)
• Twintwist (Deluxe, 2013)
• Roadbuster (Deluxe, 2013)
• Whirl (Deluxe, 2013)

Ruination is created by combining the five Deluxe Wreckers. He is an extensive retool of Transformers: Generations Bruticus, sporting a head based on Xaaron (who was closely associated with the Wreckers in their debut story "Target: 2006"). While it is not clear if it's by coincidence or design, this Ruination's limbs comprise a green jeep, a white spacecraft, a blue tank and a dark blue helicopter, which, when coupled with the unifying use of orange across all the figures, makes him fairly evocative of Transformers: Robots in Disguise Ruination, who was himself a redeco of Bruticus.

References

External links