In the movie version of Dark of the Moon, like lesser versions of the three Autobot Wreckers, we are presented with the Dreads. Three vicious, violent Decepticons, they are the known members of this unit of infiltration specialists and assassins. Of the three of them, Crowbar, Hatchet, and Crankcase, only one received a larger-than-legend scale toy. It would have been nice to have deluxes of Crowbar and Hatchet, but on his own Dark of the Moon Crankcase is still pretty amazingly well done.
What wasn’t amazing was the second run of Crankcase that followed a remarkably short initial run. The initial run had middle fingers on both hands that were extended to be twice the size of the other two fingers and clawlike. Either someone decided this just wouldn’t work or there was a manufacturing error, either way this longer appendage was unceremoniously lopped off. This second, injured edition is the one I first found.
This, kids, is why you should never run with scissors.
As that looked positively ridiculous, the next run were given fingers that were the same size and design of the other two. Some enterprising Transfan supplied the assortment numbers of the later run and I went hunting for a normalized Crankcase to replace my injured one. It was on a roadtrip that I finally found one (after my wife and I checked the numbers of a kajillion Crankcases).
After his manicure...
Aside from the fingertip debacle, I couldn’t be more pleased with how this toy turned out. His head (just look at that splendid light-piping!) and chest are covered in details, and his pincers add a level of movie accuracy. Then, of course, there are his teams’ namesake, his dreadlocks.
Though the legends class toys of the Dreads each transform into different alt modes, the movie Dreads shared the same modified Chevy Suburban. Deluxe Crankcase uses that shared alt mode.
One Decepticon symbol away from actually being in disguise.
His MechTech weapon (of which, though he only comes with one, as you can see, I now own two of) makes for a really nice gun, but has an odd claw-thing mode. It can also be mounted on this alt mode — with predictably goofy results.
As if the Decepticon logo wasn't enough of a hint, his lack of official law enforcement credentials would most likely be pointed out by the giant guns affixed to the roof.
Crankcase pretty much typifies the pointy, stabby, dangerous looking Decepticons from Dark of the Moon, which is somewhat lacking elsewhere in the line.
